Methods and apparatus for OFDR interrogator monitoring and optimization
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
InventorsKevin M. Marsden, Mark E. Froggatt, Matthew S. Wolfe
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Abstract
Example embodiments add an optical amplifier to an multi-channel, continuously swept OFDR measurement system, adjust amplified swept laser output power between rising and falling laser sweeps, and/or utilize portions of a laser sweep in which OFDR measurements are not typically performed to enhance the integrity of the OFDR measurement system, improve the performance and quality of OFDR measurements, and perform additional measurements and tests.
Claims20
An Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) interrogation system for measuring an optical fiber sensor including multiple optical cores, the OFDR interrogation system comprising:
- a tunable laser;
- a modulator configured to add a known modulation to an output of the tunable laser to produce swept laser light, the swept laser light including the known modulation;
- an optical interferometric network configured to provide the swept laser light to the optical fiber sensor and to output reflected light from the optical fiber sensor, wherein the outputted reflected light includes, for each core of the multiple optical cores, a reflection of the swept laser light, and wherein the outputted reflected light corresponds to sensor data;
- and
- data processing circuitry configured to:
- determine, based on the known modulation, a phase difference between the outputted reflected light associated with different optical cores of the multiple optical cores, and
- process the sensor data based on the phase difference.
A method of using an optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) interrogation system to measure an optical fiber sensor including multiple optical cores, the method comprising:
- adding a known modulation to an output of a tunable laser to produce swept laser light including the known modulation;
- using an optical interferometric network to provide the swept laser light to the optical fiber sensor and to output reflected light from the optical fiber sensor, wherein the outputted reflected light includes, for each core of the multiple optical cores, a reflection of the swept laser light, and wherein the outputted reflected light corresponds to sensor data;
- determining, based on the known modulation, a phase difference between the outputted reflected light associated with different optical cores of the multiple optical cores, and
- processing the sensor data based on the phase difference.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by one or more processors associated with an optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) interrogation system the OFDR interrogation system configured to measure an optical fiber sensor including multiple optical cores, are adapted to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
- adding a known modulation to an output of a tunable laser to produce swept laser light including the known modulation;
- using an optical interferometric network to provide the swept laser light to the optical fiber sensor and to output reflected light from the optical fiber sensor, wherein the outputted reflected light includes, for each core of the multiple optical cores, a reflection of the swept laser light, and wherein the outputted reflected light corresponds to sensor data;
- determining, based on the known modulation, a phase difference between the outputted reflected light associated with different optical cores of the multiple optical cores, and
- processing the sensor data based on the phase difference.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.