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US 8,552,360 B2Granted
Wavelength sweep control
AssigneeWeatherford/Lamb, Inc.
InventorsDomino Taverner, Trevor MacDougall, Paul E. Sanders
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for the active control of a wavelength-swept light source used to interrogate optical elements having characteristic wavelengths distributed across a wavelength range are provided.
Claims8
A method, comprising:
- obtaining feedback from one or more optical sensor elements generated using a sweep of wavelengths to interrogate optical sensor elements, wherein the optical sensor elements have characteristic wavelengths spanned by a sweep range, wherein the characteristic wavelengths change in response to features sensed by the optical sensor elements, and wherein the feedback regards the changes to the characteristic wavelengths;
- and
- adjusting one or more parameters effecting the interrogation, during a current or future sweep, based on the feedback, wherein the adjusting comprises:
- decreasing an interrogating optical power if the sweep range does not contain a spectral feature of interest;
- and
- increasing the interrogating optical power if the sweep range contains a spectral feature of interest.
3 more elements
An apparatus for controlling interrogation of optical sensor elements having characteristic wavelengths spanned by a sweep range, comprising:
- circuitry for obtaining feedback from the optical sensor elements generated using a sweep of wavelengths to interrogate the optical sensor elements, wherein the characteristic wavelengths change in response to features sensed by the optical sensor elements and wherein the feedback regards the changes to the characteristic wavelengths;
- and
- circuitry for adjusting one or more parameters affecting the interrogation, during a current or future sweep, based on the feedback, wherein the circuitry for adjusting is configured to:
- decrease an interrogating optical power if the sweep range does not contain a spectral feature of interest;
- and
- increase the interrogating optical power if the sweep range contains a spectral feature of interest.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- obtaining feedback from one or more optical sensor elements generated using a sweep of wavelengths to interrogate the optical sensor elements, wherein the optical sensor elements have characteristic wavelengths spanned by a sweep range, wherein the characteristic wavelengths change in response to features sensed by the optical sensor elements, and wherein the feedback regards the changes to the characteristic wavelengths;
- and
- adjusting one or more parameters affecting the interrogation, during a current or future sweep, based on the feedback, wherein the adjusting comprises decreasing a sweep rate of the sweep range when one of the optical sensor elements having the characteristic wavelengths in the sweep range is a high resolution sensor.
An apparatus for controlling interrogation of optical sensor elements having characteristic wavelengths spanned by a sweep range, comprising:
- circuitry for obtaining feedback from the optical sensor elements generated using a sweep of wavelengths to interrogate the optical sensor elements, wherein the characteristic wavelengths change in response to features sensed by the optical sensor elements and wherein the feedback regards the changes to the characteristic wavelengths;
- and
- circuitry for adjusting one or more parameters affecting the interrogation, during a current or future sweep, based on the feedback, wherein the circuitry for adjusting is configured to decrease a sweep rate of the sweep range when one of the optical sensor elements having the characteristic wavelengths in the sweep range is a high resolution sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.