Interrogator having an analog interrogator following at least one amplifier
View Patent ↗An interrogator for a plurality of sensor fiber optic gratings. The interrogator includes a broadband optical source; at least one beam splitter directing output of the optical source to the sensor fiber optic gratings; at least one linear filter for converting changes in peak reflection wavelength to changes in intensity; at least one optical receiver; and at least one amplifier associated with each optical receiver. The interrogator also includes an analog integrator following the at least one amplifier.
1. An interrogator for a plurality of sensor fiber optic gratings comprising:
a broadband optical source;
at least one beam splitter directing output of the optical source to the sensor fiber optic gratings;
at least one linear filter for converting changes in peak reflection wavelength to changes in intensity;
at least one optical receiver;
at least one amplifier associated with each optical receiver; and
an analog integrator following the at least one amplifier.
2. The interrogator of claim 1 wherein the analog integrator has a fast reset to force its output voltage to zero to mitigate the effects of voltage offsets throughout the analog circuits.
3. The interrogator of claim 1 wherein the analog integrator has a reset time of less than two percent of a sampling interval of the integrator.
4. The interrogator of claim 1 wherein the broadband optical source is one of a Light Emitting Diode (LED), a Superluminescent Light Emitting Diode (SLED), an Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) source, and a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA).