Fiber torsion sensor demodulated by a high-birefringence fiber Bragg grating

A new high-birefringence (Hi-Bi) fiber torsion sensor demodulated by a Hi-Bi fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is proposed in this study. The twisted Hi-Bi fiber sensor characteristics are analyzed using the Jones matrix. The intensity ratio from two reflected Bragg wavelengths is associated with the twist angle of the measured Hi-Bi fiber. It is found that the twist angle resolution is estimated at around 0.3° under ±0.1 dB readout from an optical spectrum analyzer if the polarization state of the light source is stable. The advantages of this new torsion sensor are: (1) insensitivity to intensity variations from the light source, (2) insensitivity to the torsion gauge length, and (3) absolute measurement in the twist angle. However, the polarization state of light in the proposed method needs to be controlled, and any birefringence change in the twisted Hi-Bi fiber needs to be prevented.     

New FIR laser lines and frequency measurements for optically pumped CD3OH

Twenty new cw FIR laser lines in CD₃OH, optically pumped by a CO₂ laser, are reported. The frequencies of 39 of the stronger laser lines were measured relative to stabilized CO₂ lasers with a fractional uncertainty, as determined by the reproducibility of the FIR frequency itself, of 2 parts in 10⁷.Contribution of the U.S. Government, not subject to copyright.     

Fiber-Optic Chemical Sensor for Detection of NO2 Using Poly (3-Octylthiophene)

A fiber-optic chemical sensor (FOCS) for detection of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) molecules is reported. The FOCS presents an optropode structure because of the transmission properties of the sensitive material. The NO₂ FOCS is activated by using the semiconductor polymer: regioregular head-to-tail poly(3-octylthiophene-2,5-diyl). The operation wavelength of the sensor is 543.5 nm such that a simple LED and detector can be used for the design of this device. The sensor response decreases after each exposure, demonstrating the reduction in sensitivity as well as irreversibility lower than 5%. However, its properties such as rapid response, high selectivity, high sensitivity (0.43 ± 0.01 muW/ppm), hygroscopic properties, and its operation at room temperature make this kind of FOCS a good alternative for NO₂ toxic gas detection.     

Highly enantioselective fluorescent recognition of α-amino acid derivatives

Bisbinaphthyl-based macrocycles are found to carry out enantioselective fluorescent recognition of α-amino acid derivatives. It is observed that one enantiomer of a N-protected phenyl glycine can increase the fluorescence intensity of the binaphthyl fluorophores by over 4-fold but the other enantiomer does not cause much fluorescence enhancement. This highly enantioselective fluorescent response makes the binaphthyl macrocycles practically useful for the enantioselective fluorescent recognition of the amino acid substrate.     

基于可重构FPGA技术的自适应FIR滤波器的实现

有限冲激响应(FIR)滤波器设计遇到的难题是滤波要进行大量乘法运算,即使是在全定制的专用集成电路中也会导致过大的面积与功耗.对于用硬件实现系数是常量的专用滤波器,可以通过分解系数变为应用加、减和移位而实现乘法.FIR滤波器的复杂性主要由用于系数乘法的加法器/减法器的数量决定.而对于自适应FIR滤波器,大多数场合下可用数字信号处理器(DSP)或CPU通过软件编程的方法来实现,但是对于要求高速运算的场合,VLSI实现是很好的选择.基于这一考虑,可以用符号数的正则表示(CSD)码表示系数, 再利用可重构现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)技术实现.可重构结构的应用,能保证系统的其余部分同时处于运行状态时实现FIR滤波器系数的更新.文中利用CSD码和可重构思想,提出了用FPGA实现自适应FIR滤波器的一种方案.     

光纤荧光传感器衰减寿命的加权对数拟合法

荧光寿命的检测是荧光光学传感器的核心内容，国际上尝试了多种方法来拟合这种理论上为单指数衰减信号的荧光衰减曲线。这些方法包括非线性函数标准拟合方法。即Levenburg-Marquardt方法，以及Prony方法、FFT方法，对数拟合法等等。为了克服在实际应用中发生的信号退化，需要在测量信号衰减寿命的同时测量信号的初始强度。文章介绍了一种加权的对数拟合法，经计算机仿真及实际数据测试均可以得到和Levenburg-Marquardt方法非常接近的结果，且拟合时间大大缩短，测量稳定性大大提高。仿真测试及具体实验测试结果显示了这种方法的有效性。该方法不仅与Levenburg-Marquardt方法的偏差曲线非常相似，而且实验测得的荧光寿命与Levenburg-Marquardt方法偏差在0．2％以内。     

基于频率采样技术的FIR数字滤波器优化设计

本文提出了一种FIR数字滤波器满意优化设计方法，将滤波器过渡带样本值作为优化变量，通过设计通带、过渡带和阻带性能指标满意度函数和综合满意度函数，构造出满意优化模型，并用本文提出的新量子遗传算法搜索满意解，FIR高通和带阻数字滤波器的设计结果表明，采用满意优化方法设计的FIR滤波器的性能优于传统方法。     

Integrated Smart Sensor Calibration

In many applications electronic sensors are used toimprove performance and reliability of measurement systems. Suchsensors should provide a correct transfer from the physical signalto be measured to the electrical output signal. One importantstep to achieve this, is to calibrate each sensor by applyingdifferent reference input signals and adjusting the sensor transferaccordingly. Besides expensive reference equipment the calibrationprocess takes much time and attention per individual sensor,which means a considerable increase in sensor production costs.By including at the sensor or sensor interface chip a programmablecalibration facility the calibration of such smart sensors caneasily be automated and can be executed for a batch of sensorsat a time, thus minimizing the calibration time and costs. Thispaper presents a calibration method and options for integrationin the smart sensor concept, in hardware as well as in software.An advantage of the proposed method is that it does not needa large matrix of calibration data, which needs to be storedin a look-up table or converted into a correction formula, butinstead it uses a step-by-step approach to correct the sensortransfer at each calibration measurement until the error is sufficientlysmall.     

Simulation and fabrication of carbon nanotubes field emission pressure sensors

A novel field emission pressure sensor has been achieved utilizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as the electron source. The sensor consists of the anode sensing film fabricated by wet etching process and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) cathode in the micro-vacuum chamber. MWNTs on the silicon substrate were grown by thermal CVD. The prototype pressure sensor has a measured sensitivity of about 0.17-0.77 nA/Pa (101-550 KPa). The work shows the potential use of CNTs-based field-emitter in microsensors, such as accelerometers and tactile sensors.     

Optimal Path Planning Based on Visibility

Various problems associated with optimal path planning for mobile observers such as mobile robots equipped with cameras to obtain maximum visual coverage of a surface in the three-dimensional Euclidean space are considered. The existence of solutions to these problems is discussed first. Then, optimality conditions are derived by considering local path perturbations. Numerical algorithms for solving the corresponding approximate problems are proposed. Detailed solutions to the optimal path planning problems for a few examples are given.