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Roger Main gives a four‐part report on the optical technologies which are playing an increasingly important role in sensor development.

This paper aims to focus on the development of an optical concentration sensor designed for measuring the concentration of components in solutions.

The operating principle of the developed sensor is based on the Bouguer–Lambert–Beer law. An optical measuring system using fiber optical cables was used for the practical implementation of the concentration sensor.

As a result of fiber optical cable use in the concentration sensor, the remote measurement principle was implemented, ensuring the instrument’s reliability and the reduction of operating costs.

The advantage of the proposed measuring system is that the sensitive element is maintenance-free, does not require power supply and can operate under severe industrial conditions. Using a fiber optic cable to transmit a light signal allows placing the sensitive element at a distance of several tens of meters from the electronics unit (the smart part).

A remarkably bullish forecast of the growth prospects for Japan's optoelectronics industry was contained in a report on the industry published earlier this year by the Economics Division of the Long Term Credit Bank of Japan. The industry was seen as growing to be as important as the electronics industry, with which it was seen as forming the mainstay of Japan's future industry. Believing it would be of interest to a wider readership we publish here a shortened version of the report.

The paper describes a new electro‐optical board technology, based on the discrete wiring principle. Isolated copper wires are embedded in the circuit board to realise the electrical interconnections. Glass optical fibres are embedded to obtain optical interconnections. The technology allows for crossovers and for electrical and optical interconnections on one layer of interconnection. As the technology can be applied on the level of package or multichip module, circuit board and backpanel, it has the ability to offer a complete solution for chip to chip electrical and optical interconnections. The paper will describe the basic manufacturing technology of the boards. The benefits of the technology from a system designer's viewpoint will be addressed. The problem of coupling light in and out of the embedded optical fibres will be discussed and the realisation of a first on‐board optical link via embedded optical fibres will be described.

Seepage of the dam is an important safety problem, which may cause internal erosion of the structure. In the field of seepage monitoring in civil engineering, the distributed optical fiber sensing technology based on the temperature tracing method has been paid more attention due to its unique advantages of high sensitivity, good stability and high resolution. The purpose of this paper is to make a review of the existing related research, so as to facilitate the later scholars to understand and further study more systematically.

In this paper, three kinds of commonly used distributed fiber temperature measurement technologies are introduced. Based on the working principle, monitoring system, theoretical analysis, experimental research and engineering application of the fiber seepage monitoring technology, the present situation of dam seepage monitoring based on distributed fiber is reviewed in detail and their advantages and disadvantages are compared.

The thermal monitoring technology of seepage measurement depends on the accuracy of optical fiber temperature measurement (including the accuracy of the system and the rationality of the discrimination method), the correct installation of optical fiber and the quantitative analysis of temperature data. The accuracy of the current monitoring system can basically meet the existing measurement requirements, but the correct installation of optical fiber and the calibration of temperature data need to be further studied for different discrimination methods, and this field has great research value.

At present, there are many applications and research studies of optical fiber sensing in the field of structural health monitoring, and there are also reviews of related aspects. However, there is little or no review only in the field of seepage monitoring. This paper summarizes the research and application of optical fiber sensing in the field of seepage monitoring. The possibility of the gradient method to find its new prospect with the development of monitoring systems and the improvement of temperature resolution is discussed. The idea of extending the seepage monitoring method based on distributed optical fiber thermal monitoring technology to other monitoring fields is also given in the paper.

Your computer may talk to other computers with light, over a glass data highway — fibre optic cabling. Since more and more personal computers and terminals are being connected to larger computer networks with light‐carrying fibre optics, you should know some of the do's and don'ts on how to use them and take care of them. Once you determine that your workstation uses pulses of light to communicate, you can do something to ensure that the light doesn't go out.

Describes the author's work on the development of fibre sensors and networks for monitoring trace gases such as methane, acetylene, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and for detection of spills of gasoline, diesel and organic solvents, all of which are important in environmental and safety management. As an example, a 45‐point fibre optic sensor network has been installed on a landfill site to assess the distribution of methane generation across the site. System operation is based on near‐IR absorption and is currently being extended to monitor other gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. Concurrently, research is being conducted on fibre lasers for the realisation of multi‐point, multi‐gas monitoring systems. Based on other principles (periodic micro‐bending loss effects), detection of hydrocarbon fuel spills has been demonstrated at multiple locations along the length of a specially designed fibre optic cable using standard optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) measurements.

Just as with conventional electrical cables, signals passed down optical fibres will not reach their destination if a break or improper connection is present in the fibre optic cable. Now that optical fibres are widely used in defence and communications, accurate methods of precisely locating breaks have become extremely important.