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The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed review of radiation dosimetry techniques based on optical fibre dosimeters. It presents a comprehensive bibliography of the current research activities in the area.

A range of published work on optical fibre radiation dosimeters are presented, with the merits and limitations discussed. Each radiation dosimetry technique is discussed in turn, providing examples of dosimeters using such techniques reviewed. The main focus is on gamma radiation although other radiation dosimeters are considered.

This paper provides information on the wide range of research activity into radiation dosimeters. The dose ranges of these dosimeters are presented, along with the advantages and disadvantages of different dosimetry techniques.

A comprehensive review of published research in the area of solid radiation dosimetry is presented in this paper. It provides an individual with a review of the various techniques used and most recent research in that field.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative review of intensity‐modulated fiber optic sensors with non‐optical sensors for health monitoring applications, from the current research activities in the area.

A range of published research work in sensor design for four different health monitoring applications, including, lumbar spine bending, upper and lower limb motion tracking, respiration and heart rate monitoring, are presented and discussed in terms of their respective advantages and limitations.

This paper provides information on the various types of sensors applied into the health monitoring area. The sensing techniques of the fiber optic sensor for the stated applications are focused and compared in details to highlight their contributions.

A comparative review of published work is illustrated in an informative table content, to allow a clear idea of the current sensing approaches for health monitoring applications.

Soft robotics is a burgeoning field owing to its high adaptability and safety in human–machine interaction and unstructured environments. However, the feedback control of soft actuators with flexible sensors is still a challenge.

To address this issue, this study proposes an optical fibre-based sensing membrane for the posture measurement of soft pneumatic bending actuators. The major contribution is the development of a flexible sensing membrane with a high sensitivity and repeatability for the feedback control of soft actuators. The characteristics of sensing membrane were analysed. The relationship between wavelength shift and bending curvature was derived. The curvatures of soft actuator were measured at four bending status, and the postures were reconstructed.

The results indicate that the measurement error is less than 2.1% of the actual bending curvature. The sensitivity is up to 212.8 pm/m⁻¹, and the signal fluctuation in repeated measurements is negligible. This approach has broad application prospects in soft robotics, because it makes the optical fibre achieve more strength and compatible with soft actuators, thus improving the sensing accuracy, sensitivity and reliability of fibre sensors.

Different from previous approaches, an optical fibre with FBGs is embedded into a multilayered polyimide film to form a flexible sensing membrane, and the membrane is embedded into a soft pneumatic bending actuator as the smart strain limited layer which is able to measure the posture in real time. This approach makes the optical fibre stronger and compatible with the soft pneumatic bending actuator, and the sensing accuracy, sensitivity and reliability are improved. The proposed sensing configuration is effective for the feedback control of the soft pneumatic bending actuators.

Integration of lasers and fibre optics into robotic systems provides new opportunities in sensing and material processing. Increased productivity and application of robots in hostile environments are other possibilities.

Achievements in guided wave optics have had a great influence on many areas of technology for several years. Fibre optic communication links, sensors for various parameters, recently developed distributed temperature sensors, integrated optical switches, etc. are all applications that are commercially available. The field of analytical chemistry is no exception in this growing technology. In order to compete with well‐established chemical‐sensing instrumentation, optical waveguide chemical sensors (OWCSs) must show all the qualities of such instrumentation. OWCSs combine well‐known features of sensors, based on waveguide optics, with optical methods of chemical analysis and offer advantages over other types of chemical sensor. OWCSs are electrically passive, corrosion‐resistant, can respond to analytes for which other chemical sensors are not available, and referencing can be carried out optically. They allow multicomponent measurements at several wavelengths, have a common technology for fabrication of sensors for different chemical and physical parameters and are easily compatible with telemetry etc. Further, only OWCSs are capable of distributed sensing. However, interference from ambient light, temperature, long‐term instability, relatively slow response time, and limited dynamic range may be a problem for some types of OWCS. These disadvantages can be considerably reduced using various methods.

This study aims to optimize the structure of gold-sputtered U-shaped plastic fiber sensors.

A group of U-shaped Au-sputtered plastic optical fiber sensing probes with polishing angles of 45°, 90° and 135° is prepared.

The experimental results show that the spectral response and sensitivity of the sensor at 45°polishing angle is twice that of the sensor at 90°.

Due to the limitations of laboratory temperature and equipment, the overall effect has not reached the ideal, but the expected effect has been obvious. Experiments also optimize the sensor.

Optical fiber sensing has always been an indispensable part of various fields.

Sensor optimization is of great help to the progress of technology and the development of science and technology.

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

It is important to monitor wrist four direction movements (flexion, extension, adduction and abduction) for hand healthcare, wrist rehabilitation and upper limb exercise, and so on. The purpose of this study is to develop a quadri-directional optical bending sensor that integrated wearable device technology in a smart glove to detect wrist four direction movements.

The quadri-directional optical bending sensor was designed with a microcontroller board, a Bluetooth wireless module, a side-emitting polymeric optical fibre (POF), an infrared light emitting diode and four phototransistors. A linear equation was deduced to calculate bending angle from detecting sensor value of Arduino microcontroller. The bending angle values could be seen by the smartphone screen, so the system has a good human–machine interface function.

The light emission by macro-bending of the side-emitting POFs that the transmittance of the outer side is greater than the inner. The bending POFs lateral emission phenomenon integrated with phototransistors on the edge is suitable for the development of bending sensors.

This study is to develop a novel quadri-directional optical bending sensor to replace two bi-direction sensors or four uni-direction sensors for wrist four direction movements monitoring.

This paper aims to propose and demonstrate a simple fiber optic sensor using a tapered plastic multimode fiber as a probe for measurement of calcium nitrate concentrations in de-ionized water.

The working mechanism is based on the observed increment in the transmission of the sensor that is immersed in calcium nitrate solution of higher concentration. The tapering of the plastic fiber is carried out by etching method using acetone, sand paper and de-ionized water.

Tapered fiber with diameter 0.45 mm gives the highest sensitivity of 0.028 mV/% due to better interaction between the evanescent field and the calcium nitrate solution with a good slope linearity of more than 98 per cent for a 1.07 per cent limit of detection in a straight probe arrangement. The use of calcium and nitrate ions within the sensing medium demonstrates the strong dependency of the sensor output trend on the electrolytic nature of the chemical solutions.

Demonstration of tapered plastic multimode fiber sensor probe for measurement electrolytic chemical solutions.

A simple tapered plastic optical fiber (POF) sensor is proposed and demonstrated for measurement of uric acid concentrations in de-ionized water. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The sensor operates based on intensity modulation technique as the tapered POF probe which was coated by a single walled carbon nonotubes polyethylene oxide (SWCNT-PEO) composite is immersed into the uric acid solution. The probe was fabricated using an etching method and has a waist diameter of 0.46 mm and tapering length of 10 mm.

As the concentration varies from 0 to 500 ppm, the output voltage of the sensor increases linearly from 6.13 to 7.35 mV with a sensitivity of 0.0023 mV/% and a linearity of more than 97.20 percent. The SWCNT-PEO composite coating increases the sensitivity of the proposed sensor due to the effective cladding refractive index, which increases with the coating and thus allows more light to be transmitted from the tapered fiber.

This is the first demonstration of the tapered POF sensor for measurement of uric acid concentrations in de-ionized water.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and optimize plastic optical fiber (POF) probe with macro-bending biconical tapered structure for the relative humidity (RH) sensing.

In this study, the principle is the evanescent wave power modulated by the ambient humidity. The probe is fabricated by using fused biconical taper and heat-setting method and then coated with a fluorescent moisture-sensitive film.

The probe’s sensing performance can be optimized by changing the probe’s curvature radius, biconical tapered transition length and taper waist diameter. The result shows that the sensitivity of the probe is up to 1.60 and 3.40 mV/ per cent, respectively, at low humidity (10-45 per cent) and high humidity (45-90 per cent). Also, this probe has good linearity, repeatability, photostability and long-term stability.

The proposed probe can improve the sensitivity and linearity of RH sensing without complex devices, which is necessary for mass production, remote measurement and convenient operation.

POF probe with macro-bending biconical tapered structure is investigated in this paper, which is proved to be effective in improving the sensitivity and linearity.