There are many reasons that engineers and scientists select Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors for their applications. Here’s a case where the FBG’s small size and need for ultra-high sensitivity were the drivers.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are working to help surgeons find tools to make delicate eye surgery more safe and effective. Employing robots in these procedures would help translate relatively coarse human motion into much more stable, controlled and fine machine motion. But to make this feasible, the surgeon must have tactile feedback, that is, a sense of touch that would be translated back through the mechanism.

So this is where the FBG sensors play a key role. FBGs are embedded in to a 0.5mm (25 gauge) diameter instrument so that when it contacts a delicate membrane in the eye, the surgeon would feel the direction and magnitude of the contact. The Micron Optics sm130-700, sampling at 2kHz, measures the FBG’s and is integrated into the feedback and control loop.

 Images courtesy of Russ Taylor/Iulian Iordachita

This work is detailed nicely in this paper “A sub-millimetric, 0.25 mN resolution fully integrated fiber-optic force-sensing tool for retinal microsurgery“.  You can also find information at the website of the JHU Laboratory for Computational Sensing + Robotics and at the CISST website (scroll down and click on Article on Russ Taylor and surgical robotics).

For more information, contact Iulian Iordachita at iordachita@jhu.edu

Atlanta, GA (September 1, 2011) Micron Optics, Inc. is proud to announce the sm690, a new ultra-high speed, high resolution data acquisition module capable of simultaneously measuring up to four Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) at a 2MHz sampling frequency, a rate which is currently unparalleled in the optical sensing industry.

Go to www.micronoptics.com to see the full press release

Micron Optics announced the installation of one of their state of the art optical interrogation systems on one of the nation’s most famous monuments, Mount Rushmore. The Rock Block Monitoring System (RBMS) will provide the National Park Service with critical information about shifts in the rock system which makes up the Mount Rushmore National Monument. The RBMS was installed in partnership with Respec Inc. and the Mount Rushmore Rope Access Team and is composed of one Micron Optics sm125 Optical Sensing Interrogator and 36 sensors.

For more information, see the full press release or read the case study on the website.

Micron Optics is now the official technical supplier of optical sensing interrogators and sensors to the Artemis Racing team representing the Royal Swedish Yacht Club. The announced racing format includes wing-sailed multi-hulled AC45 and AC72 catamarans which will be the fastest and some of the most challenging class of catamarans raced in the America’s Cup to date.

Small, light-weight, optical sensors embedded directly inside carbon composites offer significant advantages to the team because they provide the capability to accurately monitor strain and load changes in real time. This data is critical to achieve maximum performance capabilities in the limited testing period as well as during the race. Catastrophic catamaran damage that might occur during gusty conditions such as broken masts or capsizes will take a team out of the competition, so the ability to measure the condition of the boat at all times is critical.

View this promotional video to see the Artemis Racing Team in action as they prepare for the America’s Cup.

The 34th America’s Cup includes the Louis Vuitton Cup July 13 - September 1, 2013 and the America’s Cup Match Finals September 7 - September 22, 2013.

-Andrew Peterson
Micron Optics Sales