How Fiber Sensors Can Enhance the Design and Manufacture of Composite Systems

While standard distributed fiber-optic sensing (FOS) has seen widespread adoption in the long-term monitoring of large structures and assets, high-definition distributed fiber-optic sensing (HD-FOS) has emerged as an important engineering tool in the design, validation, and manufacturing of advanced composite materials and systems.

This session describes how advanced optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) technology has evolved to deliver fiber-optic sensor solutions with sub-millimeter spatial resolution and high sensitivity when capturing strain and temperature profiles. Application examples illustrate how HD-FOS is an ideal fit for the unique challenges of composite materials, including high-fidelity design validation, challenging manufacturing processes including joining and welding, and building smart parts for damage detection.

About the presenter
David Potter is director of marketing for Luna Innovations in Blacksburg, VA, a manufacturer of cutting-edge fiber optic test and measurement solutions. He holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University and a master of science degree in electrical engineering from MIT. He has over 25 years of experience in the test and measurement industry developing and managing products and solutions for automated test, data acquisition, and advanced industrial measurements. He is currently responsible for technical marketing and product management at Luna.