Simultaneous measurement of humidity and vibration based on a microwire sensor system using Fast Fourier Transform technique

Abstract

This paper presents a new sensor system for vibration and relative humidity measurements based on its interaction with the evanescent field of a microwire. The interrogation of the sensing head is carried out by monitoring the fast Fourier transform (FFT) phase of one of the FFT peaks of the microwire transmission signal. This technique is not dependent of the signal amplitude and also eludes the requisite of tracking the wavelength evolution in the spectrum, which can be a handicap when there are multiple interference frequency components with different sensitivities. The point sensor is able to measure a wide humidity range (20%-70% relative humidity) with a maximum sensitivity reached of 0.14πrad/% relative humidity. This microwire sensor is also operated within a frequency range from 320 to 1300 Hz with a sensitivity of around 0.0051 nm -1 /Hz. Finally, due to the system uses an optical interrogator as unique active element, the system presents a cost-effective feature.