APPLICATION OF FBG SENSORS IN SMART RAILWAY

Andrija MILOJEVI 1
Mia TOMI 2
Nenad T. PAVLOVI 3

Abstract Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor technology has become one of the most rapidly
progressing sensing topics of this decade in the field of optical fiber sensors. FBG sensors are
currently emerging from the laboratory to find practical applications. Rapid progress has been
made in both sensor system developments and applications in recent years. The need for improved
safety, reliability and efficiency is one of the most important aspects of the railway industry
worldwide. FBG sensors could be used in smart condition monitoring system that can allow real-
time and continuous monitoring of the structural and operational conditions of trains as well as
monitoring of the structural health of rail tracks and the location, speed and weight of passing
trains of the entire rail systems. This information is very important for ensuring a safer railway
industry with reduced maintenance costs, optimized performance and capacity; therefore FBG
sensors could play a major role in the realization of Smart Railway. In this paper basic working
principle of FBG sensors and its application in railway systems will be described.

Keywords FBG sensors, monitoring system, railway industry, Smart Railway.

1. INTRODUCTION (more than 20 years), high precision, durability, no

calibration needed, and massive multiplexing
The need for improved safety, reliability and
capability - hundreds of sensing points along a single
efficiency is one of the most important aspects of the
strand of optical fiber.
railway industry worldwide. A smart condition
The first report of photosensitivity in optical fiber
monitoring system would allow real-time and
was attributed to Hill [1]. However, the first practical
continuous monitoring of the structural and
grating technique was regarded to be UV grating
operational conditions of trains as well as monitoring
fabrication [2]. In 1989, Morey disclosed the potential
of the structural health of rail tracks and the location,
sensing abilities of FBG [3]. Exposure of optical fiber
speed and weight of passing trains of the entire rail
to ultraviolet light induces a permanent change of the
systems. Ultimately, the inclusion of train location,
refractive index. This effect is used to write Bragg
speed restrictions, and train and track conditions to an
gratings into fibers which then can reflect very small
intelligent system will herald a safer railway
wavelength peaks. The wavelengths of these peaks
industry with reduced maintenance costs, optimized
change with temperature or when such fibers are
performance and capacity. Integration of smart
strained. This effect can be used for measuring strain,
condition monitoring system and railway in one big
vibration, temperature, velocity, etc. In recent years,
system makes intelligent system known as Smart
FBG sensors have attracted a lot of interests and are
Railway. Smart condition monitoring system for
being used in numerous applications. One of these
railway application requires extensive sensor
applications is in Smart Railway. In [4] FBG
networks (thousands of sensors) for measuring strain,
sensors are used for health monitoring of railway.
vibration, temperature, velocity, etc. The use of
Paper [5] describes exploitation of FBG sensors for
conventional sensors would be very difficult and
axle counter in railway engineering, and in [6] FBGs
expensive. Instead of this, fiber Bragg grating sensors
are used for monitoring of a steel railway bridge.
(FBG) could be used because they offer many
There is great potential for application of FBG
advantages over classical electrical sensors: immunity
sensors in railway systems. This paper has intended to
to electromagnetic interference (EMI), long life-time
provide systematic review of recent progress in
1
Andrija MILOJEVI, University of Ni, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, andrijamilojevic87@gmail.com.
2
Mia TOMI, University of Ni, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, mishatomic@gmail.com.
3
Nenad T. PAVLOVI, University of Ni, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, nenadtp@gmail.com.
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applications of FBG sensors in railway, which will
promote classical railway to Smart Railway.
2. FIBER BRAGG GRATING SENSORS
The FBG is a short section in the core of an optical
fiber with periodic variations in the index of reflection
(Fig.1). FBG sensors based on the principle that the
FBG is sensitive to the variation of the temperature
and the stress [3].
2.1. Fabricating Fiber Bragg Grating
Bragg gratings are written into so called single-
mode fibers. These fibers consist of a very small inner
core of 4 to 9 m diameter and an outer part
(cladding) of pure glass (SiO2) of 125 m diameter.
The core has a higher refraction index caused by high
Germanium doping. The difference of refraction
indexes between inner core and cladding causes the
light to propagate only inside the small core.
Sensor grating period
optical single mode fibre
n interrogator
Refractive
Fig.1. Structure of fiber Bragg gratings
Currently, there are two major methods for
fabricating Fiber Bragg Grating: holographic method
[2] and phase mask method [7]. Easier method for
fabricating FBG is by phase mask (Fig.2) because
holographic method requires more stable setup, and a
good coherence light source.
UV beams
Fig.2. FBG fabrication using phase mask
Phase mask is a piece of diffractive grating with
depth modulation on fused silica. The phase mask
were designed to suppress 0th order diffraction
efficiency (<5%) and increase +/-1st order efficiency
(>35%). When a UV beam incident on phase mask,
the +/-1st order beam will credit an interference
pattern, this pattern will write the FBG on the fiber.
Basically, when a germanium-doped silica core fiber
is exposed to this ultraviolet (UV) radiation (with
wavelength around 240 nm), it produces a permanent
change in the refractive index of the germanium-
doped region, due to the photosensitivity nature of the
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Serbia, Ni, October 04-05, 2012
fiber and, using such an exposure, it is possible to
obtain realize changes in the refractive index by
factors as large as 10-3 in germanium-doped silica
fiber. If the fiber is exposed to a pair of interfering UV
beams (Fig.2), then in regions of constructive
interference which correspond to high UV intensity,
the local refractive index will increase. At the same
time, in regions of destructive interference, where the
intensity of UV light is negligible, there is no index
change. Therefore, an exposure to an interference
pattern will result in a periodic refractive index
modulation along the length of the fiber, the period of
modulation being exactly equal to the spacing
between the interference fringes.
2.2. Operating principle of the FBG sensors
Operating principle of the FBG sensor system is
shown in Fig.3.
Stress and/or Temperature
ASE Coupler
light source FBG1 FBG2 FBG3 FBG4
Reflected light
FBG
Reflective spectrum
Fig.3. Operating principle of FBG Sensor
An amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) light
source illuminates sensor chain through a coupler.
Different FBG has different reflective wavelength
which will be demodulated by the interrogator
(system that detects the wavelength shift in relation to
the external perturbation). When an FBG is expanded
or compressed due to temperature change or stress, it
will induce wavelength shift B in the reflective
spectrum. FBGs couple the forward propagating core
modes to the backward modes at the wavelength, B,
that satisfy the resonance condition:
B 2 neff (1)
where neff is the effective index of the core mode and
is the period. Equation 1 indicates that the Bragg
wavelength (B) depends on the effective refractive
index of the core mode (neff), besides of the grating
periodicity (). External parameters can affect both
neff and resulting in changes on the B. This
dependency allows the FBG to be applied as a various
types of sensors (temperature, strain, etc.) [8]. The
strain response occurs because of both the physical
elongation of the optical fiber (and the corresponding
change in ), and the change in refractive index of the
optical fiber due to elasto-optic effect (that
consequently modifies neff) [9]. The inherent thermal
expansion of the optical fiber material (that changes
RAILCON12
) and the dependence of the refractive index of the
optical fiber with the temperature due to thermo-optic
effect (that modifies neff) justify the FBG temperature
response [10]. Mathematically, the shift in the Bragg
wavelength (B) due to an applied strain and
temperature change is given by [11]:
neff neff
B 2 neff l 2 neff T (2) can be easily computed by using just one FBG sensor.
l l T T
where, l is the FBG length, and T is the temperature.
The Equation 2 shows that any change in
wavelength, associated with the action of an external
perturbation to the grating, is the sum of both strain
and temperature terms. Therefore, in sensing
applications where only one perturbation is of interest,
the decoupling of either temperature effect or strain
effect becomes necessary. The simplest approach for
elimination of cross-sensitivity problems is to use two
FBG, with one of them isolated from the unwanted
perturbation. Typical values for FBG sensitivities with
Bragg wavelength close to 1.5 m are 1 pm/ and 10
pm/C [12]. Hence, when the temperature effects are
compensated and/or controlled, the FBG response can
be associated only with strain changes.
3. APPLICATION OF FBG SENSORS IN
RAILWAY
The FBG sensors can be used to monitor many
important railway sub-systems such as axle counters
[5], anti-derailment monitors [13], and train load
detectors. They can serve as continuous rail crack
detectors, to monitor the instantaneous vibration
signatures of passing trains at selected locations, for
on-line measurement of train speed, train weight
estimation, detection of untoward activities [14], etc.
Fig.4. FBG sensors for counting train axles
FBG sensor system is best suited for railway
monitoring due to its many unique features that are
not found in electrical monitoring systems: EMI
(electromagnetic interference) immunity, capability to
multiplex large number of sensors along a single fiber,
remote sensing, inherent self-referencing capability,
no calibration needed etc. By measuring the strain
induced on the tracks when a train passes over them
FBG sensors can serve as axle counters. As show in
Fig.4 [4], each peak represents the presence of each
INFRASTRUCTURE
axle, by counting the number of peaks generated from
each sensor it is possible to calculate the number of
axles [5]. This is important to ensure the same number
of cars entering and leaving tunnels.
The same approach can be used to detect the speed
and weight of a passing train (Fig.5). Since the
distances between the wheels are known, train speed
Fig.5. FBG sensor installed on the track
FBG sensors can be installed on each side of a rail
to detect imbalances on the two sides of rail wheels. It
is well known that if there are large difference
between the left and right hand side loading of an
axle, there is the danger of train derailment.
FBGs can be also used for the measurement of
strain and temperature of train body shells.
The axial stress distribution and variation of
continuous welded rail tracks under the action of
environmental temperature will be related to the
deformation of the track and the safety of the rolling
stock. FBG sensors could be also used in track
deformation monitoring system. Fig. 6 shows three
FBG sensors that are installed at each cross section of
a track. These three axial strains can be used to back
calculate the axial force, bending moments and
deformation curvatures at their section as well as to
calculate the axial stresses [15].
Fig.6. FBGs for measuring deformation of rail track
FBG sensors could be installed on a number of
equipment in the underframe of trains for monitoring
the vibrations in critical locations which include the
welding joints, cross beams and sole bars as shown in
Fig. 7 [4].
The FBG sensors can be used for structural health
monitoring of railway bridge. As shown on Fig. 8, one
fiber Bragg grating sensor can be placed in the middle
of a secondary beam section, exactly below the rail
track on the one edge of the bridge. This sensor can
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precisely determine loading conditions and exact
structural behavior of the bridge [6].
Fig.7. Locations of weld joints where FBG sensors
are installed for monitoring dynamic strains of
critical parts: BDT = Battery Trailer, MC = Motor
Car, AET = Auxiliary Equipment Trailer
FBG
Fig.8. FBG sensor installed on the beam section of the
bridge
4. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper basic operating principles of fiber
Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, and its application in
railway systems are shown. In essence, a small piece
of FBG sensor can generate lots of train running
information with good data integrity. Due to many
advantages over classical electrical sensors: small size
and weight, electrical isolation, environmental
robustness, and ability to be multiplexed, the FBG
sensors can be used to monitor many important
railway sub-systems such as axle counters, anti-
derailment monitors, train load detectors, speed
detectors, etc. This permits real-time monitoring of
the entire rail network, allowing maximization of
network capacity, optimization of electricity
utilization and effective detection of potential
operational hazards to enhance overall service safety
and quality. Nowadays FBG sensors and sensor
systems are available in production scale; they are
gaining more popularity and an increasing market
and they have their potential by far not yet realized. In
conclusion we can say that the application of FBG
sensors along the rail tracks have the potential to
revolutionize the railway industry and to update
conventional systems into Smart Railways, thereby
providing safe, reliable and vital information to rail
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operators.
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