Falcetelli Francesco, Rossi Leonardo, Di Sante Raffaella, Bolognini Gabriele
Department of Industrial Engineering-DIN, University of Bologna, 47121 Forlì, Italy.
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 40129 Bologna, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2025 Apr 8;25(8):2353. doi: 10.3390/s25082353.
Shape sensing with optical fiber sensors is an emerging technology with broad applications across various fields. This study evaluates the metrological performance of shape sensing cables in the presence of fiber core failures, a critical issue in scenarios where cable replacement is impractical due to technological and economic constraints. The impact of core failure is quantified by comparing the uncertainty in key parameters, such as curvature and bending angle, between pristine and damaged cables through Monte Carlo simulations. Results indicate that while core failure degrades performance, shape reconstruction remains achievable. However, the reconstruction becomes sensitive to bending direction due to the loss of core symmetry. Additionally, simulations of how measurement noise propagates into uncertainty in the 3D shape reconstruction are carried out. Analysis of specific shapes, including a circle and a right-handed helix, shows that increasing the number of sensing cores significantly mitigates the adverse effects of core failure. The most notable improvement occurs when the number of cores is increased from four to five. These findings show how shape reconstruction is still possible even in the presence of core damage, and how this changes the behavior of the sensing process.
利用光纤传感器进行形状传感是一项新兴技术，在各个领域都有广泛应用。本研究评估了在存在光纤芯故障的情况下形状传感电缆的计量性能，这是一个在由于技术和经济限制而无法进行电缆更换的场景中的关键问题。通过蒙特卡罗模拟比较原始电缆和受损电缆之间关键参数（如曲率和弯曲角度）的不确定性，来量化芯故障的影响。结果表明，虽然芯故障会降低性能，但形状重建仍然是可行的。然而，由于芯对称性的丧失，重建对弯曲方向变得敏感。此外，还进行了测量噪声如何传播到三维形状重建不确定性中的模拟。对包括圆形和右旋螺旋线在内的特定形状的分析表明，增加传感芯的数量可显著减轻芯故障的不利影响。当芯的数量从四个增加到五个时，改善最为显著。这些发现表明，即使存在芯损伤，形状重建仍然是可能的，以及这如何改变传感过程的行为。
