A High Speed, Portable, Multi-Function, Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) Sensing System and a High Performance Optical Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) Demodulator

摘要

A high speed, portable, multi-function WIM sensing system based on Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) technology is reported in this paper. This system is developed to measure the total weight, the distribution of weight of vehicle in motion, the distance of wheel axles and the distance between left and right wheels. In this system, a temperature control system and a real-time compensation system are employed to eliminate the drifts of optical fiber Fabry-Perot tunable filter. Carbon Fiber Laminated Composites are used in the sensor heads to obtain high reliability and sensitivity. The speed of tested vehicles is up to 20 mph, the full scope of measurement is 4000 lbs, and the static resolution of sensor head is 20 lbs. The demodulator has high speed (500 Hz) data collection, and high stability. The demodulator and the light source are packed into a 17" rack style enclosure. The prototype has been tested respectively at Stevens' campus and Army base. Some experiences of avoiding the pitfalls in developing this system are also presented in this paper.