Sensors Having Multiple Fiber-Grating Sensing Elements That Provide Differing Responses to an Environmental Input and Related Systems and Methods

摘要

Sensors for measuring an environmental input, such as force or moisture, that include fiber-grating sensing elements having differing responses to the environmental input such that the differing responses can be used to effectively solve multiple equations, representing the differing responses, for two unknowns representing, respectively, the environmental input and temperature. The differing responses can be due to any one or more of a variety of factors, including sensor elements having differing effective areas, materials of differing cure states, differing fiber grating wavelengths, differing sensitive materials, asymmetrical deployments, and differing numbers of load balancing elements, among others. Sensor systems employing such sensors and methods of utilizing such sensors are also disclosed.