Integration of FBG strain sensors in WDM networks, effects on quality factor

A study of the effect of integrating an FBG sensor in a four wavelength WDM communications system operating at 1550 nm is presented. The simulations considered focus on the mutual effects of both the sensing and the communications systems. The effect of power levels of the interrogating optical source on the performance of the two systems is also investigated under excitation levels of up to 10 dBm. The network layout used in the simulations is based on an actual optical link in Oman having a variety of spans. The results obtained at data rates of 2.5 and 10 Gbps with variable strains up to ±600 μs show a good tolerance in terms of quality of transmission for the two systems. However, the greater the strain values, the more noticeable are the degradations of transmission quality parameters of the communications system.