Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature, pressure and other quantities by modifying a fiber so that the quantity to be measured modulates the intensity, phase, polarization, wavelength or transit time of light in the fiber. A fiber-optic sensor is a sensor that uses optical fiber either as the sensing element ("intrinsic sensors"), or as a means of relaying signals from a remote sensor to the electronics that process the signals ("extrinsic sensors"). Fibers have many uses in remote sensing. Depending on the application and the used technology standard fiber optic telecom cables are suitable, while other applications may. This is the power of fiber optic sensing, a technology that transforms ordinary optical fibers into the digital world's sensory network. They consist of a fiber-optic amplifier and fiber-optic cables with or without optics.
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