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ADVITAC project featured in Perspectives
November 2009
Perspectives, the Cranfield University magazine, highlights the 10 year collaboration between Engineering Photonics and Cranfield’s Composites Research Centre in its article, which can be read here.
Future of collaboration with Kitakyushu University
November 2009
Steve James took part in a symposium to discuss the next stage of the fruitful collaboration between Cranfield University and the Universities on the Kitakyushu Science and Research Park in Kitakyushu, Japan. Representatives of Cranfield University, Kitakyushu University, Waseda University, and Kitakyushu Institute of Technology reviewed past and ongoing collaborative research and, in a panel discussion, explored the options for consolidating current successes and building new collaborations. The audience was drawn from the Universities, local industries, and from local government.
Member of the board
October 2009
Ralph Tatam has been elected to sit on the board of directors of SPIE.
You take the high road… to the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors
October 2009
The EPG was well represented at OFS-20 held in Edinburgh from 5th to 9th of October, where eight papers on its work in the areas of fibre grating sensors and optical coherence tomography were presented.
Field monitoring of static, dynamic and statnamic pile loading tests using fibre Bragg grating strain sensors
J Li, R Correia, E Chehura, S Staines, S W James, R P Tatam, A P Butcher, and R Fuentes
Presented at the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS20) held in Edinburgh, UK, October 2009.
Optical fibre long period grating based selective vapour sensing of volatile organic compounds
S M Topliss, S W James, F Davis, S P J Higson, and R P Tatam
Presented at the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS20) held in Edinburgh, UK, October 2009.
Fibre Bragg grating based effective soil pressure sensor for geotechnical applications
R Correia, J Li, S Staines, E Chehura, S W James, J Kutner, P Dewhurst, P Ferreira, and R P Tatam
Presented at the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS20) held in Edinburgh, UK, October 2009.
A simple method for fabricating phase-shifted fibre Bragg gratings with flexible choice of centre wavelength
E Chehura, S W James, and R P Tatam
Presented at the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS20) held in Edinburgh, UK, October 2009.
Pressure measurements on aircraft wing using phase-shifted fibre Bragg grating sensors
E Chehura, S W James, N Lawson, K P Garry, and R P Tatam
Presented at the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS20) held in Edinburgh, UK, October 2009.
Multicomponent strain development in superconducting magnet coils using optical fibre grating sensors fabricated in highly linearly birefringent fibre
E Chehura, S W James, A Johnstone, F Domptail, A Twin, and R P Tatam
Presented at the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS20) held in Edinburgh, UK, October 2009.
Response of a fibre optic long period grating operating at the phase matching turning point to the deposition of a nanostructured coating
S W James, S M Topliss, S C Cheung, and R P Tatai
Presented at the 20th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS20) held in Edinburgh, UK, October 2009.
EPG involved in two Framework-7 projects
June 2009
The ADVITAC (ADVanced Integrated TAil Cone) project funded by the European Commission officially started on May 25th, 2009. The partners (Daher Aerospace, NLR, INASMET, Cranfield University, Coriolis Composites, Embraer, RECOMET Impex, and Free Field Technologies) gather at Daher’s headquarters in Montrichard on May 28th to launch the project. The aim of the ADVITAC programme is to build a composite tail cone, 3 m long by 150 cm in diameter, equipped with the APU system for business jets and regional aircraft. The EPG is involved in the development of approaches, based on optical fibre sensors, to monitor the cure of the composite materials, subsequently using the sensors for structural health and usage monitoring. The length of the programme will be 42 months and has an overall cost estimated at 8M Euros, 50% of the finance is provided by the European Commission.
PMnIDEA (Predictive Maintenance employing non-intrusive Inspection and Data Analysis) brings together TU Delft, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cranfield University, D’Appolonia SPA, Mer Mer SPA, Politecnico Milano, Stagecoach Group, Plc. Societe des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles SSF, Agenzia per la Mobilita del Comune di Roma SPA. Tramwaje Warszawskie Sp. Zoo, Corus UK Ltd, Alstom Transport S.A., TSTG Schienen Technik GmbH, Dynamics, Structures and System International Ltd, and Bytronics Automation Ltd. The project has two key drivers; firsty to contribute towards the realisation of a 24×7 railway by minimising the disruption caused by activities such as inspection, remedial and reactive maintenance, and track renewal. Secondly, the introduction of novel sensor and inspection technologies that focuses more on the monitoring of degradation through the measurement of deviation from identified benchmark data known as a signature tune. Both these drivers promote the use of urban transport, and tramways inparticular, which contributes to lowering congestion and the impact on the environment. The EPG will be exploiting fibre Bragg grating technology for the measurement of strain in critical components.
Ralph sits on SAT
June 2009
Ralph Tatam has been asked to sit on the Strategic Advisory Team of EPSRC’s Materials, Mechanical, and Medical Engineering programme. The M3E programme funds research and training in engineering to support the health of the discipline and to provide skills and knowledge for future needs.
Invited paper
June 2009
Ralph Tatam has been invited to present the EPG’s work on the use of fibre optic imaging bundles in laser-based flow measurement, optical coherence tomography and speckle interferometry at the 14th OptoElectronics and Communications Conference (OECC) 2009, to be held in Hong Kong, July 2009.
Optical Sensing with Coherence Imaging Fibre bundles
R P Tatam
Invited paper
To be presented at the 14th OptoElectronics and Communications Conference (OECC) 2009, Hong Kong.
Impact Factor
June 2009
The impact factor of Optics and Laser Technology, the journal edited by Steve James, increased for the 2nd consecuctive year. The impact factor is now 0.892.
Well Read
May 2009
The EPG’s review paper on optical fibre long period gratings, published in 2003, is among the 30 most read articles of 2008 in Measurement Science and Technology. The paper, which was downloaded 627 times in 2008, and has been downloaded 3,842 times since it was published, is available free for all to access for the rest of 2009.
Optical fibre long-period grating sensors: characteristics and application
Stephen W James and Ralph P Tatam
Meas. Sci. Technol. 14 no 5 (May 2003) R49-R61
An image from this paper was used on the cover of the May 2003 edition of Measurement Science and Technology.
PhD Success
April 2009
Ricardo Correia’s successful viva was the first step in what could be a very eventful year.
PhD Success
March 2009
Congratulations go to Dackson Masiyano for successfully defending his thesis, and for including a reference to the work of Bob Marley.
Paper in IOP Select
March 2009
The EPG’s recent paper on Planar Doppler Velocimetry, an image from which graces the front cover of the issue of Measurement Science and Technology in which it was published (see news item below), has been chosen to appear in IOP Select. IOP Select is a free service from IOP journals comprising articles chosed by Editors for their novelty, significance and potential impact on future research.
Three-component planar velocity measurements using Mach-Zehnder interferometric filter based planar Doppler velocimetry (MZI-PDV)
Z Lu, T O H Charrett, and R P Tatam
Measurement Science and Technology, 20, 03019 (2009)
Hold the Front Page
March 2009
The cover of the special issue of Measurement Science and Technology from OFS 19 is graced by a photograph of the fibre imaging bundles used by the EPG in its work on planar Doppler velocimetry and speckle interferometry.
Front cover of the March 2009 edition of Measurement Science and Technology co-edited by Ralph.
The special issue, which was co-edited by Ralph Tatam, contains two publications from the EPG based on work that was presented at OFS 19:
Response of the transmission spectrum of tapered optical fibres to the deposition of a nanostructured coating
R Jarzebinska, S W James, and R P Tatam
Measurement Science and Technology 20, 034001 (2009)
Three-component planar velocity measurements using Mach-Zehnder interferometric filter based planar Doppler velocimetry (MZI-PDV)
Z Lu, T O H Charrett, and R P Tatam
Measurement Science and Technology, 20, 03019 (2009)
PhD Success
February 2009
Congratulations to Georgios Sarantavgas, who successfully defended his thesis on OCT.
Do you know the way to .. BiOS 2009 in San Jose
January 2009
Helen Ford does, which is a good thing as she had to present her work on the use of fibre-optic imaging bundles in OCT.
Coherent fibre bundles in full-field swept-source OCT
H D Ford and R P Tatam
Presented at BiOS (part of SPIE Photonics West)
San Jose, USA, January 2009
SPIE 7168-96 (2009)