METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING ACCELERATION USING A FIBER OPTIC ACCELEROMETER

摘要

A system and method for measuing acceleration using a fiber optic accelerometer having a pair of fiber optic coils positioned around a deformable support structure. The support structure possesses a nominally cylindrical shape with the fiber optic coils being wound around opposite end s of the cylindrical support structure from each other. The support structure deforms from its nominally cyclindrical shape to a conical shape in response to acceleration along a sensing axis. The changing shape of the support structure causes one of the fiber optic coils to expand while the other of t he fiber optic coils contracts. The fiber optic coils are included in an interferometer such that acceleration along the sensing axis produces a phas e difference between light signals propagating in the fiber optic coils resulting from their expansion and contraction.