Short Courses

This short course is intended for an audience including not only researchers and engineers who are working on the development of optical fiber sensors, but also those who want to use fiber sensors for monitoring and data collection in diverse areas.

The first half of the course will review at first basic fiber-based devices, such as fiber Bragg gratings, optical fiber interferometers, and resonators, which form the bases of various fiber sensors.  Then typical “point” sensors including strain/temperature sensors and refractive index sensors (biomedical sensors) will be addressed, and “multiplexed” fiber-optic sensors (sensor networks) be introduced.  The rest of the first half will focus on the principles of “distributed” fiber optic sensing.  Two fundamental points behind distributed fiber-optic sensing will be explained: 1) the schemes to locate the event to be measured, which comprise a series of tools as so-called OTDR (time domain reflectometry), OFDR (optical frequency domain reflectometry), and OCDR (optical coherence domain reflectometry); 2) the mechanisms in optical fiber that work for sensing, including Rayleigh scattering, Brillouin scattering, and Raman scattering.  The key limiting factors and trade-offs in the performance of distributed fiber optic sensing will also be discussed.

As an example of the advances and benefits of applying distributed fiber optic sensing in industry, the second half of the training event introduces participants to the general application of distributed fiber optic sensing in the oil and gas industry with a primary focus on how DTS (distributed temperature sensing) and DAS (distributed acoustic sensing) are being used to monitor wellbore environments.  A basic understanding of the principles and benefits of DTS, DAS and surveillance monitoring technology in general will be included.  The course will address the sensor types, installation equipment and processes, and the procedures needed to install and operate a fiber-optic monitoring system.  It will explore various data collection techniques and how the data is being used to provide beneficial information for the development of oil and gas assets.

This course should enable you to:

• Identify basic devices: fiber Bragg gratings, long period gratings, optical fiber interferometers, resonators.

• Describe typical sensors based on above devices: strain/temperature sensors, refractive index sensors (biomedical sensors), hydrophones, gyroscopes

• Explain multiplexed fiber-optic sensors and sensor networks: wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM)

• Summarize basic schemes behind space-resolved measurements in distributed fiber-optic sensors: time domain reflectometry (OTDR), optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR), optical coherence domain reflectometry (OCDR).

• Measure the scatterings in optical fiber that work for sensing: Rayleigh scattering, Brillouin scattering, and Raman scattering

• Discuss the trade-offs in performance: spatial resolution vs sensitivity, distance range vs dynamic range; define key limiting factors.

• Identify the value and recognize the future trends of the applications of fiber sensors by discussing the general application of distributed fiber optic sensing in the oil and gas industry with a primary focus on how DTS (distributed temperature sensing) and DAS (distributed acoustic sensing) are being used to monitor wellbore environments.

This advanced-beginner course is intended for an audience including not only researchers and engineers working on the development of optical fiber devices and sensors, but also those trying to apply fiber sensors in diverse areas. Some basic knowledge of optics and physics will help in better understanding the course.

Alexis Méndez is President of MCH Engineering LLC, and has over 25 years of experience in optical fiber technology, sensors and instrumentation.  He was the former Group Leader of the Fiber Optic Sensors Lab within ABB Corporate Research (USA), working on the development of new fiber optic sensing systems for electric utility and oil & gas applications.  He also was Director of Engineering Senisng Solutions at Micron Optics Inc.  He has written over 70 technical publications, holds 5 US patents and is recipient of an R&D 100 award.  He is member of OSA, a SPIE Fellow, editor of the Specialty Optical Fibers Handbook, co-author of SPIE’s “Fiber Optical Sensors Book—Fundamentals & Applications, 4th Ed.”, as well as Series Editor of the CRC Fiber Optic Sensors book series.  He is also VP of the IEEE Fiber Optic Sensors Standards Committee, and was past chair of the International Optical Fiber Sensors Conference (OFS-18). Dr. Mendez holds a PhD. degree in Electrical Engineering from Brown University (1992).

William Shroyer is Fiber Optic Product Line Manager at SageRider, Inc., has worked in the practical application of fiber optic sensing systems in the oil and gas industry since 1998.  During this time, he has designed and executed numerous fiber optic and conventional monitoring installations in a wide variety of applications ranging from complex offshore installations to shallow steam flood fiber deployments.  Over the last 16 years, William has served in Field and Project Engineering roles for 2 major service companies and provided Project Management consultation for a major Global Operator. William has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of East Carolina and is a Certified Fiber Optic Technician (CFOT).