An interview with Anselmo Frizera Neto on Optical Fiber Sensors: developed applications that could inspire future developments and scenarios.

1. How long have you been researching Optical Fiber Sensors?

Our research group has worked with optical fiber sensors for several applications for many years. Nevertheless, I just started on this topic 7-8 years ago when searching for alternative solutions for biomedical and industrial applications (specially in harsh environments).

2. Can you tell us what is Optical Fiber Sensors, and how does it work?

Many principles can be applied to create optical fiber sensors. The choice of a sensing principle, such as intensity variation sensors, interferometers, or gratings-based sensors, will depend mainly on the application, the balance between the desired precision/accuracy and the involved costs, and the desired number of measuring points.

Optical fiber sensors present several advantages when compared to other sensing technologies. Some of them are small size and weight, immunity to electromagnetic fields/interferences, safe operation in harsh environments, chemical stability, multiplexing capabilities, and cost-effectiveness for multipoint/multiparametric applications.

3. You have just published the book Optical Fiber Sensors for the Next Generation of Rehabilitation Robotics. What was your motivation to write it?

The idea of writing a book on this topic was to bring together the research and development work carried out in our research group over the last 5-7 years so that we could help popularize the topic of fiber optic sensors for use in biomedical applications. We believe there is a great potential of using optical fiber sensors in rehabilitation devices, specially considering the emergence of advanced soft robots for rehabilitation and functional compensation.

4. What are the market needs/key challenges?

In our view, there is a need for effective and compact sensing, actuation, and power supply technologies to achieve usable systems for rehabilitation and functional compensation. In this scenario, optical fiber sensors, along with other sensing technologies, can be used for developing more compact wearable robotic devices or smart textiles that would be very useful for the continuous monitoring of patients in very different scenarios.

5. Does your book solve this need/challenge? How?

We believe it is a good step towards providing more information on the topic and achieving new applications and scenarios where more compact and usable devices could emerge.  Optical Fiber Sensors for the Next Generation of Rehabilitation Robotics provides technical and technological information for new researchers in this field and, at the same time, provides a series of already developed applications that could inspire future developments and scenarios.

6. What unique features do you think make the book stand out in the market?

We believe that we put together academic and practical approaches that could motivate new researchers to find innovative applications and fields where optical fiber sensors could be used (specially in biomedical applications). In this sense, we tried to cover a series of topics, starting with the introduction of soft robots (Part I), and passing through the general concepts of optical fiber sensing (Part II) and their application in rehabilitation systems (Part III) and, finally, we present case studies and additional applications (Part IV). We are really excited with what we achieved in this book and hope all readers enjoy the manuscript.

Ready to read this book?

Optical Fiber Sensors for the Next Generation of Rehabilitation Robotics is available in the Elsevier Store.