A description of the development and practicaldeployment of an optical fibre Bragg grating strain sensorsystem for structural monitoring is given. The system hasevolved through practical trials involving sailing yachts and aturbo-prop driven aircraft.This paper gives an account of the strain sensor system whichuses parallel fibre channels with multiplexed Bragg gratingsensors in each. The sensors are interrogated using a combinedbroad band light source and tunable optoelectronic filter.Sensor update rates of 500Hz per sensor for up to 40 sensorswere achieved. The deployment of two systems based on thisarchitecture are described: the first in a luxury `superyacht'in which Bragg sensors were embedded within its 35m carbonfibre mast; the second in a Jetstream aircraft where surfacebonded Bragg grating strain `rosettes' were flown under extremeconditions.
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