Fiber Optic Sensor "Hands On” Course

This course provides the participant with a one of a kind opportunity to learn about and work with fiber optic sensors.  The curriculum includes an overview of fiber grating sensors, strain and temperature sensors, intensity liquid level sensors, fiber optic smart structures, sensors based on Sagnac and Mach-Zehnder Interferometers, and the latest discoveries in fiber optic sensors.   Participants will build working fiber optic sensors and perform experiments using Blue Road Research's fiber optic laboratory equipment.

 Fall Course:  Sept. 14 - 16, 2004

Course Schedule

 Spring Course:  April, 2005

Course Brochure

Instructors

Eric Udd, President of Blue Road Research, has been deeply involved with fiber optic sensors since 1977 and in the area of fiber optic smart structures since approximately 1982.  While at McDonnell Douglas, he managed over 20 DoD, NASA and internally funded fiber optic sensor programs.  In 1993 he left McDonnell Douglas and founded Blue Road Research, dedicating the company to the development of fiber optic sensor and smart structure technology.  He has 34 issued US Patents and several more pending on fiber optic technology, has written and or presented over 120 papers and has chaired over 20 international conferences on fiber optic sensor and smart structure technology. 

Dr. Stephen Kreger is a Senior Engineer/Scientist at Blue Road Research.  Dr. Kreger earned a BS in Physics at Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. in Terre Haute IN in 1989; he went on to earn his PhD from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.  In 1997 he won a NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at NIST Boulder.  At Blue Road Research, Stephen is principal investigator on several projects.  He specializes in intrinsic and extrinsic multi-axis fiber grating strain, temperature, pressure, and moisture sensors and in advanced demodulation techniques.

Marley Kunzler is an Engineer/Scientist at Blue Road Research, with a background BS in Laser Optical Engineering Technology from the Oregon Institute of Technology. He is an associate principle investigator on two Phase II contracts.  In addition, he is involved in several ongoing research projects involving fiber Bragg gratings.  Mr. Kunzler has acted as project lead/associate principal investigator on several contracts with the Oregon Department of Transportation.  He also assists with lab equipment, heavily supports field-testing, and designs customized software for contract support and testing.

Class Information

Classes begin at 8:30 am and conclude at approximately 5 p.m. The morning lecture portion of our class will be held at a local hotel conference facility.  The "Hands On" portion of the class is held at Blue Road Research, 376 NE 219^th Avenue, Gresham, Oregon 97030.  Blue Road Research is located about 11 miles east of Portland International Airport.  The fee is $995 for the three day course.

Course Materials

The course will be supplemented by course lecture notes that will be provided the first day of class. Attendees may also want to purchase one or more of the texts Fiber Optic Sensors: An Introduction for Engineers and Scientists, Wiley, 1991, and Fiber Optic Smart Structures, Wiley, 1995 both are edited by Eric Udd and may be purchased by registrants of the course at a 15% discount from the Wiley list price.

(The course forms are published using Adobe PDF format and will require the use of the Adobe Reader in order to view and print the document.   You may download the Adobe Reader at no cost through the Adobe web site.  Click the "Get Acrobat Reader" button below  to initiate the download process.) 

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