Development of a tactile sensor based on optical fiber specklegram analysis and sensor data fusion technique

Author(s)

Fujiwara, Eric ; Wu, Yu Tzu ; Marques dos Santos, Murilo Ferreira ; Schenkel, Egont Alexandre ; Suzuki, Carlos Kenichi

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: SENSORS AND ACTUATORS A-PHYSICAL; v. 263, p. 677-686, AUG 15 2017.
• Web of Science Citations: 10

Abstract

The development of a tactile sensor based on optical fiber specklegram analysis is reported. The device is comprised of 9 microbending transducers connected to 3 multimode fibers, and attached to a 30 x 30 mm(2) touching surface in a matrix arrange. The output fiber speckle fields, produced by coherent light transmission through the multimode waveguides, are processed for evaluation of the normalized inner-product coefficients, being further correlated to the external load characteristics according to a specklegram referencing approach. Finally, the magnitude and location of the forces applied over the tactile frame are estimated by means of a data fusion technique, yielding the probabilistic distribution of the mechanical disturbances. The sensor characterization indicated a 0.5 N-1 sensitivity, with capability to detect variations of 1 mm in force location, being comparable to the requirements for tactile technologies. Moreover, the data fusion approach provided the estimation of the load distribution with 0.86 relative accuracy, allowing the assessment of tactile variables based on the response of only 3 sensing fibers and without utilizing wavelength multiplexing schemes. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/25080-0 - Development of an optical fiber based tactile sensor system for applications in mechatronics
• Grantee: Eric Fujiwara
• Support type: Regular Research Grants