Patent ID: 7208735

Claim:
A device for monitoring a process in conjunction with a plurality of optical fibers communicating with locations associated with the process, the field device comprising: a plurality of optical input channels for receiving infrared radiation from the locations associated with the process, the input channels capable of coupling to the optical fibers; a plurality of infrared sensors, each infrared sensor communicating with one of the input channels to measure an intensity of the infrared radiation received from that input channel and produce an infrared sensor signal representative of the intensity; a physical sensor input channel configured to receive a physical sensor signal from a physical sensor, the physical sensor signal representative of a process variable; signal conditioning circuitry communicating with the plurality of infrared sensors and the physical sensor input channel to condition the infrared and physical sensor signals; a data processor communicating with the signal conditioning circuitry to produce an output that is a function of selected infrared and physical sensor signals; and communication circuitry to transmit the output to a remote location.