Patent ID: 8571813

Claim:
A sensor system that detects reduction wear in a surface, comprising: a first optical fiber comprising first and second ends; the second end of the first optical fiber disposed at a first depth in a substrate beneath a wear surface; a primary emitter that injects a first photonic energy into the first end of the optical fiber; a re-emitter on the second end of the optical fiber that emits a second photonic energy into the second end of the first optical fiber in response to the first photonic energy being incident on the re-emitter via the optical fiber; a detector that detects the second photonic energy emergent from the first end of the first optical fiber; and a processor connected to the detector that calculates a wear depth in the wear surface according to a characteristic of the second photonic energy; wherein the second photonic energy comprises a different wavelength than the first photonic energy, and further comprising a band-pass filter that blocks wavelengths of the first photonic energy emergent from the first end of the optical fiber before reaching the detector.