Patent ID: 7241986

Claim:
A sensing device comprising: a laser light source for producing a laser beam; a control component connected to said laser light source for controlling activation or deactivation of said laser light source; at least one section of optical fiber, configured to receive at least a portion of said laser beam and transmit at least a portion of said received laser beam within said optical fiber; at least one fiber coupler, wherein said at least one fiber coupler and said at least one section of optical fiber are spliced together to form a fiber loop; at least one sensor component, said sensor component configured to induce a loss in light from said optical fiber as a function of pressure exerted on the sensor component; and a photodetector, said photodetector configured to receive a signal originated from said sensor component and transmitted to said photodetector via said fiber coupler; wherein said signal provides data, wherein said data is analyzed and processed to determine a ringdown time in said fiber loop and wherein said determined ringdown time is used to determine a pressure being applied on the sensor component; and wherein said ringdown time (τ) is related to the force applied by the following equation: τ = τ 0 ⁡ ( 1 - β ⁢ ⁢ l α ⁢ ⁢ L + E ⁢ F ) where τ 0 is a ringdown time when no force is applied, F is the force applied, α is the wavelength dependent absorption coefficient for fiber core material of said optical fiber, β is the force induced loss coefficient, l is the length of a fiber portion that has direct contact with the force being applied, L is the total length of said optical fiber, and E is total insertion losses of said fiber couplers.