Patent ID: 8744782

Claim:
A method of simultaneously determining strain and temperature characteristics of an object comprising the steps of: providing at least one optical fiber having at least two Brillouin peaks, such that the amplitude A 1 of at least one of said Brillouin peaks is within 50% to 150% of the amplitude A 2 of another Brillouin peak 0.5A 2 ≦A 1 ≦1.5A 2 ; (ii) determining coefficients of strain and temperature for said at least one optical fiber along the length of the fiber; (iii) securing said at least one optical fiber to said object along a length thereof with at least one connector; (iv) inputting laser light into said at least one optical fiber at the other ends thereof from a laser; (v) detecting back scattered light by a detection circuit and measuring the at least two Brillouin peak frequencies for said at least one optical fiber; and (vi) calculating strain and temperature characteristics of said object via an electronic device based on the coefficients of strain and temperature and the measured Brillouin frequencies for said at least one optical fiber along the length of the optical fiber.