Patent ID: 7551810

Claim:
An analyte sensing apparatus comprising; a segmented optical fiber assembly comprising; an elongate optical fiber carrier portion having an exposed surface portion adapted to carry on said surface portion a plurality of optical fibers lengthwise according to a selected spaced distribution on said surface portion; and a segmented optical fiber analyte set portion comprising a plurality of optical fibers carried lengthwise on the said surface portion of the optical fiber carrier portion according to said selected spaced distribution on said surface portion, each optical fiber comprising a distributed intrinsic chemical fiber optic sensing segment of selected length and at least one lead portion, wherein each distributed intrinsic chemical fiber optic sensing segment of the segmented optical fiber analyte set portion senses the same analyte and wherein the lengthwise relationship of the distributed intrinsic chemical fiber optic sensing segments of the segmented optical fiber analyte set portion is offset, whereby the distributed intrinsic chemical fiber optic sensing segments of the plurality of optical fibers are disposed sequentially lengthwise to be either adjacent or overlapping to provide a continuous sensing length.