Fiber optic aircraft load relief control system
First Claim
1. A fiber optic load measuring system comprising:
- (a) an optical pulse generator;
(b) an optical bus connected to said optical pulse generator;
(c) a plurality of optical pulse routing switches serially disposed along the length of said optical bus;
(d) a plurality of optical attenuators, each of said optical attenuators being disposed along a dedicated surface where an applield load is to be measured, each of said optical attenuators further being connected to a dedicated optical pulse routing switch and being operative to vary the attenuation of the optical pulse in response to the applied load as said optical pulse is reflected by said optical attenuators;
(e) said optical pulse routing switches being operative to selectively direct said optical pulses to individual optical attenuators such that each of said optical attenuators is separately pulsed;
(f) an optical pulse receiver connected to said optical bus and operative to receive optical pulses reflected from said optical attenuators; and
(g) a signal processor connected to said optical receiver and operative to process the signal received by said optical pulse receiver to determine the load along each of said surfaces.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A fiber optic load measuring system is disclosed comprising an optical pulse generator, an optical bus, a plurality of optical pulse routing switches, a plurality of optical attenuators disposed along the surface where the load is to be measured, a plurality of optical pulse routing switches, and a signal processor. The optical attenuators are each connected to a dedicated optical pulse routing switch and are adapted to vary the attenuation of the optical pulse in response to the applied load. The optical pulse routing switches are adapted to selectively direct the optical pulses to individual optical attenuators, such that each of the optical attenuators is separately and sequentially pulsed.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A fiber optic load measuring system comprising:
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(a) an optical pulse generator; (b) an optical bus connected to said optical pulse generator; (c) a plurality of optical pulse routing switches serially disposed along the length of said optical bus; (d) a plurality of optical attenuators, each of said optical attenuators being disposed along a dedicated surface where an applield load is to be measured, each of said optical attenuators further being connected to a dedicated optical pulse routing switch and being operative to vary the attenuation of the optical pulse in response to the applied load as said optical pulse is reflected by said optical attenuators; (e) said optical pulse routing switches being operative to selectively direct said optical pulses to individual optical attenuators such that each of said optical attenuators is separately pulsed; (f) an optical pulse receiver connected to said optical bus and operative to receive optical pulses reflected from said optical attenuators; and (g) a signal processor connected to said optical receiver and operative to process the signal received by said optical pulse receiver to determine the load along each of said surfaces. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of measuring the load applied to a surface comprising communicating a plurality of optical pulses to an optical bus;
- disposing a plurality of optical pulse routing switches along the length of said optical bus;
disposing a plurality of optical attenuators along a surface where a load is to be measured, each of said optical attenuators being disposed along a dedicated surface portion and connected to a dedicated optical pulse routing switch;
selectively directing said optical pulses to individual optical attenuators such that each of said optical atttenuators is separately pulsed;
receiving optical pulses reflected from said optical attenuators; and
processing said received optical pulses to determine the load along each of said surface portions. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
- disposing a plurality of optical pulse routing switches along the length of said optical bus;
Specification