Method and system to detect tampering of a closed chassis using a passive fiber optic sensor

• US 7,518,507 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2005
• Issued: 04/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The United States of America As Represented By The Secretary of Agriculture
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Dalzell, William J., Tucker, James L., Fleischman, Scott G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass; Jeff
• Assistant Examiner(s): McNally; Kerri L
• Application Number:
  US11/273,060
• Publication Number:
  US 20070109123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• Field of Search: 340/540, 340/545.6, 340/815.42, 340/568.2, 340/555, 340/565, 340/569, 340/570
• US Class Current: 340/540
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1481 with optical detection

Abstract

A passive optical anti-tamper system including one or more light pipes, one or more light detectors and an alarm. The light pipes each include an input end and an output end and are located within a chassis with the one or more light detectors. The one or more light detectors are optically coupled to the output ends of the one or more light pipes. The alarm is operable to transmit a tamper-event-warning signal if an increased light level is detected by at least one detector.

Claims

1. A passive optical anti-tamper system, the system comprising:

one or more light pipes each including an input end and an output end, the one or more light pipes located within a chassis, wherein the one or more light pipes comprise a plurality of optical fibers bundled to form a bundled-output end and wherein the input ends of the plurality of optical fibers are unbundled;

one or more light detectors located within the chassis, the one or more light detectors optically coupled to the output ends of the one or more light pipes; and

an alarm in communication with the one or more detectors, wherein the alarm is operable to transmit a tamper-event-warning signal if an increased light level is detected by at least one detector.

2. The system of claim 1, the system further comprising:

a gel located at an interface between the one or more detectors and the respective output end of the one or more light pipes, the gel operable to increase an efficiency of the optical coupling.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the unbundled input ends of the plurality of optical fibers are splayed.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the unbundled input ends of the plurality of optical fibers are fixed within the chassis to face in a plurality of directions.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the output ends of the plurality of optical fibers are coupled to more than one detector, wherein the more than one detectors sense more than one range of wavelengths.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of optical fibers are fixed on a board in the chassis and wherein the input ends of the plurality of optical fibers face in substantially the same direction.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more light detectors include one of an array of photosensitive elements, photosensitive pixels, a charge-coupled device, an array of photo-detectors, and combinations thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an opaque layer overlying at least a portion of the one or more light detectors not covered by the output end of the one or more light pipes.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each light pipe is fixed at the input end and is coupled to a respective light detector at the output end, wherein the fixed input ends face in a plurality of directions.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more light pipes comprise one of plastic optical fibers, multimode optical fibers, single mode optical fibers, graded index rods, flexible graded index rods, and combinations thereof.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more light pipes comprise one of plastic optical fibers, multimode optical fibers, single mode optical fibers, graded index rods, flexible graded index rods, and combinations thereof.

12. The system of claim 1, the system further comprising:

means for transmitting the tamper-event-warning signal to an external system.

13. The system of claim 1, the system further comprising:

means for damaging at least a portion of components within the chassis responsive to the transmitting of the tamper-event-warning signal.