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At present the Visible Light Communications (VLC) attract attention of academia and industry thanks to rapid progress in the development of white light emitting diodes (LED). This article deals with the VLC and proposes their new solution, which may help remove some lacks of the current VLC. The substance of the new VLC solution is purposeful suppression of a part of the spectrum by a notch filter and by subsequent reconstruction of the original spectrum. Thus, only a part of the visible spectrum will transmit the information data. This is the main difference in comparison with the current VLC. This might be the way how the crucial parameters of the VLC may be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a fiber-optic interferometric sensor and measuring scheme including input-output components for traffic density monitoring. The proposed measuring system is based on the interference in optical fibers. The sensor, based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, is constructed to detect vibration and acoustic responses caused by vehicles moving around the sensor. The presented solution is based on the use of single-mode optical fibers (G.652.D and G.653) with wavelength of 1550 nm and laser source with output power of 1 mW. The benefit of this solution lies in electromagnetic interference immunity and simple implementation because the sensor does not need to be installed destructively into the roadway and railroad tracks. The measuring system was tested in real traffic and is characterized by detection success of 99.27% in the case of automotive traffic and 100% in the case of rail traffic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is focused on the analysis of the use of distributed fibre-optic technology for security monitoring of road tunnel and motorway tunnel structural load. The authors focused on the measurements of deformation utilizing Brillouin Time Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR). The principle is based on the measurement of stimulated Brillouin scattering. The article describes and analyses real measurements within a period of 5 months, which were carried out during the tunnelling and the whole process of building a new tunnel in Žilina, Slovakia. The performed experimental measurements were carried out using a standard optic telecommunication cable with water-absorbing aramid yarns and a jacket with a diameter of 4.2 mm. The contribution of this article lies in the introductory analysis of the implementation and use of the fibre-optic technology for security monitoring of road tunnel and motorway tunnel structural load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we briefly describe the design, construction, and functional verification of a hybrid multichannel fiber-optic sensor system for basic vital sign monitoring. This sensor uses a novel non-invasive measurement probe based on the fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The probe is composed of two FBGs encapsulated inside a polydimethylsiloxane polymer (PDMS). The PDMS is non-reactive to human skin and resistant to electromagnetic waves, UV absorption, and radiation. We emphasize the construction of the probe to be specifically used for basic vital sign monitoring such as body temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate. The proposed sensor system can continuously process incoming signals from up to 128 individuals. We first present the overall design of this novel multichannel sensor and then elaborate on how it has the potential to simplify vital sign monitoring and consequently improve the comfort level of patients in long-term health care facilities, hospitals and clinics. The reference ECG signal was acquired with the use of standard gel electrodes fixed to the monitored person's chest using a real-time monitoring system for ECG signals with virtual instrumentation. The outcomes of these experiments have unambiguously proved the functionality of the sensor system and will be used to inform our future research in this fast developing and emerging field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphors have been used as wavelength converters in illumination for many years. When it is excited with blue light, the frequently used yttrium aluminium garnet doped with cerium (YAG:Ce) phosphor converts a part of blue light to a wideband yellow light, resulting in the generated light having a white color. By combining an appropriate concentration of the YAG:Ce phosphor and blue excitant light, white light of a desired correlated color temperature (CCT) can be obtained. However, this type of illumination has a lower color rendering index value (CRI). In an attempt to improve the CRI value, we mixed the YAG:Ce phosphor with europium-doped calcium sulfide phosphor (CaS:Eu), which resulted in a considerably increased CRI value. This article examines an experiment with luminescent layers consisting of a mixture of selected phosphors and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Different thicknesses in these layers were achieved by changing the speed of rotation during their accumulation onto laboratory glass using the method of spin coating. The spectral characteristics of these luminescent layers as they were excited with blue light emitting diode (LED) and laser diode (LD) were then determined. A suitable combination of the YAG:Ce phosphor with a phosphor containing europium, as it was excited with a blue LED, yielded a source of white light with a CRI value of greater than 85. The response time in the tested luminescent layers to a rectangular excitant impulse (generated by a signal generator and transmitted by LD) was also measured in order to examine their potential use in visible light communications (VLC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]