Sensors and Actuators A 147 (2008) 449455

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Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sna

Remote ood monitoring system based on plastic optical bres and wireless motes
Kevin Sze Chiang Kuang , Ser Tong Quek, Mohamed Maalej 1
Department of Civil Engineering, 1 Engineering Drive 2, E1A #07-03, National University of Singapore, 117576, Singapore

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
This paper summarises an effort in the development of a remote ood monitoring system based on plastic optical bre (POF) sensors and a wireless mote network. The wireless mote, comprising of a network of MICA2DOTTM units, was used as a platform to monitor and record the signal from the POF sensors and transmit this information to a base station wirelessly. A prototype of the integrated wireless POF sensor unit has been constructed, rendering it possible to deploy the autonomous unit remotely at multiple monitoring points as required. A ood monitoring simulation was carried out in a 24 m 10 m 0.9 m wave basin where four of these wireless optical bre mote sensors were used to detect the rising water level in the basin. The novelty of the work lies in the successful integration of the wireless platform to a POF-based liquid level sensor and the subsequent demonstration of the prototype of the system for the purposes of ood monitoring applications. The sensing principle of the POF sensor developed here is well-known and is based on the loss of total internal reection of the optical signal as the sensor probe comes in contact with the liquid. Compared to optical bre-based sensors reported previously in the literature, the probe prole used in this study differs in terms of its simplicity in design, while exhibiting an excellent signal intensity loss ratio without the need for additional attachments to the probe such as optical prisms. The tests carried out showed that the POF sensor is capable of detecting a variety of uids. Exhibiting good signal stability, the sensor also detects the liquid level reliably when the liquid rises or falls to the predetermined level. The responsiveness of the optical bre sensor was evaluated by simulating different rates at which the liquid rises by immersing the sensor tip into the liquid and vice-versa at various speeds ranging from 1 mm/min to 500 mm/min. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 26 July 2007 Received in revised form 27 May 2008 Accepted 27 May 2008 Available online 8 June 2008 Keywords: Plastic optical bre sensor Wireless monitoring Flood monitoring Remote sensing

1. Introduction Monitoring of the water level in ood-prone areas could provide early warning of the type of oods which devastated various regions in ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) in recent times. The monitoring of liquid level is also an important activity in many industries and the special requirements to monitor multiple containers of volatile uids demands the implementation of cost-effective and safe sensor systems. Other applications where liquid level monitoring is desirable include monitoring of the water level in catchment areas, monitoring of illegal dumping of trash and pollution in canals (which can be inferred by an unexpected rise of water level) and early warning of impending drought (when water levels drops to a minimum level). Information collected by a net-

Corresponding author. Fax: +65 6779 1635. E-mail address: cveksck@nus.edu.sg (K.S.C. Kuang). 1 Present address: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, PO Box 27272, United Arab Emirates. 0924-4247/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.sna.2008.05.030

work of sensors could also be used to complement and update ood monitoring and prediction software models. The use of optical bres for sensing applications has been increasingly popular. Their advantages are well-known and these include their immunity to electromagnetic interference, multiplexing capability, distributed sensing, non-intrusiveness, lightweight and being inherently spark-free they poses no risk of explosion. There are several ways in which the optical bre-based level sensing system may be classied. The sensors may be categorized as (a) continuous [1,2] and discrete/point measurements [35], (b) intrusive-type [35] and non-intrusive type [1,2] or (c) requiring sensor head attachment [46] and all-bre type (no attachment required) [79]. Traditionally, glass or silica optical bres have been used in the study and development of bre-based level sensors [5,8,10,11]. However, with the signicant improvement in the bre production technology and transmission properties in plastic-based optical bres, there has been a growing interest in the use of this alternative medium for sensing purposes [4,7]. In addition, compared to their glass counterparts, plastic optical bres (POF) are easier to

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terminate and connect and offer a higher fracture toughness and hence are easier to handle. Furthermore, since POF optical parts and accessories are generally less expensive, a POF-based sensing system is attractive in view of its cost-effectiveness for large-scale deployment. Plastic optical bres exhibit excellent chemical and weather resistance and do not corrode when in direct contact with a liquid medium. In previously reported studies [8,10] where glass-based optical bres were used, bending of the bre to form a U-shaped sensing tip requires extreme care in order to prevent bre fracture. In addition, the bending radius (for a given bre diameter) may be limited and hence optimal sensitivity may not be achieved [12]. In another study, heating of the glass bre has been reported as a technique to bend the bre to an appropriate radius [13]. In a further report using glass optical bres [5], the sensing probe was constructed by splicing three bres together using a fusion-splicer. This fabrication process necessitates the careful selection of splicing current in order to obtain the desired sensor head prole and performance, adding to the complexity of the sensor construction. In the present study, however, the procedure to fabricate the sensing tip is considerably simplied. Neither fusion-splicing nor heating are required in the sensor construction as the plastic optical bres can be readily bent to shape without any risk of fracture. No prismatic element is necessary in the sensor design employed in this study, thus simplifying its construction while exhibiting excellent signal strength. The simplicity in design of the present sensor could lead to an inexpensive, rugged, easy-to-use and effective optical bre-based sensor for mass deployment in a ooding monitoring application. In another eld of study, a tremendous amount of attention has been given to the development of wireless sensor technology in recent years. Wireless modules can be deployed as a network of sensors to monitor a range of measurands including light, acceleration, humidity and temperature. On-board radio communication, data processing and power render the wireless unit completely autonomous. These wireless sensors may be deployed together in large numbers forming a mesh network commonly referred to as motes. Each wireless node may also function as a router which implies that additional nodes may be added to the network to extend the eld of coverage. For monitoring of a large area such as a ood-prone region, wireless motes are ideal candidates for the purpose. In this article, the authors propose a liquid level sensor system based on plastic optical bres and wireless motes with potential applications for ood monitoring. This paper reports, for the rst time to our knowledge, (a) the successful integration of a wireless network platform to an optical bre-based sensor for monitoring of liquid level and (b) the prototyping of the wireless POF system concept and the subsequent demonstration of the system for ood monitoring applications. The paper will initially outline the design of the plastic optical bre sensor and the principle of operation of the sensor used in the study. Details pertaining to the experimental set-up and methodology will be then be summarised. Finally, the paper will present the results obtained followed by detailed discussions and concluding remarks.

index of 1), the majority of the light ray will undergo total internal reection and will be guided along the optical bre to the output end of the bre. However, when the probe is immersed into a liquid with a higher refractive index (e.g. water, which has refractive index of 1.3), light traveling as cladding-mode rays will be absorbed into liquid as the condition for total internal reection could not be satised at the brewater interface. The intensity of the optical signal arriving at the output end of the bre will correspondingly be reduced. It follows that when the probe is immersed in a liquid with higher refractive index, more light will be lost from the optical bre into the liquid. This being a point sensing system, several such sensors may be deployed concurrently to achieve a multi-level discrete measurement of liquid level. To ensure that the sensor is cost-effective for mass deployment and that it could be easily constructed, the authors have simplied and improved the basic design of existing optical bre sensors. The basic U-shaped prole sensor head [8,10] has been adopted in this study instead of the conical prole proposed by other workers [7]. However, in view of the excellent exibility of the plastic optical bre, the paper focuses on the use of this alternative medium instead of glass in the fabrication of the U-shaped sensor. POF can be bent easily into shape with minimal risk of damage to the optical bre allowing the sensing portion of the bre to be constructed. As proposed by other workers in recent years [14], the results obtained in the course of this study clearly demonstrate the potential of the inexpensive POF sensor used here. Compared to a conical-shaped prole [7], the U-shaped design is easier to construct and offers a good sensitivity without the need of highly sensitive control electronics. In this study, the tip of the basic U-shaped prole probe has also been modied in an attempt to improve the signal intensity loss ratio, R, which can be dened as: R= I IA IL = IA IA

2. Sensor system and experimental methodology 2.1. POF sensor design and construction The principle of operation of the POF sensor used in this study is based on the loss of total internal reection or absorption of evanescence wave when the probe is immersed into the liquid medium which is to be monitored. When the bre is illuminated at the input end while the sensitized probe is being exposed to air (refractive

where IA and IL are the observed signal intensities of the sensor in air and liquid, respectively. In this work, a multimode, step-index high purity PMMA optical bre cord with 1.0/2.2 mm bre/jacket diameter (Raytela TORAY) was used. Here, a high-intensity red light-emitting diode (LED) centred at 635 nm was used as the light source. A photodetector was coupled to the output of the bre to monitor the light intensity emanating from the optical bre sensor tip. In the rst phase of the study, data acquisition was performed via a light detector unit and a standard oscilloscope while in the second phase of the work, an autonomous wireless sensing prototype unit was constructed to monitor the sensor signal based on the same POF sensor design developed earlier in the rst phase of the study. Initially, the 2.2 mm polyethylene jacket of a 20 mm section of the POF was removed to expose the bare bre. The POF was bent 180 about the mid-point of the bare bre section forming a Ushaped probe. The cladding layer around the outer region of the tip of the POF is removed using a polishing paper. As an aid in this operation, a red light source may be coupled into one end of the bre allowing the operator to observe the extent to which the cladding has been removed, since it is possible to observe the light bleed at that region. In order to improve the value of R, the original U-shaped probe was modied by removing a segment of the bre core on both the lead-in and lead-out bre forming a V-shaped probe as shown in Fig. 1. It will be shown that with this modication, a signicant improvement in the intensity loss ratio, R can be achieved. In the rst phase of the work, a performance comparison between the types of probe shape (U and V) was conducted and other experimental observations were made with regards to the liquid level detection capability of the POF sensor. In this phase, no wireless communication was introduced as the focus at this stage of

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Fig. 1. Photo showing the modied U-shaped sensor prole used in this study.

Fig. 2. Schematic showing the experimental set-up used for testing the POF sensor probe.

study was on the effectiveness of the POF sensor design in detecting the presence of liquid. The schematic of the experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 2. The responsiveness of the optical bre sensor was evaluated by simulating different rates at which the liquid rises in real situation by immersing the sensor tip into the test liquid at various speeds ranging from 1 mm/min to 500 mm/min which could be controlled via the machine computer system. A variety of liquids, ranging from water, parafn, lubricating oil, sodium chloride solution, and glycerin were used in the experiment to assess the performance of the sensor when applied to liquids with different optical characteristics. 2.2. Wireless communication via MICA2DOT units The wireless communication of the POF sensing system was achieved by integrating the POF sensor to a generic wireless network platform from Crossbow Technology Inc [15]. The platform

is based on the research at UC Berkeley which supports an open source mote operating system called TinyOS (TOS). A variety of sensors, data acquisition boards and radio platforms are available to suit the different requirements depending on the applications. The MICA2DOT mote is a third generation mote and has a low-power ATmega128L microcontroller processor which runs TOS from its internal ash memory. It operates in the frequency range of 433.1 to 434.8 MHz and each node may be congured and assigned a specic frequency channel during the set-up and installation of rmware. The MICA2DOT mote was chosen for its small form factor (25 mm in diameter) together with a compatible sensor board, the MTS510CA, which incorporates a photo-sensor (a light-dependent resistor type) suitable for our application in addition to on-board temperature, acoustic and acceleration sensors. The MTS510CA sensor board is specically designed to be mounted onto the MICA2DOT processor/radio board forming a complete wireless mote unit via an 18-pin ring. The MoteView software provides support for the installation of rmware for the type of sensor board used as well as serving as the client user interface. The data collected by each module in the network can be displayed in MoteView in graphical or textual format in addition to continuous logging and playback of historical data. In setting-up the wireless network, all the modules were programmed to monitor the light intensity of the output of the sensor and transmit this information to a base station comprising a MICA2DOT radio module interfaced via an 18-pin ring to a moteinterface board (using the MIB510CA Serial Interface Board) which was connected serially to a PC running the MoteView software. A schematic of a generic network is shown in Fig. 3. A prototype of the integrated wireless POF sensor was designed and constructed which allow the signal of the POF probe to be continuously monitored by the MICA2DOT and transmitted to the base station. In principle, the transmission distance between modules, or between the module and base station, is 300 m hence it is possible to monitor a large area with a network of these POF wireless motes. Although more motes can be deployed, only four of these units were used for the ood monitoring study and the completed unit is shown in Fig. 4. The POF sensor was integrated to the mote by strategically positioning the bre ends, respectively, to the light source and photo-sensor, and securing their relative positions within a small plastic enclosure as shown in the gure. The light source consists of a high-intensity LED inserted into the SMA bulkhead receptacle and butted against the bre connector. The photo-sensor was similarly inserted and contained within the other bulkhead receptacle and secured in place with fast-curing glue and thick plastic foam. The photo-sensor is fully enclosed within the receptacle and is therefore not susceptible to any external stray light. Finally, the POF probe was attached to the package via a pair of standard SMA bre connectors. The length of the POF probe shown in the gure can be customized to suit the intended application.

Fig. 3. Schematic of a generic wireless POF sensor network.

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Fig. 6. Plot compares the typical response of the POF sensor for a U-shaped and V-shaped probe design. Fig. 4. Photograph of the wireless POF prototype and the MICA2DOT unit used in the ood monitoring experiment.

In the second phase of the study, a simulated ood was conducted in a wave basin with dimensions of 24 m 10 m 0.9 m shown in Fig. 5. Water was pumped into the basin gradually while a row of ten hydraulic pedals was set into motion to simulate waves in a ooding situation. The hydraulic pedals can be seen on the bottom right corner of the photograph depicted in Fig. 5. Four wireless POF sensors were positioned near the corners of the wave basin. Two of the sensor units were placed close to the hydraulic pedals in order to observe the response of the sensor subjected to the generated wave which was set at six sec/cycle (i.e. 0.167 Hz). One of the sensors was located further upstream and hence not subjected to strong wave. The other sensor was located near the shoreline (top left corner of wave basin in Fig. 5) to test its performance under a different condition from the rest of the sensors. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Phase 1- assessment of the POF sensor probes Initially, a performance comparison was undertaken on the 3 types of probes, (a) U-shaped Probe 1 where the POF was bent but the cladding layer was not removed, (b) U-shaped Probe 2 where the POF was bent and the cladding at the tip region was removed with polishing paper and (c) V-shaped probe where the segments of the POF (cladding and core) were removed. The signal inten-

Fig. 5. Photo showing the wave basin for the simulated ooding test. The locations of the 4 wireless POF sensors are denoted by the letters AD.

sity loss ratio for each probe was computed and used as the basis for comparison. The three probes were immersed in water and the signals from all sensors were captured via the data acquisition system. When the probes came into contact with the surface of the water, a signicant drop in signal intensities was observed for all sensors. Although the present sensing technique, being intensitybased, suffer from inherent susceptibility to relatively small power uctuations of the light source, this will not, however, obscure the results as the detection of rising liquid level relies on the large change in signal intensity over a short time-span (typically in seconds), as the probe comes into contact with the surface of the water. Fig. 6 shows the response of the two designs demonstrating the excellent sensitivity of all the probes in detecting the water surface level. The earlier drop in signal associated with U-shape Probe 1 was due to height misalignment of the probe tip, resulting in the tip touching the water surface earlier than the other two probes. The result highlights (a) that an effective liquid level sensor can be easily achieved by simply bending a plastic optical bre without the need to subject the bre to heating or splicing (b) removal of the cladding yields an increase in the sensitivity and (c) the sensitivity of the POF probe could be further improved by adopting a V-shaped conguration. The high fracture toughness and exibility of the POF allows the bre to be easily bent to a small radius at room temperature without the risk of breaking, unlike glass-based optical bres. The values of R are useful indicators of the performance of the probes but may vary depending on the bent radius, area of cladding removed, angle of the V-shaped and the depth of the segment. The effect of these parameters on the performance of the sensor requires a separate study and will not be addressed in the present paper. It was of interest to also monitor the response of the sensor when the probe was repeatedly immersed and removed from the liquid surface. Fig. 7 shows a typical response of the sensor, irrespective of the conguration used, when dipped and removed from the water. Two observations can be made from this result. Firstly, it is clear that prior to being immersed into water for the rst time, the reading of the sensor signal (normalised value of 0.65) was lower than the value after it was removed from the water (normalised value of 1). Subsequent signal readings in the dry state appear to stabilise at a normalised intensity of 1. The increase in signal intensity following the removal of the probe from the water was presumed to be due to the wetting of the tip of the probe (adherence of a thin layer/droplet of liquid) upon leaving the surface of the water. The plot in Fig. 8 shows the sensor reading returning to its pre-immersed signal intensity value, after the tip was dried using Kimwipes (wipers) providing clear evidence of the validity of the presumption. The formation of this thin layer of water near the tip of the probe promotes total internal reection resulting in

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Fig. 7. Plot showing the increase in signal intensity following the removal of the probe from the test liquid.

Fig. 9. Plot showing the repeatability of the POF sensor signal.

more rays being guided to the bre output leading to higher signal intensity reading. The repeatability of the POF sensor was tested by immersing and extracting the probe in and out of the test liquid repeatedly. The response of the V-shaped POF sensor at crosshead speed of 40 mm/min is shown in Fig. 9. Although the result shown here was based on the use of lubricating oil, the other test liquids exhibit a similar response. Here, a displacement transducer was used to monitor the position of the probe. From the plot, it is clear that the sensor exhibits excellent repeatability showing no sign of hysteresis. At the circle marked A, where the tip of the probe touched the surface of the oil, the displacement transducer reading was initialised and set to zero. At that moment, the sensor signal decreased sharply as light escaped into the test liquid. When the probe was being drawn out of the oil, the sensor signal began increasing gradually starting from time B when the probe was beginning to leave the surface of the liquid. This occurred at approximately the same probe position corresponding to that of circle A. As a result of the surface tension of the liquid, a cusp formed at the tip of the probe as it past the zero position. The wetted area at the tip decreased gradually as the probe was being drawn out and this corresponds to the increasing signal reading as more light rays undergo total internal reection. As the cusp broke at time corresponding to circle C, the sensor signal reaches maximum value at approximate probe position of 0.37 mm. From the chart, the response of the sensor when withdrawn from the liquid lags behind the physical position of the probe as dened by the difference in the distance between positions A and C, this interval being approximately 0.37 mm for the liquid used in this part of the study. Clearly, the value of this interval, which is a function of the surface tension, will vary accordingly with each test liquid used. The excellent repeatability in the

interval associated with the apparent lag is encouraging and the results suggest the potential use of the present sensor for monitoring liquid surface tension since a liquid with higher or lower surface tension will yield a corresponding interval value in the sensor response. A further test was also conducted to investigate the dynamic response of the POF sensor. Here, the POF is immersed and extracted from the test liquid repeated at approximately 6 Hz. The result shown in Fig. 10 clearly demonstrates the ability of the sensor to response dynamically and although the test was limited to 6 Hz, the sensor is expected to also perform well at higher frequencies. The sensor also exhibits similar response in the other test liquid examined. Since the present design is categorized as a point measurement sensor, a number of this probe can be cascaded and used as a multi-level discrete water level monitoring system. Five of the sensors were deployed by attaching them to the wall of a water basin at pre-specied heights of 4, 30, 60, 90 and 120 mm, respectively, from the bottom of the basin. Water was pumped into the basin at an approximately constant ow rate and the sensor reading was monitored remotely in a laboratory ofce via a wireless Internet/LAN connection to the server laptop equipped with POF sensor logging capability. The results presented in Fig. 11 clearly demonstrate the potential of this cost-effective POF sensing for discrete liquid level measurement. For a given container size and known sensor position, it is possible to compute the average ow rate of the liquid pumped into the container which allow operators to use this information for control purposes. In addition, the system may also be set-up to trigger an alarm when the liquid level reaches a predened limit.

Fig. 8. Plot showing the effect of drying the tip of the probe on the signal intensity.

Fig. 10. Plot showing the POF sensor signal during a test carried out to assess the sensor dynamic response.

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Fig. 11. Plot showing the results of the remote POF discrete level monitoring system.

3.2. Phase 2- assessment of the wireless POF sensor for ooding monitoring application The second phase of the study involved the prototyping and fabrication of a completely autonomous wireless POF sensing mote capable of monitoring a wide area for ood monitoring application. Four such wireless POF units were deployed in a wave basin as described earlier and the result is shown in Fig. 12. Each sensor signal trace shown in Fig. 12 corresponds to the position denoted (AD) shown in Fig. 5. The units were mounted to the wall of the wave basin while ensuring that the tips of the probes were located approximately 50 mm from the surface of the water at the start of the experiment. Node C was placed close to the articial shoreline where the wave oscillation was almost negligible. From Fig. 12(a), it is clear that Nodes A and D, which were located close to the hydraulic pedals, were able to detect the oscillating motion of the wave (0.167 Hz) as the water level rises to a suf-

ciently high level after a few minutes into the test. The oscillatory motion of the wave as monitored by Nodes A and D can be seen more clearly in Fig. 12(b). Although the default data sampling rate of the wireless motes was set at 0.5 Hz in the test satisfying the Nyquist criterion, a higher data rate could have been used (maximum of 3 Hz for these nodes) to obtain more data points. Setting a higher sampling rate for these wireless nodes, however, will increase the power consumption and therefore careful consideration of these limiting constraints is needed for each specic application. With reference to Node A, a delay of approximately 30 s was observed for sensor Node D in detecting the water level. This is likely to be due to a slight error in positioning the sensor tip at the specied height. For sensor Node A, the tip of the probe was completely submerged in the water at approximately halfway into the test as evident by the steady state output of the POF sensor. As expected, the tip of Node D also became fully submerged following an approximately 30-sec delay, as water was being pumped continuously into the wave basin. The amplitude of the wave reduces as it travels away from the hydraulic pedals and this is reected by the signal response of Node B which was located approximately 12 m from Node A. From Fig. 12(a), it is apparent that following a shorter period of oscillating signal compared to Nodes A and D, the tip was submerged completely in the water as indicated by the steady-state value of the sensor Node B. Since the amplitude of the wave is smaller near Node B, it is expected that it takes a relatively shorter time for the probe tip to be submerged under water as the overall water level rises. A closer examination of the signal trace as shown in Fig. 12(b) suggests that some data may also have been lost as seen in Nodes A and D due to the slow data sampling rate of the wireless nodes used. Finally for sensor Node C, a transitory response lasting approximately 45 s can be clearly noted. At the start of the signal discontinuity, it is reasonable to infer that the water has reached the level at which the tip of the probe was located. It is, however, not clear as to the cause of the transient behavior of the recorded signal, although it is again likely due to insufcient data sampling. Nevertheless, an oscillatory response at approximately the same rate as the signal of Nodes A and D is evident highlighting a consistent result as that of the other nodes.

4. Conclusions This paper has demonstrated the successful use of an intensitybased plastic optical bre sensor for liquid level detection. In this study, it has been shown that a plastic bre could be easily bent to form a U-shaped probe without the need for heating or splicing. In addition, the V-shaped design was shown to offer a higher signal intensity loss ratio compared to the basic U-shaped probe. Both designs were tested and found to be highly effective for monitoring liquid level and exhibited good dynamic response. Although the U-shaped probe also performs well in the series of tests conducted, the improvement in terms of the signal intensity loss ratio obtained using the V-shaped probe allows future users an option of a more responsive sensor in their selection process. The signal repeatability of the sensors used in the study was excellent (for a given xed drawing speed). Test result pertaining to the discrete liquid level monitoring utilizing ve cascaded POF sensors was also presented and shown to be capable of detecting the rising liquid surface reliably. This simple demonstration highlights the ease of implementation of an inexpensive remote liquid level monitoring system for a variety of applications in the process industry. Finally, in the simulated ood experiment, the four wireless POF sensors were shown to be capable of detecting the rising water level in the

Fig. 12. (a) Plot showing the signal trace of the four wireless POF units during a simulated ood test (b) Plot showing a magnied view of (a) highlighting the response of Nodes B and C.

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event of a ood. With increasing efciency in power management of these wireless motes, faster data acquisition speed and longer uninterrupted operation would be possible in the near future. A planned eld test, which is to be carried out locally, will be useful to further evaluate the system in terms of its long-term reliability and this involves their actual deployment and the monitoring their performance over a period of time. The potential of the autonomous sensor to be deployed as a network offers excellent potential for distributed monitoring of a wide ood-prone region. Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mr. K. Sanmugam and his team in the operation of the hydraulic pedaling system. This work is supported by National University of Singapore Academic Research Fund (Grant No: R-264-000-172-112). References
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Biographies
Kevin Sze Chiang Kuang graduated with a Bachelor in Engineering (1st class) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Leeds in 1995 and obtained his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Liverpool in 2002, supported by an Overseas Research Scheme award (Universities UK). He has worked as a Senior Research Assistant at the University of Liverpool following his PhD and presently a research fellow at the Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore. His present research interests are optical bre sensors, structural health monitoring, smart structures and materials, and advanced composites. He has commercialized a plastic optical bre sensor kit currently being used in junior colleges, polytechnics and universities. He also has a US patent (pending) on an extrinsic plastic optical bre sensor together with the other co-authors. He has published more than 30 scientic articles. Ser Tong Quek obtained his BEng (Hons) from Monash University in 1979, MEng from NUS in 1984, MS and PhD from University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign in 1986. He is currently Professor of Civil Engineering at the Department of Civil Engineering, and also Director of Research at the Minerals, Metals and Materials Technology Centre, National University of Singapore. His research areas include smart materials technology, structural health monitoring and control, structural reliability and stochastic mechanics. In 1991, he received the IES Prestigious Journal Publication Award and the Defence Technology Prize in 2006. He has co-authored about 200 scientic articles and book chapters. Mohamed Maalej graduated from Colorado State University (BS 1989), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS 1991), and the University of Michigan (PhD 1994). His PhD thesis was on the fracture resistance of engineered bre cementitious composites and implications to structural behavior. His research interests include micromechanics-based design of bre reinforced cementitious composites for infrastructural applications, bre optic sensing for structural health monitoring, and application of FRP composites in the repair and strengthening of reinforced concrete structures. He has been a staff member of the Department of Civil Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 19992006. Prior to joining NUS, he worked for one year as a research fellow with the Advanced Civil Engineering Material Research Laboratory (ACE-MRL), Ann Arbor, Michigan, then joined the Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence on Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structure (ISIS Canada) at the University of Toronto, Ontario, where he worked as a Research Engineer and a Postdoctoral Fellow till August 1999. He is now an associate professor at the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.