Simulation, implementation, and analysis of an optical fiber bundle distance sensor with single mode illumination.

A simulation model for an optical fiber bundle distance sensor with a single mode fiber as the illumination fiber and a multimode fiber as the receiving fiber is presented. Approximating the illumination light exiting the single mode fiber as having a Gaussian intensity profile, a closed-form solution of the reflected light coupled into the receiving fiber was derived. A distance sensor was implemented and the measured sensor outputs were compared with the simulation data to verify the theoretical model. The performance of the distance sensor with different design parameters was analyzed. Design guidelines for achieving desired sensor performances are suggested.