Joar SÆTHER and Kjell BLØTEKJÆR

Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7034 Trondheim, Norway

(Received September 10, 1996; Accepted Septembeer 20, 1996)

The signal to noise ratio (SNR) of a multiplexed fiber-optic sensor network can be improved by inserting fiber-optic amplifiers. Several configurations of amplifiers in the sensor network are analyzed. A single fiber-optic amplifier used as a preamplifier is a good solution with high SNR. However, by distributing amplifiers in the network even higher SNR can be obtained, and identical couplers can be used throughout the network.

Key words : fiber-optic sensor network, erbium doped fiber amplifier, noise performance, theoretical