Fibre in the wind

To review the manufacture of specialty optical fibres used in sensors.Design/methodology/approach – Describes speciality optical fibres that use fibre Bragg gratings and time division multiplexing. Applications include structural monitoring in wind turbines, yacht masts and civil engineering structures.Findings – The oil and gas industry has used these types of sensors because of their cost efficiency and safety. As the sensors have no electrical connections they generate no heat and use only low power light, which makes them ideal for hazardous areas. It also enables reliable and highly‐stable, long term monitoring of critical production equipment.Originality/value – Provides a source of information on speciality optical fibre sensors.