Asiera’s Innovation R&D Manager, Eoin Kenny was delighted to participate at the 3rd Irish Workshop on Fibre Optic Sensing, hosted by Chris Bean at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, (DIAS).
The workshop showcased an exceptional breadth of research and innovation across the fibre sensing landscape. From nanoscale sensing research presented by Yuliya Semenova to vessel detection applications demonstrated by Marco Ruffini, the pace and diversity of developments in fibre sensing continue to accelerate.
One particularly engaging presentation came from Gearoid Walsh, who shared plans for future submarine cable deployments in Ireland and highlighted the growing potential for integrating fibre sensing capabilities into this critical infrastructure.
The DIAS team also delivered a series of impressive presentations, with contributions from Nicolas Celli, Bruna Chagas de Melo, Eoghan J. Totten, Athira Vijayan and Paddy Smith. Their work demonstrated the wide-ranging applications of fibre sensing technologies, including seismology, storm monitoring, and even estimating passenger numbers on Dublin’s Luas network.
From University College Cork, Zili Li and Shaoqiu Zhang presented their work on using fibre sensing to assist with recycling wind turbine blades and discussed the benefits of combining strain and temperature fibre sensing technologies. Rory Fox from the Tyndall National Institute also shared impressive results from DAS deployments across Cork City using a system designed and built at Tyndall.
Another standout presentation came from Ciarán Cope, who explored the application of machine learning techniques to raw DAS data, demonstrating how model optimisation can significantly improve classification confidence.
Paul Gaughan from the Marine Institute provided valuable insight into the SmartBay research testbed and previous fibre sensing trials on submarine infrastructure in Galway Bay.
Finally, many thanks to Karin Wessel from SURF for joining in person to share developments in building a fibre sensing community in the Netherlands and discussing several exciting pilot projects currently underway.
A fantastic event overall, highlighting the strength of collaboration, innovation and growing numbers of participants emerging from across academia, industry, and research networks. Looking forward to seeing how this work evolves over the next 12 months and reconnecting with everyone at the 4th Irish Workshop next year.