Artificial Optical Nervous System University of Southampton in United Kingdom

The aim of this project is to establish a new class of sensing system that is capable of mapping strain distribution at thousands of points using a single strand of optical fibre thinner than a human hair.

The study of the mechanical properties of any large, complex structures such as a space launch vehicle or Earth’s crust relies on a large array of sophisticated and, often, expensive sensors. Constrained by budget, the number of sensing nodes deployed in such projects often does not exceed a few hundred, limiting the scale and scope of these studies.

This project will develop a new class of sensing system that is capable of mapping strain distribution at thousands of points using a single strand of optical fibre

When placed on or inside a structure such as the airframe of an aircraft, optical fibres act as artificial nerves, transmitting valuable information about the condition of the structure to the interrogating unit that acts as a brain.

The new system, which will be called High-resolution Distributed Acoustic Sensor (HR-DAS), allows static and dynamic strain measurement at +10,000 sensing points with 5 cm spatial resolution and at a sampling rate as high as 500,000 samples per second at each sensing point.

The ability of HR-DAS to provide a high-resolution map of strain distribution at tens of thousands of points along a fibre opens up a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines such as Civil Engineering, Seismology, Mechanical Engineering, Ship Sciences, and High-energy Particle Physics, to name a few.

The Optoelectronics Research Centre is committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity, as demonstrated by the school’s Athena Swan award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age. We take personal circumstances into account, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking to study part time. The campus has onsite childcare facilities.

This project is supervised by Dr Ali Masoudi and Dr Gilberto Brambilla.

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/5xcfwj/doctor-ali-masoudi

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/5wy9h9/professor-gilberto-brambilla

Entry requirements

You must have a UK 2:1 honours undergraduate degree or its international equivalent , in physics or a closely related discipline.

How to apply

https://student-selfservice.soton.ac.uk/BNNRPROD/bzsksrch.P_Search

You need to:

• choose programme type (Research), 2025/26, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• select Full time or Part time
• choose PhD ORC
• add name of the supervisor in section 2

Applications should include:

• personal statement
• your CV (resumé)
• 2 academic references
• degree transcripts to date