Investigation on the maximum signal handling capability of fiber optic interferometric sensor based on the digital heterodyne demodulation scheme

The maximum signal handling capability (MSHC) is an important parameter for the fiber optic interferometric sensor (FOIS) system. It is restricted by the heterodyne frequency (HF) and the digital quadrature demodulation algorithm (DQDA) in the digital heterodyne demodulation scheme. In this paper we systematically investigate the MSHC of the FOIS based on the digital heterodyne demodulation scheme through comparison of the HF-determined MSHC and DQDA-determined MSHC. When discussing the DQDA-determined MSHC, two widely used methods are included, which are arctangent and differential-cross multiply (DCM). The comparison results reveal that the arctangent-determined MSHC is 12 dB larger than the DCM-determined MSHC. The HF-determined MSHC is between the two types of DQDA-determined MSHC. If the DQDA is arctangent, the MSHC of the system is the HF-determined MSHC. If the DQDA is DCM, the MSHC of the system is the DCM-determined MSHC. Experiments are carried out and the results are consistent with the theoretical analysis. The conclusion in this paper can help us to estimate the MSHC of the FOIS system based on the digital heterodyne demodulation scheme more accurately and provide a useful guideline for the design of the FOIS system with large demodulation dynamic scale.