Image velocity sensing using an optical fiber array

A noncontact velocity sensor with an optical fiber array is described. The end faces of optical fibers which are linearly arrayed at equal intervals act as the spatial filter for velocity sensing. The characteristics of this sensor are investigated in terms of the number of optical fibers, the fiber interval, and the object spectrum. The usefulness of this sensor is confirmed by calculations of the selectivity and experiments. Furthermore, it is shown that an imaging system with a cylindrical lens is effective for measuring the velocity of an object with a large sideway motion.