[[File:PhosFos flexible skin demo.jpg|thumbnail|right|400px|Figure 2: Photograph of a real flexible skin with embedded sensors made at the University of Gent]]
The PHOSFOS (Photonic Skins For Optical Sensing) project<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.phosfos.eu/eng/Phosfos/About-us/Project-Summary |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127030416/http://www.phosfos.eu/eng/Phosfos/About-us/Project-Summary |archive-date=2011-11-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> is developing flexible and stretchable foils or skins that integrate optical sensing elements with optical and electrical devices, as wellsuch as onboard signal processing and wireless communications, as seen in Figure 1. These flexible skins can be wrapped around, embedded in, attached and anchored to irregularly shaped and/or moving objects or bodies and will allow quasi-distributed sensing of mechanical quantities such as deformation, pressure, stress, orand strain.<ref>http://spie.org/x38859.xml?highlight=x2406&ArticleID=x38859</ref> This approach potentiallyoffers gives a significant advantageadvantages over conventional sensing systems, becausesuch ofas theincreased portability of the resulting systems and the extended measurement range.
The sensing technology is based around sensing elements called [[Fiber Bragg Grating]]s (FBGs) that are fabricated in standard single core silica fibers, highly birefringent [[Microstructured fiber]]s (MSF) and [[Plastic optical fiber]]s (POF). The silica MSFs are designed to exhibit almost zero temperature sensitivity to cope with the traditional temperature cross-sensitivity issues of conventional fiber sensors. These specialty fibers are being modeled, designed, and fabricated within the programme. FBGs writtenimplemented in POFplastic fibersoptical willfiber are also bebeing usedstudied sincebecause theseplastic fibers can be stretched up to 300% before breaking., Thispermitting allows them to be useduse under conditions that would normally result in catastrophic failure of other types of strain sensors.
Once optimized, the sensors are embedded into thea sensingflexible skin and on the interfaced to thewith peripheral optoelectronics and electronics. These skins are really flexible, (see Figure 2).
The photonic skins developed inby PHOSFOS have potential applicationsapplication in continuouslyreal-time remote monitoring theof integritybehavior and the behaviorintegrity of differentvarious kindsstructures ofsuch structuresas in e.g. civil engineering (buildings, dams, bridges, roads, tunnels and mines), in aerospace (aircraft wings, helicopter blades), orand in energy production (windmill blades) and therefore provide the necessary means for remote early failure, anomaly or danger warning. Applications in healthcare are also being investigated.
There is a [https://www.youtube.com/v/pGpL_icFn1c&hl=nl_NL&fs=1& movie]<ref>https://www.youtube.com/v/pGpL_icFn1c&hl=nl_NL&fs=1&</ref> describing the technology on [[YouTube]].
