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Sept. 2002: Halcyon at ECOC '02

Halcyon shows the VF-20 Inspection System at ECOC '02 and soon takes an order from the Far East. The VF-20 is optimised to study the flatness and surface quality of cleaved fibre ends using a long working-distance Michelson interferometer.

April 2003: Halcyon at Fiberfest '03

The MPX-1 Modal Explorer was recently previewed at Fiberfest '03 in Boston, USA. Its real-time mode profiling capability attracted lots of interest from manufacturers of light sources, multimode components and OTDRs. The Mode Profile Distribution in a fibre is an important factor in the determination of fibre bandwidth and loss. See Photo.

May 2003: Halcyon wins sponsorship from the Fibreoptic Industries Association

Halcyon, in partnership with Arden Photonics Ltd and Independent Communication Solutions Ltd, has recently won an FIA sponsorship award for the development of novel multimode patchcord products. These products will help installers to make more meaningful measurement of fibre loss and bandwidth by removing the uncertainty traditionally associated with modal distributions in multimode fibres.

June 2003: Halcyon at Laser2003

Halcyon Optical Services, in association with Arden Photonics Ltd, demonstrated various fibre measurement products at Laser2003 in Munich, 23rd to 26th June. These included the VF-20 interferometric inspection system, the MPX-1 Modal Explorer and the XC-850 multimode OTDR. See Photo.

March 2003: New software for Gaussian beam transformation

Halcyon releases 'T-Gauss' software package for tracing Gaussian beams through optical systems. Competitively priced at less than $100 it will be a valuable aid to optical designers, fibre engineers and students. See Products section.

May 2003: Aston University and Halcyon study interferometry

Aston University and Halcyon Optical Services, in association with Arden Photonics Ltd, are working together to study applications for high magnification, phase shifting interferometry. The six month long project is being undertaken by Vishal Sharma who is currently studying for an MSc in Telecommunications Technology at the University of Aston.

August 2003: Halcyon releases Local Network Simulator

The LanSim LS-1 features simulated horizontal and vertical backbone multimode cabling and includes splices of varying quality and a duct constriction. The LS-1 is designed for proving LAN testing equipment such as light sources, power meters and OTDR's, and for training installation and test engineers. See Products section.

August 2003: Halcyon files patent on a Mode Controller.

A novel mode controller has just been filed for patent by Halcyon in cooperation with Meonics Ltd. The device enables control over the mode distribution in multimode fibre irrespective of the launch conditions. Click for an example of the new Mode Controller in action.

September 2003: VF-20 to be shown at ECOC, Rimini.

The VF-20 Fibre Inspection System will be demonstrated by ATOS GmbH (stand 516) at the upcoming ECOC conference and exhibition on Sept 22nd - 24th September in Rimini, Italy. The VF-20 is ideal for checking the performance of fibre cleavers and for ensuring the quality of crucial cleaves in device manufacture.

January 2004: Halcyon shows products at Photonics West, San Jose.

Halcyon Optical Services, in association with Arden Photonics Ltd, demonstrated various fibre measurement products at Photonics West, 27th to 29th January. Of particular interest was the AWS-50 wavefront sensor, designed for measuring wavefront distortion.

May 6th 2004: Presentation at FoTON UK on multimode fibre measurements.

Halcyon Optical Services took part in a series of presentations on multimode fibre measurements at a meeting of FOToN UK at The Photonics Cluster UK (PCUK) in Birmingham on 6th May 2004. Click for the Halcyon presentation (.pdf, 2.2M). Excellent discussions followed on the proposed new definitions of mode distribution in IEC & TIA standards.

September 28th 2004: Presentation at Symposium on Optical Fiber Measurements, Boulder, 2004.

Megger Ltd, in association with Halcyon Optical Services, has just published details of a new technique for the bi-directional OTDR measurement of multimode optical fibres. This technique effectively produces a zero dead-zone enabling features to be detected right up to the connector. It is particularly suited to the duplex LAN environment. Please click here for the paper (.pdf 220k).

April 20th 2005: Presentation at IEC SC86B WG4 standards meeting in Charlotte, US

The issue of launch conditions for testing multimode fibre and components is a hot topic within several standards committees at the moment. WG4 is currently working on a new launch condition based on the mode profile in the fibre. A presentation from Halcyon provided some useful background on mode profiling and, in particular, some results of an FIA measurement intercomparison. For a copy of the presentation click here (.pdf, 820k)

February 2006: IEC standard on mode profiling published.

IEC standard 61300-3-43 on the measurement of mode power distribution in multimode optical fibres has now been published and is available from www.iec.ch. This standard contains a description of the experimental method to characterise the mode-filling in multimode fibres. It features a normative annex which specifies a template for the required Mode Power Distribution (MPD) for the measurement of insertion loss in installed fibre links and in fibre components, such as connectors. The MPD template is also specified in ISO/IEC link testing document 14763-3, which is currently out for final voting.

January 2006: Release of the MPX-2 for mode-profiling at 1300nm.

The MPX-2 features an InGaAs camera for modal characterisation of multimode fibres at 1300nm. The first two units were this month delivered by Arden Photonics Ltd to customers in Europe and the US. The MPX-2, in conjunction with the MPX-1, will enable manufacturers of components and test equipment to verify that their light sources meet the new IEC draft recommendations for Mode Power Distribution (MPD).

October 2007: Presentation of paper on Mode Control at OFMC07.

Halcyon, in co-operation with Arden Photonics and Aston University presented a paper entitled 'Mode Control for Emerging Link Performance Standards' to the Optical Fibre Measurement Conference, held at NPL in October. The paper describes how a novel point-load mode-scrambler, acting in tandem with a mode-filter, is able to provide compliance with draft IEC standards for Mode Power Distribution and Encircled Flux. An extended version of the paper has been submitted to IET Optoelectronics and may be downloaded here.

March 2008: PhD thesis

Andrew Hallam has successfully completed his PhD thesis and viva voce examination at Aston University in Birmingham. The thesis, entitled 'Mode Control in Multimode Optical Fibre and its Applications' describes techniques for modifying and measuring the mode distribution in multimode fibres for a variety of applications, including compliance with international standards. Click here for the PhD

September 2009: Halcyon design featured in intrisically-safe camera

Halcyon optical Services was commissioned to design an optical viewfinder for an intrinsically-safe digital camera for Extronics Ltd. The design is based on Van Albada, reversed Galilean telescope, configuration, projecting a sighting reticle onto the object scene. Click here for more details of the design. Click here for a datasheet of the camera.

November 2008: Version 4.2 of MPX software released

Version 4.2 of MPX Modal Explorer software application brings several new features to the popular MPX system for characterising light sources to IEC standards. This is a significant upgrade, featuring calibration using a traceable chrome-on-glass artifact, improved pass/fail templates, enhanced colour displays, and full compliance with IEC61280-1-4.

October 2009: High temperature measurement in jet engines

Working for Vibro-meter(UK), Halcyon presented details of a high temperature pyrometer system at a recent meeting in Sweden of the HEATTOP consortium. HEATTOP was a EU-funded development project dedicated to improving sensor technology in gas turbine engines. Temperature measurements of high-pressure turbine blades in a Rolls Royce Viper engine were also presented.

February 2010: Release of MIA software for modal analysis in multimode fibre

Using near-field intensity images, such as from the MPX Modal Explorer, MIA will compute the Mode Power Distribution and Encircled Flux to TIA and IEC standards. The loss due to connector offset between two fibres, with the measured Encircled flux in the input fibre, is then calculated. This is done by computing the mode-field overlap of each mode across the connection and integrating over all possible guided modes. For more information click here.

April 2010: Presentation to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers on optical pyrometry.

Andrew Hallam of Halcyon presented a paper on behalf of Meggitt Sensing Systems to a meeting of the Thermofluids group in the IMechE on 22nd April. The paper is entitled 'The Use of Optical Pyrometry for Gas Turbine Condition Monitoring'. In a drive to improve efficiency, aero-engine manufacturers are designing engines to operate at increasingly high temperatures. Optical pyrometry offers a unique, non-contact, capability that can readily measure temperatures far higher than thermocouples can operate. For more details click here.

October 2011: Presented paper at EVI-GTI Gas Turbine conference

On behalf of Meggitt Sensing Systems, Andrew Hallam presented a paper entitled 'Improvements in pyrometry for low maintenance operation' at the 5th EVI-GTI conference in October 2011. The paper described emissivity measurements on high-pressure turbine blades and experimental work on dual-wavelength pyrometry. See here for a copy of the abstract.

November 2015: Paper on longwave pyrometry accepted for EVI-GTI Gas Turbine conference

On behalf of Meggitt Sensing Systems, and in collaboration with ZAE Bayern, and Siemens Berlin, Andrew Hallam has had a paper accepted for the EVI-GTI conference in London in November. The title of the paper is: 'Long Wavelength Infrared Radiation Thermometry for Non-Contact Temperature Measurements in Gas Turbines' and features the development of a pyrometer operating at 10um wavelength to measure the temperature of thermal barrier coatings on high temperature turbine blades. See here for a copy of the abstract.

December 2016: Paper on longwave pyrometry published

On behalf of Meggitt Sensing Systems, and in collaboration with ZAE Bayern, and Siemens Berlin, Andrew Hallam has had a paper published in 'Infrared Physic & Technology' entitled 'Long Wavelength Infrared Radiation Thermometry for Non-Contact Temperature Measurements in Gas Turbines'. This is an extended version of the paper below, presented at EVI-GTI. See here for a copy of the paper.

December 2020: Cleansky project Algesmo (Advanced Landing Gear Sensing & Montioring

Algesmo is a Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) optical sensor system using Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) techniques to accurately detect and translate landing gear strain and torque to aircraft control systems. This data is expected to be used for example, structural health monitoring, hard landing detection, weight and balance and flight controls. The project consortium consisted of Meggitt Polymers & Composites (UK), Meggitt Airframe Systems (CH), Meggitt Sensing Systems (UK), Netherlands Aerospace Centre NLR (NL), and Technobis (NL) See here for final public report. See here for a team photograph in front of the NLR test rig. Andrew Hallam is sixth from the left.