On September 09, 2023, the Integrated European research, calibration and testing infrastructure for fibre-optic thermometry (INFOTherm) project held its kick-off meeting online. The event marked the official start of this ambitious project aimed at advancing fibre-optic thermometry.

Participants

The meeting was attended by 37 participants from partner organisations and key representatives from stakeholder organizations.

Agenda and Activities

The meeting provided an excellent opportunity for our partners to meet and get to know each other, sharing professional experiences and personal anecdotes. All the organisations involved presented themselves and their facilities or laboratory capacities.

Key Points Discussed

Key topics included:

• Overview of the work packages and planned activities.

• Supplementary information given to the organisation presentations:

  • Thomas Reinsch (IEG)

    • oldest fibres used within the work at IEG: ~ 8 a

    • fibre lifetime heavily depends on environment (few months to years)

  • Tony Lucignano (Statnett)

    • type of fibres in use at Statnett: standard single and multi-mode

  • Andreas Pohlkötter (engionic)

    • longest fibre length to be encapsulated as sensor: ~ 15 m

    • longest grating range: Up to kilometers.

• Initial feedback and suggestions from stakeholder organisations. Concerns were raised about the costs of FBG interrogators, and strategies to lower it to compete with existing technology were sought. To this, experts consider that, in the context of an ongoing and growing body of research, certain technologies are likely to enter the market within the lifetime of the project, in turn lowering the prices.

• Strategies for stakeholder engagement and stakeholder community building.

Outcomes and Decisions

The meeting resulted in several critical decisions:

• Regularly informing stakeholders about the progress of the project through newsletters and invitations to meetings.

• Confirmation of Grand Agreement (GA) by EURAMET.

• Increasing the frequency and reduce duration of Working Group Meetings.

Back​​​​​​​