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General Information

Asrul Izam Azmi received a B.Eng. and an M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering in 2001 and 2004, respectively, from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, in 2012, with research focusing on optical fiber sensors and their applications in Mechanical Engineering. He joined UTM in 2002 as a tutor and is currently an Associate Professor at the same university. He served as the Head of the Lightwave Communication Research Group, UTM, from 2014 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2022. From September 2017 to November 2018, he undertook an industrial internship at Jurutera Budiman (Mechanical and Electrical) Sdn. Bhd., a consulting firm. In 2019 and 2024, he was appointed as a visiting researcher at Harbin Engineering University and Shanghai University, respectively. From June 2022 to February 2025, he served as a Research Manager at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UTM. Currently, he holds the position of Manager (External & Global Engagement). His research interests include optical devices, sensors and solar concentrators.

Affiliation

Office Address: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
Research Group: Lightwave Communications Research Group
Email Address: asrul@utm.my
Room Number: P19a, Ground Floor (UG Academic Office)
Administration Position: Manager (External & Global Engagement), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UTM.

Research Areas

Solar Concentrator and Fiber Optic Based Daylighting System
Fiber Bragg Grating
Fiber Lasers
Fiber Interferometer
Spectroscopy
Optical Communication Systems
Optical Sensors and Applications

Recent Projects

In-fibre interferometer sensor

Recently, research focus has inclined towards fiber interferometer sensors constructed using specific combinations of optical fibers. In-fibre inteferometer can be easily constructed using the conventional fusion splicing technique and the design of this sensor is relatively flexible. In LCRG, various sensor structures have been developed focusing on physical measurands such as temperature, refractive index, strain, acoustic displacement and multi-parameter sensors.

The role of optical sensor is becoming increasingly important in the fourth industrial revolution. In this new industrial environment, the newly developed sensor should focus on high-performance, smart capability and multi-parameter sensing. The fundamental research carried out is intended to further explore the potential of fiber interferometer in terms of performance and functionality enhancement.

Vital signs and rehabilitation monitoring

In medical field, fiber sensors are used to monitor vital signs such as breathing rate, pulse rate and temperature. Vital signs indicate the important human body functionalities and the symptoms of certain health problems. Fiber sensors also are applied for rehabilitation of disability problem such as musculoskeletal pain disorders. Musculoskeletal disorders is the second highest cause of disability and it has significant impact on daily life. In both measurement, sensors are directly attached to patient's body or placed on the textile worn by patient.

Structural health monitoring

Due to its small size, number of optical fiber can be embedded into any structures such as composites, woods and metals without affecting the strength of the host structures. The embedded fiber sensors can provide real-time measurement of the host structure including the internal strain/pressure, temperature and acoustic signatures. Assessment of these parameters could provide useful information regarding the health condition of the structure. In some extreme applications, such an early detection could avoid catastrophic failures. Optical fiber sensors also can be applied on the surface of the structure. In the case of aeronautic engineering, surface mounted fiber sensors can be tested in wind tunnel without much changing the aerodynamic of the structure. In a plasma reactor, optical fiber sensors is the most feasible method to measure the temperature inside the plasma reactor. However, optical fiber sensors also suffer from its main disadvantage; it can be easily break due to the fact that it is made of glass. Thus, certain procedure and protection need to be developed before undergo real engineering testing.

Fiber laser hydrophone

Fiber laser based hydrophone is particularly attractive for underwater vibration/acoustic sensing due to their advantages compared to the conventional piezoelectric hydrophone. The most significant advantages are that; small size, extremely robust for underwater environment, multiplexing capability and long range transmission capability. Applications of optical fiber based hydrophone can be found ranging from industries to military, such as for oil and gas exploration, earthquake monitoring, and, passive underwater surveillance system. Research in optical fiber hydrophone basically can be categoried into 3 major parts; improvement of transduction mechanism by mean of sensor packaging; improvement of the phase detection after conversion to electrical signal at photodetector by mean of digital signal processing; and maximizing the multiplexing capability to increase the number of sensor head in a single fiber.

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