There is, however, the expectation that they should be able to be produced at relatively
low or competitive cost, often using a range of the technologies that have been "spun-off" from research in the optical communications field. Investigations which have been conducted by several groups have confirmed that fiber sensors can survive in difficult environments — for example, even stringent radiation tests, and this is especially true of the rapidly developing field of Bragg and other grating-based sensors. In this, one of the most impor-tant technological developments in the sensor and optical telecommunications fields in recent years, the width, amplitude and temperature sensitivity of the Bragg resonance
had been shown to remain unaltered even with high radiation doses. This is an important characteristic for this type of device, pointing to potential applications in the nuclear
industry. In addition, a technology such as the use of plastic fiber in sensors is undergoing rapid growth, and this, again, is driven by new developments in telecommunications systems.