Recent earthquakes and space program-related news serve as potent reminders of the uses fiber optic technology offers to an increasingly complex world. Like living organisms sensitive to subtle changes in the environment, buildings, structures, and space vehicles can be equipped to sense and react to their surroundings by means of hair-thin glass fiber sensors embedded in structural materials and capable of carrying information and measuring changes in stress and other environmental factors. Data is collected and transmitted to a central location, where the findings are assessed and damage...