The ability to determine the centre position of a localized temperature change within a chirped fibre Bragg grating (CFBG) has been investigated as a function of grating strength. The intragrating sensor is based on the
analysis of reflected power spectra arising from a CFBG. The technique uses a discrete Fourier transform (FFT) in which the measured spectrum of the CFBG due to a localized temperature change (heat source) was simulated using a FFT grating design model. The model operated on the reference
spectrum and hypothesis temperature distributions, T (z), to generate a spectrum of a CFBG subjected to a hypothesis temperature disturbance. The simulated spectrum was fitted to the measured spectrum using a three-parameter automatic disturbance function fitting algorithm operating on position, width and amplitude of temperature change. RMS deviations to within 0.03 mm of applied values of position have been obtained.