Signal monitoring system and methods of operating same

A system for estimating a strain of a component and method of estimating strain is provided. The system includes a signal generator configured to transmit a signal toward the component. A sensor is coupled to the component and configured to receive the signal and to generate a reflected signal. The system includes a fiber Bragg grating filter coupled to the sensor and configured to filter the reflected signal and to generate a filtered signal. A detector is coupled to the filter and configured to convert the filtered signal to a time domain signal. The system includes an artificial neural network coupled to the detector and configured to process the time domain signal to facilitate estimating the strain of the component