Giovanni Tomasi, CEO/CTO of RSL Fiber Systems, LLC, has been in the fiber optic industry since 1982, leading projects including the development of cables for US Navy ships and for the NASA Space Station. He founded RSL Fiber Systems in 2001 applying fiber optics to solve “impossible” lighting problems on US Navy vessels, developing the topside lighting for the DDG 1000 stealth destroyers. In 2012 the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health contracted RSL to evaluate fiber optic sensing to enhance safety in coal mines, prompting the company’s expansion into distributed fiber optic sensing systems.