Coal gasifier is one of the most promising solutions for clean fossil energy. Refractory thickness monitoring and online real-time temperature measurement is needed for improved reliability and advanced process control for current and future generation power plants. The objective of this program is to design and implement an optical fiber based sensing system that could potentially be used to monitor refractory wall thickness and temperature inside a coal gasifier. For the thickness monitoring, the system should be able to operate at temperatures up to 1000 C. For this temperature range, silica fiber can still work so it is chosen for the sensor design. The measurement is based on a photon counting optical time domain reflectometer. A narrow light pulse is launched into a silica fiber which could be embedded into the gasifier refractory wall, and is partially reflected by the far end of the fiber. The time of flight of the light pulse in the fiber then gives an indication of the position of the fiber end, which is a function of the wall thickness when the fiber is embedded. Results obtained show a measurement accuracy of {+-}2cm in environment of 1000 C with a saw cut fiber end. When …