In light of recent global climate changes, Malaysia has witnessed consistent heavy rainfall throughout the year. Due to soft soil compositions in Malaysia's hill slopes, rather than rocky terrain, landslides occur frequently and sometimes resulting in significant loss of life. Consequently, there has been a notable governmental emphasis on implementing remote landslide monitoring systems. This keynote address aims to provide a comprehensive overview of a custom-built, Fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based landslide monitoring system. The system was developed in our laboratory and is primarily optical-based with an additional solar-powered system to power up the data acquisition module.The primary sensing element of this monitoring system is FBG-based sensors, which has been meticulously produced in-house. Most of the sensors were 3D-printed and tested in the laboratory before further field testing was performed. The sensors presented possess different sensitivity value depending on their measured parameters. As an example, FBG-based inclinometer and tiltmeter yield sensitivity values between 0.01 – 0.02 nm/deg while FBG-based strain sensor yields a sensitivity value around 0.0012 nm/µε. To ensure functionality and suitability in real-world scenarios, numerous field tests have been undertaken to validate the sensors' performance during on-site deployment. Recognizing the necessity for constant monitoring, particularly in high-risk localities, a remote monitoring module for the FBG-based sensors has been developed. This module provides real-time data transmission directly to laptops or mobile devices. To further validate and verify the monitoring system's efficacy, the monitoring module has been deployed on-site for assessment by local enterprises and stakeholders.

Harith Ahmad is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia and is a Distinguished Professor at the Universiti Malaya. He isthe director of Photonics Research Centre, which has been recognized as the national centre of Photonics by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education. He has published more than 600 publications in internationally refereed journals and has been awarded numerous prestigious awards such as the Merdeka Award-Outstanding Scholastic Achievement, ASEAN Outstanding Scientist and Technologist Award, and the Toray Science and Technology Award, to name a few.