A strain sensing assembly implements thermal management and/or temperature measurement techniques to adequately mitigate against and compensate for temperature changes in optical fiber strain sensors of a distal end of a catheter. In one embodiment, the distal end of the catheter includes an end effector such as an ablation head that introduces significant thermal temperature changes proximate the distal end of the catheter. In one embodiment, a plurality of temperature sensors is utilized for accurate determination of each of a plurality of optical fiber strain sensors. In other embodiments, a single temperature sensor may be utilized by implementing thermal management techniques that adequately reduce temperature differences between the single temperature sensor and the plurality of optical fiber strain sensors.
