Compared with general sensors, smart sensors have the following three advantages: they can achieve high-precision information acquisition through software technology at a low cost; they have a certain degree of programming automation capability; and they are versatile in function.
A good 'smart sensor' is a suite of sensors and instruments driven by a microprocessor, and it has functions such as communication and onboard diagnostics.
Smart sensors can store various detected physical quantities and process this data according to instructions, thereby creating new data. Smart sensors can exchange information and decide on their own which data to transmit, discard abnormal data, and perform analysis and statistical calculations.
A smart sensor is a computer-based detection system with a microprocessor as its core and peripheral components extended from it. Compared to conventional sensors, smart sensors have the following significant characteristics:
1. Improved sensor accuracy
Intelligent sensors have information processing capabilities. Through software, they can not only correct various deterministic systematic errors (such as nonlinearity errors in sensor input and output, ergonomic errors, zero-point errors, forward and reverse travel errors, etc.), but also appropriately compensate for random errors and reduce noise, thus greatly improving sensor accuracy.
2. Improved sensor reliability
The miniaturization of integrated sensor systems eliminates some unreliable factors of traditional structures and improves the overall system's anti-interference capabilities; at the same time, it also has diagnostic, calibration, and data storage functions (and adaptive functions for intelligent structure systems), and has good stability.
3. Improved the performance-price ratio of the sensor
For the same level of accuracy, multifunctional intelligent sensors offer a significantly better price-performance ratio compared to single-function ordinary sensors, especially when using cheaper microcontrollers.
4. It has facilitated the multi-functionality of sensors.
Intelligent sensors can achieve multi-sensor, multi-parameter integrated measurement, and expand the measurement and application range through programming; they have a certain degree of adaptability, changing the range and output data format according to changes in the detected object or conditions; they have digital communication interface functions, allowing direct transmission to a remote computer for processing; and they have multiple data output formats (such as RS232 serial batching, PIO parallel output, IEEE-488 bus output, and analog output after D/A conversion, etc.), adapting to various application systems.
