With the rapid development of emerging industries such as the Internet of Things and mobile internet, intelligent sensors, composed of sensing elements, signal conditioning circuits, and controllers, possess data acquisition, conversion, analysis, and even decision-making functions. Intelligentization can improve sensor accuracy, reduce power consumption and size, and facilitate easier networking, thereby expanding the application range of sensors and enabling their development to be faster and more effective.
The concept of smart sensors:
Intelligent sensors are smart devices that integrate sensors, actuators, and electronic circuits, or devices that integrate sensing elements and microprocessors, possessing monitoring and processing functions. A key characteristic of intelligent sensors is their output of digital signals, facilitating subsequent computation and processing. The functions of intelligent sensors include signal sensing, signal processing, data verification and interpretation, and signal transmission and conversion. Major components include A/D and D/A converters, transceivers, microcontrollers, and amplifiers.
What are sensors and smart sensors?
A sensor is a device that converts specific physical quantities into electrical signals to detect, measure, or indicate them. When a sensor senses something and sends information, an actuator begins to work. The actuator receives the signal and sets its desired action so that it can move in its environment.
Intelligent sensors are smart sensor devices capable of sensing, collecting, judging, analyzing, and processing information about the external environment. They are multi-component integrated circuits with information acquisition, processing, exchange, storage, and transmission functions. These are system-level devices integrating sensors, communication modules, microprocessors, drivers and interfaces, and software algorithms. They possess diagnostic and self-compensation capabilities, as well as sensory fusion and flexible communication capabilities.
What are the advantages of smart sensors?
Self-test, self-calibration, and self-diagnosis: The self-diagnosis function performs a self-test upon power-on and uses diagnostic tests to determine if any components are faulty.
It can be corrected online based on usage time, and the microprocessor uses stored measurement characteristic data for comparison and verification.
Sensor fusion: Intelligent sensors can simultaneously measure multiple physical and chemical quantities, providing information reflecting the laws governing the motion of matter. For example, a fusion liquid sensor can simultaneously measure the temperature, flow rate, pressure, and density of the medium. How can mechanical sensors simultaneously measure the three-dimensional vibration acceleration, velocity, and displacement of a point on an object?
High accuracy: Intelligent sensors have information processing capabilities, which can not only correct various deterministic systematic errors through software, but also appropriately compensate for random errors and reduce noise, thereby improving the accuracy of the sensor.
High reliability: The integrated sensor system eliminates some unreliable factors of traditional structures and improves the overall system's anti-interference performance. It also features diagnostic, calibration, and data storage functions, and exhibits good stability.
Cost-effectiveness: Under the same accuracy requirements, the cost-effectiveness of multi-functional smart sensors is significantly higher than that of single-function ordinary sensors, especially after integrating a cheaper microcontroller.
Multifunctional: The intelligent sensor can achieve integrated measurement of multiple sensors and parameters, and its measurement and application range can be expanded through programming. It has a certain degree of adaptability, and can adjust the range of output data accordingly based on changes in the detected object or conditions.
It features a digital communication interface, allowing direct data transmission to a remote computer for processing. It offers multiple data output formats suitable for various application systems. Signal normalization: The sensor's analog signal is normalized by an amplifier and then converted into a digital signal by an analog-to-digital converter.
Microprocessors also perform digital normalization using various digital transmission methods such as serial, parallel, frequency, phase, and pulse.
The growth drivers of demand for smart sensors include: the increasing prevalence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT; the electrification and intelligentization of automobiles; the widespread adoption of wearable consumer electronics; advancements in sensor technology and MEMS manufacturing processes; the increasing use of various sensors in smartphones; strong demand from industrial automation and smart manufacturing; and smart cities, transportation, and building intelligence.
