Sensor breakouts
3. Sensor technology
Sensors are devices that allow any electronic equipment to perceive the physical world. Sensors help electronics see, listen to, smell, taste and touch. All these are realised by a sensor interface which translates physical world signals to a form that electronics can understand.
Essentially, sensors transform non-electrical or chemical quantities to electrical signals. What types of measurements are we talking about?
- Thermal: temperature, heat, heat flow etc.
- Mechanical: force, pressure, speed, flex, acceleration, position etc.
- Chemical: concentration etc.
- Magnetic: magnetic field strength etc.
- Radiation: wavelength, intensity and in general characteristics of electromagnetic waves.
- Electrical: voltage, current, load etc.
A sensor micro-system transforms these signals to electrical ones and then processes them accordingly.