MANISH KUMAR GAUTAM

Registration:- 18-15-05
M.Tech (2018-2020)
SMART SENSORS
Contents
Smart Sensor Systems
1.1 Third Industrial Revolution 2
1.2 Definitions for Several Kinds of Sensors 4
1.2.1 Definition of Sensors 4
1.2.2 Definition of Smart Sensors 6
1.2.3 Definition of Integrated Smart Sensors 7
1.2.4 Definition of Integrated Smart Sensor Systems 7
1.3 Automated Production Machines 8
1.3.1 A case study in machine building industry 9
1.4 Automated Consumer Products 11
1.4.1 Smart Cars 12
1.4.2 Smart Homes 12
1.4.3 Smart Domestic Appliances 12
1.4.4 Smart Toys 14
1.5 Conclusion

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 Smart Sensor Systems

1.1 Third Industrial Revolution

Automation has three phases:
(1) Mechanization;
(2) Informatization;
(3) Sensorization.

Humans have always tried to extend their capabilities. See Figure 1.1. Firstly,
they extended their mechanical powers. They invented the steam engine, the
combustion engine, the electric motor, and the jet engine. Mechanization thor-
oughly changed society. The first industrial revolution was born.
Secondly, they extended their brains, or their ratio. They invented means for arti-
ficial logic and communication: the computer and the internet. This informatiza-
tion phase is changing society again, where we cannot yet fully predict the end
result.
However, this is not all. By inventing sensors, humans are now learning to artifi-
cially expand their senses. Sensorization together with mechanization and in-
formatization will bring about the third industrial revolution of full automation
or robotization.

Figure1. 1 Sensorization: the third automation revolution

A good example is the automated flight control system of a modern airplane

(Figure 1.2). It includes many sensors to monitor the flight. The computers pro-
cess the signals, compare them with the designed values, and provide control

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signals for the engines, rudders, and flaps that move the plane. This triptych of
mechanics, computers, and sensors allows the plane to fly on autopilot.

Figure1. 2 A fully automated airplane showing the triplet of mechanization, informati-

zation and sensorization
If aircraft can fly automatically, why then can we still not have our car drive us
to work by simply telling it to do so? Because the sensor system for an auto
driver still weighs too much, is too bulky, and too costly to manufacture. So be-
fore we can apply sensorization to smart cars, smart homes, and industrial pro-
duction machines, we must reduce the costs, size, and weight of the sensor sys-
tem. This effort is the subject of our present challenge to develop Integrated
Smart Sensors, as shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1. 1 Integrated smart sensors

Challenge: enabling the measurement of many physical and
(bio)chemical signals
Requirements: low cost, low size, low weight, low power,
self-test, bus or wireless communication
HOW: integrating sensors, actuators and smart interface
electronics, preferably in one IC-package

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1.2 Definitions for Several Kinds of Sensors

We will now provide definitions for several kinds of sensors as follows:

 Sensors
 Smart Sensors
 Integrated Smart Sensors
 Smart Sensors Systems

1.2.1 Definition of Sensors

Sensors transform signals from different energy domains to the electrical do-
main. Figure 1.3 classifies signals in six domains.

Image sensor
DNA sensor Air bag sensor

Temperature
sensor

Hall plate sensor

Figure1. 3Sensor classification according to six signal domains

The physical effects of sensors can be described by differential equations on en-

ergy or power containment. Parameters of cross-effects between different energy
domains describe the cross-sensitivities of a sensor between these signal do-
mains. These effects are shown in Table 1.2, which places the physical sensor ef-
fects in a system. On the left-hand side, we find the sensor input signal domains.
At the top there are the output signal domains. All effects on the left/upper-
right/lower diagonal refer to effects within one signal domain. An example is
photoluminescence within the radiation domain. All effects in the column with
electrical output signals describe sensor effects, for example photoconductivity.
All effects in the row with an electrical signal as input describe actuator effects.

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Table 1. 2 Physical sensor effects
In/Out Radiant Mechanical Thermal Electrical Magnetic Chemical

Radiant Photolu- Radiant Radiant Photo- Photo- Photochem-

minan. pressure heating cond. magn. ical.
Mechani- Photo- Conserva- Friction heat Piezoelec- magneto- Pressure in-
cal elastic tion tricity striction duced
effect of moment Explosion.

Thermal Incan- Thermal Heat Seebeck Curie- Endotherm

descence expansion conduction effect Weiss reaction
law

Electri- Inject. Piezo-electr. Peltier effect PNjunc- Ampere’s Electrolysis

cal Lumi- tion law
nance. effect

Magnetic Faraday Magneto- Ettinghausing Hall ef- Magnetic

effect striction effect fect induction

Chemical Chemo- Explosion Exothermal Volta ef- Chem.

lumin. reaction reaction fect reaction

Sensors can be further divided into passive (self-generating) and active (modulat-
ing) types. This is de-
picted in Figure 1.4.
Passive sensors such as
the electrodynamic mi-
crophone obtain their
output energy from the
input signal; active sen-
sors on the other hand,
such as the condenser
microphone, obtain it
from an internal power
source. Figure1. 4 Self-generation and modulating sensors

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Figures 1.5 depict the multitude of materials that can be chosen for sensors. Sem-
iconductors are becoming increasingly popular as a sensor material because of
their stable crystalline structure and because its standardization in mass fabrica-
tion is being improved; and because of their low price.

Figure1. 5 Sensor materials

1.2.2 Definition of Smart Sensors

Randy Prank proposed whimsically that "A rose with a microcontroller would be
a smart rose" (Understanding Smart Sensors, ppl). Three hybrid smart sensors are
shown in Figure 1.6,
which differ in the de-
gree to which they are
already integrated on
the sensor chip. This
calls for standardiza-
tion. In the first hybrid
smart sensor, a univer-
sal sensor interface
(USI) can be used to Figure1. 6 Hybrid smart sensors

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connect the sensor with the digital bus. In the second one, the sensor and signal
conditioner have been integrated. However, the ADC and bus interface are still
outside. In the third hybrid, the sensor is already combined with an interface cir-
cuit on one chip that provides a duty cycle or bit stream. Just the bus interface is
still needed separately.

1.2.3 Definition of Integrated Smart Sensors

If we integrate all functions from sensor to bus interface in one chip, we get an
integrated smart sensor. An integrated smart sensor should contain all elements
necessary per node: one or more sensors, amplifiers, a chopper and multiplexers,
an AD converter, buffers, a bus interface, addresses, and control and power man-
agement. This is shown in Figure 1.7. Although fully integrating all functions
will be expensive, mass-production of the resulting sensor can keep the cost per
integrated smart sensor reasonable. Another upside is that the costs of installing
the total sensor system can be drastically reduced because of the simple modular
architecture.

Figure1. 7 Functions of an integrated smart sensor

However, for realizing all functions on one chip we must first integrate a diversity
of sensors on one chip. For this purpose an IC-compatible three-dimensional mi-
cro-structuring technology is being developed.

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1.2.4 Definition of Integrated Smart Sensor Systems
Figure 1.14 depicts the evolution of integrated smart sensor systems with many
intermediate steps. The greater the market for smart sensors of a certain type, the
more integration is economically affordable for that type.

Figure1. 8 Smart sensor system evolution

1.3 Applications
Integrated smart sensors will be applied in all areas of daily life: in smart homes
and appliances, in smart cars, and in smart production machines. Table 1.3 shows
the areas where integrated smart sensors are already being used in smart produc-
tion machines and in professional monitoring of processes.
Table 1. 3 Application Areas

(bio)chemical industry traffic control

metal industry environmental monitoring
car industry health care
textile industry health monitoring
food industry security
building industry office automation
agriculture industry

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In the chemical or biochemical industry, many types of sensors are used to analyze
chemical or biochemical substances. An example is the high-speed screening chip
of Figure 1.16, which contains many nanoliter holes. Each hole contains a differ-
ent chemical reagent. Also each hole contains a heater, a light source and a light
detector. Only one drop of sample is required for analysis, because it can fill many
nanoliter holes.

Figure1. 9 High-speed screening (Vellekoop)

1.3.1 A case study in machine building industry

A study on sensors in
the machine building in-
dustry from 1995 has
shown the applications
for which sensors are
needed, see Figure 1.10.
In addition, the benefits
of using sensors in the
machine building indus-
try are shown in Figure
1.11. It clearly shows an Figure1. 10 Sensors in machine building indus-
increase in automation, try

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for instance to detect early failure diagnostics of the machines. Therefore, the elec-
tronics share of the production costs of machines is gradually increasing to about
10% to 20%, as shown in Figure 1.12.

Figure1. 11 Benefits of using sensors

Figure1. 12 Sensor electronics share of total value in machine building

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1.4 Automated Consumer Products
Automated consumer products are rapidly emerging in the form of smart cars,
smart homes, domestic appliances and toys, as follows:
 Smart Cars
 Smart Homes
 Smart Domestic Appliances
 Smart Toys

1.4.1 Smart Cars

Modern cars incorporated about 40 sensors in 2005, as depicted in Figure 1.13.
It will only be possible to accommodate more sensors if a distributed sensor bus
is used instead of a star-connected sensor system. Only smart sensors make this
economically viable. Otherwise the car breaks down under the load of wires.

Figure1. 13 Sensors in a car

Domestic appliances still do not take over all the housework. But the time will come when the

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1.4.2 Smart Homes
Many sensors have been built-in in the ‘home of the future’, erected in Rosmalen
in the Netherlands in 1988, see Figure 1.14. Like cars, houses can only accommo-
date many sensors if a distributed bus system is used instead of a point-to-point
network.

Figure1. 14 House of the future

1.4.3 Smart Domestic Appliances

Vacuum cleaner will automatically move from its socket once a week and vacuum
the rooms, without running over a cat or knocking over a vase. It will vacuum
until the carpet is clean and no longer, and will automatically return to its socket
for recharging (Figure 1.15). The refrigerator will detect when the supply of cer-
tain items is running low and will communicate this, so that it can be refurnished.
The washing machine will determine how much detergent is needed to clean the
laundry and use no more than that. It will rinse until no soap is left in the laundry
– not a second longer. It will immediately start rinsing if a red sweater threatens
to turn the laundry pink.

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 ®
Figure1. 15 Cleaning a house with an iRobot Roomba Autonomous Vacuum Cleaner

1.4.4 Smart Toys

Toys can become lifelike if they are given sensors. An example is the Sony AIBO
of Figure 1.16. Sensors used in virtual-reality gloves can monitor our movements
so that the virtual reality we see can be adapted to it (Figure 1.17).

Figure1. 16 AIBO (courtesy of Sony Benelux B.V.)

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Figure1. 17 Virtual reality feeling and vision (courtesy of Sunrise Virtual Reality, Inc.)

A racing simulator may be used for play or driving instructions. And now it is
even possible to play a (table) tennis match with someone at the other side of the
world (see Figure 1.18).

Figure1. 18 Playing tennis around the world

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1.5 Conclusion
We have shown why the third industrial revolution can only become reality
through smart sensor systems. A definition of smart sensor systems has been
given. Applications have been discussed in the fields of automated production
machines and automated consumer products.

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