SENSORS

WHAT IS A SENSOR?
A sensor is a transducer whose purpose is to sense or detect events or changes in quantities and provides a corresponding output, generally as an electrical or optical signal.

RADAR GUN

SOME RULES:

• should be sensitive to the measured property only
• should be insensitive to any other property likely to be encountered in its application
• Does not influence the measured property

Faraday cup

WHAT IS SENSITIVITY?
The sensitivity is then defined as the ratio between output signal and measured property.

For example, if a sensor measures temperature and has a voltage output, the sensitivity is a constant with the unit [V/K]

Geophone

WHAT ARE ITS TYPES?

Automotive         -  Radar gun, Speedometer, etc.
Acoustic              - Microphone, geophone, etc.

Galvanometer

Electric/Electronics/Chemical Fields       - Smoke Detector,            Galvanometer, Faraday Cup, etc.

Environment       - SNOTEL, Tide gauge, etc.
Others                 - LIDAR, Tachometer,PMT, Barograph, Pyrometer                               etc.

WHAT IS RESOLUTION?
The resolution of a sensor is the smallest change it can detect in the quantity that it is measuring.



EXAMPLE: A thermocouple converts temperature to an output voltage.





APPLICATIONS: Applications include manufacturing and machinery, airplanes and aerospace, cars, medicine and robotics.