Understanding Smart Sensors - Nomads.usp

14The Next Phase of Sensing SystemsOnce you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left is possible.—Ancestor of Mr. Spock, Chief Science Officer of the Starship Enterprise14.1 IntroductionAs Chapter 11 pointed out, the combination of several techniques can be usedto develop the next generation of smart sensing systems. That has been possiblefor many years and is indeed the basis of many instruments, such as the Fabry-Perot interferometer, blood testing systems, and the camera-on-a-chip. Whatmakes the future possibilities exciting is the scale (size) of the sensors made possibleby the combination of micromachining and microelectronics. The size ofsemiconductor sensors is directly proportional to the cost of the sensor, and thecost is inversely proportional to the volume of applications. When cost barriersare broken, laboratory curiosities become a part of everyday life. Manifoldabsolute pressure sensors in cars, disposable blood pressure sensors for medicalapplications, and accelerometers for airbag systems have demonstrated theextent to which a cost-effective sensing technology can displace a previous technology.That is especially true when on-chip integration is possible.Smart sensors can be standalone elements of simple products or distributedin complex networks such as a factory or a vehicle. The availability of standardssuch as the IEEE 1451 should expedite the development in networkedsensors, especially the smarter versions.In the area of computing, communications, and entertainment, the convergenceof these technologies is creating entirely new products and markets.311