Understanding Smart Sensors - Nomads.usp

PrefaceThe number one challenge facing engineers is rapidly changing technology,according to a 1999 survey [1]. IBM estimates that more data has been generatedin the past 30 years than in the previous 5,000 years! There certainly is nolack of available information on what is happening and the ongoing activities inthe area of sensing, micromachining, and microelectromechanical systems(MEMS). The difficulty comes in making effective decisions as users of thetechnology or establishing a long-range plan of where a company might useexisting and future products to develop end-user products. This book condensesthe existing material into a highly readable format and links the varietyof ongoing activities in the smart sensor and MEMS area.According to Dana Gardner and as noted in the first edition of this book,“By the year 2000, 50% of all engineers will design with sensors, up from 16%who routinely used them at the beginning of the decade” [2]. I do not know ifthat prediction came true, but the 1990s certainly should be remembered as thedecade when MEMS technology accelerated from the laboratory into productionand the decade that established smart sensors through the IEEE 1451 standard.Micromachining technology will continue to be the primary reason forsensors achieving cost breakthroughs that allow widespread sensor usage. At theheart of most smart sensors will be digital integrated circuit technology.Embedded microcontrollers already play a hidden role in most of thecommon activities that occur in our daily lives. Use a cellular phone, receive apage, watch television, listen to a compact disc, or drive a current model carand you have the assistance of embedded microcontrollers. For example, thereare a dozen or so microcontrollers in a typical car, over 50 if you drive a wellequippedluxury vehicle. Semiconductor sensors provide many of the inputs toxix