Understanding Smart Sensors - Nomads.usp

316 Understanding Smart Sensorsself-test and verify that this critical input to the system is capable of performingits designed function any time during the life of the vehicle is comforting toboth the driver and the front seat passenger in vehicles equipped with those systems.After several deaths were attributed to airbag systems that did not discriminatethe size or the position of the driver or the passenger, more sensorshave been added, creating what have been called smart airbag systems. Onceagain, legislation and customer demands have driven semiconductor sensordevelopment and acceptance.The obvious question is where are the next opportunities for semiconductor-basedsensors to meet a legislated requirement and/or customerdemand. The answer is revealed, in part, by the technology that is already beingdeveloped: the follow-the-money approach. Providing additional safety orsecurity and reducing energy consumption and emissions are behind many ofthe potential applications in today’s sensor R&D laboratories. National laboratoriesin the United States and universities supported by corporate funding arethe basis of many of the developments cited in this book. Government interestin commercializing R&D is providing manufacturers and universities theopportunity to work with national laboratories and take the next step with offsettinggovernment funds.Other areas that are growing rapidly are handheld portable products.Today’s highly mobile society uses technology in a variety of portable applications.Memory storage could benefit from a MEMS-based 1-in disk drive.Finding the smart sensor applications in portable products could open newmarkets for those products.Legislated requirements always provide guaranteed market and focusdevelopment efforts on a specific application. Legislation has been enacted forfugitive emissions, carbon monoxide detection in homes, trailers, and recreationalvehicles, and reduced energy consumption in industrial, building, andhome applications. Applications that address an aging population of babyboomers with discretionary funds to spend on entertainment and the avoidanceof the effects of aging (e.g., hearing loss) are potential candidates for volumesensor usage. The question that must be answered now is can these semiconductorsensors provide cost-effective, value-added functionality to the system.That can occur in an application in which the sensor replaces a previous technologyand allows more users to take advantage of an existing system based onthe cost reduction. Another possibility is a new system that can be designedbased on the capability provided by semiconductor sensors combined withother new technologies. Anything that combines smart sensors with the Internetis obviously attractive. The examples in Section 14.4 demonstrate researchthat could be the next enabling technology for sensors.