SENSORS

BY;

ADITYA RAJ VERMA

RE6001B60

E6001
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am heartily thankful to my teacher K

Sreekant Reddy whose encouragement,
guidance and support from the initial to the
final level enabled me to develop an
understanding of the subject. My sincere
thanks to my parents for their moral
support and believe in me in completion of
my project.

I also owe my sincere thanks to Mr. Vivek

Sharma for their review on smart sensors
which helped me to understand the future
perspective of sensors.

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to

all of those who supported me in any
respect during the completion of the
project.

Aditya Raj Verma

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract…………………1

2. Introduction…………….2

3. Ideal Sensor…………….3

4. Properties of Sensors…..3

5. Types of Sensor…………4

6. Proximity sensors………4

7. Environmental Sensors...5

8. Smart Sensors…………..7

9. References………………8
ABSTRACT_________
Sensors were really quite interesting thing
to explore as the world moves towards
future world with dreams of being
surrounded by flying cars no traffic jams
ultra modern luxurious houses and tacky
nano electronic gadgets 3D gaming
holographic projects and much more on tis
way to stunned the world.

This report covers some basic and

fundamentals of the sensors and its
application in the electronic world.

I have also covered few facts of smart

sensors as they are future of these sensors
and will exist till the end.

INTRODUCTION
Modernisation and urbanization has helped
the electronic industry to come to its par
level with everyday futuristic products
flowing in the market for ease and comfort
ability of the consumers and lead a
luxurious life. Man from 18th century only
wants everything automated without any
man power required. From that time only
he had desired for self sufficient and
independent machine which can perform
multiple tasks with precision and no error
or mistakes at all. This desire led man to
explore many new designs and
sophisticated products which can make
their life easy with no stress.
application related to this small term
Sensor.
What is a SENSOR?
As the name says, the sensors are the
objects that sense the external stimulus
and convert it in a form interpretable to
the control system of the body.
So now you get an idea the function of any
basic sensor and how it can be applied in
machine world.
Our body also has sensors (also known as
sense organs) so as to sense the external
stimulus and send the signal to the brain
accordingly.

In this way when we are living in the 21st The following image illustrates the
century where we surrounded gadgets, functioning of the various sensors in the
humanoids, automated vehicles and human body:
transportation system, self sufficient
machines, independent industries. For all
these automation we require electronic
tools and components that are designed to
perform specific action according to way
they are programmed. This automation
gave birth to one of the finest and
significant component in the electronic
industry named Sensors.

As from the name only you can find what

this Sensor will do or you may get an idea
about one important component that forms
the foundation of any automatic machines.
Sensors are significantly used in various
machines and tools for multiple tasks.

From my little description I think you want

pretty more about this little interesting
component Sensors. Don’t stress your
brain too much and let me start now start
from basics to most advanced theories and
 The above figure is quite familiar to all of
us and we all know about nervous system
and sense organs (10 grade biology).
So we may now define SENSOR in
engineering terms as:
A sensor is a device that measures a
physical quantity and converts it into a
signal which can be read by an observer
or by an instrument.
So sensor senses the physical environment
and interpret in machine language that can
be understood by the circuit and perform
the specified task as per the input signal.
For any object, machine in physics there
we always consider the object to be in
ideal state for any derivation and
calculation we apply to it. Sensor can only
be ideal, when
IDEAL SENSOR
An ideal sensor must obey the following
rules:-
1. It must be sensitive to the measured
property.
2. It must be in sensitive to any other
property.
3. It must not influence the measured
property.
4. The output signal of the sensor must be
linearly proportional to the value of the
measured property.
The conditions are quite realistic and in the
practical world the object always deviate
from its ideal nature due practical
environment and loses it suffers during its
operation. So we should take in account
the upon the fact that nothing is ideal in
the world lets discuss that how a sensor
deviates from its ideal character to real
character due environmental factors which
act upon it.
Sensor deviations:-
1. Sensitivity error:-The sensitivity may
in practice differ from the value specified,
but the sensor is still linear.
2. Sensor Offset:-If the output signal is
not zero when the measured property is
zero, the sensor has an offset or bias.
3. Nonlinearity:-If the sensitivity is not
constant over the range of the sensor, this
is called nonlinearity.
4. Drift:-If the output signals slowly
changes independent of the measured
property.
5. Noise:-Noise is an unwanted random
addition to wanted signal.
6. Digitization error:-If the sensor has a
digital output, the output is essentially an
approximation of the measured property.
The approximation error is also called
digitization error.
Let’s now highlight the properties of any
sensor because it is important to know
about properties before we use it in our
world.
Properties of sensors
1. Range of the sensor-Fixed interval of
output.
2. Sensitivity-How change in input is
mapped to change in output.
3. Speed-Time interval between reading
input and presenting output.
4. Stability-How vulnerable it is to noise.

Different types of SENSOR:
There are many types of sensors. They are
used to measure and detect a huge variety
of conditions including:
Temperature, pressure, level, humidity,
speed, motion, distance, light or the
presence of an object and many other
types.
Classification of sensors
Sensors are basically classified into two
types
1. Passive sensors
2. Active sensors
Passive sensors:-Stimulus (physical
property being measured) comes from the
environment.
Active sensors:-Provide their own signal
stimulus and use its interaction with the
environment as the property being
measured.
On basis of function Sensors can be
classified as:-
1. PROXIMITY
2. ENVIRONMENTAL
Proximity Sensors
A proximity sensor is a sensor which is
able to detect the presence of nearby
objects without any physical contact.
It often emits an electromagnetic or
electrostatic field or a beam of
electromagnetic radiation and looks for
changes in the field or return signal.
Proximity sensors are further classified as:
 Mechanical Proximity Sensors
(also know as TACTILE SWITCHES)
Have a cylindrical rod at
the one side.
This rod bangs with the
obstacle or wall.
This banging is sensed
and motor polarity
changes.
Ideal for Obstacle
Sensor and Wall
Follower.
Also called tactile switches, they are found
useful in switch panels for machines,
designing nano scale switches for small
handheld gadgets like mobile phones,
PDA, laptops, ipods, and music players.
They are also useful in automatic doors,
robotic movements etc.

 Reflective Proximity Sensors
• Infrared Sensors.
• Visible Sensors.
• Ultra range Sensors.
Infrared Sensors
A Pyroelectric Infrared sensor (PIR
sensor) is an electronic device that
measures infrared (IR) light radiating from
objects.PIR sensors are often used in the
construction of PIR-based motion
detectors.
Apparent motion is detected when an
infrared source with one temperature, such
as a human, passes in front of an infrared
source with another temperature, such as a
wall.
Visible Light Sensors
Spectral response of these sensors is close
to that of the human eye.
Si photodiodes have internal visible
compensation filter while GaP and GaAsP
photodiodes have spectral response
approaching to that of the human eye.
Generally used in and as Imaging Sensors
(as in Google earth).
Ultra-range Sensors
The SRF04 Ultra Sonic Ranger Module is
a high quality
ultra sonic
range finder,
which can
easily be
connected to
many
microcontrollers to measure/detect the
presence of obstacles.
Using a 5V supply and drawing from
30mA typical to 50mA max. The SRF04
can be connected directly too many micros
without the need for a separate power
supply.
They are found used in high end robotic
machines and robots which are designed to
perform multiple tasks. One of the best
used on military services like UAV
(Unmanned Armed Vehicles) in US
defence services and remote controlled
ground clearance in Israel military
department and much more.
Well these were proximity sensors type
and their wide application in various
fields, we move to another type of sensor
the next on Environmental Sensor.
Environmental Sensors
These sensors were designed earlier as part
of automation in the electronics science
and technology. An environmental sensor
is one which detects the physical
environment like temperature, humidity,
wind, rainfall, heat, etc.
Environmental Sensors are designed to
sense:
• Light
• Temperature
• Sound
• Pressure
• Humidity
• Gases
• Moisture
The cheapest of these are LDR’s meaning
Light Dependent Resistor working on
principle photoelectric effect as the
resistance vary according to intensity of
light and find application in barrier and
automated doors.
A photodiode is a type of photo detector
capable of converting light into either
current or voltage, depending upon the
mode of operation.
The Phototransistor is similar in operation
to the amplifying Transistor, but it is
controlled by light rather than by the
electric current of the emitter. It also uses a
piece of germanium but only a single
collector wire. The tip of this wire rests in
a small dimple ground into one side of the
germanium disk. At this point the
germanium disk is only three thousandths
of an inch thick.
A thyristor is a solid-state semiconductor
device with four layers of alternating N
and P-type material. They act as bistable
switches, conducting when their gate
receives a current pulse, and continue to
conduct for as long as they are forward
biased (that is, as long as the voltage
across the device has not reversed).
A thermistor is a temperature-sensing
element composed of sintered
semiconductor material which exhibits a
large change in resistance proportional to a
small change in temperature. Thermistors
usually have negative temperature
coefficients which means the resistance of
the thermistor decreases as the temperature
increases.
They are sued cooling systems in the
electronic devices and in fire alarms for
activating the warning siren. They are also
finding used in digital thermometer and in
air conditioner for auto switching in place
of thermostat.
These were some of commonly used
environmental sensors in many industrial
and domestic areas in the world.
Sensors play very critical role in electronic
world today and in future also.
SMART SENSORS-Future of sensors
Anything that is smart can make its own
decision. Similarly, a smart sensor has
build in decision making capability. The
decision making capability is usually
provided by the microcontroller that sends
a control signal; for example, to stop a
process or to relay the information to a
central node for monitoring. Smart sensors
are useful in a variety of areas ranging
from industrial safety, security, and hazard
and accident prevention to early detection
of unusual mechanical behaviour of
machines.
Smart Sensors can be deployed in manned
as well as unmanned situations. These
have found applications in several real-life
situations where response time is critical;
for example in fire detection. A
temperature sensor based smart sensor
connected with ZigBee can be used to
detect forest fires and take preventive
action sooner than otherwise. Smart
Sensors based PIR transmit data to remote
location, either to a computer on Wi Fi or
GPRS mobile phones

References cited:-
Books

• Electronics Engineering by
Saraswati Publications

• Semiconductors by Oxford
publication

• Electronics For You(August

2010)

Internet

• www.wikepedia.com

• www.temperatures.com/thermis
tors.html

• hyperphysics.phy-
astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Electronic/ph
otdet.html