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Classification of measurement errors
Toggle Classification of measurement errors subsection
Sensor deviations
Resolution
Chemical sensor
Toggle Chemical sensor subsection
Chemical sensor array
Biosensor
Neuromorphic sensors
MOS sensors
Toggle MOS sensors subsection
Biochemical sensors
Image sensors
Monitoring sensors
See also
References
Further reading
Sensor

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Sensors" redirects here. For other uses, see Sensors (disambiguation).
"Detector" redirects here. For detector circuits in radio and other signal-related
electronics, see Detector (radio).
Not to be confused with Censer, Censor, Censure, or Senser.

Different types of light sensors

A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of detecting a
physical phenomenon.

In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem

that detects events or changes in its environment and sends the information to
other electronics, frequently a computer processor.

Sensors are used in everyday objects such as touch-sensitive elevator buttons

(tactile sensor) and lamps which dim or brighten by touching the base, and in
innumerable applications of which most people are never aware. With advances in
micromachinery and easy-to-use microcontroller platforms, the uses of sensors have
expanded beyond the traditional fields of temperature, pressure and flow
measurement,[1] for example into MARG sensors.

Analog sensors such as potentiometers and force-sensing resistors are still widely
used. Their applications include manufacturing and machinery, airplanes and
aerospace, cars, medicine, robotics and many other aspects of our day-to-day life.
There is a wide range of other sensors that measure chemical and physical
properties of materials, including optical sensors for refractive index
measurement, vibrational sensors for fluid viscosity measurement, and electro-
chemical sensors for monitoring pH of fluids.

A sensor's sensitivity indicates how much its output changes when the input
quantity it measures changes. For instance, if the mercury in a thermometer moves 1
cm when the temperature changes by 1 °C, its sensitivity is 1 cm/°C (it is
basically the slope dy/dx assuming a linear characteristic). Some sensors can also
affect what they measure; for instance, a room temperature thermometer inserted
into a hot cup of liquid cools the liquid while the liquid heats the thermometer.
Sensors are usually designed to have a small effect on what is measured; making the
sensor smaller often improves this and may introduce other advantages.[2]

Technological progress allows more and more sensors to be manufactured on a

microscopic scale as microsensors using MEMS technology. In most cases, a
microsensor reaches a significantly faster measurement time and higher sensitivity
compared with macroscopic approaches.[2][3] Due to the increasing demand for rapid,
affordable and reliable information in today's world, disposable sensors—low-cost
and easy‐to‐use devices for short‐term monitoring or single‐shot measurements—have
recently gained growing importance. Using this class of sensors, critical
analytical information can be obtained by anyone, anywhere and at any time, without
the need for recalibration and worrying about contamination.[4]

Classification of measurement errors

An infrared sensor
A good sensor obeys the following rules:[4]

it is sensitive to the measured property

it is insensitive to any other property likely to be encountered in its
application, and
it does not influence the measured property.
Most sensors have a linear transfer function. The sensitivity is then defined as
the ratio between the output signal and measured property. For example, if a sensor
measures temperature and has a voltage output, the sensitivity is constant with the
units [V/K]. The sensitivity is the slope of the transfer function. Converting the
sensor's electrical output (for example V) to the measured units (for example K)
requires dividing the electrical output by the slope (or multiplying by its
reciprocal). In addition, an offset is frequently added or subtracted. For example,
−40 must be added to the output if 0 V output corresponds to −40 C input.

For an analog sensor signal to be processed or used in digital equipment, it needs

to be converted to a digital signal, using an analog-to-digital converter.

Sensor deviations
Since sensors cannot replicate an ideal transfer function, several types of
deviations can occur which limit sensor accuracy:

Since the range of the output signal is always limited, the output signal will
eventually reach a minimum or maximum when the measured property exceeds the
limits. The full scale range defines the maximum and minimum values of the measured
property. [citation needed]
The sensitivity may in practice differ from the value specified. This is called a
sensitivity error. This is an error in the slope of a linear transfer function.
If the output signal differs from the correct value by a constant, the sensor has
an offset error or bias. This is an error in the y-intercept of a linear transfer
function.
Nonlinearity is deviation of a sensor's transfer function from a straight line
transfer function. Usually, this is defined by the amount the output differs from
ideal behavior over the full range of the sensor, often noted as a percentage of
the full range.
Deviation caused by rapid changes of the measured property over time is a dynamic
error. Often, this behavior is described with a bode plot showing sensitivity error
and phase shift as a function of the frequency of a periodic input signal.
If the output signal slowly changes independent of the measured property, this is
defined as drift. Long term drift over months or years is caused by physical
changes in the sensor.
Noise is a random deviation of the signal that varies in time.
A hysteresis error causes the output value to vary depending on the previous input
values. If a sensor's output is different depending on whether a specific input
value was reached by increasing vs. decreasing the input, then the sensor has a
hysteresis error.
If the sensor has a digital output, the output is essentially an approximation of
the measured property. This error is also called quantization error.
If the signal is monitored digitally, the sampling frequency can cause a dynamic
error, or if the input variable or added noise changes periodically at a frequency
near a multiple of the sampling rate, aliasing errors may occur.
The sensor may to some extent be sensitive to properties other than the property
being measured. For example, most sensors are influenced by the temperature of
their environment.
All these deviations can be classified as systematic errors or random errors.
Systematic errors can sometimes be compensated for by means of some kind of
calibration strategy. Noise is a random error that can be reduced by signal
processing, such as filtering, usually at the expense of the dynamic behavior of
the sensor.

Resolution
The sensor resolution or measurement resolution is the smallest change that can be
detected in the quantity that is being measured. The resolution of a sensor with a
digital output is usually the numerical resolution of the digital output. The
resolution is related to the precision with which the measurement is made, but they
are not the same thing. A sensor's accuracy may be considerably worse than its
resolution.

For example, the distance resolution is the minimum distance that can be accurately
measured by any distance measuring devices. In a time-of-flight camera, the
distance resolution is usually equal to the standard deviation (total noise) of the
signal expressed in unit of length.
The sensor may to some extent be sensitive to properties other than the property
being measured. For example, most sensors are influenced by the temperature of
their environment.
Chemical sensor
A chemical sensor is a self-contained analytical device that can provide
information about the chemical composition of its environment, that is, a liquid or
a gas phase.[5][6] The information is provided in the form of a measurable physical
signal that is correlated with the concentration of a certain chemical species
(termed as analyte). Two main steps are involved in the functioning of a chemical
sensor, namely, recognition and transduction. In the recognition step, analyte
molecules interact selectively with receptor molecules or sites included in the
structure of the recognition element of the sensor. Consequently, a characteristic
physical parameter varies and this variation is reported by means of an integrated
transducer that generates the output signal. A chemical sensor based on recognition
material of biological nature is a biosensor. However, as synthetic biomimetic
materials are going to substitute to some extent recognition biomaterials, a sharp
distinction between a biosensor and a standard chemical sensor is superfluous.
Typical biomimetic materials used in sensor development are molecularly imprinted
polymers and aptamers.[7]

Chemical sensor array

This section is an excerpt from Chemical sensor array.[edit]
A chemical sensor array is a sensor architecture with multiple sensor components
that create a pattern for analyte detection from the additive responses of
individual sensor components. There exist several types of chemical sensor arrays
including electronic, optical, acoustic wave, and potentiometric devices. These
chemical sensor arrays can employ multiple sensor types that are cross-reactive or
tuned to sense specific analytes.[8][9][10][11]
Biosensor
Main article: Biosensor
In biomedicine and biotechnology, sensors which detect analytes thanks to a
biological component, such as cells, protein, nucleic acid or biomimetic polymers,
are called biosensors. Whereas a non-biological sensor, even organic (carbon
chemistry), for biological analytes is referred to as sensor or nanosensor. This
terminology applies for both in-vitro and in vivo applications. The encapsulation
of the biological component in biosensors, presents a slightly different problem
that ordinary sensors; this can either be done by means of a semipermeable barrier,
such as a dialysis membrane or a hydrogel, or a 3D polymer matrix, which either
physically constrains the sensing macromolecule or chemically constrains the
macromolecule by bounding it to the scaffold.

Neuromorphic sensors
Neuromorphic sensors are sensors that physically mimic structures and functions of
biological neural entities.[12] One example of this is the event camera.

MOS sensors
Metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) technology originates from the MOSFET (MOS field-
effect transistor, or MOS transistor) invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng
in 1959, and demonstrated in 1960.[13] MOSFET sensors (MOS sensors) were later
developed, and they have since been widely used to measure physical, chemical,
biological and environmental parameters.[14]
Biochemical sensors
A number of MOSFET sensors have been developed, for measuring physical, chemical,
biological, and environmental parameters.[14] The earliest MOSFET sensors include
the open-gate field-effect transistor (OGFET) introduced by Johannessen in 1970,
[14] the ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) invented by Piet Bergveld in
1970,[15] the adsorption FET (ADFET) patented by P.F. Cox in 1974, and a hydrogen-
sensitive MOSFET demonstrated by I. Lundstrom, M.S. Shivaraman, C.S. Svenson and L.
Lundkvist in 1975.[14] The ISFET is a special type of MOSFET with a gate at a
certain distance,[14] and where the metal gate is replaced by an ion-sensitive
membrane, electrolyte solution and reference electrode.[16] The ISFET is widely
used in biomedical applications, such as the detection of DNA hybridization,
biomarker detection from blood, antibody detection, glucose measurement, pH
sensing, and genetic technology.[16]

By the mid-1980s, numerous other MOSFET sensors had been developed, including the
gas sensor FET (GASFET), surface accessible FET (SAFET), charge flow transistor
(CFT), pressure sensor FET (PRESSFET), chemical field-effect transistor (ChemFET),
reference ISFET (REFET), biosensor FET (BioFET), enzyme-modified FET (ENFET) and
immunologically modified FET (IMFET).[14] By the early 2000s, BioFET types such as
the DNA field-effect transistor (DNAFET), gene-modified FET (GenFET) and cell-
potential BioFET (CPFET) had been developed.[16]

Image sensors
Main articles: Image sensor, Charge-coupled device, and Active-pixel sensor
MOS technology is the basis for modern image sensors, including the charge-coupled
device (CCD) and the CMOS active-pixel sensor (CMOS sensor), used in digital
imaging and digital cameras.[17] Willard Boyle and George E. Smith developed the
CCD in 1969. While researching the MOS process, they realized that an electric
charge was the analogy of the magnetic bubble and that it could be stored on a tiny
MOS capacitor. As it was fairly straightforward to fabricate a series of MOS
capacitors in a row, they connected a suitable voltage to them so that the charge
could be stepped along from one to the next.[17] The CCD is a semiconductor circuit
that was later used in the first digital video cameras for television broadcasting.
[18]

The MOS active-pixel sensor (APS) was developed by Tsutomu Nakamura at Olympus in
1985.[19] The CMOS active-pixel sensor was later developed by Eric Fossum and his
team in the early 1990s.[20]

MOS image sensors are widely used in optical mouse technology. The first optical
mouse, invented by Richard F. Lyon at Xerox in 1980, used a 5 μm NMOS sensor chip.
[21][22] Since the first commercial optical mouse, the IntelliMouse introduced in
1999, most optical mouse devices use CMOS sensors.[23]

Monitoring sensors

A LIDAR sensor (bottom, center), as part of the camera system on an iPad Pro.[24]
MOS monitoring sensors are used for house monitoring, office and agriculture
monitoring, traffic monitoring (including car speed, traffic jams, and traffic
accidents), weather monitoring (such as for rain, wind, lightning and storms),
defense monitoring, and monitoring temperature, humidity, air pollution, fire,
health, security and lighting.[25] MOS gas detector sensors are used to detect
carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and other gas
substances.[26] Other MOS sensors include intelligent sensors[27] and wireless
sensor network (WSN) technology.[28]

See also
Actuator
Data acquisition
Data logger
Image sensor
MOSFET
BioFET
Chemical field-effect transistor
ISFET
List of sensors
Machine olfaction
Nanoelectronics
Nanosensor
Sensing floor
Transducer
Wireless sensor network
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Jihong Yan (2015). Machinery Prognostics and Prognosis Oriented Maintenance
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Teresa; Merkoçi, Arben; Manz, Andreas; Urban, Gerald Anton; Güder, Firat (2019-05-
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Advanced Materials. 31 (30): 1806739. doi:10.1002/adma.201806739.
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Toniolo, Rosanna; Dossi, Nicolò; Giannilivigni, Emanuele; Fattori, Andrea;
Svigelj, Rossella; Bontempelli, Gino; Giacomino, Agnese; Daniele, Salvatore (3
March 2020). "Modified Screen Printed Electrode Suitable for Electrochemical
Measurements in Gas Phase". Analytical Chemistry. 92 (5): 3689–3696.
doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.9b04818. ISSN 0003-2700. PMID 32008321. S2CID 211012680.
Bǎnicǎ, Florinel-Gabriel (2012). Chemical Sensors and Biosensors:Fundamentals and
Applications. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. p. 576. ISBN 978-1-118-35423-0.
Svigelj, Rossella; Dossi, Nicolo; Pizzolato, Stefania; Toniolo, Rosanna; Miranda-
Castro, Rebeca; de-los-Santos-Álvarez, Noemí; Lobo-Castañón, María Jesús (1 October
2020). "Truncated aptamers as selective receptors in a gluten sensor supporting
direct measurement in a deep eutectic solvent". Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 165:
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Stitzel, Shannon E.; Vaid, Thomas P.; Walt, David R. (2000-07-01). "Cross-Reactive
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Johnson, Kevin J.; Rose-Pehrsson, Susan L. (2015-07-10). "Sensor Array Design for
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Further reading
M. Kretschmar and S. Welsby (2005), Capacitive and Inductive Displacement Sensors,
in Sensor Technology Handbook, J. Wilson editor, Newnes: Burlington, MA.
C. A. Grimes, E. C. Dickey, and M. V. Pishko (2006), Encyclopedia of Sensors (10-
Volume Set), American Scientific Publishers. ISBN 1-58883-056-X
Blaauw, F.J., Schenk, H.M., Jeronimus, B.F., van der Krieke, L., de Jonge, P.,
Aiello, M., Emerencia, A.C. (2016). Let’s get Physiqual – An intuitive and generic
method to combine sensor technology with ecological momentary assessments. Journal
of Biomedical Informatics, vol. 63, page 141–149.

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