Introduction to Internet of Things (IOT) 21CS735

Module 2
IoT Sensing and Actuation
2.1. Introduction
A major chunk of IoT applications involves sensing in one form or the other. Almost all the
applications in IoT—be it a consumer IoT, an industrial IoT, or just plain hobby-based
deployments of IoT solutions—sensing forms the first step. Incidentally, actuation forms the
final step in the whole operation of IoT application deployment in a majority of scenarios.
The basic science of sensing and actuation is based on the process of transduction.
Transduction is the process of energy conversion from one form to another. A transducer is
a physical means of enabling transduction. Transducers take energy in any form (for which it
is designed)— electrical, mechanical, chemical, light, sound, and others—and convert it into
another, which may be electrical, mechanical, chemical, light, sound, and others. Sensors and
actuators are deemed as transducers.
For example, in a public announcement (PA) system, a microphone (input device) converts
sound waves into electrical signals, which is amplified by an amplifier system (a process).
Finally, a loudspeaker (output device) outputs this into audible sounds by converting the
amplified electrical signals back into sound waves. Table 1 outlines the basic terminological
differences between transducers, sensors, and actuators.

Table 1 Basic outline of the differences between transducers, sensors, and actuators
Parameters Transducers Sensors Actuators
Definition Converts energy Converts various forms of Converts electrical
from one form to energy into electrical signals into various forms
another. signals. of energy, typically
mechanical energy.
Domain Can be used to It is an input transducer. It is an output transducer.
represent a sensor
as well as an
actuator.
Function Can work as a Used for quantifying Used for converting signals
sensor or an environmental stimuli into into proportional
actuator but not signals. mechanical or
simultaneously. electrical outputs.
Examples Any sensor or Humidity sensors, Motors (convert electrical
actuator Temperature sensors, energy to rotary motion),
Anemometers (measures Force heads (which
flow velocity), impose a force), Pumps
Manometers (measures (which convert rotary
fluid pressure), motion of shafts into either
Accelerometers (measures a pressure or a fluid
the acceleration of a body), velocity).
Gas sensors (measures
concentration of specific
gas or gases), and others.

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2.2 Sensors
Sensors are devices that can measure, or quantify, or respond to the ambient changes in their
environment or within the intended zone of their deployment. They generate responses to
external stimuli or physical phenomenon through characterization of the input functions (which
are these external stimuli) and their conversion into typically electrical signals.
For example, heat is converted to electrical signals in a temperature sensor, or atmospheric
pressure is converted to electrical signals in a barometer.
A sensor is only sensitive to the measured property (e.g., a temperature sensor only senses the
ambient temperature of a room). It is insensitive to any other property besides what it is
designed to detect (e.g., a temperature sensor does not bother about light or pressure while
sensing the temperature). Finally, a sensor does not influence the measured property (e.g.,
measuring the temperature does not reduce or increase the temperature).
Figure 2.1 shows the simple outline of a sensing task. Here, a temperature sensor keeps on
checking an environment for changes. In the event of a fire, the temperature of the
environment goes up. The temperature sensor notices this change in the temperature of the
room and promptly communicates this information to a remote monitor via the processor.

Fig. 2.1 The outline of a simple sensing operation

The various sensors can be classified based on 1) power requirements, 2) sensor output, and
3) property to be measured.

• Power Requirements: The way sensors operate decides the power requirements that
must be provided for an IoT implementation. Some sensors need to be provided with
separate power sources for them to function, whereas some sensors do not require any
power sources.
Depending on the requirements of power, sensors can be of two types.
(i) Active: Active sensors do not require an external circuitry or mechanism to provide it
with power. It directly responds to the external stimuli from its ambient environment
and converts it into an output signal. For example, a photodiode converts light into
electrical impulses.
(ii) Passive: Passive sensors require an external mechanism to power them up. The sensed
properties are modulated with the sensor’s inherent characteristics to generate patterns
in the output of the sensor. For example, a thermistor’s resistance can be detected by
applying voltage difference across it or passing a current through it.

• Output: The output of a sensor helps in deciding the additional components to be

integrated with an IoT node or system. Typically, almost all modern-day processors are
digital; digital sensors can be directly integrated to the processors. However, the
integration of analog sensors to these digital processors or IoT nodes requires additional
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interfacing mechanisms such as analog to digital converters (ADC), voltage level

converters, and others.
Sensors are broadly divided into two types, depending on the type of output generated from
these sensors, as follows.
(i) Analog: Analog sensors generate an output signal or voltage, which is proportional
(linearly or non-linearly) to the quantity being measured and is continuous in time and
amplitude. Physical quantities such as temperature, speed, pressure, displacement,
strain, and others are all continuous and categorized as analog quantities. For example, a
thermometer or a thermocouple can be used for measuring the temperature of a liquid
(e.g., in household water heaters). These sensors continuously respond to changes in the
temperature of the liquid.
(ii) Digital: These sensors generate the output of discrete time digital representation (time,
or amplitude, or both) of a quantity being measured, in the form of output signals or
voltages. Typically, binary output signals in the form of a logic 1 or a logic 0 for ON or
OFF, respectively are associated with digital sensors. The generated discrete (non-
continuous) values may be output as a single “bit” (serial transmission), eight of which
combine to produce a single “byte” output (parallel transmission) in digital sensors.

• Measured Property: The property of the environment being measured by the sensors
can be crucial in deciding the number of sensors in an IoT implementation. Some
properties to be measured do not show high spatial variations and can be quantified
only based on temporal variations in the measured property, such as ambient
temperature, atmospheric pressure, and others. Whereas some properties to be
measured show high spatial as well as temporal variations such as sound, image, and
others.

Depending on the properties to be measured, sensors can be of two types.

(i) Scalar: Scalar sensors produce an output proportional to the magnitude of the quantity
being measured. The output is in the form of a signal or voltage. Scalar physical
quantities are those where only the magnitude of the signal is sufficient for describing
or characterizing the phenomenon and information generation. Examples of such
measurable physical quantities include color, pressure, temperature, strain, and others.
A thermometer or thermocouple is an example of a scalar sensor that has the ability to
detect changes in ambient or object temperatures (depending on the sensor’s
configuration). Factors such as changes in sensor orientation or direction do not affect
these sensors (typically).
(ii) Vector: Vector sensors are affected by the magnitude as well as the direction and/or
orientation of the property they are measuring. Physical quantities such as velocity and
images that require additional information besides their magnitude for completely
categorizing a physical phenomenon are categorized as vector quantities. Measuring
such quantities are undertaken using vector sensors. For example, an electronic
gyroscope, which is commonly found in all modern aircraft, is used for detecting the
changes in orientation of the gyroscope with respect to the Earth’s orientation along all
three axes.

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Fig. 2.2 The functional blocks of a typical sensor node in IoT

Fig. 2.3 Some common commercially available sensors used for IoT-based sensing applications

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2.3 Sensor Characteristics

All sensors can be defined by their ability to measure or capture a certain phenomenon and
report them as output signals to various other systems. However, even within the same sensor
type and class, sensors can be characterized by their ability to sense the phenomenon based on
the following three fundamental properties.
• Sensor Resolution: The smallest change in the measurable quantity that a sensor can
detect is referred to as the resolution of a sensor. For digital sensors, the smallest change
in the digital output that the sensor is capable of quantifying is its sensor resolution. The
more the resolution of a sensor, the more accurate is the precision. A sensor’s accuracy
does not depend upon its resolution. For example, a temperature sensor A can detect up
to 0.50 C changes in temperature, whereas another sensor B can detect up to 0.250 C
changes in temperature. Therefore, the resolution of sensor B is higher than the
resolution of sensor A.
• Sensor Accuracy: The accuracy of a sensor is the ability of that sensor to measure the
environment of a system as close to its true measure as possible. For example, a weight
sensor detects the weight of a 100 kg mass as 99.98 kg. We can say that this sensor is
99.98% accurate, with an error rate of
• Sensor Precision: The principle of repeatability governs the precision of a sensor.
Only if, upon multiple repetitions, the sensor is found to have the same error rate, can it
be deemed as highly precise. For example, consider if the same weight sensor
described earlier reports measurements of 98.28 kg, 100.34 kg, and 101.11 kg upon
three repeat measurements for a mass of actual weight of 100 kg. Here, the sensor
precision is not deemed high because of significant variations in the temporal
measurements for the same object under the same conditions.

2.4 Sensorial Deviations

Most of the sensing in IoT is non-critical, where minor deviations in sensorial outputs seldom
change the nature of the undertaken tasks. However, some critical applications of IoT, such as
healthcare, industrial process monitoring, and others, do require sensors with high-quality
measurement capabilities. As the quality of the measurement obtained from a sensor is
dependent on a large number of factors, there are a few primary considerations that must be
incorporated during the sensing of critical systems.
In the event of a sensor’s output signal going beyond its designed maximum and minimum
capacity for measurement, the sensor output is truncated to its maximum or minimum value,
which is also the sensor’s limits. The measurement range between a sensor’s characterized
minimum and maximum values is also referred to as the full-scale range of that sensor.
• Under real conditions, the sensitivity of a sensor may differ from the value specified
for that sensor leading to sensitivity error. This deviation is mostly attributed to
sensor fabrication errors and its calibration.
• If the output of a sensor differs from the actual value to be measured by a constant, the
sensor is said to have an offset error or bias. For example, while measuring an actual
temperature of 00 C, a temperature sensor outputs 1.10 C every time. In this case, the
sensor is said to have an offset error or bias of 1.10 C.
• If a sensor’s transfer function (TF) deviates from a straight-line transfer function, it is
referred to as its non- linearity. The amount a sensor’s actual output differs from the
ideal TF behavior over the full range of the sensor quantifies its behavior. It is denoted

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as the percentage of the sensor’s full range. Most sensors have linear behavior.
• If the output signal of a sensor changes slowly and independently of the measured
property, this behavior of the sensor’s output is termed as drift. Physical changes in
the sensor or its material may result in long-term drift, which can span over months or
years. Noise is a temporally varying random deviation of signals.
• In contrast, if a sensor’s output varies/deviates due to deviations in the sensor’s
previous input values, it is referred to as hysteresis error. The present output of the
sensor depends on the past input values provided to the sensor. Typically, the
phenomenon of hysteresis can be observed in analog sensors, magnetic sensors, and
during heating of metal strips. One way to check for hysteresis error is to check how
the sensor’s output changes when we first increase, then decrease the input values to
the sensor over its full range. It is generally denoted as a positive and negative
percentage variation of the full range of that sensor.

• Focusing on digital sensors, if the digital output of a sensor is an approximation of the

measured property, it induces quantization error. This error can be defined as the
difference between the actual analog signal and its closest digital approximation
during the sampling stage of the analog to digital conversion.

• Similarly, dynamic errors caused due to mishandling of sampling frequencies can

give rise to aliasing errors. Aliasing leads to different signals of varying frequencies
to be represented as a single signal in case the sampling frequency is not correctly
chosen, resulting in the input signal becoming a multiple of the sampling rate.

Finally, the environment itself plays a crucial role in inducing sensorial deviations. Some
sensors may be prone to external influences, which may not be directly linked to the property
being measured by the sensor. This sensitivity of the sensor may lead to deviations in its
output values. For example, as most sensors are semiconductor based, they are influenced by
the temperature of their environment.

2.5 Sensing Types

Sensing can be broadly divided into four different categories based on the nature of the
environment being sensed and the physical sensors being used to do so (Figure 2.4): 1) scalar
sensing, 2) multimedia sensing, 3) hybrid sensing, and 4) virtual Sensing

2.5.1 Scalar sensing

• Scalar sensing encompasses the sensing of features that can be quantified simply by
measuring changes in the amplitude of the measured values with respect to time.
• Quantities such as ambient temperature, current, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, light,
humidity, flux, and others are considered as scalar values as they normally do not
have a directional or spatial property assigned with them. Simply measuring the
changes in their values with passing time provides enough information about these
quantities.
• The sensors used for measuring these scalar quantities are referred to as scalar
sensors, and the act is known as scalar sensing.
A simple scalar temperature sensing of a fire detection event is shown in Figure 2.4(a).

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2.5.2 Multimedia sensing

• Multimedia sensing encompasses the sensing of features that have a spatial variance
property associated with the property of temporal variance.
• Unlike scalar sensors, multimedia sensors are used for capturing the changes in
amplitude of a quantifiable property concerning space (spatial) as well as time
(temporal).
• Quantities such as images, direction, flow, speed, acceleration, sound, force, mass,
energy, and momentum have both directions as well as a magnitude. Additionally, these
quantities follow the vector law of addition and hence are designated as vector
quantities. They might have different values in different directions for the same working
condition at the same time.
• The sensors used for measuring these quantities are known as vector sensors.
A simple camera-based multimedia sensing using surveillance as an example is shown in Figure
2.4(b).

Fig. 2.4 The different sensing types commonly encountered in IoT

2.5.3 Hybrid sensing

• The act of using scalar as well as multimedia sensing at the same time is referred to as
hybrid sensing.
• Many a time, there is a need to measure certain vector as well as scalar properties of
an environment at the same time. Under these conditions, a range of various
sensors are employed (from the collection of scalar as well as multimedia sensors) to
measure the various properties of that environment at any instant of time, and
temporally map the collected information to generate new information.
• For example, in an agricultural field, it is required to measure the soil conditions at
regular intervals of time to determine plant health. Sensors such as soil moisture and
soil temperature are deployed underground to estimate the soil’s water retention
capacity and the moisture being held by the soil at any instant of time. However, this
setup only determines whether the plant is getting enough water or not. There may be
a host of other factors besides water availability, which may affect a plant’s

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health. The additional inclusion of a camera sensor with the plant may be able to
determine the actual condition of a plant by additionally determining the color of
leaves. The aggregate information from soil moisture, soil temperature, and the
camera sensor will be able to collectively determine a plant’s health at any instant of
time.
• Other common examples of hybrid sensing include smart parking systems, traffic
management systems, and others.
Figure 2.4(c) shows an example of hybrid sensing, where a camera and a temperature sensor
are collectively used to detect and confirm forest fires during wildlife monitoring.

2.5.4 Virtual sensing

• Many a time, there is a need for very dense and large-scale deployment of sensor
nodes spread over a large area for monitoring of parameters.
• One such domain is agriculture. Here, often, the parameters being measured, such as
soil moisture, soil temperature, and water level, do not show significant spatial
variations. Hence, if sensors are deployed in the fields of farmer A, it is highly likely
that the measurements from his sensors will be able to provide almost concise
measurements of his neighbour B’s fields; this is especially true of fields which are
immediately surrounding A’s fields. Exploiting this property, if the data from A’s
field is digitized using an IoT infrastructure and this system advises him regarding
the appropriate watering, fertilizer, and pesticide regimen for his crops, this advisory
can also be used by B for maintaining his crops.
• In short, A’s sensors are being used for actual measurement of parameters; whereas
virtual data (which does not have actual physical sensors but uses extrapolation-
based measurements) is being used for advising B. This is the virtual sensing
paradigm.
• Figure 2.4(d) shows an example of virtual sensing. Two temperature sensors S1 and
S3 monitor three nearby events E1, E2, and E3 (fires). The event E2 does not have a
dedicated sensor for monitoring it; however, through the superposition of readings
from sensors S1 and S3, the presence of fire in E2 is inferred.

2.6 Sensing Considerations

The choice of sensors in an IoT sensor node is critical and can either make or break the
feasibility of an IoT deployment. The following major factors influence the choice of sensors
in IoT-based sensing solutions: 1) sensing range, 2) accuracy and precision, 3) energy, and 4)
device size. These factors are discussed as follows:

(i) Sensing Range

• The sensing range of a sensor node defines the detection fidelity of that node.
• Typical approaches to optimize the sensing range in deployments include fixed k-
coverage and dynamic k-coverage.
• A lifelong fixed k-coverage tends to usher in redundancy as it requires a large number
of sensor nodes, the sensing range of some of which may also overlap. In contrast,
dynamic coverage incorporates mobile sensor nodes post detection of an event, which,
however, is a costly solution and may not be deployable in all operational areas and
terrains.
• Additionally, the sensing range of a sensor may also be used to signify the upper and
lower bounds of a sensor’s measurement range.
• For example, a proximity sensor has a typical sensing range of a couple of meters. In
contrast, a camera has a sensing range varying between tens of meters to hundreds of

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meters.
• As the complexity of the sensor and its sensing range goes up, its cost significantly
increases.

(ii) Accuracy and Precision

• The accuracy and precision of measurements provided by a sensor are critical in
deciding the operations of specific functional processes.
• Typically, off-the-shelf consumer sensors are low on requirements and often very
cheap. However, their performance is limited to regular application domains.
• For example, a standard temperature sensor can be easily integrated with conventional
components for hobby projects and day-to-day applications, but it is not suitable for
industrial processes. Regular temperature sensors have a very low-temperature sensing
range, as well as relatively low accuracy and precision. The use of these sensors in
industrial applications, where a precision of up to 3–4 decimal places is required,
cannot be facilitated by these sensors.
• Industrial sensors are typically very sophisticated, and as a result, very costly.
However, these industrial sensors have very high accuracy and precision score, even
under harsh operating conditions.

(iii)Energy
• The energy consumed by a sensing solution is crucial to determine the lifetime of that
solution and the estimated cost of its deployment.
• If the sensor or the sensor node is so energy inefficient that it requires replenishment
of its energy sources quite frequently, the effort in maintaining the solution and its cost
goes up; whereas its deployment feasibility goes down.
• Consider a scenario where sensor nodes are deployed on the top of glaciers. Once
deployed, access to these nodes is not possible. If the energy requirements of the
sensor nodes are too high, such a deployment will not last long, and the solution will
be highly infeasible as charging or changing of the energy sources of these sensor
nodes is not an option.

(iv) Device Size

• Modern-day IoT applications have a wide penetration in all domains of life. Most of
the applications of IoT require sensing solutions which are so small that they do not
hinder any of the regular activities that were possible before the sensor node
deployment was carried out.
• Larger the size of a sensor node, larger is the obstruction caused by it, higher is the
cost and energy requirements, and lesser is its demand for the bulk of the IoT
applications.
• Consider a simple human activity detector. If the detection unit is too large to be
carried or too bulky to cause hindrance to regular normal movements, the demand for
this solution would be low. It is because of this that the onset of wearables took off so
strongly. The wearable sensors are highly energy- efficient, small in size, and almost
part of the wearer’s regular wardrobe.

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2.7 Actuators
An actuator can be considered as a machine or system’s component that can affect the
movement or control the said mechanism or the system.
Control systems affect changes to the environment or property they are controlling through
actuators. The system activates the actuator through a control signal, which may be digital or
analog. It elicits a response from the actuator, which is in the form of some form of
mechanical motion. The control system of an actuator can be a mechanical or electronic
system, a software-based system (e.g., an autonomous car control system), a human, or any
other input.
Figure 2.5 shows the outline of a simple actuation system. A remote user sends commands to
a processor. The processor instructs a motor controlled robotic arm to perform the
commanded tasks accordingly. The processor is primarily responsible for converting the
human commands into sequential machine-language command sequences, which enables the
robot to move. The robotic arm finally moves the designated boxes, which was its assigned
task.

Fig. 2.5 The outline of a simple actuation mechanism

2.8 Actuator Types
Broadly, actuators can be divided into seven classes: 1) Hydraulic, 2) pneumatic, 3) electrical,
4) thermal/magnetic, 5) mechanical, 6) soft, and 7) shape memory polymers. Figure 2.6 shows
some of the commonly used actuators in IoT applications.

2.8.1 Hydraulic actuators

• A hydraulic actuator works on the principle of compression and decompression of
fluids.
• These actuators facilitate mechanical tasks such as lifting loads through the use of
hydraulic power derived from fluids in cylinders or fluid motors.
• The mechanical motion applied to a hydraulic actuator is converted to either linear,
rotary, or oscillatory motion.
• The almost incompressible property of liquids is used in hydraulic actuators for
exerting significant force.
• These hydraulic actuators are also considered as stiff systems.

2.8.2 Pneumatic actuators

• A pneumatic actuator works on the principle of compression and decompression of
gases.
• These actuators use a vacuum or compressed air at high pressure and convert it into
either linear or rotary motion.
• Pneumatic rack and pinion actuators are commonly used for valve controls of water
pipes. Pneumatic actuators are considered as compliant systems.

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• The actuators using pneumatic energy for their operation are typically characterized
by the quick response to starting and stopping signals.
• Small pressure changes can be used for generating large forces through these
actuators. Pneumatic brakes are an example of this type of actuator which is so
responsive that they can convert small pressure changes applied by drives to generate
the massive force required to stop or slow down a moving vehicle. Pneumatic
actuators are responsible for converting pressure into force.
• The power source in the pneumatic actuator does not need to be stored in reserve for its
operation.

2.8.3 Electric actuators

• Typically, electric motors are used to power an electric actuator by generating
mechanical torque. This generated torque is translated into the motion of a motor’s
shaft or for switching (as in relays).
• For example, actuating equipment’s such as solenoid valves control the flow of water
in pipes in response to electrical signals.
• This class of actuators is considered one of the cheapest, cleanest and speedy actuator
types available.

Fig. 2.6 Some common commercially available actuators used for IoT-based control
Applications
2.8.4 Thermal or magnetic actuators
• The use of thermal or magnetic energy is used for powering this class of actuators.
• These actuators have a very high-power density and are typically compact,
lightweight, and economical.

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• One classic example of thermal actuators is shape memory materials (SMMs) such as
shape memory alloys (SMAs).
• These actuators do not require electricity for actuation. They are not affected by
vibration and can work with liquid or gases.
• Magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMAs) are a type of magnetic actuators.

2.8.5 Mechanical actuators

• In mechanical actuation, the rotary motion of the actuator is converted into linear
motion to execute some movement.
• The use of gears, rails, pulleys, chains, and other devices are necessary for these
actuators to operate.
• These actuators can be easily used in conjunction with pneumatic, hydraulic, or
electrical actuators.
• They can also work in a standalone mode.
• The best example of a mechanical actuator is a rack and pinion mechanism.

2.8.6 Soft actuators

• Soft actuators (e.g., polymer-based) consists of elastomeric polymers that are used as
embedded fixtures in flexible materials such as cloth, paper, fiber, particles, and
others.
• The conversion of molecular level microscopic changes into tangible macroscopic
deformations is the primary working principle of this class of actuators.
• These actuators have a high stake in modern-day robotics.
• They are designed to handle fragile objects such as agricultural fruit harvesting or
performing precise operations like manipulating the internal organs during robot-
assisted surgeries.

2.8.7 Shape Memory Polymers

• Shape memory polymers (SMP) are considered as smart materials that respond to
some external stimulus by changing their shape, and then revert to their original shape
once the affecting stimulus is removed.
• Features such as high strain recovery, biocompatibility, low density, and
biodegradability characterize these materials.
• Modern-day SMPs have been designed to respond to a wide range of stimuli such as
pH changes, heat differentials, light intensity, and frequency changes, magnetic
changes, and others.
• Photopolymer/light-activated polymers (LAP) are a particular type of SMP, which
require light as a stimulus to operate. LAP-based actuators are characterized by their
rapid response times. Using only the variation of light frequency or its intensity, LAPs
can be controlled remotely without any physical contact. The development of LAPs
whose shape can be changed by the application of a specific frequency of light have
been reported. The polymer retains its shape after removal of the activating light. In
order to change the polymer back to its original shape, a light stimulus of a different
frequency has to be applied to the polymer.

2.9 Actuator Characteristics

The choice or selection of actuators is crucial in an IoT deployment, where a control mechanism
is required after sensing and processing of the information obtained from the sensed
environment. Actuators perform the physically heavier tasks in an IoT deployment; tasks which
require moving or changing the orientation of physical objects, changing the state of objects,

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and other such activities. The correct choice of actuators is necessary for the long-term
sustenance and continuity of operations, as well as for increasing the lifetime of the actuators
themselves. A set of four characteristics can define all actuators:
1. Weight
• The physical weight of actuators limits its application scope.
• For example, the use of heavier actuators is generally preferred for industrial
applications and applications requiring no mobility of the IoT deployment.
• In contrast, lightweight actuators typically find common usage in portable systems in
vehicles, drones, and home IoT applications.
• It is to be noted that this is not always true. Heavier actuators also have selective
usage in mobile systems, for example, landing gears and engine motors in aircraft.

2. Power Rating
• This helps in deciding the nature of the application with which an actuator can be
associated.
• The power rating defines the minimum and maximum operating power an actuator can
safely withstand without damage to itself. Generally, it is indicated as the power-to-
weight ratio for actuators.
• For example, smaller servo motors used in hobby projects typically have a maximum
rating of 5 VDC, 500 mA, which is suitable for an operations-driven battery-based
power source. Exceeding this limit might be detrimental to the performance of the
actuator and may cause burnout of the motor.
• In contrast to this, servo motors in larger applications have a rating of 460 VAC, 2:5 A,
which requires standalone power supply systems for operations. It is to be noted that
actuators with still higher ratings are available and vary according to application
requirements.

3. Torque to Weight Ratio

• The ratio of torque to the weight of the moving part of an instrument/device is referred
to as its torque/weight ratio.
• This indicates the sensitivity of the actuator. Higher is the weight of the moving part;
lower will be its torque to weight ratio for a given power.

4. Stiffness and Compliance

• The resistance of a material against deformation is known as its stiffness, whereas
compliance of a material is the opposite of stiffness.
• Stiffness can be directly related to the modulus of elasticity of that material. Stiff
systems are considered more accurate than compliant systems as they have a faster
response to the change in load applied to it.
• For example, hydraulic systems are considered as stiff and non-compliant, whereas
pneumatic systems are considered as compliant.

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