Intelligent Microsystems: an Overview

Sensors and actuators constitute the front end devices of intelligent systems for information acquisition and action. Advances in microsystems technology have brought about further integration of machine intelligence into microsensors and actuators. Microsensors and microactuators are differentiated from conventional sensors and actuators by their size, cost and techniques used in their manufacture. The small size of microsystems is a convenience, a contribution to their potentially low cost, and a source of new conceptual challenges. The next step in the microsystems evolution will be development of precision microsystems by integrating a number of smart control functions including self calibration, self compensation, self diagnosis and testing and communication on the same chip. This paper gives an overview of functional blocks needed for smart microsystems and provides several illustrative examples of applications and discussion of future issues.