Sensor systems in industrial applications

The current status and evolution of industrial sensor technology are surveyed. Due to the steadily increasing refinement of silicon lithography, the density of electronic functions has dramatically increased in recent years. This development of electronic devices has had a strong impact on those areas of industrial applications where data have to be recorded or processed. Above all, sensors have profited by the fact that it has become possible to integrate electronics in increasing complexity into the sensor. Whereas sensors with lower performance requirements usually make only a limited use of electronic signal processing, the latter gains significance when the demands on sensor specifications increase. Knowledge-based sensor systems represent the highest level of sensor technology. Here, the electronic component evaluates and processes data on the basis of physical or empirical models. Checking of causal interconnections between signals of different kinds provides the possibility to compensate deviations from the intended function or to predict the signal progress. With further miniaturization of electronic circuits, the focus of application shifts from single sensors with high performance towards sensor systems in which the demands on a single sensor are reduced, because inaccuracies are eliminated by correlation of the various signals