Digital processing of sensor signals

The general problem of the digital processing of signals from sensors is considered in the light of the evolution of smart sensors from the more traditional variety. Types of hardware and software structures are discussed, and the various functions of signal processing are reviewed. The advantages of model-free methods backed up by autocalibration techniques are emphasized. The author shows that the net result of the introduction of digital signal processing into sensors is the availability of a vastly wide range of sensors which are easier to use. The methods discussed have mostly become well established as techniques of laboratory online computing, and their implementation as programs in the internal microprocessor of the smart sensor is similar, except that it is more constrained in terms of resources