CIC

SENSORS

Mechanical
Engineering

Magdy Naeem, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor,
Mechatronics Engineering.
 SENSORS: THE BIG PICTURE

Power Power Power Disturbance

Excitation Power
Control (for active sensors)
Signal
Reference Controller (Digital Signal Actuator
Command or Analog) Conditioning
Drive Response
Excitation Sensor /
Transducer

Mechanical System
(Plant, Process)

Signal
Feedback Conditioning
Signal
Power
WHAT IS A SENSOR ?
 Sensors are considered as transducers that convert input energy of one
form into output energy of another form.

 In many cases, it converts the input energy from many forms into output
energy in a form of electrical energy to be signal processed.

TYPES OF SENSORS
Sensors could be mainly active/passive and analog/digital.
TYPES OF SENSORS:
PASSIVE
 Do not add energy as part of the measurement process.
 The output power is almost entirely provided by the
measured signal without an external power supply.
 Example: pressure gages

Passive pressure gauge.

TYPES OF SENSORS:
ACTIVE
 Require an external source of power that provides the majority of the
output power of the signal
 In other words, external energy is added to the measurement
environment as part of the measurement process.

Active level sensor.

 EXAMPLES
For example, a mercury thermometer converts the measured temperature
into expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a
calibrated glass tube. A thermocouple converts temperature to an output
voltage which can be read by a voltmeter.

Active Passive
TYPES OF SENSORS:
ANALOG/DIGITAL
 Analog sensors produce a signal which is continuous over time and
proportional to the measurand.

• Analog Reading sensors:

– Provide readings across the full range of
measured quantity.

 Digital sensors provide a signal that is a direct digital

representation of the measurand. Digital sensors are basically
binary (“on” or “off”) devices.

• Digital Reading sensors:

– Provide readings that have fixed steps
of the measured quantity.
 SENSOR CHARACTERISTICS
A good sensor obeys the following rules:
• The sensor should be sensitive to the measured property
• The sensor should be insensitive to any other property
• The sensor should not influence the measured property

Considerations in sensor selection are:

Technology: electric or magnetic, mechanical,
electromechanical, electro-optical, piezoelectric
Functional Performance: linearity, accuracy, dynamic range, noise
Physical properties: weight, size, strength
Quality Factors: reliability, durability, maintainability
Cost: expense, availability, facilities for testing and maintenance.
 SENSOR CHARACTERISTICS

 Static characteristics: Define the performance criteria

for the measurement of quantities that remain constant
or vary quite slowly.
 Dynamic characteristics: Concern the relationship
between the system input and output when the
measurand is varying rapidly.

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 higher speed and sensitivity.
 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
MEASUREMENT ERROR:
 In any real application, there exist a difference between the
measurement acquired from the sensor, and the desired (or
actual) value of the state measured.

𝜀𝑛 = 𝑋 𝑛,𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 − 𝑋 𝑛,𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑

• Where,
– (𝑋𝑛,𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙) is the actual value of the quantity being measured in the
experiment.
– (𝑋𝑛,𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑) is the reading provided from the sensor
– The suffix (𝒏) indicates the sample number.
 MEASUREMENT ACCURACY:
 To be able to assess the quality of a specific measurement,
we can use the definition of (Accuracy), where the accuracy of
the 𝑛𝑡ℎ measurement can be calculated as:

𝑋 𝑛,𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 − 𝑋 𝑛,𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑
𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦𝑛 =1−
𝑋 𝑛,𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙
• Example:
– Given that the temperature being measured is actually (25° 𝐶).
– Given that the sensor provides a measurement of (25.2° 𝐶).
25−25.2
– Then the accuracy of this measurement is: 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑖 = 1 − 25

−0.2
– Thus, 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑖 = 1 − 25 = 1 − 0.008 = 0.992 = 𝟗𝟗. 𝟐%
 MEASUREMENT PRECISION:
 To be able to assess the repeatability of a specific measurement,
we can use the definition of (Precision), where the precision of
the 𝑛𝑡ℎ measurement can be calculated as:

• Where, is the mean of different readings, which can be calculated as above.

• and, (𝑵) is the total number of samples taken in the experiment.
 MEASUREMENT PRECISION:
 Example:
– Given that the temperature being measured is actually (25° 𝐶).
– Given that the sensor provides a group of readings as follows:
[25.2, 24.8, 25.3, 24.9, 25.1]° 𝐶.
– The average of these readings is: 𝟐𝟓. 𝟎𝟔° 𝑪
25.2−25.06
– Then the precision of the 1st measurement is: 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛=
1
1 − 25.06

0.14
– Thus, 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛1 = 1 − 25.06 = 1 − 0.0056 = 0.9944 = 𝟗𝟗. 𝟒𝟒%

and so on for each of the readings.

 ACCURACY VS. PRECISION (VISUALIZED)
• The differencebetweenboth the accuracyand precision concepts could be
easily visualized by the following dart-chart.

Which is the best? Which is the second best?

Why?
D B
An experiment is said to be accurate if it is unaffected by experimental error.
An accuracy of ±0.001 means that the measured value is within 0.001 unit of
actual value.
 RESOLUTION
 Assume we have a simple sinusoidal wave such as the one
shown below, now we need to think about the following
questions:

Is this signal Continuous? Yes +5V

Will the Arduino (or any other

computer) see it the same way? No
Why? -5V
• Because, this signal is continuous (volt
ranging from +5V to -5V for example),

however the digital computer will have to represent it as a group of

binary bits (1s and 0s).
 RESOLUTION

What if we have 2-bits?

• If we want to represent this sinusoidal signal to a digital one
(while reading from the sensor) using 2-bits only, we can see:

+5V +5V
+2.66V
-2.66V

-5V

This means that all the values between (-2.66V and -5V) will
correspond to the same digital output (00) !!
 RESOLUTION
What if we have 3-bits?
• If we increased the number of bits that we use to
represent this sinusoidal signal to be 3-bits, we can see:
+5V
+5V +3.57V
+2.14V
+0.71V
-0.71V
-2.14V
-3.57V
-5V

This means that all the values between (-3.57V and -5V) will
correspond to the same digital output (000) !! Better
 RESOLUTION
What if we have 4-bits?
• If we increased the number of bits that we use to
represent this sinusoidal signal to be 4-bits, we can see:
Even
+5V Better

-4.33V
-5V

This means that all the values between (-4.33V and -5V) will
correspond to the same digital output (0000) !!
 RESOLUTION
Definition:
• Thus, we can define resolution as the “smallest unit of the
quantity under measurement that can be detected”.
• We can generalize that, for a converter of n-bits, there will be:

𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑠 = 2 𝑛 − 1
• And each step would correspond to a change of:

𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑠
– Example: for the 3-bit converter, there was 7 different steps.

+5 − (−5)
And the resolution was ( ) which is (𝟏. 𝟒𝟑 𝑽).
7
Linearity: Is defined as the deviation of linearity of the incremental
increase rate over the operating range

Linearity

Range: The range of the sensor is the maximum and minimum values of
applied parameter that can be measured

Drift: Is the variation of output, when the input is kept constant.

Zero Stability: Is the ability of the instrument to return to zero reading, when
there is no measurand
Dead band: It describes how much change to the process is required before the sensor
actually responds to it or even detects it.

Sensitivity: The sensitivity of the sensor is defined as the slope of the output
characteristic curve (𝛥 Y/𝛥 X) or, more generally the minimum input of physical
parameter that will create a detectable output change

12

10

8
Output, Y

6
Dead Band Y1
Y2
4

0
0 1 2 3 4
Input, X
DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Dynamic Characteristics
Thank You