Module 3

Sensors, Participatory
Sensing, RFID’s
Outline

• Sensor Technology
• Analog Sensors
• Digital Sensors
 Introduction

• Data is generated from Sensors

• Data is used for analytics, visualization, intelligence & Knowledge
discovery
• Control s/y use sensors for monitoring and actuators for action
 Sensor Technology
• Technology used to design sensors and associated electronic readers ,
circuits & devices
• Sense a change in physical parameter ex: temp, pressure…
• Sensor converts physical energy like heat/sound/strain/pressure
/vibrations/motion into electrical energy.
• Electronic circuit connects to the input of the sensor
• o/p is according to the variation in the physical condition
• Smart Sensor includes electronic circuit within itself & includes
computing , communication capabilities
• The Circuit receives energy in form of variations through currents,
voltages, phase angles or frequencies
 Sensor Technology
• Analog Sensors measures the variation in the parameter & provide
appropriate calculated sensed value
• In digital sensors change of states from normal to sensed parameter is
given by 0’s &1’s
Working in Real
• Sensor sends signals to an electronic circuit, which interconnects to
serial port at a micro controller/computing device
• Ex : mobile phone have n number of sensors ..Touch Screen
• A microcontroller is a computing device with sensor circuit which
calculates touched position, & maps it to user commands when a
resistive touch based screen is used
Sensors
 Analog Sensors

• Has electronic analog circuit

• Analog sensors generate analog o/p as per the physical environment
parameters such as temp, strain, pressure, force, etc.
• Resistance of the sensing component show measurable changes
• Resistance of the pressure sensor increases on pressure which creates
strain on the sensor
Signal
Sensor conditioning- Digital O/p in 8 or Read by
cum amplifying
ADC
12 bits Microcontroller
Circuit
Difference between Analog and Digital
sensors
• A digital sensor only detects two possible status: if it is working at
100% or at 0%.
• An analog sensor measures continuously the variable and detects
any proportional value between 100% and 0%. For this reason, the
measure provided by the analog sensor is more precise than the one
provided by the digital sensor.
• Example: A temperature sensor that measures between 0°C and
100°C.
• A digital sensor can only measure if it is working over 50°C (displaying 1) or
under 50°C (displaying 0).
• An analog sensor can measure short intervals at high resolution (approximately
0.1°C of variation)
Analog and Digital signal Representations
Working of Temperature Sensor (Analog)

Sub-circuits
Serial port / Sensor
Microcontroller ADC/Amplifier/Resist Resistance
ance Bridge

Outputs
Temperature Thermistor
Transducer
Analog to Digital Converter

• Microcontroller may consist of in circuit ADC or multiple inputs ADC

• Produces digital o/p
• 8 bit port accepts 8 bit i/p – 0 to 255d
• 12 bit port accepts 12 bit input twice/2 cycles = 8 bits + 4 bits : 0 to
4096d

Vin
Signal Conditioning Amplifier

Amplifies signal at the input + adds / sub an offset voltage in such a

way that Vin (min) & Vin (max) values of sensed physical parameter is
equal to 0V
Digital Sensors

• Gives 0/1 output of 0’s and 1’s – binary nums

• Digital sensor has an associated electronic circuit which gives digital
o/p
• The circuit can be used for sensing a sudden change in specific
physical state / condition.
Types of Sensors

Temperature
• Thermistor – Temp range : 120 C to -90 C
• NTC Thermistors show –ve temp
• PTC Thermistors show +ve temp
Humidity Sensor
• Measures and reports both moisture and air temp
• Work by detecting changes that alter electrical currents/temp in air
Applications:
• Humidity transmitter
• Handheld devices
• Refrigerators
• Air compressors
• Weather stations
• Industrial incubators
• Medical systems
• Dew measurement
 Humidity

• It is measured in % - Relative % ratio (RH%)

• Greater than 90% humidity signifies - Rainy Day
• Readily available HS( Sparkfun USA)show o/p voltage proportional to
RH%
• Sensor i/p is given at +ve & -ve to grounds
• It generates o/p VRH as a func of RH% which is given to ADC
 Distance – IR Sensor

• IR sensor is useful for 0.15m to 0.8m range of object

• Working : IR LED sends a narrow beam radiation at an inclined angle,
the nearby phototransistor receives the reflected radiation 2 times the
object distance
• The reflected radiation delay (= 2*3.3ns pm) btw transmitted and
reflected signal is proportional to distance
• Sensor output Vdis is given to ADC

• For long distance detection ultrasonic sensors are used – sends pulses
• Applications – industrial automation, rail tracks, oil pipeline faults
Distance – IR Sensor
 Light sensor

• Photoconductor can be used to detect light in the near by

environment
• P-n junction photodiode / phototransistor can be used to measure
incoming radiation intensity in particular direction
 Acceleration - Accelerometer sensor

• A Micro Electro Mechanical Sensor (MEMS) detect linear accelerations

along x,y,z axes
• MEMS moves when a mass move along the direction
• Variation causes 3 capacitance values Cx, Cy, Cz, these are the part of
electronic circuit and voltage variations caused by Ax, Ay, Az
• Accelerometer sensor is used in New Gen Mobile phones - display
screen rotation.
Angular Acceleration & change in
angle/direction - Gyroscope
• Gyroscope measures angular velocity (angular acceleration) & change
in direction (angle)
• Mobile games – gesture of players
Orientation & Direction Compass - Gyroscope

• Can be used as an electronic compass/ digital compass – Direction

(N,S,E,W)
• Shows the direction in which the object is inclined
• Compass has a magnetic strip which aligns towards NEWS Direction
• Screen Upper direction is N and so on
• The compass finds N direction and gives o/p in 0’s and 1’s
 Types of sensors

• Vibrations and shocks

• MEMS may use piezoelectric effect
• Electric current
• Sound
 Sensing the things

• Reading Barcodes + QR code

• Motion sensors for moving objects
• Pressure sensor
• Environment monitoring sensor
• Location data
• Gps
• Camera
• LIDAR
• Laser 3D Printing
 Reading barcodes

• Barcode is a representation of data

• Data relates to the object where printed code strip is attached
• The code is read by an optical scanner
• Earlier the barcode had just the variation in width & spacing – 1D Code
• Later evolved into rectangles, dots, hexagons in 2D – barcodes
• Barcode reader is a scanner – has light source (laser/led) – Light
impulse pass through lens and focus on black and white spaces
• Reflected light sensor/charged coupled device detector at the scanner
along with decoder converts optical impulses into electronic impulses
• Sensor sends the data in 0’s and 1’s
 Reading Barcodes

QR codes
• Quick Response Code – First used in automotive industry
• Applications - product identification, tracking, marketing & document
mgmt.
• Uses std encoding modes – numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary or
other
• Code stores data efficiently and is extendable
• Its faster and data stored is more
• The scanner or camera reads the code & data is processed using error
correction method called REED SOLOMON Method
 Motion Sensors for moving Object

• Motion/speed is measured in m/s

• The sensor measures delay btw successive reflected IR light pulses
• Ultrasonic wave echoes can be used to sense the motion of light
• Security S/y uses motion sensors
 Pressure Sensor

• Pressure P is measured as force per m2

• Sensor called as pressure transducer/transmitter/sender/indicator
• Readily available pressure sensor from spark fun Sensor i/p is given at
+ve & -ve to grounds
• It generates o/p VP as a function of P
• Applications – Tyre pressure monitoring : uses pressure sensors on
each tyres, communicate with the monitoring circuit, sends alert
signal to the dashboard of the vehicle
 Environmental Monitoring sensor

• Environmental Parameters are Temp, Humidity, barometric pressure

& light.
• The data of these sensors adapts to the requirement and sends
communication on the internet to the cloud /web
Location Data
• Determine the distance from an objects location and several other
fixed locations
• IR/Ultrasonic waves enables computations for location
GPS
• Location determination can be done using GPS
Camera
• Image sensor
• Camera uses CCD (charged coupled devices) – consists large num of
pixels, exposed to the light from image
• Colored cameras has set of R,G & B light intensity components
• Camera generates a file which will be saved in memory as jpg/gif
LIDAR
• [Light + Ridar] – laser imaging, detection & Ranging sensors
• Finds distance by throwing light using laser on target and distance is
calculated
Participatory sensing , Industrial IoT &
Automotive IoT

Analytics &
Knowledge
Discovery
Data Visualization

Sensing by
individuals
/group of people

University of California, Los Angeles defines participatory sensing as a process

where by individuals and communities use evermore – capable mobile phones
and cloud services to collect and analyze systematic data for the use in
discovery
 Industrial IoT,
• IIoT functions : Refining the operations for
manufacturing or maintenance or refining the
business model of an industry
• IIoT Applications
• Manufacturing, railways, mining, agriculture, oil & gas utilities,
transportation , logistics etc

*How is IIoT technology used in optimizing the bicycle manufacturing

process ?
IIoT

Predictive Maintenance ?
• Predictive rail road service center – uses ultrasonic, temp, IR &
Microphone sensors to capture data of train passing through each
segment track.
• Finds Application in aircraft parts, gas pipelines failure detecctions.
Automotive IIoT

• Connected Cars
• Vehicle to infrastructure
• Predictive & preventive maintenances
• Autonomous cars
Automotive IIoT – Connected Cars

• Connected Cars = GPS Tracking +Internet Connection – give

rise to

• Display for drivers – shortest route

• Customization of vehicle according to drivers needs
• Get notifications about traffic
• Protecting cars against theft
• Keep tab on drivers health
Automotive IIoT – V2I

• V2I = Vehicle communicates with other vehicles through WiFi

• Alerts forward collision

• Info about blind spots
• Notification about vacant parking
• Stream live music & news
• Info of traffic
• Automotive IIoT – Predictive & preventive
maintenances
• How is an IoT technology useful in Predictive &
preventive maintenances of an automobile by
a service centre application?
 Automotive IIoT – Autonomous cars

• Driverless Cars
• Uses LIDAR
 Actuator
An actuator is a device that takes actions as per the input
command .
• Examples
• Light sources
• LED
• Piezoelectric vibrators or sonders
• Speakers
• Solenoids
• Servomotor
• Relay switch
• Brakes in vehicles
• Ringing of alarm bell
Piezoelectric Vibrators
Working of Piezoelectric Vibrator
Working of Solenoid
 Sensor Data Communication

1. UART for Serial Bus

2. UART Communication for a RFID Tag
3. Using I2C Protocol for a Serial Bus
4. Using LIN Bus
5. Using CAN Protocol
6. Using USB Bus
7. Using IEEE Std 1394 – FireWire
8. Using MOST Protocol
 RFID
• Tag enables identification of object at different locations & times
• digital data encoded in RFID tags or smart labels are captured by a reader via
radio waves
• Product, person, animals
• Reader circuit of an ID can use UART/NFC protocol to identify tag - >20cm
• RFID systems consist of three components
• RFID tag
• RFID reader
• Antenna
• RFID tags contain an integrated circuit and an antenna, which are used to
transmit data to the RFID reader (Active : battery & passive Tags : powered up )
• The reader then converts the radio waves to a more usable form of data
Principle of RFID
RFID IoT Applications
Supply chain management systems
Business process such as payments, quality mgmt.
RFID System architecture
• Transceivers is a built in chip – Communication range
10cm to 200m
• The chip does UART Communication to reader either
using RF link/NFC
• Frequency Range btw 120kHz to 150kHz, 13.56MHz,
433MHz (microwave frequencies)
• The nearby reader receives the 12 digit data from the
RFID tag
• Middleware are s/w components used at the reader –
read mngr, data storage
 Issues with RFID System

• Design - Unique ID Requires Std Framework

• Security - tag is read only – can be tracked without authority
• Cost - becomes costly with data processing and security enhancing
technology
• Protection – from adverse weather conditions
• Recycling – environmental concern
• Active life - active tags (life span2 to 4 years)
 EPC Global Architecture Framework

• MIT Auto labs have designed an architectural framework for IoT’s

• Electronic product code – EPC
• The frame work allows business process, applications to uniquely
identify physical objects/locations etc
Technological Challenges
• Interference – RFID frequency interference - more s/ys
• Effectiveness - implementing data processing, protocols on EPC std’s
• Need of low cost tags
• Design robustness
• Data security
 Security challenges in RFID Systems

• Discovery of foreign attacks

• Unauthorized disabling of tag by reader
• Unauthorized manipulation of tag
• Cloning of tag
• Man in the middle attack