Sensors

Sensors form a critical part of any application as they function as a transducer. They take one form of energy or quantity and convert it into another. For example, raw heat is of no use to a microcontroller and will damage it. However, place a temperature sensor between the heat source and the microcontroller and you have a useful way to measure the value of the heat.

Sensors are used to measure almost all types of quantities from temperature, pressure, humidity, etc.

There are many ways to categorize a sensor type, but in this instance, the two categories we will look at are Analog and Digital.

Analog sensors as the name prescribes provide an output voltage in relation or proportion to the heat source. There is usually a temperature range for example -45' to 150'c and you can expect the temperature sensor to provide a usable output.

A common sensor is the LM35, which provides a 1'C per 10mV. To learn more please see the section Analog Sensors.



Digital sensors as the name prescribes provide a digital output in relation or proportion to the heat source. There is usually a temperature range for example -45' to 150'c and you can expect the temperature sensor to provide a usable output. In the case of a digital sensor, a communications interface comes into play and there is a higher level of complexity required to interface with the sensor and extract the value or what is now called the data.

An example of a digital sensor is the TC74, which produces a digital output number that corresponds to the temperature. The advantage of a digital sensor is that multiple sensors can be linked to a common interface and interacted with.



There is a wide variety of applications that require a temperature monitoring solution either as a standalone or as an integrated solution with multiple sensors.