Sensors are intelligent electronic components that sense the surrounding environment. Because the trend of sensor miniaturization has opened up a wider application space, for its part, the sensor is not a technological innovation or a new field, but an evolving technology. With the advancement of IC manufacturing processes, miniaturization has become a new trend in the sensor industry. Sensors are changing the perception and behavior of users.
MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) is a miniaturized manufacturing technology that minimizes sensor size. MEMS sensors are made up of different devices responsible for sensing and performing functions. The MEMS reacts to a given input or environmental condition and outputs a measured value. The sensor chip can work either alone or in combination with the processor. The sensor output can be either an analog signal or a digital signal.
New semiconductor technologies enable design companies and manufacturers to implement sensor use cases in consumer electronics, which was not possible in the past because the sensor size was too large. Temperature sensors, humidity sensors, motion sensors, light sensors, and environmental sensors are common sensors in our daily lives. Which sensor depends on the use case and business area. Some electronic systems have multiple sensors, and to achieve a task, these sensors need to work together, which is also known as sensor fusion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensor_fusion). Smartphones are the most common example of sensor fusion. There are sensors and related algorithms in the smartphone, so we can use gestures to play video games.
What benefits does the sensor bring to human life?Sensors bring many benefits to human life. In the simplest use case, multiple sensors are integrated on a single board, and each sensor transmits measurement data independently to the host processor. After receiving the sensor data, the user can also respond accordingly. There are many use cases for sensors and connection technologies based on an analysis of the impact on human lifestyles. All use cases involving sensors and connection technologies fall within the Internet of Things (IoT) category. The Internet of Things can be defined as a system topology consisting of sensor chips and connectivity technologies. In the field of IoT, sensors have a key role:
• Intelligent Building / Home
• Smart city lighting
• Fitness Equipment
Intelligent building / home
With the advent of new technologies, people are paying more and more attention to how to improve the energy efficiency, safety and responsiveness of building homes. This cause and human society will benefit a lot from the development of the Internet of Things. The further prosperity of the Internet and the low-power technology of sensors are helping us develop smart building homes. Smartphones that support BT/BTLE [Bluetooth/Bluetooth Low Energy], Wi-Fi [Wireless Fidelity], NFC [Near Field Communication] and 3G services are the driving factors behind the development of the Internet of Things such as smart building homes. STMicroelectronics has developed a wireless gateway solution. In a smart home, the wireless gateway is a central station, and multiple sensor nodes (motion sensors, pressure sensors, light sensors, humidity sensors, microphones) are placed in different locations to communicate with the gateway central station. Therefore, the entire system consists of two main modules: the wireless gateway central station and the sensor node.
• Wireless Center/Gateway Station: A gateway station or central station can be understood as a home DSL router that is responsible for communicating with sensor nodes and controlling sensor nodes. The gateway board has two main wireless connection technologies.
• Sensor node: There are multiple sensors on the sensor board, such as pressure sensors, humidity sensors, motion MEMS, light sensors, and microphones. The sensor board reads the sensor's environmental data and sends it to the gateway central station. Users can connect to the gateway station with a smartphone to view sensor data. Users can log in to the web application to view the data sent by the sensor board.
Figure 1: Smart Building Block Diagram
Figure 2: Android application for monitoring intelligent building solutions
Figure 3: Network application software that monitors sensor parameters
The Figure 4 software tool is used to deploy sensor nodes for the first time and integrate them with network applications. This tool enables users to add nodes to configure and register nodes in web applications. After the registration is completed, the user can log in to the network application software to view the sensor data of the node, as shown in FIG.
Figure 4: Software tools for configuring the system
Smart city lightingIntelligent street lighting is one of the applications that sensors and automation and communication technologies help society save energy. The solution turns existing street lighting systems into intelligent street lighting systems, using 6LoWAPN technology to assign a unique network address to each street light, enabling them to communicate over existing network infrastructure. The sensor on each street light will send a natural light intensity feedback signal, which flexibly controls the power consumption of the street lamp and eliminates the need to set the street light switch according to time. This allows the user to monitor a street light or a city street lamp separately, promoting the concept of smart city. development of. In addition, the intelligent lighting system can help users monitor system errors and alert them in the event of a theft.
In the grid topology shown in Figure 5, a street light can be used as a concentrator to connect to other street lights. The concentrator will send data over the Internet, and the administrator can view the status of all street lights and perform corresponding control measures, as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 5: Smart City Lighting Solutions
Figure 6: Network application software for monitoring intelligent building solutions
Fitness EquipmentFitness equipment is an application field in which sensors will play an important role in improving human life in the future. Sensors enable medical product manufacturers to develop portable medical solutions. These portable medical solutions connect to smartphones and deliver health status parameters to doctors, hospitals and health insurers via a secure network. Pedometers, digital thermometers, HB meters, pulses – oximeters, and BP meters are examples of communication with smartphones and applications. The hand-held pedometer is a production-grade product design solution from STMicroelectronics. The design includes a MEMS motion sensor that records body motion and a step number algorithm that runs on the microcontroller. The design also has a proximity communication chip that allows users to read data via an NFC smartphone.
Figure 7: Hand ring pedometer
As shown in Figure 7, the components of the bracelet pedometer are motion MEMS, NFC tags, and STM32 microcontrollers.
As shown in Figure 8, the Android application uses NFC technology to read the data and save the data for the user, converting it into a chart for the user to view.
Figure 8: Hand ring pedometer Android application
In short, there are intelligent electronic systems around our lives that are made up of sensors that make our lives simple and fast. Semiconductor technology helps miniaturize sensors and other chips, and smart electronics make our lifestyle smarter.
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