Electronic Sensors

The text covers fiber optic sensors for biosensing and photo-detection, graphene and CNT-based sensors for glucose, cholesterol, and dopamine detection, and implantable sensors for detecting physiological, bio-electrical, biochemical, and metabolic changes in a comprehensive manner. It further presents a chapter on sensors for military and aerospace applications. It will be useful for senior undergraduate, graduate students, and academic researchers in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics, and communication engineering.

In our information age, the probing of data is the elementary source for understanding the world around us. In most technical systems, these measurements are done by electronic systems. This book teaches the fundamentals of measurements, the technology of sensors, and the fundamentals of electronic circuits. The measurement system is approached as a chain to convert a physical quantity via an electronic sensor setup into a digital bus signal. Extra focus is on the management of measurement errors, circuit theory and the sensor as an electronic transducer.

This book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the theory (physical principles), design, and practical implementations of various sensors for scientific, industrial, and consumer applications. This latest edition focuses on the sensing technologies driven by the expanding use of sensors in mobile devices.
These new miniature sensors will be described, with an emphasis on smart sensors which have embedded processing systems. The chapter on chemical sensors has also been expanded to present the latest developments.

Autonomous sensors transmit data and power their electronics without using cables. They can be found in e.g. wireless sensor networks (WSNs) or remote acquisition systems. Although primary batteries provide a simple design for powering autonomous sensors, they present several limitations such as limited capacity and power density, and difficulty in predicting their condition and state of charge. An alternative is to extract energy from the ambient (energy harvesting). However, the reduced dimensions of most autonomous sensors lead to a low level of available power from the energy transducer. Thus, efficient methods and circuits to manage and gather the energy are a must.