Smart Sensors and Sensing Technology

'Smart' sensors are increasingly being employed, not only in industrial settings, but in every aspect of human life. Sensors are used to monitor health, detect viral infections, select the appropriate cycle for washing machines, monitor traffic, manage intelligent buildings and control processes in a manufacturing plant. Sensors are used to gather a wealth of information from the process that can improve operational efficiency and product quality. Smart sensors include features such as communication capability and on-board diagnostics.

Sensors are now omni-present and ubiquitous. Leading edge research in sensors has been propelled by the advancements made in MEMS technology in the last decade. The scientific world is now on the verge of delivering sensors with radically new capabilities. In many scenarios, multitudes of smart sensors, with limited power and processing capabilities, are being organised in networks to perform more challenging tasks.

This book deals with the theoretical and practical aspects of building, deploying and operating smart sensors. Several informative articles deal with sensor networks, gas and bio sensors, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices, sensors for health applications, acoustic imaging, home monitoring of elderly people etc. The book is a compilation of the extended versions of the very best papers selected from the many that were presented at the 2nd International Conference on Sensing Technology (ICST 2007) which was held at Palmerston North, New Zealand, from 26-28 November, 2007. Scientist and engineers who work with sensors will find this book very useful and stimulating.

Résumé
Technological advancements in recent years have enabled the development of tiny, cheap disposable and self contained battery powered computers, known as sensor nodes or motes, which can accept input from an attached sensor, process this input and transmit the results wirelessly to some interested device(s). When a number of these nodes work together, conceivably up to hundreds of thousands, a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is formed. Research in the area of wireless sensor networks has become increasingly wid- pread in recent years, partly due to their wide range of potential uses and also partly due to the fact that the technology enabling such networks is now widely available from many di?erent suppliers, such as: Crossbow, MoteIV, Intel and SUN (java based motes). These wireless sensor networks have the potential to allow a level of integration between computers and the physical world that, to date, has been virtually impos- ble. The uses for such networks is almost limitless and include such diverse app- cations as a counter sniper system for urban warfare [1] tracking the path of a forest re [2], determining the structural stability of a building after an earthquake [3], or tracking people or objects inside a building [4], etc.

Contenu
Sensors and Sensors Network.- Analysis of Hardware Encryption Versus Software Encryption on Wireless Sensor Network Motes.- Development and Experiment of Networked Control Systems with Congestion Control.- Data Messaging and Control in Sensor-Actuator Networks using PowerBus Technology.- Gas/Bio Sensors.- Remarks on Emotion Recognition Using Breath Gas Sensing System.- Electrochemically Synthesised Pd- and Au-Nanoparticles as Sensing Layers in NOx-Sensitive Field Effect Devices.- Phthalocyanine Functionalized Hybrids as Receptors for Enhanced Gas/Bio Sensing.- A Comparison of the Gas Sensing Properties of Purified and Platinum Decorated Chemical Vapour Deposition Grown Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes.- Electrical Sensing of Biochemicals using Macroporous Silicon.- Saw Sensors.- Combined Infrared and Acoustic Beacon Tracker and its Application on an Autonomous Following Vehicle.- Electrostatic Microactuator Design Using Surface Acoustic Wave Devices.- Wide Band Linearization of a Millimetre-Wave, Linear Frequency Modulated Radar Employing a Surface Acoustic Wave, Delay Line Discriminator.- Fibre Bragg Grating Sensors.- Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors and Piezoelectric Actuators in Co-Located Configuration for Active Vibration Control Applications.- A Transmit Reflect Detection System for Fibre Bragg Grating Acoustic Emission and Transmission Sensors.- Magnetic Sensor.- A Real-Time Tracking System for an Endoscopic Capsule using Multiple Magnetic Sensors.- Ultrasonic.- High Frequency Ultrasonic Wave Propagation in Porous Aluminium.- Capacitive Sensors.- Capacitance-Based Sensing of Material Moisture in Bulk Solids: Applications and Restrictions.- Sensors Based on CNT.- The Design and Performance of Tactile/Proximity Sensors Made of Carbon Microcoils.- Novel Sensors Techniques.-Post-Earthquake Pipeline Leak Detection Technologies.- Multiple-Rangefinders Calibration Based on Light-Section Method Using Spheres.- An Adaptive Wiener Filter for Automatic Speech Recognition in a Car Environment with Non-Stationary Noise.- 3D-Shape Recognition Based Tactile Sensor.- Development of A Low Cost Compact Low Profile Phase Array Antenna for RFID Applications.- Implementation and Characterization of a Novel Acoustic Imaging through Beamformers for Automotive Applications.- Development of a Smart Home for Elder-People Based on Wireless Sensors.- Optimisation of the Nelder-Mead Simplex Method for Its Implementation in A Self-Mixing Laser Displacement Sensor.