Smart transducer

As sensors and actuators become more complex they provide support for various modes of operation and interfacing. Some applications require additionally Fault-tolerance and Distributed computing. Such high-level functionality can be achieved by adding an embedded Microcontroller to the classical sensor/actuator, which increases the ability to cope with complexity at a fair price. This integration of an analog or digital sensor or actuator, a processing unit, and a communication interface is referred to as smart Transducer.

Transducers are sensors and actuators in order that a computer system can interact with the physical environment. In 1982, Ko and Fung introduced the term “intelligent transducer” [1]. An intelligent or smart transducer is the integration of an analog or digital sensor or actuator element, a processing unit, and a communication interface. In case of a sensor, the smart transducer transforms the raw sensor signal to a standardized digital representation, checks and calibrates the signal, and transmits this digital signal to its users via a standardized communication protocol [2]. In case of an actuator, the smart transducer accepts standardized commands and transforms these into control signals for the actuator.