Future Prospects for Smart Sensor Systems

摘要

The generic term "smart sensor" addresses several aspects including miniaturization, sensor communication and flexible integration in higher-level systems. It involves the use of signal processing able to eliminate influencing effects and extract high quality sensory information in order to realize a robust signal transmission. In this contribution, we will give an overview about the history of the term of "smart sensors" since its release in the 70th and categorize the main aspects involved with this term as a basis for the prognosis of future trends. In the second part of the paper we provide some up-to-date examples and future trends for important developments in this field including "energy harvesting", "Varied Input Sensors" and novel sensors based on nanotechnology.