Sensors

Basics to Sensors

• Range: The range of a sensor specifies the upper and lower limits of a measurement that can be made.
• Linearity: In an ideal world, sensor output is proportional to the measured value. But most sensors exhibit non-linearity, even if the sensor is highly repeatable.
• Resolution: The higher the resolution, the smaller the change in measured value before your sensor will detect it. Typically, the smaller the resolution, the higher the cost and the smaller the range.

An ADC (or Analog to Digital Converter) is used to convert a sensor's analog signal into a digital output. Sometimes, the sensor you're dealing with converts the analog signal into a digital signal for you, as analog signals deteriate with distance while digital signals are more resistant to attenuation.

The controller runs its algorithm and provides an output, that usually go through a DAC converter.