Fundamentals of sensor technology

In recent years, the development of sensor technology has brought this technology to all aspects of everyday life. Sensors are employed in fields ranging from control systems in an industrial process to measuring blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Thus, they have become indispensable tools for serving our private lives and general surroundings. Knowledge of sensor specifications is required in order to properly select the right approaches because often multiple transduction methodologies must be utilized to measure a measurand. This chapter discusses sensors, transducers, and signal processing, sensor signal conditioning and softening are briefly discussed, and transducers are defined and classified depending on different characteristics. Several specifications of the sensor-transducer arrangement are described, and the most common principles of energy conversion by transducers are classified and their benefits and drawbacks outlined. Then, the design and applications of chemical, electrochemical, optical, and biosensors employing various sensing networks comprising nanomaterials and polymers are highlighted and deliberated. As well, the limitations and prospects of using sensor technology are also discussed.