ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of sensor technology in automotive applications. The automotive environment is extremely harsh because sensors are exposed to wide temperature ranges, mechanical vibrations, high humidity conditions, chemical agents, electromagnetic interferences, and other disturbances, so sensor devices for automotive applications must be highly reliable. The competition of automobile industry means that sensors, like any other component used in the manufacture of automobiles, must have a low price. Application criteria, pressure, force, displacement, velocity, and so on may be used, while sensor technology criteria will include capacitive, piezoresitive, and inductive sensors. Before analyzing the basic concepts of the most widely used sensors in the automobile industry, a brief analysis of measurement system architecture is required. Below, a review is made of the basic operating principles of some types of sensors widely used in the automobile industry, which are also destined to play an important role in electric vehicles.
