ABSTRACT
This chapter explores sensing and controls tasks that link the physical environment to a virtual environment. It shows a complete pipeline for interfacing physical sensors and actuators to a Unity3D-based interactive simulator using a development microcontroller with basic analog to digital circuits. The chapter provides a general method for electronic interfacing of custom input and output devices that allow the digital virtual reality world to interact with the analog physical world. Analog sensors convert a physical state or event into a corresponding, analogous measurable electrical one. Sensors are selected both by their measurement properties, and also by their electrical characteristics, and particularly how they are designed to interface with other electronics. Some sensors and actuators have control units that contain analog to digital converter, digital to analog converter, memory, and logic elements that are designed to communicate directly with another digital device using an established, typically standardized, protocol stack over one or more communication links.
