ABSTRACT
In this book, modeling of sensors and actuators has been divided into two chapters. This chapter deals primarily with sensors and the background necessary to model sensors; the next chapter deals with actuators. Sensors are typically designed such that they are minimally intrusive. This means that an ideal sensor will not affect system behavior in any way. In order to achieve this, sensors need to be physically small and draw a minimum amount of power. In real systems this cannot always be true. However small, a sensor that measures a system’s response ends up affecting the system behavior as well. With a model of the sensor coupled with a system model, it is possible to quantify the level of this infl uence and account for it in the system behavior. Also, transducer designers designing macro as well as microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices fi nd models to be powerful tools for design. Models are used to fi ne-tune MEMS designs so that the expected performance can be obtained. Finally, automatic control of mechatronic systems is an important aspect of any system design effort. Sensors and actuators are key components of this control loop. Hence, their models are very useful in developing control algorithms as well.
