Recent advances in sensor technology

The recent advances of sensor technologies have been powered by high-speed and low-cost electronic circuits, novel signal processing methods and innovative advances in manufacturing technologies. The synergetic interaction of new developments in these fields allow completely novel approaches increasing the performance of technical products. Innovative sensor structures have been designed permitting self-monitoring or self-calibration. The rapid progress of sensor manufacturing technologies allows the production of systems and components with a low cost-to-performance ratio. Among microsystem manufacturing technologies, surface and bulk micromachining are increasingly winning recognition. The potential in the field of digital signal processing involves new approaches for the improvement of sensor properties. Multi-sensor systems can significantly contribute to the enhancement of the quality and availability of information. For this purpose, sophisticated signal processing methods based on data fusion techniques are more effective for an accurate computation of measurement values or a decision than usually used threshold based algorithms. In this state-of-the-art lecture we give an overview of the recent advances and future development trends in the field of sensor technology. We focus on novel sensor structures, manufacturing technologies and signal processing methods in individual and multi-sensor systems. The predominantly observed future development trends are: the miniaturization of sensors and components, the widespread use of multi-sensor systems and the increasing relevance of radio wireless and autonomous sensors.