Smart Temperature Sensors

Abstract

Many real-world applications depend on temperature sensing and/or control. This includes a wide range of industrial processes, chemical reactors, and SCADA systems, in addition to other physical, mechanical, and biological systems. With the advancement of technology, it became possible to produce a new generation of smart and compact temperature sensors, which are capable of providing digital outputs that are more accurate, robust, and easily interfaced and integrated into measurement and control systems. This chapter first surveys traditional analog temperature sensors, such as RTDs and thermocouples, to provide a strong motivation for the need to adopt better and smarter techniques that mainly rely on digital technology (e.g., CMOS designs). Different interfacing techniques that do not need ADCs are introduced, including the programmable Arduino microcontrollers. Different applications will be explored that include automotive accessories, weather forecast, healthcare, industrial processing, firefighting, and consumer electronics. Both wired and wireless technologies, including the IoT, will be investigated as means for transmitting the sensed data for further processing and data logging. A special case study to provide information redundancy in industrial SCADA systems will be analyzed to illustrate the advantages and limitations of smart temperature sensors. The chapter concludes with a summary of the design effort, accuracy, performance, and cost effectiveness of smart temperature sensors while highlighting future trends in this field for different applications.