- [Instructor] Sensors are not new.
They've been around for over half a century.
What is new, is accessing them from the internet.
Regardless of data needs, there will be
a sensor available to capture it.
It's important to note that value drives sensor selection.
Value defines the information that's required.
The information defines the data that must be captured,
and the data that must be captured,
defines the sensor that must be used.
The challenge is finding the right one.
Selecting a sensor is the first step.
Before implementing a sensor, it's important
to invest some R and D time to
test and verify the specifications.
The transducer on a sensor converts
the physical world into a DC current.
This energy is then converted by
an A to D converter into a digital payload.
Actuators work the other direction.
A digital signal, which is really a message
from the application, is converted
with a D to A converter to affect
the physical environment.
Going back to our IoT dryer, we may use
an actuator to increase the fan speed
or decrease the temperature of the heating coil.
To make a sensor a connected sensor,
requires an embedded system.
The embedded system takes the digital payload,
packages it, and sends it along
the OT network to the application.
All incremental value from an IoT product
comes from transforming its data
into useful information.
Sensors are one of the two main sources of data in IoT.