Embedded Sensors and IoT
Signal acquisition, motion and position sensing, sensor fusion and IoT connectivity. ADC/DAC, PWM and many sensor types have their own pages in Electronics.
This is an overview — pick a sub-topic below.
Sub-topics (19)
Encoders
Measure rotation: incremental (A/B quadrature pulses) or absolute (unique code per position).
IMUs
Inertial Measurement Units: accelerometer + gyroscope (+ magnetometer).
Pressure Sensors
Measure absolute, gauge or differential pressure — also altitude (BMP280/BMP388) and flow.
Proximity Sensors
Detect nearby objects: inductive (metal), capacitive, IR, ultrasonic, ToF (VL53L0X).
GPS and GNSS
Satellite positioning (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, India's NavIC).
Sensor Fusion
Combine sensors for better estimates — complementary and Kalman filters, Madgwick/Mahony for orientation.
Sensor Calibration
Correct offset, gain and non-linearity using known references.
Signal Conditioning
Prepare sensor signals for the ADC: amplify, filter, offset, protect and isolate.
MQTT for Devices
Publish/subscribe messaging over TCP — the most common IoT protocol.
CoAP
Constrained Application Protocol: REST-like requests over UDP for tiny devices.
Bluetooth Low Energy
Short-range low-power wireless with GATT services and characteristics.
Wi-Fi for IoT
High-bandwidth wireless using existing routers; higher power than BLE/LoRa.
Zigbee
Low-power mesh networking on IEEE 802.15.4 for smart homes and lighting.
Thread
IPv6-based low-power mesh on 802.15.4 — the network layer used by Matter.
Matter
An industry standard for smart-home interoperability over Wi-Fi, Thread and Ethernet.
LoRaWAN
Long-range (kilometres), very low-power, low-data-rate network for sensors.
NB-IoT
Narrowband cellular IoT for low-data devices with deep indoor coverage.
LTE-M
Cellular IoT with higher data rates, mobility and voice support compared with NB-IoT.
Edge AI on Microcontrollers
Run ML models on MCUs (TinyML): keyword spotting, gesture and anomaly detection.
Spotted a mistake or want to add detail? Suggest an improvement — Content Contributors' edits are reviewed by editors before they go live.
Discussion (0)
Sign in or join free to ask questions and discuss this topic.