Miniature Intelligent Sensor Electronics

The proposed development will integrate data acquisition electronics with a relatively high performance processing capability and a large amount of memory, all in a miniature package, yielding a miniature, intelligent, sensor electronics module. This combination allows embedding of intelligent functions on sensors, providing the capability to implement data pre-processing and health monitoring of the system. The data acquisition electronics will provide programmable, analog I/O and digital I/O, including programmable gain, filtering, and voltage or current source, and auto-calibration. With the included processing power and memory, this system could operate autonomously, reporting to a higher level system only when queried or when specific conditions occur. With an included Ethernet interface, the system can use a standard network to communicate with a higher level system or other intelligent sensor modules. This system will simplify the task of data acquisition from remote locations or within a large, distributed data acquisition system. Implementation of health monitoring within the intelligent sensor module increases confidence or trust in the data that comes from the module. Maintenance is also simplified when the sensor node is able to report on its own health status, indicating when there is a fault or other need for maintenance.