MODULE 2

IOT SENSING AND ACTUATION

INTRODUCTION
 A major chunk of IoT applications involves sensing in one form or the other.
 Almost all the applications in IoT—be it a consumer IoT, an industrial IoT, or just
plain hobby-based deployments of IoT solutions—sensing forms the first step and
actuation forms the final step in the whole operation of IoT application.
 The basic science of sensing and actuation is based on the process of transduction.
 Transduction is the process of energy conversion from one form to another.
 Transducers take energy in any form (for which it is designed)—electrical,
mechanical, chemical, light, sound, and others—and convert it into another, which may
be electrical, mechanical, chemical, light, sound, and others.
 Sensors and actuators are deemed as transducers.
 For example, in a public announcement (PA) system, a microphone (input device)
converts sound waves into electrical signals, which is amplified by an amplifier system
(a process). Finally, a loudspeaker (output device) outputs this into audible sounds by
converting the amplified electrical signals back into sound waves.
Table 2.1 outlines the basic terminological differences between transducers, sensors, and
actuators.
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SENSORS
Sensors are devices that can measure, or quantify, or respond to the ambient changes in their
environment or within the intended zone of their deployment.
For example, heat is converted to electrical signals in a temperature sensor, or atmospheric
pressure is converted to electrical signals in a barometer.
A sensor is only sensitive to the measured property (e.g., a temperature sensor only senses the
ambient temperature of a room). It is insensitive to any other property besides what it is
designed to detect (e.g., a temperature sensor does not bother about light or pressure while
sensing the temperature). Finally, a sensor does not influence the measured property (e.g.,
measuring the temperature does not reduce or increase the temperature). Figure 2.1 shows the
simple outline of a sensing task. Here, a temperature sensor keeps on checking an environment
for changes. In the event of a fire, the temperature of the environment goes up. The temperature
sensor notices this change in the temperature of the room and promptly communicates this
information to a remote monitor via the processor.

Figure 2.1 The outline of a simple sensing operation

The various sensors can be classified based on:
1) power requirements.
2) sensor output.
3) property to be measured.

1)Power Requirements:
The way sensors operate decides the power requirements that must be provided for an IoT
implementation. Some sensors need to be provided with separate power sources for them to
function, whereas some sensors do not require any power sources.
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Depending on the requirements of power, sensors can be of two types.

1a) Active Sensor:

Active sensors do not require an external circuitry or mechanism to provide it with power. It
directly responds to the external stimuli from its ambient environment and converts it into an
output signal. For example, a photodiode converts light into electrical impulses.

1b) Passive Sensors:

Passive sensors require an external mechanism to power them up. The sensed properties are
modulated with the sensor’s inherent characteristics to generate patterns in the output of the
sensor. For example, a thermistor’s resistance can be detected by applying voltage difference
across it or passing a current through it.

2) Sensor Output:
The output of a sensor helps in deciding the additional components to be integrated with an
IoT node or system. Typically, almost all modern-day processors are digital; digital sensors
can be directly integrated to the processors.
However, the integration of analog sensors to these digital processors or IoT nodes requires
additional interfacing mechanisms such as analog to digital converters (ADC), voltage level
converters, and others.
Sensors are broadly divided into two types, depending on the type of output generated from
these sensors, as follows.
2a) Analog Sensors:
Analog sensors generate an output signal or voltage, which is proportional (linearly or non-
linearly) to the quantity being measured and is continuous in time and amplitude. Physical
quantities such as temperature, speed, pressure, displacement, strain, and others are all
continuous and categorized as analog quantities. For example, a thermometer or a
thermocouple can be used for measuring the temperature of a liquid (e.g., in household water
heaters). These sensors continuously respond to changes in the temperature of the liquid.

2b) Digital Sensors:

These sensors generate the output of discrete time digital representation (time, or amplitude, or
both) of a quantity being measured, in the form of output signals or voltages. Typically, binary
output signals in the form of a logic 1 or a logic 0 for ON or OFF, respectively are associated
with digital sensors. The generated discrete (non-continuous) values may be output as a single
“bit” (serial transmission), eight of which combine to produce a single “byte” output (parallel
transmission) in digital sensors.

3) Measured Property:
The property of the environment being measured by the sensors can be crucial in deciding the
number of sensors in an IoT implementation. Some properties to be measured do not show high
spatial variations and can be quantified only based on temporal variations in the measured
property, such as ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, and others. Whereas some
properties to be measured show high spatial as well as temporal variations such as sound,
image, and others.
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Depending on the properties to be measured, sensors can be of two types.

3a) Scalar Sensors:

Scalar sensors produce an output proportional to the magnitude of the quantity being measured.
The output is in the form of a signal or voltage. Scalar physical quantities are those where only
the magnitude of the signal is sufficient for describing or characterizing the phenomenon and
information generation. Examples of such measurable physical quantities include color,
pressure, temperature, strain, and others. A thermometer or thermocouple is an example of a
scalar sensor that has the ability to detect changes in ambient or object temperatures (depending
on the sensor’s configuration). Factors such as changes in sensor orientation or direction do not
affect these sensors (typically).

3b) Vector Sensors:

Vector sensors are affected by the magnitude as well as the direction and/or orientation of the
property they are measuring. Physical quantities such as velocity and images that require
additional information besides their magnitude for completely categorizing a physical
phenomenon are categorized as vector quantities. Measuring such quantities are undertaken
using vector sensors. For example, an electronic gyroscope, which is commonly found in all
modern aircraft, is used for detecting the changes in orientation of the gyroscope with respect
to the Earth’s orientation along all three axes.

The functional outline of a typical IoT sensor node is shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2 The functional blocks of a typical sensor node in IoT

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Figure 2.3 shows some commercially available sensors used for sensing applications.

Figure 2.3 Some common commercially available sensors used for IoT-based sensing
applications

SENSOR CHARACTERISTICS
All sensors can be defined by their ability to measure or capture a certain phenomenon and
report them as output signals to various other systems. However, even within the same sensor
type and class, sensors can be characterized by their ability to sense the phenomenon based on
the following three fundamental properties.
Sensor Resolution:
The smallest change in the measurable quantity that a sensor can detect is referred to as the
resolution of a sensor. For digital sensors, the smallest change in the digital output that the
sensor is capable of quantifying is its sensor resolution. The more the resolution of a sensor,
the more accurate is the precision. A sensor’s accuracy does not depend upon its resolution.
For example, a temperature sensor A can detect up to 0.5 ◦ C changes in temperature; whereas
another sensor B can detect up to 0.25◦ C changes in temperature. Therefore, the resolution of
sensor B is higher than the resolution of sensor A.
Sensor Accuracy:
The accuracy of a sensor is the ability of that sensor to measure the environment of a system
as close to its true measure as possible. For example, a weight sensor detects the weight of a
100 kg mass as 99.98 kg. We can say that this sensor is 99.98% accurate, with an error rate of
±0.02%.
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Sensor Precision:
The principle of repeatability governs the precision of a sensor. Only if, upon multiple
repetitions, the sensor is found to have the same error rate, can it be deemed as highly precise.
For example, consider if the same weight sensor described earlier reports measurements of
98.28 kg, 100.34 kg, and 101.11 kg upon three repeat measurements for a mass of actual weight
of 100 kg. Here, the sensor precision is not deemed high because of significant variations in
the temporal measurements for the same object under the same conditions.

SENSORIAL DEVIATIONS
The various sensorial deviations that are considered as errors in sensors.
As the quality of the measurement obtained from a sensor is dependent on a large number of
factors, there are a few primary considerations that must be incorporated during the sensing of
critical systems.
Sensor’s limits or Full-scale range:
 In the event of a sensor’s output signal going beyond its designed maximum and
minimum capacity for measurement, the sensor output is truncated to its maximum or
minimum value, which is also the sensor’s limits.
 The measurement range between a sensor’s characterized minimum and maximum
values is also referred to as the fullscale range of that sensor.
Sensitivity error:
 The sensitivity of a sensor may differ from the value specified for that sensor leading
to sensitivity error.
 This deviation is mostly attributed to sensor fabrication errors and its calibration.
Offset error or Bias error:
 If the output of a sensor differs from the actual value to be measured by a constant, the
sensor is said to have an offset error or bias.
 For example, while measuring an actual temperature of 0 ◦ C, a temperature sensor
outputs 1.1 ◦ C every time. In this case, the sensor is said to have an offset error or bias
of 1.1 ◦ C.
Non-linearity:
 If a sensor’s transfer function (TF) deviates from a straight line transfer function, it is
referred to as its non-linearity.
 The amount a sensor’s actual output differs from the ideal TF behavior over the full
range of the sensor quantifies its behavior. It is denoted as the percentage of the sensor’s
full range. Most sensors have linear behavior. If the output signal of a sensor changes
slowly and independently of the measured property, this behavior of the sensor’s output
is termed as drift. Physical changes in the sensor or its material may result in long-term
drift, which can span over months or years. Noise is a temporally varying random
deviation of signals
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Hysteresis error:
 If a sensor’s output varies/deviates due to deviations in the sensor’s previous input
values, it is referred to as hysteresis error.
 The present output of the sensor depends on the past input values provided to the
sensor. Typically, the phenomenon of hysteresis can be observed in analog sensors,
magnetic sensors, and during heating of metal strips.
 One way to check for hysteresis error is to check how the sensor’s output changes when
we first increase, then decrease the input values to the sensor over its full range.
 It is generally denoted as a positive and negative percentage variation of the full-range
of that sensor.

Quantization error:
 This error can be defined as the difference between the actual analog signal and its
closest digital approximation during the sampling stage of the analog to digital
conversion.
Aliasing errors:
 Mishandling of sampling frequencies can give rise to aliasing errors.
 Aliasing leads to different signals of varying frequencies to be represented as a single
signal in case the sampling frequency is not correctly chosen, resulting in the input
signal becoming a multiple of the sampling rate. (fs ≥ 2fm)
Environmental Conditions:
 The environment itself plays a crucial role in inducing sensorial deviations.
 Some sensors may be prone to external influences, which may not be directly linked to
the property being measured by the sensor. This sensitivity of the sensor may lead to
deviations in its output values.
 For example, as most sensors are semiconductorbased, they are influenced by the
temperature of their environment.

SENSING TYPES
Sensing can be broadly divided into four different categories based on the nature of the
environment being sensed and the physical sensors being used to do so.
1) Scalar sensing
2) Multimedia sensing
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3) Hybrid sensing
4) Virtual sensing
Scalar sensing:

 Scalar sensing encompasses the sensing of features that can be quantified simply by
measuring changes in the amplitude of the measured values with respect to time.
 Quantities such as ambient temperature, current, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, light,
humidity, flux, and others are considered as scalar values as they normally do not have
a directional or spatial property assigned with them.
 Simply measuring the changes in their values with passing time provides enough
information about these quantities.
 The sensors used for measuring these scalar quantities are referred to as scalar sensors,
and the act is known as scalar sensing.
 Figures 2.3(b), 2.3(d), 2.3(e), 2.3(f), 2.3(g), 2.3(h), 2.3(i), and 2.3(j) show scalar
sensors.
 A simple scalar temperature sensing of a fire detection event is shown in Figure 2.4(a).

Figure 2.4 The different sensing types commonly encountered in IoT

Multimedia sensing:
 Multimedia sensing encompasses the sensing of features that have a spatial variance
property associated with the property of temporal variance.
 Unlike scalar sensors, multimedia sensors are used for capturing the changes in
amplitude of a quantifiable property concerning space (spatial) as well as time
(temporal).
 Quantities such as images, direction, flow, speed, acceleration, sound, force, mass,
energy, and momentum have both directions as well as a magnitude.
 Additionally, these quantities follow the vector law of addition and hence are
designated as vector quantities. They might have different values in different directions
for the same working condition at the same time.
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 The sensors used for measuring these quantities are known as vector sensors.
 Figures 2.3(a) and 2.3(c) are vector sensors.
 A simple camera-based multimedia sensing using surveillance as an example is shown
in Figure 2.4(b).
Hybrid sensing:
 The act of using scalar as well as multimedia sensing at the same time is referred to as
hybrid sensing.
 Many a time, there is a need to measure certain vector as well as scalar properties of an
environment at the same time.
 Under these conditions, a range of various sensors are employed (from the collection
of scalar as well as multimedia sensors) to measure the various properties of that
environment at any instant of time, and temporally map the collected information to
generate new information.
 For example, in an agricultural field, it is required to measure the soil conditions at
regular intervals of time to determine plant health.
 Sensors such as soil moisture and soil temperature are deployed underground to
estimate the soil’s water retention capacity and the moisture being held by the soil at
any instant of time.
 However, this setup only determines whether the plant is getting enough water or not.
There may be a host of other factors besides water availability, which may affect a
plant’s health.
 The additional inclusion of a camera sensor with the plant may be able to determine the
actual condition of a plant by additionally determining the color of leaves. The
aggregate information from soil moisture, soil temperature, and the camera sensor will
be able to collectively determine a plant’s health at any instant of time.
 Other common examples of hybrid sensing include smart parking systems, traffic
management systems, and others.
 Figure 2.4(c) shows an example of hybrid sensing, where a camera and a temperature
sensor are collectively used to detect and confirm forest fires during wildlife
monitoring.
Virtual sensing:

 which does not have actual physical sensors but uses extrapolation-based
measurements is being used.
 Figure 2.4(d) shows an example of virtual sensing. Two temperature sensors S1 and
S3 monitor three nearby events E1, E2, and E3 (fires). The event E2 does not have a
dedicated sensor for monitoring it; however, through the superposition of readings
from sensors S1 and S3, the presence of fire in E2 is inferred.
SENSING CONSIDERATIONS
The choice of sensors in an IoT sensor node is critical and can either make or break the
feasibility of an IoT deployment.
The following major factors influence the choice of sensors in IoT-based sensing solutions:
1) Sensing range
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2) Accuracy and Precision.

3) Energy.
4) Device size.
These factors are discussed as follows:
Sensing Range:
 The sensing range of a sensor node defines the detection fidelity of that node.
 Typical approaches to optimize the sensing range in deployments include fixed k-
coverage and dynamic k-coverage.
 A lifelong fixed k-coverage tends to usher in redundancy as it requires a large number
of sensor nodes, the sensing range of some of which may also overlap.
 In contrast, dynamic kcoverage incorporates mobile sensor nodes post detection of an
event, which, however, is a costly solution and may not be deployable in all operational
areas and terrains.
 Additionally, the sensing range of a sensor may also be used to signify the upper and
lower bounds of a sensor’s measurement range.
 For example, a proximity sensor has a typical sensing range of a couple of meters.
 In contrast, a camera has a sensing range varying between tens of meters to hundreds
of meters.
 As the complexity of the sensor and its sensing range goes up, its cost significantly
increases.
Accuracy and Precision:
 The accuracy and precision of measurements provided by a sensor are critical in
deciding the operations of specific functional processes.
 Typically, off-the-shelf consumer sensors are low on requirements and often very
cheap. However, their performance is limited to regular application domains.
 For example, a standard temperature sensor can be easily integrated with conventional
components for hobby projects and day-to-day applications, but it is not suitable for
industrial processes.
 Regular temperature sensors have a very low-temperature sensing range, as well as
relatively low accuracy and precision.
 The use of these sensors in industrial applications, where a precision of up to 3–4
decimal places is required, cannot be facilitated by these sensors.
 Industrial sensors are typically very sophisticated, and as a result, very costly. However,
these industrial sensors have very high accuracy and precision score, even under harsh
operating conditions.
Energy:
 The energy consumed by a sensing solution is crucial to determine the lifetime of that
solution and the estimated cost of its deployment.
 If the sensor or the sensor node is so energy inefficient that it requires replenishment of
its energy sources quite frequently, the effort in maintaining the solution and its cost
goes up; whereas its deployment feasibility goes down.
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 Consider a scenario where sensor nodes are deployed on the top of glaciers. Once
deployed, access to these nodes is not possible. If the energy requirements of the sensor
nodes are too high, such a deployment will not last long, and the solution will be highly
infeasible as charging or changing of the energy sources of these sensor nodes is not an
option.
Device Size:
 Modern-day IoT applications have a wide penetration in all domains of life.
 Most of the applications of IoT require sensing solutions which are so small that they
do not hinder any of the regular activities that were possible before the sensor node
deployment was carried out.
 Larger the size of a sensor node, larger is the obstruction caused by it, higher is the
cost and energy requirements, and lesser is its demand for the bulk of the IoT
applications.
 Consider a simple human activity detector. If the detection unit is too large to be
carried or too bulky to cause hindrance to regular normal movements, the demand for
this solution would be low. It is because of this that the onset of wearables took off so
strongly.
 The wearable sensors are highly energy-efficient, small in size, and almost part of the
wearer’s regular wardrobe.

ACTUATORS
An actuator can be considered as a machine or system’s component that can affect the
movement or control the said mechanism or the system.

Control systems affect changes to the environment or property they are controlling through
actuators.
The system activates the actuator through a control signal, which may be digital or analog. It
elicits a response from the actuator, which is in the form of some form of mechanical motion.
The control system of an actuator can be a mechanical or electronic system, a software-based
system (e.g., an autonomous car control system), a human, or any other input. Figure 2.5 shows
the outline of a simple actuation system. A remote user sends commands to a processor. The
processor instructs a motor controlled robotic arm to perform the commanded tasks
accordingly. The processor is primarily responsible for converting the human commands into
sequential machine-language command sequences, which enables the robot to move. The
robotic arm finally moves the designated boxes, which was its assigned task.
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Figure 2.5 shows the outline of a simple actuation system.

ACTUATOR TYPES
Broadly, actuators can be divided into seven classes:
1) Hydraulic
2) Pneumatic
3) Electrical
4) Thermal/Magnetic
5) Mechanical
6) Soft
7) Shape memory polymers.

Hydraulic actuators
 A hydraulic actuator works on the principle of compression and decompression of
fluids.
 These actuators facilitate mechanical tasks such as lifting loads through the use of
hydraulic power derived from fluids in cylinders or fluid motors.
 The mechanical motion applied to a hydraulic actuator is converted to either linear,
rotary, or oscillatory motion.
 The almost incompressible property of liquids is used in hydraulic actuators for
exerting significant force.
 These hydraulic actuators are also considered as stiff systems. The actuator’s limited
acceleration restricts its usage.
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Pneumatic actuators
 A pneumatic actuator works on the principle of compression and decompression of
gases.
 These actuators use a vacuum or compressed air at high pressure and convert it into
either linear or rotary motion.
 Pneumatic rack and pinion actuators are commonly used for valve controls of water
pipes.
 The actuators using pneumatic energy for their operation are typically characterized by
the quick response to starting and stopping signals.
 Small pressure changes can be used for generating large forces through these actuators.
 Pneumatic brakes are an example of this type of actuator which is so responsive that
they can convert small pressure changes applied by drives to generate the massive force
required to stop or slow down a moving vehicle.
 Pneumatic actuators are responsible for converting pressure into force.
 The power source in the pneumatic actuator does not need to be stored in reserve for
its operation.
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Electric actuators
 Typically, electric motors are used to power an electric actuator by generating
mechanical torque.
 This generated torque is translated into the motion of a motor’s shaft or for
switching (as in relays). For example, actuating equipments such as solenoid valves
control the flow of water in pipes in response to electrical signals. This class of
actuators is considered one of the cheapest, cleanest and speedy actuator types
available.
 Figures 2.6(a), 2.6(b), 2.6(c), 2.6(d), 2.6(e), 5.6(f), 5.6(i), and 5.6(j) show some of
the commonly used electrical actuators.

Figure 2.6 Some common commercially available actuators used for IoT-based control
applications
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Thermal or magnetic actuators

 The use of thermal or magnetic energy is used for powering this class of actuators.
 These actuators have a very high-power density and are typically compact, lightweight,
and economical.
 One classic example of thermal actuators is shape memory materials (SMMs) such as
shape memory alloys (SMAs).
 These actuators do not require electricity for actuation.
 They are not affected by vibration and can work with liquid or gases.
 Magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMAs) are a type of magnetic actuators.

Mechanical actuators
 In mechanical actuation, the rotary motion of the actuator is converted into linear
motion to execute some movement.
 The use of gears, rails, pulleys, chains, and other devices are necessary for these
actuators to operate.
 These actuators can be easily used in conjunction with pneumatic, hydraulic, or
electrical actuators.
 They can also work in a standalone mode.
 The best example of a mechanical actuator is a rack and pinion mechanism.
 Figures 2.6(g), 2.6(h), 2.6(k), and 2.6(l) show some of the commonly available
mechanical actuators.
 The hydroelectric generator shown in Figures 2.6(g) and 2.6(h) convert the water-flow
induced rotary motion of a turbine into electrical energy.
 Similarly, the mechanical switches shown in Figures 5.6 (k) and 5.6(l) uses the
mechanical motion of the switch to switch on or off an electrical circuit.

Soft actuators
 Soft actuators (e.g., polymer-based) consists of elastomeric polymers that are used as
embedded fixtures in flexible materials such as cloth, paper, fiber, particles, and others.
 The conversion of molecular level microscopic changes into tangible macroscopic
deformations is the primary working principle of this class of actuators.
 These actuators have a high stake in modern-day robotics.
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 They are designed to handle fragile objects such as agricultural fruit harvesting, or
performing precise operations like manipulating the internal organs during robot-
assisted surgeries.

Shape memory polymers

 Shape memory polymers (SMP) are considered as smart materials that respond to some
external stimulus by changing their shape, and then revert to their original shape once
the affecting stimulus is removed.
 Features such as high strain recovery, biocompatibility, low density, and
biodegradability characterize these materials.
 SMP-based actuators function similar to our muscles.
 Modern-day SMPs have been designed to respond to a wide range of stimuli such as
pH changes, heat differentials, light intensity, and frequency changes, magnetic
changes, and others.
 Photopolymer/light-activated polymers (LAP) are a particular type of SMP, which
require light as a stimulus to operate.
 LAP-based actuators are characterized by their rapid response times. Using only the
variation of light frequency or its intensity, LAPs can be controlled remotely without
any physical contact.
 The development of LAPs whose shape can be changed by the application of a specific
frequency of light have been reported.
 The polymer retains its shape after removal of the activating light.
 In order to change the polymer back to its original shape, a light stimulus of a different
frequency has to be applied to the polymer.

Actuator Characteristics
Introduction
The choice or selection of actuators is crucial in an IoT deployment, where a control
mechanism is required after sensing and processing of the information obtained from the sensed
environment.
Actuators perform the physically heavier tasks in an IoT deployment; tasks which require
moving or changing the orientation of physical objects, changing the state of objects, and other
such activities.
The correct choice of actuators is necessary for the long-term sustenance and continuity of
operations, as well as for increasing the lifetime of the actuators themselves.
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A set of four characteristics can define all actuators:

Weight:
 The physical weight of actuators limits its application scope.
 For example, the use of heavier actuators is generally preferred for industrial
applications and applications requiring no mobility of the IoT deployment.
 Lightweight actuators typically find common usage in portable systems in vehicles,
drones, and home IoT applications.
Power Rating:
 This helps in deciding the nature of the application with which an actuator can be
associated.
 The power rating defines the minimum and maximum operating power an actuator can
safely withstand without damage to itself.
 Generally, it is indicated as the power-to-weight ratio for actuators.
 For example, smaller servo motors used in hobby projects typically have a maximum
rating of 5 VDC, 500 mA, which is suitable for an operations-driven battery-based
power source. Exceeding this limit might be detrimental to the performance of the
actuator and may cause burnout of the motor.
 In contrast to this, servo motors in larger applications have a rating of 460 VAC, 2.5
A, which requires standalone power supply systems for operations.
 It is to be noted that actuators with still higher ratings are available and vary according
to application requirements.
Torque to Weight Ratio:
 The ratio of torque to the weight of the moving part of an instrument/device is referred
to as its torque/weight ratio.
 This indicates the sensitivity of the actuator.
 Higher is the weight of the moving part; lower will be its torque to weight ratio for a
given power.
Stiffness and Compliance:
 The resistance of a material against deformation is known as its stiffness, whereas
compliance of a material is the opposite of stiffness.
 Stiffness can be directly related to the modulus of elasticity of that material.
 Stiff systems are considered more accurate than compliant systems as they have a faster
response to the change in load applied to it. For example, hydraulic systems are
considered as stiff and non-compliant, whereas pneumatic systems are considered as
compliant.