Sensors 4.0 – smart sensors and measurement technology enable Industry 4.0

Abstract

Abstract. "Industrie 4.0" or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are two terms for the current (r)evolution seen in industrial automation and control. Everything is getting smarter and data generated at all levels of the production process are used to improve product quality, flexibility, and productivity. This would not be possible without smart sensors, which generate the data and allow further functionality from self-monitoring and selfconfiguration to condition monitoring of complex processes. In analogy to Industry 4.0, the development of sensors has undergone distinctive stages culminating in today's smart sensors or "Sensor 4.0". This paper briefly reviews the development of sensor technology over the last 2 centuries, highlights some of the potential that can be achieved with smart sensors and data evaluation, and discusses success requirements for future developments. In addition to magnetic sensor technologies which allow self-test and self-calibration and can contribute to many applications due to their wide spectrum of measured quantities, the paper discusses condition monitoring as a primary paradigm for introducing smart sensors and data analysis in manufacturing processes based on two projects performed in our group.

Cyber–Physiochemical Interfaces

“…Sensing technology transfers the target information to readable output providing technical inspiration for signal monitoring. The earliest sensor dated back to 1880s, is a thermostat based on structural change principles ( Figure ) . To meet a broad range of sensing targets, various sensors emerged, such as the strain gauge based on Wheatstone bridge design, silicon pressure sensors based on the piezoelectric principle, and glucose meter based on enzyme‐catalyzed electrochemical reactions.…”

“…Thermostat image: Reproduced under the terms of the CC‐BY Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Copyright Flickr User midnightcomm ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/midnightcomm/447335691/).Pressure gauge image: Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2018, The Authors, published by Copernicus GmbH.…”

“…The earliest sensor dated back to 1880s, is a thermostat based on structural change principles (Figure 1). [7] To meet a broad range of sensing targets, various sensors emerged, such as the strain gauge based on Wheatstone bridge design, silicon pressure sensors based on the piezoelectric principle, and glucose meter based on enzymecatalyzed electrochemical reactions. The rapid development of microfabrication technology further impels the emergence of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) with merits of facile integration, miniaturization, and multifunction, which is a promising candidate for portable biomarker detection.…”

Gray-box Soft Sensors in Process Industry: Current Practice, and Future Prospects in Era of Big Data

“…Process sensors also evolved from purely mechanical indicators used in the era of Industry 1.0 to smart sensors of Industry 4.0. In this context, Sensors 4.0 has been coined colloquially to Industry 4.0 [9]. Smart sensors are sensing devices that are equipped with digital features for data processing, storage and efficient transformation of data [10][11][12].…”

Chemical Sensing with Atomically Thin Platinum Templated by a 2D Insulator

“…The well-ordered zero-layer on SiC could thus be a suitable support for the deposition of metals that have similar chemistry as the Pt-and Pd-systems 26,33 . The demonstrated gas sensing performance with atomically-thin Pt proof-of-concept devices at relatively low temperature (T = 100 °C), coupled with gas discrimination techniques 34 , could already allow fast, sensitive, and selective detection of extremely toxic molecules at concentrations of relevance to, for instance, air quality monitoring. We believe that atomically-thin metals as a new platform for gas detection, aided with surface science studies, could facilitate research aiming at tuning the selectivity of gas sensing devices operating at room temperature, requirements which have proven to be challenging to meet in solid-state gas detectors.…”