Minimizing Energy Consumption in Inductive Sensing Applications

Sensing is all about the ability to detect or measure changes in physical properties. In the context of an electronic control system, the requirement is to translate a parameter such as temperature, pressure or movement into an electrical signal. While some sensors directly produce a voltage output, which provides the ideal input for a microcontroller-based system, the majority of sensors depend on resistive, inductive or capacitive circuit elements whose behavior varies according to a known characteristic. These sensors typically require an external circuit to convert their output into a measurable signal for capture by a microcontroller (MCU).