iot sensors

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these things to connect and exchange data.

Internet of Things is changing the world and sensors are at the heart of IoT solutions.

A sensor is a device, module, or subsystem whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information to other devices.

Some of the common sensors are

Temperature sensors

These are one of the most popular sensors that measure the temperature or heat . These sensors utilize a number of different methods to determine and quantify the temperature of an object. These sensors work in a number of different ways, some of the sensors required to be in physical contact with the object while others do not require contact as they can detect liquid or gases that emit radiant energy like spike in heat or a plummeting temperature.

Proximity sensor

Proximity sensors are used to detect motion. They are used in applications involving security, safety, or efficiency. These sensors detects obstacles to help avoiding in navigating to a crowded place or any complex route as it can be the best possible sensor for map building and guiding. Proximity sensors utilize electromagnetic radiation or radar to conclude motion or habitation.

Pressure sensor

These sensors are used for measuring pressure of gas or liquid by converting the physical power into an electrical signal. Barometers and pressure gauges are the most popular pressure sensors used for IoT ecosystem. Barometers are an absolute help in weather forecasting as it accurately measures the ambient air. Pressure gauges are mostly used in industrial sites as it is good in monitoring the pressure in sealed environments.

Chemical sensor

Chemical sensors are used to indicate changes in liquid or air chemical changes. They play an important role in bigger cities, where it is necessary to track changes and protect the pollution.Chemical sensors can be found used in Industrial environmental monitoring and process control, intentionally or accidentally released harmful chemical detection, explosive and radioactive detection

Gas sensor

Gas sensors are specifically used to monitor changes of the air quality and detect the presence of various gases. They are used in numerous industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and health and used for monitoring air quality, Detection of toxic or combustible gas, monitoring of Hazardous gas in coal mines, Oil & Gas industries etc.

Smoke sensor

A smoke sensor is used to senses smoke. Smoke sensors detect the presence of Smoke, Gases and Flame surrounding their field. It can be detected either optically or by the physical process either use both methods. Smoke sensors are extensively used by manufacturing industry, HVAC, buildings and accommodation infra to detect fire and gas incidences.

IR sensors

An infrared sensor is a sensor which is used to sense certain characteristics of its surroundings by either emitting or detecting infrared radiation. It is also capable of measuring the heat being emitted by object.Especially used in Healthcare field to monitor the blood flow and blood pressure. They are even used in a wide array of regular smart devices such as smartwatches and smartphones.

Optical sensors

Optical Sensors are used to detect electromagnetic energies like light, electricity, or such elemental particles. They can emit, receive, and convert light energy into electrical signal. The fiber optic sensor IoT interface is connected to internet and cloud platform which collects information for monitoring various parameters. These optical sensors have great use in digital cameras which act as one of the major physical devices of an IoT ecosystem. We can expect high growth of innovative fiber optic sensors as part of the rise in sophisticated industrial automation applications.

When we build IoT projects, we will use one or more of these IoT sensors and devices in it, we can get cheap IoT sensors and actuators , at the same time there are IoT sensors manufactures producing highly accurate and calibrated sensors which are very costly and only used in Medical & Aeronautical fields. IoT technology is growing fast now so more & more sensors are used to collect more data & interact with devices.

In upcoming posts I will share few of the IoT projects I have done so that you can get the details on those & can try to implement those from your end.

On top of Sensors you may also use Relay modules in our projects which is also one of the essential component to control AC devices.

Commonly used temperature sensors are DHT11, DHT22, LM35 which you can easily buy in amazon or other online stores.