Advantages of Digital Sensor | disadvantages of Digital Sensor

This page covers advantages and disadvantages of Digital Sensor or smart sensor. It mentions Digital Sensor advantages or benefits and Digital Sensor disadvantages or drawbacks. Digital sensor is also known as smart sensor.

What is Digital Sensor?

Introduction: The sensor which produces discrete output is known as digital sensor. This type of sensor generates output in binary digital form consisting of binary 1s and 0s. This means digital sensor produces non-continuous or discrete form of signal. The figure-1 depicts digital sensor or smart sensor operation including internal modules.

Example:
Digital Light sensor which uses rotating disc to generate output pulse with logic 0 and logic 1. These pulses are counted by the counter and final output is displayed on the numeric display.
Refer difference between analog sensor vs digital sensor >>.

Benefits or advantages of Digital Sensor

Following are the benefits or advantages of Digital Sensor or smart sensor:
➨Higher performance
➨Easy to design, use and maintain
➨Higher reliability
➨Small and Rugged device
➨Saves power as it activates in either of two conditions ('1' or '0') such as in push button or digital light sensing.
➨Digital sensor uses microprocessor which reads digital output of sensing part and does all the calculations needed. It does measurement as well as collection of data. Analog sensor counterpart requires separate calibrated meters to measure the signal.

Drawbacks or disadvantages of Digital Sensor

Following are the drawbacks or disadvantages of Digital Sensor or smart sensor:
➨It is complex compare to analog sensor as it requires data conversion.
➨It can not provide continuous output for every change in input parameters which can be addressed by analog sensor.
➨The cost is more than analog sensor due to use of microprocessor and data storage capabilities.

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