hello there,
interesting to hear that you are now finally getting into sensor interaction. i have worked with sensors as electronic engineer interfacing to various microcontrollers / A to D converters and whatnot. i cross trained from EE to .NET software about 3 years ago. since that time, i have worked for 3 companies, providing .NET control gui for connected uut, external test equipment control (digital oscopes, DMMs, spectrum analyzers, arb waveform generators), microcontrollers and similar programmable devices. to date, i have written c# based application that interacts with the programmed device using semaphores/mutexes.
now, on sensors, there are MEMS based sensors that contain direct digital output, but there are also others that do not, these have analog outputs which need to be 'linearized' and 'signal conditioned' before you can make use of them in programs.
if you look at sensors from the automatic control system point of view, historically reference (Proportional - Integral Derivative - PID), the sensors are a small part of such a system. A typical example is a car cruise control;
after the driver sets the MPH speed, say at 60, the car will respond by approaching this speed by sampling a small part of the output and comparing it the desired speed(60). once desired speed is attained, then the target speed is maintained about what is known as the 'setpoint'. based upon the resolution of the system, the target speed may fluctuate up and down about the set point. the 'process' that describes the control system is modeled using a differential equation, then simplified into the Laplace domain and can then be modeled using algebra relationships. each component of the system consists of scalar values that adjust the response of the output to transient inputs. once the base control system has been designed, various stimulus inputs can be applied to test for system stablity.
the control system can be evaluated using electrical or mechanical equivalent components.
my first control system, i wrote using assembly language for the motorola 68HC11F1, 8 bit. this was my senior project in college; greenhouse control system; interrupt driven type system based upon significant sensor inputs;
subsystems: 1. cadmium sulfide cell (resistive light sensor) and output transducer open/close motor controlled shades. 2. soil moisture sensor and output transducer turn ON/OFF inductor controlled water valve. the file size was about 8K byte. on the microcontroller, i used what is known as 'input capture' inputs. these inputs have their own counter registers that get a value that corresponds to the sensor analog voltage value(s). user would configure the whole system using menu accessed on LCD display module. i did this in 1994.
i am on the unemployment right now, but i am interested at hearing more about what your group does and if any jobs are available that may match my skill set. i'm just at the starbucks right now, and i am interested at what windows 7 can do. if you are interested in speaking to me, please leave a message here, and i will contact you.
