Smart sensors are ‘smart’ because of their ability to provide the necessary results that the underlying machine, process or system requires to function – in many cases eliminating the need to process the continuous measurement data in the PLC. This shift in concept enables decentralisation and allows innovative new system architectures for devices, machines, and manufacturing – plus testing processes and monitoring solutions.
Smart sensors integrate the sensing element, the signal processing and a communication interface into one single unit.
They enhance precision by performing linearisation and compensation algorithms, thereby drastically reducing measurement uncertainty. HBK’s expertise spans a wide range of sensor domains – from strain, force and torque to sound and vibration. Utilising this domain-specific knowledge, our solutions feature signal-processing algorithms covering both the time and frequency domains, allowing smart sensors to perform fit-to-purpose calculations and self-health monitoring tasks.
Proven communication interfaces such as IO-Link, CAN-Bus and Industrial Ethernet protocols enable easy integration into any OT and IT-level applications.
Our expertise covers a wide range of mechanical sensor domains; from strain, force and torque to sound and vibration – and optical fibers.
We use our domain-specific signal-processing knowledge for both the time and frequency domains, enabling our sensors to perform application-specific calculations and monitoring tasks. These are known as ‘smart functions’ and ‘condition indicators’.
HBK’s smart sensors can be strain gauge-based, use piezoelectric crystals, or incorporate MEMS. They feature proven, open-standard bidirectional communication protocols such as IO-Link, CAN-MD®, or Industrial Ethernet, ensuring easy and efficient OT and IT system integration.