This is a list of sensors sorted by sensor type.

Acoustic, sound, vibration

Hydrophone A hydrophone ( grc, ὕδωρ + φωνή, , water + sound) is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potent ...

Microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and pub ...

* Pickup *

Seismometer A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The outp ...

* Sound locator

Automotive

* Air flow meter * AFR sensor * Air–fuel ratio meter *

Blind spot monitor The blind spot monitor or blind-spot monitoring is a vehicle-based sensor device that detects other vehicles located to the driver’s side and rear. Warnings can be visual, audible, vibrating, or tactile. Blind spot monitors may do more th ...

* Crankshaft position sensor (CKP) * Curb feeler * Defect detector * Engine coolant temperature sensor *

Hall effect sensor A Hall effect sensor (or simply Hall sensor) is a type of sensor which detects the presence and magnitude of a magnetic field using the Hall effect. The output voltage of a Hall sensor is directly proportional to the strength of the field. ...

* Wheel speed sensor *Airbag sensors *Automatic transmission speed sensor * Brake fluid pressure sensor *Camshaft position sensor (CMP) * Cylinder Head Temperature gauge *Engine crankcase pressure sensor * Exhaust gas temperature sensor *Fuel level sensor *Fuel pressure sensor *Knock sensor * Light sensor * MAP sensor * Mass airflow sensor *Oil level sensor *Oil pressure sensor *

Omniview technology Omniview technology (also known as surround view or bird view) is a vehicle parking assistant technology that first was introduced in 2007 as the "Around View Monitor" option for the Nissan Elgrand and Infiniti EX. It is designed to assist drive ...

* Oxygen sensor (O₂) *

Parking sensor Parking sensors are proximity sensors for road vehicles designed to alert the driver of obstacles while parking. These systems use either electromagnetic or ultrasonic sensors. Ultrasonic systems These systems feature ultrasonic proximity d ...

* Radar gun *

Radar sensor Radar engineering details are technical details pertaining to the components of a radar and their ability to detect the return energy from moving scatterers — determining an object's position or obstruction in the environment. This includes fiel ...

* Speed sensor * Throttle position sensor * Tire pressure sensor * Torque sensor * Transmission fluid temperature sensor * Turbine speed sensor *

Variable reluctance sensor A variable reluctance sensor (commonly called a VR sensor) is a transducer that measures changes in magnetic reluctance. When combined with basic electronic circuitry, the sensor detects the change in presence or proximity of ferrous objects. With ...

Vehicle speed sensor A wheel speed sensor (WSS) or vehicle speed sensor (VSS) is a type of tachometer. It is a sender device used for reading the speed of a vehicle's wheel rotation. It usually consists of a toothed ring and pickup. Automotive wheel speed sensor ...

* Water-in-fuel sensor * Wheel speed sensor * ABS sensors

Chemical

* Breathalyzer * Carbon dioxide sensor *

Carbon monoxide detector A carbon monoxide detector or CO detector is a device that detects the presence of the carbon monoxide (CO) gas to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. In the late 1990s Underwriters Laboratories changed the definition of a single station CO ...

* Catalytic bead sensor * Chemical field-effect transistor * Chemiresistor * Electrochemical gas sensor * Electronic nose *

Electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor sensor Within electronics, an Electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor (EIS) sensor is a sensor that is made of these three components: * an electrolyte with the chemical that should be measured * an insulator that allows field-effect interaction, wit ...

* Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy * Fluorescent chloride sensors * Holographic sensor * Hydrocarbon dew point analyzer * Hydrogen sensor * Hydrogen sulfide sensor * Infrared point sensor * Ion-selective electrode * ISFET * Nondispersive infrared sensor *

Microwave chemistry sensor {{Technical, date=June 2022 Surface acoustic wave gas sensor or surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors consist of an input transducer, a chemically adsorbent polymer film, and an output transducer on a piezoelectric substrate, which is typically quar ...

Morphix Chameleon The Morphix Chameleon is a portable chemical detection device. It consists of a reusable armband, wearable over many hazardous material suits, on which removable sensors are mounted. The sensors have color-changing tags that indicate the presence o ...

Nitrogen oxide sensor A nitrogen oxide sensor or sensor is typically a high-temperature device built to detect nitrogen oxides in combustion environments such as an automobile, truck tailpipe or smokestack. Overview The term represents several forms of nitrogen ox ...

* Nondispersive infrared sensor * Olfactometer * Optode * Oxygen sensor *

Ozone monitor An ozone monitor is electronic equipment that monitors for ozone concentrations in the air. The instrument may be used to monitor ozone values for industrial applications or to determine the amount of ambient ozone at ground level and determine ...

* Pellistor *

pH glass electrode A glass electrode is a type of ion-selective electrode made of a doped glass membrane that is sensitive to a specific ion. The most common application of ion-selective glass electrodes is for the measurement of pH. The pH electrode is an example ...

Potentiometric sensor A potentiometric sensor is a type of chemical sensor that may be used to determine the analytical concentration of some components of the analyte gas or solution. These sensors measure the electrical potential of an electrode when no current is pr ...

* Redox electrode *

Smoke detector A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about in diameter and thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be detecte ...

Zinc oxide nanorod sensor A zinc oxide nanorod sensor or ZnO nanorod sensor is an electronic or optical device detecting presence of certain gas or liquid molecules (e.g. humidity, NO, hydrogen,Lin, J. et al. (2015GaN-based and ZnO nanorod sensors for wireless hydrogen lea ...

Electric current, electric potential, magnetic, radio

* Current sensor * Daly detector * Electroscope * Electron multiplier * Faraday cup * Galvanometer *

Hall probe A Hall effect sensor (or simply Hall sensor) is a type of sensor which detects the presence and magnitude of a magnetic field using the Hall effect. The output voltage of a Hall sensor is directly proportional to the strength of the field. I ...

Magnetic anomaly detector A magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) is an instrument used to detect minute variations in the Earth's magnetic field. The term refers specifically to magnetometers used by military forces to detect submarines (a mass of ferromagnetic material cr ...

Magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...

Magnetoresistance Magnetoresistance is the tendency of a material (often ferromagnetic) to change the value of its electrical resistance in an externally-applied magnetic field. There are a variety of effects that can be called magnetoresistance. Some occur in bul ...

* MEMS magnetic field sensor *

Metal detector A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. The unit itself, consist of a control box, and an adjustable shaft, ...

Planar Hall sensor The planar Hall sensor is a type of magnetic sensor based on the planar Hall effect of ferromagnetic materials. It measures the change in anisotropic magnetoresistance caused by an external magnetic field in the Hall geometry. As opposed to an ordi ...

* Radio direction finder *

Test light A test light, test lamp, voltage tester, or mains tester is a piece of electronic test equipment used to determine the presence of electricity in a piece of equipment under test. A test light is simpler and less costly than a measuring instrument ...

Voltage detector A test light, test lamp, voltage tester, or mains tester is a piece of electronic test equipment used to determine the presence of electricity in a piece of equipment under test. A test light is simpler and less costly than a measuring instrument ...

Environment, weather, moisture, humidity

Actinometer Actinometers are instruments used to measure the heating power of radiation. They are used in meteorology to measure solar radiation as pyranometers, pyrheliometers and net radiometers. An actinometer is a chemical system or physical device which ...

Air pollution sensor Air pollution measurement is the process of collecting and measuring the components of air pollution, notably gases and particulates. The earliest devices used to measure pollution include rain gauges (in studies of acid rain), Ringelmann char ...

* Bedwetting alarm * Ceilometer *

Dew warning A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape Videocassette#Cassette formats, videocassette, ...

* Electrochemical gas sensor *

Fish counter Automatic fish counters are automatic devices for measuring the number of fish passing along a particular river in a particular period of time. Usually one particular species is of interest. One important species studied by fish counters are Atlan ...

* Frequency domain sensor * Gas detector *

Hook gauge evaporimeter A Hook gauge evaporimeter is a precision instrument used to measure changes in water levels due to evaporation. It is used to precisely measure the level of a free water surface as an evaporation pan or a tank. The main users are meteorologists a ...

* Humistor *

Hygrometer A hair tension dial hygrometer with a nonlinear scale. A hygrometer is an instrument used to measure the amount of water vapor in air, in soil, or in confined spaces. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other qu ...

* Leaf sensor * Lysimeter *

Pyranometer A pyranometer is a type of actinometer used for measuring solar irradiance on a planar surface and it is designed to measure the solar radiation flux density (W/m2) from the hemisphere above within a wavelength range 0.3 μm to 3 μm. The name pyran ...

* Pyrgeometer *

Psychrometer A hair tension dial hygrometer with a nonlinear scale. A hygrometer is an instrument used to measure the amount of water vapor in air, in soil, or in confined spaces. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other q ...

Rain gauge A rain gauge (also known as udometer, pluvia metior, pluviometer, ombrometer, and hyetometer) is an instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation over a predefined area, over a period ...

* Rain sensor *

* SNOTEL * Snow gauge * Soil moisture sensor * Stream gauge * Tide gauge *

Weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...

Flow, fluid velocity

* Air flow meter * Anemometer * Flow sensor * Gas meter * Mass flow sensor *

Water meter Water metering is the practice of measuring water use. Water meters measure the volume of water used by residential and commercial building units that are supplied with water by a public water supply system. They are also used to determine flo ...

Ionizing radiation, subatomic particles

* Bubble chamber * Cloud chamber * Geiger counter * Geiger–Müller tube * Ionization chamber * Gaseous ionization detectors * Neutron detection *

Particle detector In experimental and applied particle physics, nuclear physics, and nuclear engineering, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify ionizing particles, such as those produced by ...

* Proportional counter *

Scintillator A scintillator is a material that exhibits scintillation, the property of luminescence, when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate (i.e. re-emit the absorbe ...

Scintillation counter A scintillation counter is an instrument for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation by using the excitation effect of incident radiation on a scintillating material, and detecting the resultant light pulses. It consists of a scintillator w ...

* Semiconductor detector * Thermoluminescent dosimeter * Wire chamber

Navigation instruments

Airspeed indicator The airspeed indicator (ASI) or airspeed gauge is a flight instrument indicating the airspeed of an aircraft in kilometers per hour (km/h), knots (kn), miles per hour (MPH) and/or meters per second (m/s). The recommendation by ICAO is to use ...

Altimeter An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. The m ...

* Attitude indicator * Depth gauge * Fluxgate compass * Gyroscope *

Inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors ( accelerometers), rotation sensors (gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (d ...

* Inertial reference unit * Machmeter * Magnetic compass *

MHD sensor Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD; also called magneto-fluid dynamics or hydromagnetics) is the study of the magnetic properties and behaviour of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such magnetofluids include plasmas, liquid metals ...

* Ring laser gyroscope *

Sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of cel ...

* Turn coordinator * Variometer * Vibrating structure gyroscope * Yaw-rate sensor

Position, angle, displacement, distance, speed, acceleration

Accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acce ...

* Auxanometer * Capacitive displacement sensor *

Capacitive sensing In electrical engineering, capacitive sensing (sometimes capacitance sensing) is a technology, based on capacitive coupling, that can detect and measure anything that is conductive or has a dielectric constant different from air. Many types of se ...

* Flex sensor * Free fall sensor * Gravimeter * Gyroscopic sensor * Impact sensor * Inclinometer *

Incremental encoder An incremental encoder is a linear or rotary electromechanical device that has two output signals, ''A'' and ''B'', which issue pulses when the device is moved. Together, the ''A'' and ''B'' signals indicate both the occurrence of and direction o ...

* Integrated circuit piezoelectric sensor *

Laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

Laser surface velocimeter A laser surface velocimeter (LSV) is a non-contact optical speed sensor measuring velocity and length on moving surfaces. Laser surface velocimeters use the laser Doppler principle to evaluate the laser light scattered back from a moving object. The ...

LIDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...

* Linear encoder *

Linear variable differential transformer The linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) (also called linear variable displacement transformer, linear variable displacement transducer, or simply differential transformer) is a type of electrical transformer used for measuring linear d ...

(LVDT) *

Liquid capacitive inclinometers Liquid capacitive inclinometers are inclinometers (or clinometers) whose sensing elements are made with a liquid-filled differential capacitor; they sense the local direction of acceleration due to gravity (or movement). John G. Webster, Halit Eren ...

Odometer An odometer or odograph is an instrument used for measuring the distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or car. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two ( electromechanical). The noun derives from ancient G ...

* Photoelectric sensor *

Piezoelectric accelerometer A piezoelectric accelerometer is an accelerometer that employs the piezoelectric effect of certain materials to measure dynamic changes in mechanical variables (e.g., acceleration, vibration, and mechanical shock). As with all transducers, piezoe ...

* Position sensor * Position sensitive device *

Angular rate sensor Angular rate sensors, ARS, are devices that directly measure angular rate, without integration in conditioning electronics. Gyroscopes also measure angular rate. Generally gyroscopes are able to measure a constant rotation rate, while rate sensors a ...

* Rotary encoder * Rotary variable differential transformer * Selsyn *

Shock detector A shock detector, shock indicator, or impact monitor is a device which indicates whether a physical shock or impact has occurred. These usually have a binary output ( go/no-go) and are sometimes called ''shock overload devices''. Shock dete ...

* Shock data logger *

Sudden Motion Sensor The Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) is Apple's motion-based data protection system used in their notebook computer systems. Apple introduced the system January 1, 2005 in its refreshed PowerBook line, and included it in the iBook line July 26, 2005. ...

* Tilt sensor *

Tachometer A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrated analo ...

* Ultrasonic thickness gauge * Ultra-wideband radar *

Velocity receiver A velocity receiver (velocity sensor) is a sensor that responds to velocity rather than absolute position. For example, dynamic microphones are velocity receivers. Likewise, many electronic keyboards used for music are velocity sensitive, and may ...

* Magnetic sensor

Optical, light, imaging, photon

Charge-coupled device A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are ...

CMOS sensor An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor where each pixel sensor unit cell has a photodetector (typically a pinned photodiode) and one or more active transistors. In a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) active-pixel sensor, MOS field-e ...

Angle–sensitive pixel An angle-sensitive pixel (ASP) is a CMOS sensor with a sensitivity to incoming light that is sinusoidal in incident angle. Principles of operation ASPs are typically composed of two gratings (a diffraction grating and an analyzer grating) abo ...

* Colorimeter *

Contact image sensor Contact image sensors (CIS) are image sensors used in flatbed scanners almost in direct contact with the object to be scanned. Charge-coupled devices (CCDs), the other kind of sensor often used in scanners, use mirrors to bounce light to a stati ...

Electro-optical sensor Electro-optical sensors are electronic detectors that convert light, or a change in light, into an electronic signal. These sensors are able to detect electromagnetic radiation from the infrared up to the ultraviolet wavelengths. They are used in ...

* Flame detector * Infra-red sensor * Kinetic inductance detector *

LED as light sensor In electronics, an LED circuit or LED driver is an electrical circuit used to power a light-emitting diode (LED). The circuit must provide sufficient current to light the LED at the required brightness, but must limit the current to prevent damag ...

Light-addressable potentiometric sensor A light-addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS) is a sensor that uses light (e.g. LEDs) to select what will be measured. Light can activate carriers in semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conduct ...

* Nichols radiometer *

Fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparency and translucency, transparent fiber made by Drawing (manufacturing), drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a Hair ...

sensors *

Optical position sensor A position sensitive device and/or position sensitive detector (PSD) is an optical position sensor (OPS) that can measure a position of a light spot in one or two-dimensions on a sensor surface. Principles PSDs can be divided into two classes whi ...

Thermopile laser sensor Thermopile laser sensors (Fig 1) are used for measuring laser power from a few µW to several W (see section 2.4). The incoming radiation of the laser is converted into heat energy at the surface. This heat input produces a temperature gradient ac ...

s * Photodetector * Photodiode *

Photomultiplier A photomultiplier is a device that converts incident photons into an electrical signal. Kinds of photomultiplier include: * Photomultiplier tube, a vacuum tube converting incident photons into an electric signal. Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs for s ...

* Photomultiplier tube * Phototransistor * Photoelectric sensor * Photoionization detector *

* Photoresistor * Photoswitch * Phototube *

Scintillometer A scintillometer is a scientific device used to measure turbulent fluctuations of the refractive index of air caused by variations in temperature, humidity, and pressure. It consists of an optical or radio wave transmitter and a receiver at o ...

* Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor * Single-photon avalanche diode * Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector *

Transition-edge sensor A transition-edge sensor (TES) is a type of cryogenic energy sensor or cryogenic particle detector that exploits the strongly temperature-dependent resistance of the superconducting phase transition. History The first demonstrations of the super ...

Visible Light Photon Counter A Visible Light Photon Counter (VLPC) is a photon counting photodetector based on impurity-band conduction in arsenic- doped silicon. They have high quantum efficiency and are able to detect single photons in the visible range of the electromagne ...

Wavefront sensor In physics, the wavefront of a time-varying ''wave field'' is the set (locus) of all points having the same ''phase''. The term is generally meaningful only for fields that, at each point, vary sinusoidally in time with a single temporal freque ...

Pressure

* Barograph *

Barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...

Boost gauge A boost gauge is a pressure gauge that indicates manifold air pressure or turbocharger or supercharger boost pressure in an internal combustion engine. They are commonly mounted on the dashboard, on the driver's side pillar, or in a radio slo ...

* Bourdon gauge * Hot filament ionization gauge * Ionization gauge * McLeod gauge * Oscillating U-tube *

Permanent downhole gauge {{Unreferenced, date=April 2008 A permanent downhole gauge (PDG) is a pressure and/or temperature gauge permanently installed in an oil or gas well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbon ...

Piezometer A piezometer is either a device used to measure liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the liquid rises against gravity, or a device which measures the pressure (more precisely, the piezometric head) of groundwat ...

* Pirani gauge *

Pressure sensor A pressure sensor is a device for pressure measurement of gases or liquids. Pressure is an expression of the force required to stop a fluid from expanding, and is usually stated in terms of force per unit area. A pressure sensor usually a ...

* Pressure gauge * Tactile sensor * Time pressure gauge

Force, density, level

* Bhangmeter * Hydrometer * Force gauge and Force Sensor * Level sensor * Load cell *

Magnetic level gauge A magnetic level gauge is a type of level sensor, i.e., a device used to measure the level of fluids. A magnetic level gauge includes a “floatable” device that can float both in high and low density fluids. Magnetic level gauges may also be de ...

Nuclear density gauge Nuclear densitometry is a technique used in civil construction and the petroleum industry, as well as for mining and archaeology purposes, to measure the density and inner structure of the test material. The processes uses a nuclear density gauge, ...

* Piezocapacitive pressure sensor * Piezoelectric sensor * Strain gauge * Torque sensor * Viscometer

Thermal, heat, temperature

Bolometer A bolometer is a device for measuring radiant heat by means of a material having a temperature-dependent electrical resistance. It was invented in 1878 by the American astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley. Principle of operation A bolometer ...

Bimetallic strip A bimetallic strip is used to convert a temperature change into mechanical displacement. The strip consists of two strips of different metals which expand at different rates as they are heated. The different expansions force the flat strip to be ...

* Calorimeter *

Exhaust gas temperature gauge An exhaust gas temperature gauge (EGT gauge or EGT sensor) is a meter used to monitor the exhaust gas temperature of an internal combustion engine in conjunction with a thermocouple-type pyrometer. EGT gauges are found in certain cars and ae ...

* Flame detection * Gardon gauge * Golay cell * Heat flux sensor * Infrared thermometer * Microbolometer * Microwave radiometer * Net radiometer *

Quartz thermometer The quartz thermometer is a high-precision, high accuracy temperature sensor. It measures temperature by measuring the frequency of a quartz crystal oscillator. The oscillator contains a specially cut crystal that results in a linear temperature c ...

* Resistance thermometer * Silicon bandgap temperature sensor *

Special sensor microwave/imager The Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel, four-frequency, linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer system.Hollinger, J.P. 1989: ''DMSP Special Sensor Microwave/Imager Calibration/Validation''. Final Report, Vol. I., Spa ...

Temperature gauge A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer ...

* Thermistor *

Thermocouple A thermocouple, also known as a "thermoelectrical thermometer", is an electrical device consisting of two dissimilar electrical conductors forming an electrical junction. A thermocouple produces a temperature-dependent voltage as a result of th ...

Thermometer A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermomete ...

* Phosphor thermometry *

Pyrometer A pyrometer is a type of remote-sensing thermometer used to measure the temperature of distant objects. Various forms of pyrometers have historically existed. In the modern usage, it is a device that from a distance determines the temperature of ...

Proximity, presence

Alarm sensor In telecommunication, the term alarm sensor has the following meanings: 1. In communications systems, a device that can sense an abnormal condition within the system and provide a signal indicating the presence or nature of the abnormality to ei ...

Doppler radar A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the fr ...

Motion detector A motion detector is an electrical device that utilizes a sensor to detect nearby motion. Such a device is often integrated as a component of a system that automatically performs a task or alerts a user of motion in an area. They form a vital ...

Occupancy sensor An occupancy sensor is an indoor motion detecting device used to detect the presence of a person to automatically control lights or temperature or ventilation systems. The sensors use infrared, ultrasonic, microwave, or other technology. The te ...

Proximity sensor A proximity sensor is a sensor able to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. A proximity sensor often emits an electromagnetic field or a beam of electromagnetic radiation (infrared, for instance), and looks fo ...

Passive infrared sensor A passive infrared sensor (PIR sensor) is an electronic sensor that measures infrared (IR) light radiating from objects in its field of view. They are most often used in PIR-based motion detectors. PIR sensors are commonly used in security alarms ...

Reed switch Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

Stud finder A stud finder (also stud detector or stud sensor) is a handheld device used with wood buildings to locate framing studs located behind the final walling surface, usually drywall. While there are many different stud finders available, most fall ...

* Triangulation sensor * Touch switch * Wired glove

Sensor technology

* Active pixel sensor *

Back-illuminated sensor Comparison of simplified back-illuminated and front-illuminated pixel cross-sections A back-illuminated sensor, also known as backside illumination (BI) sensor, is a type of digital image sensor that uses a novel arrangement of the imaging eleme ...

* BioFET *

Biochip In molecular biology, biochips are engineered substrates ("miniaturized laboratories") that can host large numbers of simultaneous biochemical reactions. One of the goals of biochip technology is to efficiently screen large numbers of biological a ...

Biosensor A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of a chemical substance, that combines a biological component with a physical chemistry, physicochemical detector. The ''sensitive biological element'', e.g. tissue, microorganisms, or ...

* Capacitance probe *Capacitance sensor * Catadioptric sensor * Carbon paste electrode *

Digital sensors A digital sensor is an electronic or electrochemical sensor, where data is digitally converted and transmitted. Sensors are often used for analytical measurements, e.g. the measurement of chemical and physical properties of liquids. Typical measu ...

Displacement receiver A displacement receiver is a device that responds to or is sensitive to directed distance (displacement). Examples of displacement receivers include carbon microphones, strain gauges, and pressure sensors or force sensors, which, to within an app ...

Electromechanical film Electromechanical Film (EMFI, EMFIT, trademarks of Emfit Ltd) is a thin, flexible film that can function as a sensor or actuator. It is composed of a charged polymer coated with two conductive layers, making it an electret. It was invented and first ...

* Electrochemical fatigue crack sensor * Fabry–Pérot interferometer *

Fiber Bragg grating A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of distributed Bragg reflector constructed in a short segment of optical fiber that reflects particular wavelengths of light and transmits all others. This is achieved by creating a periodic variation in th ...

* Fisheries acoustics * Image sensor *

Image sensor format In digital photography, the image sensor format is the shape and size of the image sensor. The image sensor format of a digital camera determines the angle of view of a particular lens when used with a particular sensor. Because the image se ...

* Inductive sensor *

Intelligent sensor An intelligent sensor is a sensor that takes some predefined action when it senses the appropriate input (light, heat, sound, motion, touch, etc.). Description The sensor has to do the following tasks: *Give a digital signal. *Be able to communi ...

* Lab-on-a-chip * Leaf sensor * Machine vision *

Microelectromechanical systems Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also written as micro-electro-mechanical systems (or microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems) and the related micromechatronics and microsystems constitute the technology of microscopic devices, ...

MOSFET The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

* Photoelasticity *

Quantum sensor A quantum sensor utilizes properties of quantum mechanics, such as quantum entanglement, quantum interference, and quantum state squeezing, which have optimized precision and beat current limits in sensor technology. The field of quantum sens ...

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

** Ground-penetrating radar **

Synthetic aperture radar Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide fine ...

Radar tracker A radar tracker is a component of a radar system, or an associated command and control (C2) system, that associates consecutive radar observations of the same target into tracks. It is particularly useful when the radar system is reporting data f ...

* Stretch sensor * Sensor array *

Sensor fusion Sensor fusion is the process of combining sensor data or data derived from disparate sources such that the resulting information has less uncertainty than would be possible when these sources were used individually. For instance, one could potentia ...

* Sensor grid * Sensor node * Soft sensor *

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

Staring array A staring array, also known as staring-plane array or focal-plane array (FPA), is an image sensor consisting of an array (typically rectangular) of light-sensing pixels at the focal plane of a lens. FPAs are used most commonly for imaging purp ...

* Tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) *

Transducer A transducer is a device that converts energy from one form to another. Usually a transducer converts a signal in one form of energy to a signal in another. Transducers are often employed at the boundaries of automation, measurement, and cont ...

* Ultrasonic sensor *

Video sensor A video sensor (also video-sensor or videosensors) describes a technique of digital image analysis. A video sensor is application software, which interprets images. Video sensors use programmable algorithms running on a computer. Video sensors ...

* Visual sensor network * Wheatstone bridge *

Wireless sensor network Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) refer to networks of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors that monitor and record the physical conditions of the environment and forward the collected data to a central location. WSNs can measure environmental c ...

Speed sensor

Speed sensors are machines used to detect the speed of an object, usually a transport vehicle. They include: * Wheel speed sensors *

Speedometer A speedometer or speed meter is a gauge that measures and displays the instantaneous speed of a vehicle. Now universally fitted to motor vehicles, they started to be available as options in the early 20th century, and as standard equipment ...

s *

Pitometer log Pitometer logs (also known as pit logs) are devices used to measure a ship's speed relative to the water. They are used on both surface ships and submarines. Data from the pitometer log is usually fed directly into the ship's navigation system. H ...

s *

Pitot tube A pitot ( ) tube (pitot probe) measures fluid flow velocity. It was invented by a French engineer, Henri Pitot, in the early 18th century, and was modified to its modern form in the mid-19th century by a French scientist, Henry Darcy. It ...

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s * Piezo sensors (e.g. in a road surface) *

* Ground speed radar *

* ANPR (where vehicles are timed over a fixed distance) *

s for moving surfaces

Others

Actigraphy Actigraphy is a non-invasive method of monitoring human rest/activity cycles. A small actigraph unit, also called an actimetry sensor, is worn for a week or more to measure gross motor activity. The unit is usually in a wristwatch-like package wo ...

Analog image processing In electrical engineering and computer science, analog image processing is any image processing task conducted on two-dimensional analog signals by analog means (as opposed to digital image processing). Basically any data can be represented in two ...

Atomic force microscopy Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very-high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the opt ...

* Atomic Gravitational Wave Interferometric Sensor * Attitude control (spacecraft): Horizon sensor, Earth sensor, Sun sensor * Catadioptric sensor *

Chemoreceptor A chemoreceptor, also known as chemosensor, is a specialized sensory receptor which transduces a chemical substance (endogenous or induced) to generate a biological signal. This signal may be in the form of an action potential, if the chemorecep ...

Compressive sensing Compressed sensing (also known as compressive sensing, compressive sampling, or sparse sampling) is a signal processing technique for efficiently acquiring and reconstructing a Signal (electronics), signal, by finding solutions to Underdetermined ...

* Cryogenic particle detectors *

* Diffusion tensor imaging *

Digital holography Digital holography refers to the acquisition and processing of holograms with a digital sensor array, typically a CCD camera or a similar device. Image rendering, or reconstruction of object ''data'' is performed numerically from digitized interfer ...

Electronic tongue The electronic tongue is an instrument that measures and compares tastes. As per the IUPAC technical report, an “electronic tongue” as analytical instrument including an array of non-selective chemical sensors with partial specificity to diffe ...

* Fine Guidance Sensor * Flat panel detector * Functional magnetic resonance imaging * Glass break detector *

Heartbeat sensor A heart rate monitor (HRM) is a personal monitoring device that allows one to measure/display heart rate in real time or record the heart rate for later study. It is largely used to gather heart rate data while performing various types of ph ...

* Hyperspectral sensors * IRIS (Biosensor), Interferometric Reflectance Imaging Sensor * Laser beam profiler * Littoral Airborne Sensor/Hyperspectral * LORROS * Millimeter wave scanner * Magnetic resonance imaging * Moire deflectometry * Molecular sensor *

Nanosensor Nanosensors are nanoscale devices that measure physical quantities and convert these to signals that can be detected and analyzed. There are several ways proposed today to make nanosensors; these include top-down lithography, bottom-up assembly, ...

* Nano-tetherball Sensor *

Omnidirectional camera In photography, an omnidirectional camera (from "omni", meaning all), also known as 360-degree camera, is a camera having a field of view that covers approximately the entire sphere or at least a full circle in the horizontal plane. Omnidirectiona ...

Organoleptic sensors Organoleptic properties are the aspects of food, water or other substances that create an individual experience via the senses—including taste, sight, smell, and touch. USDA uses In traditional U.S. Department of Agriculture meat and po ...

* Optical coherence tomography * Phase unwrapping techniques *

Polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked a ...

Truth Detection *

Positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that uses radioactive substances known as radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in metabolic processes, and in other physiological activities including blood flow, ...

* Push broom scanner * Quantization (signal processing) * Range imaging * Scanning SQUID microscope * Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) * Smartdust *

SQUID True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting ...

Superconducting quantum interference device True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting th ...

SSIES SSIES, or the Special Sensors-Ions, Electrons, and Scintillation thermal plasma analysis package is a suite of instruments built by the William B. Hanson center for Space Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas and flown on a number of the DM ...

, Special Sensors-Ions, Electrons, and Scintillation thermal plasma analysis package * SSMIS, Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder * Structured-light 3D scanner * Sun sensor, Attitude control (spacecraft) * Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector * Thin-film thickness monitor * Time-of-flight camera *

TriDAR TriDAR, or Triangulation and LIDAR Automated Rendezvous and Docking, is a relative navigation vision system developed by Neptec Design Group and funded by the Canadian Space Agency and NASA. It provides guidance information that can be used to gui ...

, Triangulation and LIDAR Automated Rendezvous and Docking * Unattended Ground Sensors

References

Global List of Sensor Manufacturers
List of commercial sensor manufacturers from around the world {{DEFAULTSORT:Sensors * Electrical components Technology-related lists