Universal sensor adapter
AssigneeAquaSensors
InventorsBruce M. Bathurst, Gregory S. Retzlaff
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sensor assembly. The sensor assembly includes a transducer, a memory element to store a plurality of transducer signatures, and a processor to identify the transducer using the transducer signatures, to process the environmental characteristic using the identified transducer signatures and the adaptive algorithm, and to output the processed environmental characteristics.
Claims40
A sensor assembly comprising:
- a transducer chosen from among a plurality of transducer types, each type configured to sense a different environmental characteristic;
- a memory element coupled to the transducer and configured to store a plurality of transducer signatures, each transducer signature comprising a transducer identifier and calibration parameters;
- and
- a processor coupled to the memory and configured to store an adaptive algorithm, to identify the type of the transducer using the transducer identifier, to configure at least one analog signal conditioning component using the calibration parameters, to process the environmental characteristic using the configured analog signal conditioning component and the adaptive algorithm, and to output the processed environmental characteristic.
A sensor assembly comprising:
- a sensing head having a transducer chosen from among a plurality of transducer types, each type configured to sense a different environmental characteristic, and a memory element coupled to the transducer and configured to store a plurality of transducer signatures, each transducer signature comprising a transducer identifier and calibration parameters;
- and
- an adapting body coupled to the sensing head, to receive the transducer signatures and the environmental characteristic from the sensing head, the adapting body having a processor configured to store an adaptive algorithm, to identify the type of the transducer using the transducer identifier, to configure at least one analog signal conditioning component using the calibration parameters, and to process the environmental characteristic using the configured analog signal conditioning component and the adaptive algorithm and to generate an output representative of the environmental characteristic.
A method of measuring an environmental characteristic with a transducer assembly, wherein a transducer head is coupled to a transducer body, the transducer head has a memory storing a plurality of transducer signatures, each transducer signature comprises a transducer identifier and calibration parameters, and the transducer body has a processor, the method comprising:
- retrieving a transducer identifier and calibration parameters from the memory;
- processing the transducer identifier to identify the type of the transducer at the processor;
- configuring at least one analog signal conditioning component using the calibration parameters;
- sensing a signal indicative of the environmental characteristic using the transducer;
- conditioning the signal indicative of the environmental characteristic using the processor with the configured analog signal conditioning component and an adaptive algorithm;
- and
- outputting the conditioned signal indicative of the environmental characteristic.
A sensor adapter operably configured to receive a transducer, the transducer configured to sense data indicative of an environmental characteristic and having a memory configured to store a transducer identifier and calibration parameters, the sensor adapter comprising:
- a processor configured to receive, from the transducer, the data indicative of the environmental characteristic, the transducer identifier, and the calibration parameters, to identify the type of the transducer using the transducer identifier, to configure an analog signal conditioning circuit based on the calibration parameters, and to adaptively process the received data from the transducer using the configured analog signal conditioning circuit and an adaptive algorithm;
- and
- an output interface configured to receive the processed data from the processor and to report the processed data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.