Sensor competition is the use of multiple redundant sensors to detect, measure or analyze a single phenomenon. Sensor competition can minimize detection errors and is used in sensitive application and robot ic motion plan systems.

The output of a binary sensor may occasionally be high (logic 1) when it should be low (logic 0) or vice-versa. In sensor competition where two binary sensors measure the same phenomenon, the output of the composite sensor is considered high if and only if both sensors produce a logic 1 and low if and only if both sensors produce logic 0. If three or more sensors are used, the output of the combination is considered high if and only if all sensors produce a logic 1 and low if and only if all sensors produce logic 0. If the sensor outputs do not all agree, a microprocessor instructs the sensors to take another sampling.

As the number of devices in a sensor-competition array increases, errors occur less often. However, the enhanced accuracy may come at the expense of speed, particularly when the system is operated near the sensitivity threshold of the sensors, producing frequent disagreement in their outputs.

31 Jul 2007