Make: More Electronics

Chapter 29. Experiment 29: Common Sensors

In this and the next five experiments, I’m going to be discussing sensors. This is an exciting field, because it’s still developing rapidly. While basic designs and capabilities of the logic chips that I’ve been using were established long ago, the evolution of affordable sensors is proceeding all around us.

The key word, here, is “affordable.” To take one example, in the year 2000, perhaps I could have bought an accelerometer, if I had shopped around—although I might have had difficulty finding a distributor that would sell me just one, and it would have been expensive. Moreover, after I bought it, I could have had some problems figuring out exactly how to use it.

Today, in the United States, I can buy ...