
1-1
1.1 Introduction
One of the major trends driving and driven by technological advancement is increasing use of the
sensors and instruments in the world around us. Examples of sensors enabling the proliferated use of
in
struments
ar
ound
th
e
gl
obe
ar
e
in gr
eat
nu
mber
pr
esented
in th
is
ch
apter
. A co
nsequence
of th
is
e
ect
is th
at
in
creasing
am
ount
of di
gital
da
ta
is av
ailable
fo
r
fu
rther
pr
ocessing
an
d
ex
ploitation
. In fa
ct,
da
ta
ar
e
de
veloping
in
to
a pr
ecious
co
mmodity,
wh
ich
is o
en
tr
aded
at ve
ry
hi
gh
pr
ice
. e
se
da
ta
ar
e
th
e
es
sence
of so
se
nsors
di
scussed
in th
is
wo
rk,
an
d
as su
ch
th
ere
is a st
rong
pr
essure
on th
e
qu
ality
of
th
e
da
ta
.