MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - ESSENTIAL FUNDAMENTALS OF MECHATRONICS

The word 'mechatronics' provides a focus for the integration of electr onic hardware and computer software with mechanical engineering in a p roduct or process. The combination of often traditionally separate dis ciplines and the resulting transfer of functionality between previousl y competing solution domains has been responsible for the appearance o f a new range of products in which the previous, completely mechanical , solution has been replaced by one based on integration of electronic s and software within the mechanical function. Achievement of the nece ssary levels of functionality within a mechatronic system is dependent upon the principles of system design and control engineering together with definition of an appropriate information structure for that syst em, which, in turn, implies real-time access to appropriate system dat a. Sensors and sensing systems are therefore integral to the functioni ng of mechatronic systems as providers of the process and procedural d ata on which their operation is based. In particular, development of d igital control systems has been supported by increases in performance, reducing real costs, of the associated electronic processing, which h as led to development of dedicated controller architectures based on u se of application-specific integrated circuits. In the area of sensor development, the driving force is the silicon-based technology that ca n provide both the signal processing element in the form of the integr ated circuit but increasingly also the sensing component, often on the same chip. Additionally, development of the techniques of micromachin ing has enabled production of complex structures on a chip, some of wh ich, when combined with on-chip sensing and processing, may be conside red to be mechatronic in their own right. The paper therefore reviews the role and importance of sensors and measurement systems within mech atronics and illustrates this with examples drawn from manufacturing, vehicle systems and domestic products.