5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An opus work on the operation and application of sensors, June 20, 2006
This unwieldy tome is a great book on just about every kind of sensor you could think of. It is an edited work, and consists of over 100 chapters/articles written by different groups of individuals. In spite of that, the book has a good logical flow.
Part one is on measurement and instrumentation in general. It discusses the desirable characteristics, operational modes, accuracy, and standards of instrumentation in general.
The next ten sections discuss specific classes of sensors, their operation, applicable mathematical equations, and typical configuration/circuits needed for their use. The sensors are broken down into those that measure spatial variables, time and frequency, solid mechanical variables, fluid mechanical variables, thermal mechanical variables, electromagnetic variables, optical variables, radiation, chemical variables, and finally biomedical variables. It would probably be very difficult for any one person to understand all of these sections, as specific sections require a basic knowledge of specific disciplines, but the language is very accessible and the content very interesting. Each article contains an extensive bibliography and list of reference articles where more information can be obtained.
The next section is about signal processing. This covers everything from A/D conversion to the mathematics of analog and digital signal processing. There are plenty of circuits shown and even some worked out examples on how to design filters with certain given characteristics. This is very accessible to anyone with a background in signals and systems.
Next is a less mentally taxing section on displays. There is some history of each device, theory of operation, and advice on the most suitable environment for each type of display device, as well as interfacing information.
The final section is a brief one on control. This section seemed rather rushed and really didn't do a very good job of explaining control systems compared to the high quality of the rest of the book.
Of all the books I've owned or read on the subject of sensors, this one has the best combination of device physics, theory of operation, application circuitry, signal processing, and applicable mathematics. I highly recommend this book to any scientist who needs to learn about specific sensors and anything related to their operation, control, and possible interfaces.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent collection of material, March 24, 2000
By A Customer
This book is one of the best book covering measurement and sensors. The book cover almost any sensor you think of, describe it function (the background physics) and then explain how it work with some application in software. This book must have for any one working with sensor (engineers, physicist...). the book start explaining it material assuming no prior knowledge for the reader which make it much easier and easy to follow up, start from simple point to explain and then get more complicated with mathematics applied for that particular sensor. I have a degree on physics and I believe this book is a good reference even in physics and I enjoy this book so much. It is a lot fun to read for professional or even for any reader. Any time I was searching for more information about specific sensor this book never turn me down. In short it's on of the greatest book I bought and I don't mind paying it's price because it worth every penny.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great book?, February 19, 2011
I'm a little confused because all of the other three reviews refer to this thing as a great "book" however this is supposed to be a volume SET. And they all gave it 5 stars. Hmmm.... It seems a bit fishy to me that no one says "THESE are great bookS."
Okay, that fishiness aside, my order arrived today and I was disappointed to find that I only got "Volume 2" which commences at Chapter 45. Amazon is having me return the volume I got and sending me a new "set."
The book has a beautiful cover. The inside is LOTS and LOTS of pages of black and white text, tables, graphs, and plenty of calculus. I skimmed several chapters. Seems well written without excessively technical language (I mean, yeah, it's technical language where needed--this ain't a Harlequin Romance!)
The pages aren't numbered from 1 to 2050, they are numbered by page within a chapter. For example 25-11. 40-3.
Without having READ the entire thing or Proofed any of the equations I'd have to say that Volume 2 is a pretty good book.
It's exactly what I was looking for: sort of an encyclopedia behind the theory and construction of the many many different types of sensors for use in industrial processes.
I have to return Volume 2 and supposedly will be sent the entire set. I'll update if upon receipt of the entire 2 volume set there is anything of note to add.
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