BOOK REVIEWS
HANDBOOK OF INTELLIGENT SENSORS FOR
INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION, N. Zuech (Editor),
Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1992, ISBN, 0 201 55022
9, xi # 521 pp., £46·95.
The development in recent years of new sensors which
use advanced technologies such as fibre optics, lasers,
infrared detection, eddy current sensing, acoustic emis-
sion measurement, force field sensing and ultrasonics has
signifcantly improved measurement capability in many
industries. However, knowledge of such sensors in indus-
try is generally scant and the marketing of them is driven
by their vendors. Inevitably, this means that over-en-
thusiastic salesmen emphasize the advantages of such
devices and gloss over their limitations. Furthermore,
potential purchasers of such sensors are handicapped by
their lack of a global overview of what alternative sen-
sors, possibly based on different and more appropriate
technologies, are available. One frequent consequence of
this is that engineers and plant managers are reluctant to
invest in such new sensors, so that potential improve-
ments in process efficiency, product quality and produc-
tion costs are missed. In this respect the book makes
a very useful contribution by providing an unbiased
account of various new technologies, the sensors based
on them and some examples of applications. Hopefully,
this should encourage more people to take them up and
reap the rewards that they undoubtedly offer in many
applications.
This book is an edited one, comprising chapters writ-
ten by 16 different authors, including one by the editor
himself. The authors chosen are all acknowledged experts
in their respective fields and this is evident in the
quality of their contributions. However, the lack of cohe-
sion between the different chapters that arises through
having so many different authors is almost unavoidable.
Furthermore, it is inevitable that there is some duplica-
tion of material between different chapters, especially
with regard to the descriptions of the underlying theoret-
ical principles governing the sensors described. For
example, one figure in Chapter 8 is identical with one in
Chapter 7.
The book makes extremely interesting reading. Each
chapter generally follows a similar pattern of describing
sensors based on a particular technology and then pre-
senting a range of industrial applications for such sen-
sors. The main deviation from this pattern are two useful
application-oriented chapters that describe respectively
machine tool monitoring and colour sensing, these being
( 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INT. J. ADAPT. CONTROL SIGNAL PROCESS., VOL. 11, 255—259 (1997)
257
two subject areas which are not widely covered in the
published literature. The final chapter also deviates from
the standard pattern, in considering sensor fusion. Opti-
mal integration of information coming from two or more
different sensors is an important but difficult subject and
its consideration in this text is therefore welcome.
What is outstanding and unusual about the book is the
wealth of real industrial application experience described
in many of the chapters. Although, inevitably, this cannot
be said about every chapter, even those chapters without
in-depth application detail do at least generally give
comprehensive recommendations about suitable sensor
applications. As a vehicle in the continuing professional
development of engineers working in industry, those able
to devote the time to read through the book will be
rewarded by gaining an enhanced knowledge about
many recently developed sensor technologies and their
applications. However, those with a particular measure-
ment need, who look to the book as a reference volume
for ideas on possible new technologies to consider, will be
somewhat disappointed. This deficiency arises mainly
from the fact that the chapters are generally arranged
according to different sensor technologies rather than
according to the physical variables that have to be com-
monly measured. This is a common problem with multi-
authored books of this nature, where the editor’s task of
producing a comprehensive index is crucial if the useful-
ness of the text is to be maximized. Unfortunately, the
editor in this case has not been entirely successful in
achieving this. For example, a reader who looks up
a common requirement such as ‘temperature measure-
ment’ in the index would not be directed to important
sections in the book which cover relatively new temper-
ature measurement technologies. Whilst very good qual-
ity information is contained in the book, these indexing
deficiencies hinder its accessibility.
To summarize, this book provides a valuable treatise
on advanced sensor technologies and industrial applica-
tions of these. It is very readable and I commend it to
industrial engineers willing to give the time necessary to
read through it. They will be amply rewarded by gaining
an increased awareness of new sensor technologies and
relevant industrial applications.
A. S. MORRIS
Department of Automatic Control and
Systems Engineering
ºniversity of Sheffield
Sheffield S1 3JD, º. K.