Systematic Description of Sensors

A sensor performs the exchange of information (thus energy) from one domain to another and therefore it operates on the interface between different physical domains. Several frameworks have been developed for a systematic description of sensors. Basically, they are based on either of two different approaches. The first method follows a categorization on the basis of the various energy domains. However, there is no clear definition of an energy domain, leaving room for different opinions on this description. The other approach is based on a categorization of physical quantities. Although more fundamental, this method also leaves scope for discussions. Obviously, the two approaches are connected to each other, since quantities describe particular phenomena in which energy or conversion of energy is involved.