Reliable sensors with instrumentation and connectivity are needed for reaping the benefits of digitalisation. We can provide you with a solution that solves your specific sensing needs.
Key facts about industrial sensing solutions
Digitalisation of industry requires reliable sensors for high quality data.
VTT develops custom optical and electromagnetic sensors from sensor elements to instruments with IoT connectivity.
Reliable sensor data enables profitable new products and IoT services.
Digitalisation requires reliable data in both process industry and in products during manufacturing and their lifetime. Well-designed sensors and instruments provide the data for product or process optimisation enabling more profitable product and service businesses. How does your company benefit from digitalisation? Where does the data come from?
VTT is a research, development and innovation partner in sensing technology. Our scope is wide, ranging from sensing principle development to applied research in demonstration prototypes, product development and onwards to commercialisation and promoting start-up activity. We have expertise in optical, electrical and bio-sensing. We also provide connectivity for wireless sensor systems ready for Internet of Things.
Optical instrumentation
VTT is one of the world’s leading R&D centres in the development of online optical analysers, with over 60 experts specialising in optical engineering and measurement technologies, process analysis and modelling, optoelectronics, spectroscopy, machine vision, image analysis, pattern recognition, AI and high precision optomechanics. We have expertise in combining diverse spectroscopic and machine vision measurement technologies to solve customers’ needs in many applications. We bridge the gap between optical measurement technologies and applications.
Well-designed sensors and instruments provide the data for product or process optimisation enabling more profitable business.
Optical measurement and inspection techniques have a significant role in industrial real-time quality control, automation and process control. We have developed instruments for autonomous vehicles, security and inspection, environmental monitoring, as well as mining and raw materials processing. Overall, accurate and reliable measurements enabling the control of processes contribute significantly to the competitiveness of process industries. They make industrial processes faster, more efficient and better for the environment.
Electromagnetic sensors
Electromagnetic sensors are used in a wide range of applications, from moisture measurement in materials for process optimisation; for accurate position measurements in products; for acoustic emission sensing in products for condition-based maintenance. A hot topic in electromagnetic sensing for Industry 4.0 are small, portable radars, which are used for perception in autonomous vehicles and robots. We have developed custom sensors for these and many other applications, starting from customer measurement needs and solving them from the sensing principle to proof-of-concept demonstrations.
Sensor systems with IoT connectivity included
For flexible installation and maintenance, many sensor systems can nowadays be operated completely wirelessly, including communication of sensor data and powering. The sensor nodes can be designed to operate years with a battery, or wireless powering options can be integrated, for instance when installing sensor to moving machine parts. IoT radio protocols, such as LoRa, Bluetooth, NB-IoT and even WLAN have been used in VTT instruments for reliable connectivity.
For further information, see:
- Raman spectroscopy: online mineralogy for process control, published in Materia 2-20
- Machine Vision system application with Engemma Oy: How to buy diamonds without fear of fakes?
Related infrastructure
Read our publications about industrial sensing solutions:
- A novel MEMS gas sensor based on ultrasonic resonance cavity
- Energy Autonomous Wireless Valve Leakage Monitoring System With Acoustic Emission Sensor
- Design and Verification of a Wireless Readout System for Integrated Motor Axle Condition Monitoring
- Conformality analysis of the archetype aluminium oxide ALD process in 3rd-generation silicon-based lateral high-aspect-ratio test structures
- Thin film conformality analysis with microscopic PillarHall lateral high aspect ratio structures: uncertainty estimates
- Monitoring Conformality in ALD Manufacturing: Comparing Lateral and Vertical High Aspect Ratio Test Structures
- Energy Autonomous Wireless Valve Leakage Monitoring System With Acoustic Emission Sensor
- Design and Verification of a Wireless Readout System for Integrated Motor Axle Condition Monitoring
- Development of a reader device for fully passive wireless sensors
- Activation and identification of fully passive wireless sensors
- Core temperature measurement using inductively coupled noise thermometry at 522MHz
- Magnetically coupled wireless communication for buried environmental sensor
- Low-Cost and Low-Profile Near Field UHF RFID Transponder for Tagging Batteries and Other Metal Objects
- Screen-printed and spray coated graphene-based RFID transponders
- Near-Field UHF RFID Transponder With a Screen-Printed Graphene Antenna
- Small On-Metal UHF RFID Transponder With Long Read Range
- Graphene Screen-printed Radio-frequency Identification Devices on Flexible Substrates
- Variable Antenna Load for Transmitter Efficiency Improvement
- Dual-Band Platform Tolerant Antennas for Radio-Frequency Identification
- Triple-band Pifa for Radio Frequency Identification
- Digital Technologies for Forest Supply Chain Optimization: Existing Solutions and Future Trends
- Planar Inverted-F Antenna for Radio Frequency Identification
- Applicability of Metallic Nanoparticle Inks in RFID Applications
- A tyre sensor system with electronics for data transmission and power supply
- Alternative Implementations of Small All-Platform UHF RFID Transponders
- UHF RFID Based Tracking of Logs in the Forest Industry
