CogniSense is Telemonitor's technology for building smart products. The basic design paradigm is for products using sensors, actuators, microprocessors and communications devices, packaged in a small, compact, rugged package, and which has a low power budget. Central to this design is the smart sensor.

A key characteristic of a smart sensor is that it operates on the input signal in a logical fashion to increase the value of the information which it processes. The smart sensor is capable of making logical decisions at the source of the information. It either acts on that information or passes a high-value message on to a higher level processor. Other characteristics of smart sensors include their capabilities for self-test, adaptive calibration, improved rejection of spurious inputs, and ease of setup and use.

In the new millennium, smart products will lead the way to a new industrial age. Smart products have as much potential to change the world as the personal computer has changed life-style and work. There will be smart consumer products, smart industrial products, smart medical products--smart everything!

The forces driving commercial smart products are lower system cost and the flexibility that comes from advances in intelligence, memory, and communication. Consumers will want smart products because they enrich life and they are fun!

Smart products solve many of life's little problems as well as big problems. A smart car tells the driver when it needs an oil change or preventive maintenance, instead of having regular scheduled maintenance. A smart tool always performs its task correctly and keeps a record of what it does.

Adding intelligence to common devices can make even routine tasks easier. For example, connecting a smart device to a control network identifies the new device to other smart devices on the network and checks to insure that the new device is working correctly. Even at this level, self-identification and checking operating condition can save the user a lot of effort in future maintenance.

The Intelligence in a smart product comes from a combination of components. Sensors measure the environment, microprocessors and signal processing software compare the signal to a standard and make a decision, actuators act on the environment or perform functions, and communications components connect the smart product to the rest of the world. A smart product's intelligence also depends on the software or decision rules that runs in the microprocessor.

Smart products become very valuable when they can communicate with a network and with each other. A smart doorknob may be able to open a door for the right people. A doorknob connected to a building wide network creates an information flow that can make decisions based on traffic, security and energy use, as well as needs still to be invented.

Finally, smart products are real and tangible--not just abstract ideas that exist only in cyberspace. The package must allow the smart product to do its job and survive. This often means a package that is rugged, compact, and can survive on a low power diet.

All of these concepts complicate the design of smart products.

CogniSense makes building smart products easier. CogniSense comprises a portfolio of hardware designs and software, which can be purchased as finished smart products or as embeddable brains for products, or which can be licensed by OEMs with full technical support.

A major impediment to the application of smart technology is the need to develop custom for transducers and off-the-shelf solutions for a variety of smart product designs. Many of these smart transducer interfaces use the new IEEE 1451 family of standard transducer to network interfaces, which open the designer's options for connecting to most digital networks. The IEEE 1451.2 intelligent transducer interface and communications protocol will permit systems designers and sensor manufacturers to expand their markets now limited by competing proprietary data interfaces.

CogniSense uses the most cost-effective technology available to help users create usable smart products fast. For some applications, CogniSense uses the MicroConverter™ from Analog Devices, Inc. This innovative technology, with its new mixed-signal IC architecture, delivers on the needs of today's sensor systems designers--promising to significantly increase the performance and dramatically cut the development time of data acquisition systems.

Creative packaging to create a rugged, compact and low power design remains a challenge for every smart product. Telemonitor's team of experienced engineers can help the smart product designer create a product that meets the packaging requirements cost effectively.

See our products page for complete information on CogniSense products.