The smartphone has came a long way. From the size of a telephone to a small compact device that fits in your pocket, it surely has changed the world in a way that no one had imagined. One of the thing that people does not notice and appreciate in a smartphone in its sensors.
Your mobile does various amazing tasks that you see, on the screen, with the help of sensors, that are behind the screen. From playing racing games to counting steps and speed of yours is done with the help of sensors. Even new technologies like AR use sensors. Let’s talk about various types of sensors and how do they work!
Proximity Sensor
Proximity Sensor on a mobile | Image: techtoday.in.ua
This sensor is used to detect nearness of an object. It is present near the top speaker. It is mostly used to sense when the phone is up to user’s ear to turn off the display. It does two things, it saves the battery and prevents unnecessary touch by turning off the display. This sensor often emits a beam (Infrared) and waits for it to return. When the target is in nominal range (The maximum distance that this sensor can detect), the device lock screen UI appears and goes to sleep mode.
Accelerometer
Accelerometer helps in Playing Racing Games| Image: Livemint
It is used to sense the orientation of the phone i.e. axis-based motion sensing. There are many applications that track your steps even you don’t have any wearable. This is done with the help of accelerometer. As you can get from the name, it measures acceleration(linear) and speed. This is used in many apps like changing camera orientation from portrait to landscape, changing music by shaking your phone, checking at which direction the mobile is pointing. It is used, nowadays, in technologies like Augmented Reality(AR) along with help of Gyroscope sensor. Accelerometer works best with Gyroscope.
Gyroscope
Directions detected by Gyroscope | Image: Sentiance.com
The gyroscope helps accelerometer to understand and maintain the position of the phone. It works on the principle of angular momentum which helps in recognition of even a slight twist. The racing game that you play by tilting your device is done with the help of this sensor along with accelerometer. These sensors are not just limited to your phone. Gyroscope is used in Aircraft for positioning, in AR and VR devices, cameras and many more places.
Digital Compass
Compass in a smartphone | Image: VieyraSoftware.com
As it is clear from the name, this sensor, based on Magnetometer, is used to detect Earth’s magnetic field. This helps in standalone compass application, map application like Google Maps and Apple Maps and Metal Detecting Apps also! However, this maps cannot precisely work alone in apps like Maps and Navigation. GPS and accelerometer contributes in the calculation of your accurate location.
GPS
GPS helps in Maps | Image: ultrex.org
It stands for Global Positioning System. These are receivers with antenna that use a satellite-based navigation system. It is a network of 24 satellites in orbit around the earth to provide position, velocity, and timing information. This is the reason that it you can see your location without using your mobile’s data. The built-in receiver trilaterates your position using data from at least three GPS satellites and the receiver. GPS can determine your location by performing a calculation based on the intersection point of overlapping spheres determined by the satellites and your phone’s GPS receiver. Since it does not mostly uses your data, it becomes heavy on your mobile’s battery. So, it is advised to always switch off GPS when you don’t need it.
Biometric Sensors
Image: talkandroid.com
These sensors provide extra security to your smartphone. This includes Finger Print recognition, Face Unlock and Iris Scanning. Finger Print Scanner be found nowadays in most of the smartphone, but Face Unlock and Iris Scanner is still only sported in expensive ones. Like optical scanners, capacitive fingerprint scanners generate an image of the ridges and valleys that make up a fingerprint. But instead of sensing the print using light, the capacitors use electrical current. It is not only used for unlocking mobile, but you can also log in to various apps without typing your password like Amazon. Recently, Vivo has announced world’s first phone with in-display fingerprint scanner. This is surely a huge step in mobile market. According to rumors, Apple and Samsung wee trying to do the same but not succeeded yet.
Barometer
Barometer is used to measure Air Pressure | Image: iPhoneTricks.org
According to Wikipedia, Barometer is a “scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure”. It is mostly used in weather forecasting and estimation of altitude. It is also used with GPS to calculate location with respect to altitude and many health related apps.
Ambient Light Sensor
Image: Google Image
This sensor is used to adjust screen’s brightness automatically according to the lighting conditions. This sometimes helps in battery conservation. Not only mobiles uses this sensor but automobile industry also uses these to adjust lighting of the car’s dashboard or headlamps.
NFC Sensor
Woman paying bill through smartphone using NFC technology in cafe
The last type of sensor in our list is NFC(Near Field Communication) Sensor. This sensor is commonly available in high-range and some mid-range mobiles. This is usually used to send data to other mobile devices that are also equipped with NFC sensor. Just like Bluetooth and WiFi, and all manner of other wireless signals, NFC works on the principle of sending information over radio waves. Its transmission speed tops up to around 450 kilo-bits. That’s enough for sending contacts, pictures and music but not for heavy sized data.
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