Acquisition system for pressure sensor network

The paper presents a data acquisition system, based on strips of capacitive sensors. The architecture has been initially targeted at monitoring dynamic pressures on aerodynamic bodies and can be extended to a wide range of applications. The system is based on a master-slave communication protocol covering distances over dozens of meters using embedded readout electronics. Each capacitive strip, interfaced to a low power readout circuit, represents a slave unit of a distributed network. A comparison between wind tunnel measurements on a wing profile acquired by a conventional electromechanical pressure transducer and data collected to a central host using the proposed architecture is presented. High sensitivity in the transduction of capacitance variations in the tens fF range and reliability in strip to host communication have been reached.