Sensors based on nonlinear dynamic systems — A survey

Nonlinear systems able to develop chaotic dynamics have a tremendous potential in a large class of applications, because of the complexity of the behavior they exhibit and of the sensitivity of their operation to the process parameters. While these properties have been seen as disadvantages, the increased technical capabilities of mastering the operation of these systems and of analyzing their behavior have recently set free their potential. We survey the literature of sensors based on nonlinear dynamic systems and add to these sensors analysis. Theoretical foundations of the dynamics characterization are introduced and several tools for employing these fundamentals to the design of sensors are presented. Examples of sensors previously reported are reviewed and design considerations exposed.