The internet of things claims to connect “things” to the internet. When envisioning projects, an understanding of the sensors available and the price range for sensors serve as starting points. We wanted to break things down and figure out what broad category of sensors are available. We’ve broken things down to the sensor level. You will also find combinations of sensors (e.g. Smartphones or TI’s Sensor Tag) depending on common applications.

• Basic senses
  • Sight
    • Cameras
    • Kinect – 49$
  • Sound (Microphones)
  • Touch (screens) – 17$
    • Temperature – 1$
  • Level Sensors – Mercury sensors
• Complex Senses
  • Movement – 2$
  • Moisture/Humidity – 3$
• Non-Human senses (or so I think)
  • Accellometers
  • Location (GPS) – 20$
  • Direction (compas)
  • Gas (Methane) – 5$
  • RFID – 7$
  • Mobile
  • Infra-red
  • Current/Power sensors – 3$
  • Ultrasonic distance measurement – 2$
  • Fingerprint  – 54$
  • Hall Sensors – Used to measure magnetic field/Current.
  • Rotary encoder – used to measure the rotation angle of a shaft.
  • Knock sensors – Produces a current proportional to vibrations
  • Shock sensors – detect movement (as in car alarms)
  • Weight sensors