This course provides an introduction to the sensor systems found in modern-day smartphones, wearables, and hearable devices. As much as we take their functionality for granted, there is a tremendous amount of engineering needed to sense "real world" signals such as acceleration, touch, or altitude. There will be an overview on the actual circuitry and hardware used in sensor implementations, with a focus on MEMS devices (eg, accelerometer/gyro), going up through the algorithms commonly seen in sensors processing, and finally fusion of data from multiple sensors to yield final data presented to a user. The four broad areas that will be covered are: Inertial sensing/movement; Touch sensing/authentication; Health sensing (PPG, ECG, SpO2); Next-generation (force, radar/ranging, ultrasonics, and more). There is a lab/project associated with each of these areas, each project spanning roughly two weeks. The projects are designed to be more at a system level; the student will be required to explore the performance and limitations of sensing hardware, and then take that understanding to solve real-world sensor problems. All projects will be built on a Raspberry Pi with various sensor boards; students should be comfortable with wiring up a small breadboard, and coding on an RPi a high-level language such as Python or Java.
3 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
This course provides an introduction to the sensor systems found in modern-day smartphones, wearables, and hearable devices. As much as we take their functionality for granted, there is a tremendous amount of engineering needed to sense "real world" signals such as acceleration, touch, or altitude. There will be an overview on the actual circuitry and hardware used in sensor implementations, with a focus on MEMS devices (eg, accelerometer/gyro), going up through the algorithms commonly seen in sensors processing, and finally fusion of data from multiple sensors to yield final data presented to a user. The four broad areas that will be covered are: Inertial sensing/movement; Touch sensing/authentication; Health sensing (PPG, ECG, SpO2); Next-generation (force, radar/ranging, ultrasonics, and more). There is a lab/project associated with each of these areas, each project spanning roughly two weeks. The projects are designed to be more at a system level; the student will be required to explore the performance and limitations of sensing hardware, and then take that understanding to solve real-world sensor problems. All projects will be built on a Raspberry Pi with various sensor boards; students should be comfortable with wiring up a small breadboard, and coding on an RPi a high-level language such as Python or Java.
Offered in Winter 2026 at Stanford University.