Question

1. Determine 2 sensor for detect uneven load on a ship!

2. Explain the working principle of the 2 sensors from number 1!

Answer 1

1. To determine the uneven loading of the ship we can use the following sensors:

(i) Inertial Measurement Unit : These sensors are a package of three sensors, the accelerometer, gyroscope and the magnetometer. These sensors can be used to accurately measure the orientation of the ship and determine whether the ship is tilted or not (which is caused due to uneven loading).

(ii) A set of pressure sensors around the ship's body can be used to measure how much part of the ship is underneath the sea. Using this data we can infer where there is uneven loading as where there is more load, the ship will be sinking more at that point.

2. Inertial Measurement Unit: The package of three sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometers. Here accelerometer is responsible for measuring any external acceleration (including acceleration due to gravity), this direction of gravity will change with respect to the body frame of the ship if the ship is tilted or is at an angle. This sensor data could be erroraneous at times, hence we require the other two sensors also. The gyroscope is able to measure the angular velocities of the body along the sensor axes, and the magnetometer is able to measure the Earth's horizontal field. These data is used in conjuction with the accelerometer data to calculate the orientation of the body.

Pressure sensors: These sensors consists of memebrane with piezoelectric material. When force is applied to these materials, the material generates a potential difference this potential difference is directly dependent on the amount of force applied. Therefore as force increases the potential of the signal will also increase. Hence these can be used to measure the pressure.