Introduction to Internet of Things (IOT)

MODULE 2: IoT SENSING AND ACTUATION

2.1. INTRODUCTION

A major chunk of IoT applications involves sensing in one form or the other. Almost all the applications
in IoT—be it a consumer IoT, an industrial IoT, or just plain hobby-based deployments of IoT solutions—
sensing forms the first step. Incidentally, actuation forms the final step in the whole operation of IoT
application deployment in a majority of scenarios. The basic science of sensing and actuation is based on
the process of transduction. Transduction is the process of energy conversion from one form to another. A
transducer is a physical means of enabling transduction. Transducers take energy in any form (for which it
is designed)— electrical, mechanical, chemical, light, sound, and others—and convert it into another,
which may be electrical, mechanical, chemical, light, sound, and others. Sensors and actuators are deemed
as transducers. For example, in a public announcement (PA) system, a microphone (input device) converts
sound waves into electrical signals, which is amplified by an amplifier system (a process). Finally, a
loudspeaker (output device) outputs this into audible sounds by converting the amplified electrical signals
back into sound waves. Table 5.1 outlines the basic terminological differences between transducers,
sensors, and actuators.

Table 5.1 Basic outline of the differences between transducers, sensors, and actuators

Parameters Transducers Sensors Actuators

Definition Converts energy Converts various forms of Converts electrical signals into
from one form to energy intoelectrical signals. various forms of energy,
another. typically mechanicalenergy.

Domain Can be used to It is an inputtransducer. It is an outputtransducer.

represent a sensor as
well as an actuator.
Function Can work as a Used for quantifying Used for convertingsignals into
sensor or an actuator environmental stimuli into proportional
but not signals. mechanical or electrical
simultaneously. outputs.

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Humidity sensors,Temperature Motors (convert electrical

sensors, Anemometers energy to rotary motion),
(measures flow velocity), Force heads (which impose
Manometers (measures fluid a force), Pumps (which
pressure), Accelerometers convert rotary motion of
(measures the acceleration of a shafts into either apressure or
Examples Any sensor or body), Gas sensors a fluidvelocity).
actuator (measures concentration of
specific gas or
gases), and others

2.2. SENSORS

Sensors are devices that can measure, or quantify, or respond to the ambient changes in their environment
or within the intended zone of their deployment. They generate responses to external stimuli or physical
phenomenon through characterization of the input functions (which are these external stimuli) and their
conversion into typically electrical signals. For example, heat is converted to electrical signals in a
temperature sensor, or atmospheric pressure is converted to electrical signals in a barometer. A sensor is
only sensitive to the measured property (e.g., a temperature sensor only senses the ambient temperature of
a room). It is insensitive to any other property besides what it is designed to detect (e.g., a temperature
sensor does not bother about light or pressure while sensing the temperature). Finally, a sensor does not
influence the measured property (e.g., measuring the temperature does not reduce or increase the
temperature). Figure 2.1 shows the simple outline of a sensing task. Here, a temperature sensor keeps on
checking an environment for changes. In the event of a fire, the temperature of the environment goes up.
The temperature sensor notices this change in the temperature of the room and promptly communicates
this information to a remote monitor viathe processor.

Figure 2.1 The outline of a simple sensing operation

The various sensors can be classified based on:

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1) power requirements, 2) sensor output, and 3)property to be measured.

 Power Requirements: The way sensors operate decides the power requirements that must be
provided for an IoT implementation. Some sensors need to be provided with separate power
sources for them to function, whereas some sensors do not require any power sources. Depending
on the requirements of power, sensors can be of two types.
(i) Active: Active sensors do not require an external circuitry or mechanism to provide it with
power. It directly responds to the external stimuli from its ambient environment and converts it into
an output signal. For example, a photodiode converts light into electrical impulses.
(ii) Passive: Passive sensors require an external mechanism to power them up. The sensed
properties are modulated with the sensor’s inherent characteristics to generate patterns in the
output of the sensor. For example, a thermistor’s resistance can be detected by applying voltage
difference across it or passing a current through it.
(iii) Output: The output of a sensor helps in deciding the additional components to be integrated
with an IoT node or system. Typically, almost all modern-day processors are digital; digital sensors
can be directly integrated to the processors. However, the integration of analog sensors to these
digital processors or IoT nodes requires additional interfacing mechanisms such as analog to digital
converters (ADC), voltage level converters, and others.

Sensors are broadly divided into two types, depending on the type of output generated from these
sensors, as follows.
(i) Analog: Analog sensors generate an output signal or voltage, which is proportional (linearly or non-
linearly) to the quantity being measured and is continuous in time and amplitude. Physical quantities
such as temperature, speed, pressure, displacement, strain, and others are all continuous and
categorized as analog quantities. For example, a thermometer or a thermocouple can be used for
measuring the temperature of a liquid (e.g., in household water heaters). These sensors continuously
respond to changes in the temperature of the liquid.
(ii) Digital: These sensors generate the output of discrete time digital representation (time, or amplitude,
or both) of a quantity being measured, in the form of output signals or voltages. Typically, binary
output signals in the form of a logic 1 or a logic 0 for ON or OFF, respectively are associated with
digital sensors. The generated discrete (non-continuous) values may be output as a single “bit” (serial
transmission), eight of which combine to produce a single“byte” output (parallel transmission) in digital
sensors.

 Measured Property: The property of the environment being measured by the sensors can be
crucial in deciding the number of sensors in an IoT implementation. Some properties to be

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measured do not show high spatial variations and can be quantified only based on temporal
variations in the measured property, such as ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, and
others. Whereas some properties to be measured show high spatial as well as temporal variations
such as sound, image, and others. Depending on the properties to be measured, sensors can be of
two types.
(i) Scalar: Scalar sensors produce an output proportional to the magnitude of the quantity being
measured. The output is in the form of a signal or voltage. Scalar physical quantities are those where
only the magnitude of the signal is sufficient for describing or characterizing the phenomenon and
information generation. Examples of such measurable physical quantities include color, pressure,
temperature, strain, and others. A thermometer or thermocouple is an example of a scalar sensor
that has the ability to detect changes in ambient or object temperatures (depending on the sensor’s
configuration). Factors such as changes in sensor orientation or direction do not affect these
sensors (typically).
(ii) Vector: Vector sensors are affected by the magnitude as well as the direction and/or orientation
of the property they are measuring. Physical quantities such as velocity and images that require
additional information besides their magnitude for completely categorizing a physical phenomenon
are categorized as vector quantities. Measuring such quantities are undertaken using vector
sensors. For example, an electronic gyroscope, which is commonly found in all modern aircraft, is
used for detecting the changes in orientation of the gyroscope with respect to the Earth’s
orientation along allthree axes.

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Figure 2.2 The functional blocks of a typical sensor node in IoT

Figure 2.3 Some common commercially available sensors used for IoT-based sensingapplications

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2.3. SENSOR CHARACTERISTICS

All sensors can be defined by their ability to measure or capture a certain phenomenon and report them as
output signals to various other systems. However, even within the same sensor type and class, sensors can
be characterized by their ability to sense the phenomenon based on the following three fundamental
properties.
• Sensor Resolution: The smallest change in the measurable quantity that a sensor can detect is referred to
as the resolution of a sensor. For digital sensors, the smallest change in the digital output that the sensor is
capable of quantifying is its sensor resolution. The more the resolution of a sensor, the more accurate is the
precision. A sensor’s accuracy does not depend upon its resolution. For example, a temperature sensor A
can detect up to 0.50 C changes in temperature; whereas another sensor B can detect up to 0.250 C changes
in temperature. Therefore, the resolution of sensor B is higher than the resolution of sensor A.
• Sensor Accuracy: The accuracy of a sensor is the ability of that sensor to measure the environment of a
system as close to its true measure as possible. For example,a weight sensor detects the weight of a 100 kg
mass as 99.98 kg. We can say that this sensor is 99.98% accurate,

with an error rate of

• Sensor Precision: The principle of repeatability governs the precision of a sensor. Only if, upon
multiple repetitions, the sensor is found to have the same error rate, can it be deemed as highly precise.
For example, consider if the same weight sensor described earlier reports measurements of 98.28 kg,
100.34 kg, and 101.11 kg upon three repeat measurements for a mass of actual weight of 100 kg. Here, the
sensor precision is not deemed high because of significant variations in the temporal measurements for the
same object under the same conditions.

2.4. SENSORIAL DEVIATIONS

Most of the sensing in IoT is non-critical, where minor deviations in sensorial outputs seldom change the
nature of the undertaken tasks. However, some critical applications of IoT, such as healthcare, industrial
process monitoring, and others, do require sensors with high-quality measurement capabilities. As the
quality of the measurement obtained from a sensor is dependent on a large number of factors, there are a
few primary considerations that must be incorporated during the sensing of critical systems. In the event
of a sensor’s output signal going beyond its designed maximum and minimum capacity for measurement,
the sensor output is truncated to its maximum or minimum value, which is also the sensor’s limits. The
measurement range between a sensor’s characterized minimum and maximum values is also referred to as
the fullscale range of that sensor. Under real conditions, the sensitivity of a sensormay differ from the value
specified for that sensor leading to sensitivity error. This deviation is mostly attributed to sensor

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fabrication errors and its calibration.

If the output of a sensor differs from the actual value to be measured by a constant, the sensor is said to
have an offset error or bias. For example, while measuring an actual temperature of 00 C, a temperature
sensor outputs 1.10 C every time. In this case, the sensor is said to have an offset error or bias of 1.10 C.
Similarly, some sensors have a non-linear behavior. If a sensor’s transfer function (TF) deviates from a
straight line transfer function, it is referred to as its non-linearity.
The amount a sensor’s actual output differs from the ideal TF behavior over the full range of the sensor
quantifies its behavior. It is denoted as the percentage of the sensor’s full range. Most sensors have linear
behavior. If the output signal of a sensor changes slowly and independently of the measured property, this
behavior of the sensor’s output is termed as drift.

Physical changes in the sensor or its material may result in long-term drift, which can span over months or
years. Noise is a temporally varying random deviation of signals. In contrast, if a sensor’s output
varies/deviates due to deviations in the sensor’s previous input values, it is referred to as hysteresis error.
The present output of the sensor depends on the past input values provided to the sensor. Typically, the
phenomenon of hysteresis can be observed in analog sensors, magnetic sensors, and during heating of metal
strips. One way to check for hysteresis error is to check how the sensor’s output changes when we first
increase, then decrease the input values to the sensor over its full range. It is generally denoted as a positive
and negative percentage variation of the full-range of that sensor.
Focusing on digital sensors, if the digital output of a sensor is an approximation of the measured property, it
induces quantization error. This error can be defined as the difference between the actual analog signal and
its closest digital approximation during the sampling stage of the analog to digital conversion. Similarly,
dynamic errors caused due to mishandling of samplingfrequencies can give rise to aliasing errors. Aliasing
leads to different signals of varying frequencies to be represented as a single signal in case the sampling
frequency is not correctly chosen, resulting in the input signal becoming a multiple of the sampling rate.
Finally, the environment itself plays a crucial role in inducing sensorial deviations. Some sensors may be
prone to external influences, which may not be directly linked to the property being measured by the
sensor. This sensitivity of the sensor may lead to deviations in its output values. For example, as most
sensors are semiconductor based, they are influenced by the temperature of their environment.

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2.5. SENSING TYPES

Sensing can be broadly divided into four different categories based on the nature of the environment being
sensed and the physical sensors being used to do so (Figure 2.4): 1) scalar sensing, 2) multimedia sensing,
3) hybrid sensing, and 4) virtual Sensing
Scalar sensing
Scalar sensing encompasses the sensing of features that can be quantified simply by measuring changes in
the amplitude of the measured values with respect to time. Quantities such as ambient temperature,
current, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, light, humidity, flux, and others are considered as scalar values as
they normally do not have a directional or spatial property assigned with them. Simply measuring the
changes in their values with passing time provides enough information about these quantities. The sensors
used for measuring these scalar quantities are referred to as scalar sensors, and the act is known as scalar
sensing. A simple scalar temperature sensing of a fire detection event is shown in Figure 2.4(a).

Figure 2.4 The different sensing types commonly encountered in IoT

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Multimedia sensing
Multimedia sensing encompasses the sensing of features that have a spatial variance property associated
with the property of temporal variance. Unlike scalar sensors, multimedia sensors are used for capturing
the changes in amplitude of a quantifiable property concerning space (spatial) as well as time (temporal).
Quantities such as images, direction, flow, speed, acceleration, sound, force, mass, energy, and
momentum have both directions as well as a magnitude. Additionally, these quantities follow the vector
law of addition and hence are designated as vector quantities. They might have different values in different
directions for the same working condition at the same time. The sensors used for measuring these
quantities are known as vector sensors. A simple camera-based multimedia sensing using surveillance as
anexample is shown in Figure 2.4(b).

Hybrid sensing

The act of using scalar as well as multimedia sensing at the same time is referred to as hybrid sensing.
Many a time, there is a need to measure certain vector as well as scalar properties of an environment at
the same time. Under these conditions, a range of various sensors are employed (from the collection
of scalar as well as multimedia sensors) to measure the various properties of that environment at any
instant of time, and temporally map the collected information to generate new information. For
example, in an agricultural field, it is required to measure the soil conditions at regular intervals of time to
determine plant health. Sensors such as soil moisture and soil temperature are deployed underground to
estimate the soil’s water retention capacity and the moisture being held by the soil at any instant of time.
However, this setup only determines whether the plant is getting enough water or not. There may be a
host of other factors besides water availability, which may affect a plant’s health. The additional
inclusion of a camera sensor with the plant may be able to determine the actual condition of a plant by
additionally determining the color of leaves. The aggregate information from soil moisture, soil
temperature, and the camera sensor will be able to collectively determine a plant’s health at any instant of
time. Other common examples of hybrid sensing include smart parking systems, traffic management
systems, and others. Figure 2.4(c) shows an example of hybrid sensing, where a camera and a temperature
sensor are collectively used to detect and confirm forest fires during wildlife monitoring.
Virtual sensing
Many a time, there is a need for very dense and large-scale deployment of sensor nodes spread over a large
area for monitoring of parameters. One such domain is agriculture. Here, often, the parameters being
measured, such as soil moisture, soil temperature, and water level, do not show significant spatial
variations. Hence, if sensors are deployed in the fields of farmer A, it is highly likely that the
measurements from his sensors will be able to provide almost concise measurements of his neighbour B’s

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fields; this is especially true of fields which are immediately surrounding A’s fields. Exploiting this
property, if the data from A’s field is digitized using an IoT infrastructure and this system advises him
regarding the appropriate watering, fertilizer, and pesticide regimen for his crops, this advisory can also be
used by B for maintaining his crops. In short, A ’s sensors are being used for actual measurement of
parameters; whereas virtual data (which does not have actual physical sensors but uses extrapolation-
based measurements) is being used for advising B. This is the virtual sensing paradigm. Figure 2.4(d)
shows an example of virtual sensing. Two temperature sensors S1 and S3 monitor three nearby events E1,
E2, and E3 (fires). The event E2 does not have a dedicated sensor for monitoring it; however, through the
superposition of readings from sensors S1 and S3, the presence of fire in E2 is inferred.

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2.6. SENSING CONSIDERATIONS

The choice of sensors in an IoT sensor node is critical and can either make or break the feasibility of an
IoT deployment. The following major factors influence the choice of sensors in IoT-based sensing
solutions: 1) sensing range, 2) accuracy and precision, 3) energy, and 4) device size. These factors are
discussed as follows:
 Sensing Range: The sensing range of a sensor node defines the detection fidelity of that node.
Typical approaches to optimize the sensing range in deployments include fixed k-coverage and
dynamic k-coverage. A lifelong fixed k-coverage tends to usher in redundancy as it requires a
large number of sensor nodes, the sensing range of some of which may also overlap. In contrast,
dynamic kcoverage incorporates mobile sensornodes post detection of an event, which, however, is
a costly solution and may not be deployable in all operational areas and terrains. Additionally, the
sensing range of a sensor may also be used to signify the upper and lower bounds of a sensor’s
measurement range. For example, a proximity sensor has a typical sensing range of a couple of
meters. In contrast, a camera has a sensing range varying between tens of meters to hundreds of
meters. As the complexity of the sensor and its sensing range goes up, its cost significantly
increases.
 Accuracy and Precision: The accuracy and precision of measurements provided by a sensor are
critical in deciding the operations of specific functional processes. Typically, off-the-shelf consumer
sensors are low on requirements and often very cheap. However, their performance is limited to
regular application domains. For example, a standard temperature sensor can be easily integrated
with conventional components for hobby projects and day-to-day applications, but it is not suitable
for industrial processes. Regular temperature sensors have a very low-temperature sensing range,
as well as relatively low accuracy and precision. The use of these sensors in industrial applications,
where a precision of up to 3–4 decimal places is required, cannot be facilitated by these sensors.
Industrial sensors are typically very sophisticated, and as a result, very costly. However, these industrial
sensors have very high accuracy and precision score, even under harsh operating conditions.

 Energy: The energy consumed by a sensing solution is crucial to determine the lifetime of that
solution and the estimated cost of its deployment. If the sensor or the sensor node is so energy
inefficient that it requires replenishment of its energy sources quite frequently, the effort in
maintaining the solution and its cost goes up; whereas its deployment feasibility goes down.
Consider a scenario where sensor nodes are deployed on the top of glaciers. Once deployed, access
to these nodes is not possible. If the energy requirements of the sensor nodes are too high, such a
deployment will not last long, and the solution will be highly infeasible as charging or changing of
the energy sources of these sensor nodes is not an option.

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 Device Size: Modern-day IoT applications have a wide penetration in all domains of life. Most of
the applications of IoT require sensing solutions which are so small that they do not hinder any of
the regular activities that were possible before the sensor node deployment was carried out. Larger
the size of a sensor node, larger is the obstruction caused by it, higher is the cost and energy
requirements, and lesser is its demand for thebulk of the IoT applications. Consider a simple human
activity detector. If the detection unit is too large to be carried or too bulky to cause hindrance to
regular normal movements, the demand for this solution would be low. It is because of this that the
onset of wearables took off so strongly. The wearable sensors are highly energy- efficient, small in
size, and almost part of the wearer’s regular wardrobe.

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2.7. ACTUATORS
An actuator can be considered as a machine or system’s component that can affect the movement or
control the said mechanism or the system. Control systems affect changes to the environment or property
they are controlling through actuators. The system activates the actuator through a control signal, which
may be digital or analog. It elicits a response from the actuator, which is in the form of some form of
mechanical motion. The control system of an actuator can be a mechanical or electronic system, a
software-based system (e.g., an autonomous car control system), a human, or any other input. Figure 2.5
shows the outline of a simple actuation system. A remote user sends commands to a processor. The
processor instructs a motor controlled robotic arm to perform the commanded tasks accordingly. The
processor is primarily responsible for converting the human commands into sequential machine-language
command sequences, which enables the robot to move. The robotic arm finally moves the designated
boxes, which was its assigned task.

Figure 2.5 The outline of a simple actuation mechanism

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2.8. ACTUATOR TYPES

Broadly, actuators can be divided into seven classes: 1) Hydraulic, 2) pneumatic, 3) electrical,
4) thermal/magnetic, 5) mechanical, 6) soft, and 7) shape memory polymers. Figure 2.6 showssome of the
commonly used actuators in IoT applications.

Hydraulic actuators
A hydraulic actuator works on the principle of compression and decompression of fluids. These actuators
facilitate mechanical tasks such as lifting loads through the use of hydraulic power derived from fluids in
cylinders or fluid motors. The mechanical motion applied to a hydraulic actuator is converted to either
linear, rotary, or oscillatory motion. The almost incompressible property of liquids is used in hydraulic
actuators for exerting significant force. These hydraulic actuators are also considered as stiff systems. The
actuator’s limited acceleration restricts its usage.

Pneumatic actuators
A pneumatic actuator works on the principle of compression and decompression of gases. These actuators
use a vacuum or compressed air at high pressure and convert it into either linear or rotary motion. Pneumatic
rack and pinion actuators are commonly used for valve controls of water pipes. Pneumatic actuators are
considered as compliant systems. The actuators using pneumatic energy for their operation are typically
characterized by the quick response to starting and stopping signals. Small pressure changes can be used
for generating large forces through these actuators. Pneumatic brakes are an example of this type of
actuator which is so responsive that they can convert small pressure changes applied by drives to generate
the massive force required to stop or slow down a moving vehicle. Pneumatic actuators are responsible for
converting pressure into force. The power source in the pneumatic actuator does not need to be stored in
reserve for its operation.

Electric actuators
Typically, electric motors are used to power an electric actuator by generating mechanical torque. This
generated torque is translated into the motion of a motor’s shaft or for switching (as in relays). For
example, actuating equipments such as solenoid valves control the flow of water in pipes in response to
electrical signals. This class of actuators is considered one of the cheapest, cleanest and speedy actuator
types available.

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Figure 2.6 Some common commercially available actuators used for IoT-based controlApplications

Thermal or magnetic actuators

The use of thermal or magnetic energy is used for powering this class of actuators. These actuators have a
very high power density and are typically compact, lightweight, and economical. One classic example of
thermal actuators is shape memory materials (SMMs) such as shape memory alloys (SMAs). These
actuators do not require electricity for actuation. They are not affected by vibration and can work with
liquid or gases. Magnetic shape memory alloys(MSMAs) are a type of magnetic actuators.

Mechanical actuators
In mechanical actuation, the rotary motion of the actuator is converted into linear motion to execute some
movement. The use of gears, rails, pulleys, chains, and other devices are necessary for these actuators to
operate. These actuators can be easily used in conjunction with pneumatic, hydraulic, or electrical
actuators. They can also work in a standalone mode. The best example of a mechanical actuator is a rack
and pinion mechanism.

Soft actuators
Soft actuators (e.g., polymer-based) consists of elastomeric polymers that are used as embedded fixtures

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in flexible materials such as cloth, paper, fiber, particles, and others. The conversion of molecular level
microscopic changes into tangible macroscopic deformations is the primary working principle of this class
of actuators. These actuators have a high stake in modern-day robotics. They are designed to handle
fragile objects such as agricultural fruit harvesting, or performing precise operations like manipulating the
internal organs during robot-assisted surgeries.

Shape memory polymers

Shape memory polymers (SMP) are considered as smart materials that respond to some external stimulus
by changing their shape, and then revert to their original shape once the affecting stimulus is removed.
Features such as high strain recovery, biocompatibility, low density, and biodegradability characterize
these materials. SMP-based actuators function similar to our muscles. Modern-day SMPs have been
designed to respond to a wide range of stimuli such as pH changes, heat differentials, light intensity, and
frequency changes, magnetic changes, and others. Photopolymer/light-activated polymers (LAP) are a
particular type of SMP, which require light as a stimulus to operate. LAP-based actuators are
characterized by their rapid response times. Using only the variation of light frequency or its intensity,
LAPs can be controlled remotely without any physical contact. The development of LAPs whose shape
can be changed by the application of a specific frequency of light have been reported. The polymer retains
its shape after removal of the activating light. In order to change the polymer back to its original shape, a
light stimulus of a different frequency has to be applied to the polymer.

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2.9. ACTUATOR CHARACTERISTICS

The choice or selection of actuators is crucial in an IoT deployment, where a control mechanism is required
after sensing and processing of the information obtained from the sensed environment. Actuators perform
the physically heavier tasks in an IoT deployment; tasks which require moving or changing the orientation
of physical objects, changing the state of objects, and other such activities. The correct choice of actuators
is necessary for the long-term sustenance and continuity of operations, as well as for increasing the
lifetime of the actuators themselves. A set of four characteristics can define all actuators:

 Weight: The physical weight of actuators limits its application scope. For example, the use of
heavier actuators is generally preferred for industrial applications and applications requiring no
mobility of the IoT deployment. In contrast, lightweight actuators typically find common usage in
portable systems in vehicles, drones, and home IoT applications. It is to be noted that this is not
always true. Heavier actuators also have selective usage in mobile systems, for example, landing
gears and engine motors in aircraft.
 Power Rating: This helps in deciding the nature of the application with which an actuator can be
associated. The power rating defines the minimum and maximum operating power an actuator can
safely withstand without damage to itself. Generally, it is indicated as the power-to-weight ratio
for actuators. For example, smaller servo motors used in hobby projects typically have a maximum
rating of 5 VDC, 500 mA, which is suitable for an operations-driven battery-based power source.
Exceeding this limit might be detrimental to the performance of the actuator and may cause burnout
of the motor. In contrast to this, servo motors in larger applications have a rating of 460 VAC, 2:5
A, which requires standalone power supply systems for operations. It is to be noted that actuators
with still higher ratings are available and vary according toapplication requirements.
 Torque to Weight Ratio: The ratio of torque to the weight of the moving part of an
instrument/device is referred to as its torque/weight ratio. This indicates the sensitivity of the
actuator. Higher is the weight of the moving part; lower will be its torque to weight ratio for a
given power.

 Stiffness and Compliance: The resistance of a material against deformation is known as its
stiffness, whereas compliance of a material is the opposite of stiffness. Stiffness can be directly
related to the modulus of elasticity of that material. Stiff systems are considered more accurate
than compliant systems as they have a faster response to the change in load applied to it. For
example, hydraulic systems are considered as stiff and non-compliant, whereas pneumatic systems
are considered as compliant.

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