Surface acoustic wave sensors: attributes and advantages

The paper describes a number of unique attributes and advantages of surface acoustic wave (SAW) based sensors and sensor systems. SAWs are well suited for either fixed or wireless sensor applications as the specific sensor constituent to be measured typically varies one or more of the SAW's physical parameters. This variation allows a physical sensor parameter, such as temperature, to be directly converted to an amplitude, phase or frequency parameter of the SAW. Several examples of unique applications and experimental data implementing SAW devices are reviewed.