Traffic control systems and methods to improve safety are disclosed. The systems, in some example aspects, include a first magnetic field generator mounted over an aisle for generating a first zone magnetic field defining a first zone. The methods, in some example aspects, include generating a first zone magnetic field defining a first zone by a first magnetic field generator mounted over an aisle. Other aspects include generating, and/or including a controller to generate, control signals to reduce the speed of a vehicle, and/or reduce the size of a danger zone.

Electronic headphones that are operational when worn or placed on the head of a wearer and are non-operational when the electronic headphones are not worn. In exemplary embodiments, one or more sensors in the electronic headphones may detect this change of position of the earcups/pivot arms of the headset which indicates the wearer is no longer wearing the electronic headphones and put the electronic headphones in a non-operational state. Correspondingly, when placed on the head of a wearer, the sensor(s) detect the change of position of the electronic headphones which indicates the wearer is wearing the electronic headphones and puts the electronic headphones in an operational state.

In an embodiment, an inductive proximity sensor includes two receiving coils and one transmitting coil arranged between the two receiving coils. The receiving coils and transmitting coil are each formed from a group of at least two individual coils on carrier boards, which are arranged parallel to one another. The carrier boards have a diameter which is smaller than or equal to 10 mm, and a winding of the receiving coils or the transmitting coil has a cross-sectional geometry in which a ratio of a base width to a height lies in the range from 0.2 to 0.3. An embodiment of a method for detecting an object using an inductive proximity sensor includes generating an alternating field using a transmitting coil of the proximity sensor and sensing, using two receiving coils of the inductive proximity sensor, a change in the alternating field caused by proximity of the object.

A method for adjusting the operation of a surgical instrument using machine learning in a surgical suite is disclosed.

Provided is a proximity sensor that can limit degradation in voltage resistance. A proximity sensor includes: a housing; a coil portion that is accommodated in one end of the housing; a clamp portion that is connected to the other end of the housing; a substrate which is accommodated inside the housing and the clamp portion, and on which a circuit electrically connected to the coil portion is mounted; a shield that covers a part of the substrate located on a side of the housing; and a resin portion which is arranged inside the housing and the clamp portion, and covers at least a part of the substrate. The shield has an extension portion which extends to an inside of the clamp portion and covers at least a part of the circuit located inside the clamp portion.

An inductive sensor device has a coil arrangement and sensor electronics for determining a longitudinal position of an at least partially electrically conductive and/or magnetically polarizable object moveable at a distance from a device end face along a device sensitive axis. The arrangement has a substantially planar exciting coil for producing an alternating magnetic field for inducing eddy currents and/or magnetic polarization in the object and a first substantially planar receiving coil substantially parallel to and overlapping the exciting coil. The coils are substantially parallel to the end face. The sensor electronics determine at least one parameter of an exciting coil electrical signal, which is variable owing to an inductive backward effect of the object, at least one parameter of a voltage inducible in the at least first receiving coil based on this effect, and the longitudinal position from the determined signal parameter and the determined voltage parameter.

The technology provides for an extension member configured to direct a magnetic field from a magnet to a Hall Effect sensor to facilitate detection of magnetic field. By varying the dimensions of the extension member, which may be any arbitrary shape, the relative positions of the magnet and the Hall Effect sensor may be less constrained by the reach of the magnetic field of the magnet, thereby allowing more design possibilities. The extension member may be used in a case, where the extension member may facilitate detection of whether the case is open or closed, the extension member may further provide magnetic attraction to keep the case closed.

A control device configured for use in a load control system to control an electrical load external to the control device may comprise an actuation member having a front surface defining a capacitive touch surface configured to detect a touch actuation along at least a portion of the front surface. The control device includes a main printed circuit board (PCB) comprising a control circuit, a tactile switch, a controllably conductive device, and a drive circuit operatively coupled to a control input of the controllably conductive device for rendering the controllably conductive device conductive or non-conductive to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load. The control device also includes a capacitive touch PCB that comprises a touch sensitive circuit comprising one or more receiving capacitive touch pads located on the capacitive touch PCB and arranged in a linear array adjacent to the capacitive touch surface.

A method can include in a first phase of a sensing operation, controlling at least a first switch to energize a sensor inductance; in a second phase of the sensing operation that follows the first phase, controlling at least a second switch to couple the sensor inductance to a first modulator capacitance to induce a first fly-back current from the sensor inductance, the first fly-back current generating a first modulator voltage at the first modulator capacitance, and in response to the first modulator voltage, controlling at least a third switch to generate a balance current that flows in an opposite direction to the fly-back current at the first modulator node. The first and second phases can be repeated to generate a first modulator voltage at the first modulator capacitance. the modulator voltage can be converted into a digital value representing the sensor inductance. Related devices and systems are also disclosed.

One inductive sensor is configured to maintain a fixed frequency in a resonant circuit. One apparatus includes an inductance-to-digital converter (LDC). The LDC includes a digital filter to measure an inductance change of a sensor and convert the inductance change to a digital value. The LDC further includes a digital control loop to maintain a fixed frequency in the sensor. The sensor forms an oscillator in the digital control loop. An output of the digital control loop is representative of the inductance change of the sensor.