Virtual Sensors
Virtual sensors are software-based components that simulate or emulate the behavior of physical sensors by processing data from other sources, such as existing sensors, databases, or algorithms. They generate synthetic sensor data to represent physical phenomena, environmental conditions, or system states without requiring actual hardware. This concept is widely used in IoT, simulation, testing, and data augmentation to enhance system capabilities or reduce costs.
Developers should learn and use virtual sensors when building IoT applications, testing sensor-driven systems, or creating simulations where physical sensors are unavailable, expensive, or impractical. They are essential for scenarios like predictive maintenance, where historical data is used to simulate sensor outputs, or in virtual environments for training AI models. This skill is valuable in industries such as automotive, smart cities, and healthcare for prototyping and data enrichment.