Instrumentation and Measurement Systems: From Traditional to Contemporary

The paper brings a view on the evolution of instrumentation and measurement (I&M) systems and their applications. We start from I&M systems arising from traditional application domains such as laboratory test and measurement (T&M) equipment and industrial process instrumentation and discuss key aspects of such systems from the application and technological point of view. We then move to contemporary I&M systems and analyze mechanisms driving their development, including those coming from fast evolving applications such as Industry 4.0, as well as technology-based drivers related to new sensors, materials, networking, and data processing capabilities. We show how those drivers shape the design and usage of modern I&M systems for acoustic emission analysis.