Sensors that mimic the five human senses are needed today in the application of process control and robots toward full factory automation. Automatic control is the key to productivity, profits, energy conservation, environmental protection and quality at the least possible cost. And the sensor is the key to automatic control. Although newly developed sensors have Increased exponentially the last few years, we will soon reach a truly new level of more advanced sensor technology. It will become the basis of higher quality information, knowledge, understanding, growth and profitability. Much of the data will be Fourier-processed to obtain its power spectra for Instant and easier Interpretation. Process variables will be linked multidimensionally with product quality by analysis and linear/non-linear correlations. The product quality Information, so vital to high-value products, will be essential for strategic decisions and flexible automation. To accomplish this, the sensor must be smart. It will achieve that needed intelligence through Integration with microprocessors in a step that might be termed the most important one to date.Some of the trends and recent advances in measurement technology include sensors having higher repeatability, higher reliability, higher selectivity and sensitivity, lower or throw-away cost, lower maintenance, higher Intelligence (for self-calibration and self-diagnostics), better Interfaces to digital equipment, more modularity, user-programmability, universal single calibration, non-invasiveness, non-contacting features, fast time response, and array formats for less mechanical scanning.Specific on-line measuring advances related to the paper Industry that deserve recognition include silicon and semiconductor sensors Integrated with microelectronics, mass-resonant microvibrating sensors, multi-phase mass flowmeters, multi-frequency infrared moisture and composition meters, web and coating weight meters, wood chip moisture gauges, solids concentration and retention meters, electrodeless conductivity meters, flow injection analyzers, ruggedized high pressure/temperature pH meters, ultrasonic web strength meters, ultrasonic proximity gauges, thin-film sensors, optical and fiber optic sensors, machine vision from charge-coupled device cameras and optoelectronic sensor arrays, and microchemlal biosensors.In general, the future looks promising because of the new semiconductor materials such as In-Ga-As operating at a longer wavelength than silicon. Advances in Integrated optical sensors and the Influence of CMOS circuitry on very large scale integrated circuits are expected to be important. Unpredicted advances in sensor technology could well result from work on microsensors, optical systems and biological Imaging at such centers of excellence in new sensor development as the University of Utah and the University of Pennsylvania.Specific needs in the paper Industry Include sensors to characterize pulp quality and refiner control, Kappa number or lignin content of pulping fluids, consistency and retention of solids, formation of the sheet, printability of the sheet (depending on several parameters such as smoothness and gloss), and surface strength parameters (such as picking and linting). More optical/fiber optic sensor applications, the use of Kalman filtering to predict sensor failures, better operator training, network communications, and Instrument evaluations before mill use also are needed for success with sensors in the paper Industry.