The new digital sensor generation is mainly used in the automotive sector for sensors for boost pressure, intake manifold pressure and fuel pressure.

The advantage of these sensors is the fast, digital data transmission. The transmission itself is relatively uncritical when it comes to interference signals.

Within this transmission protocol, several different measured values can be transmitted on one line.

A boost pressure sensor, for example, is not only used to record the boost pressure and the charge air temperature, but also to control the injection quantity, for example. Changing the injection quantity alone, without recording and processing the SENT signals, no longer leads to optimization of the engine.

Capturing, processing and outputting modified SENT protocols in a processor is a very complex topic and requires special processor technology.

SENT sensors not only record values and pass them on digitally to the engine control unit, but also provide other data already stored in the sensor, such as sensor type, part number, counter, scaling, etc.

As a rule, a boost pressure, for example, is stored and transmitted in a 12-bit variable.
12 bits correspond to 4096 possibilities. So if a "possibility" equals 1 mbar, then scaling is quite easy.

Schematischer Aufbau eines SENT Protokolls:
Details - SENT Protokoll.pdf

1 bar ambient pressure then corresponds to 1,000 and 2 bar boost pressure = 3,000.
However, some vehicle manufacturers use SENT sensors with their own scaling. 1,000 mbar corresponds to only 400 units.

There are around 80 different SENT sensors for recording pressures (fuel pressure, boost pressure, intake manifold pressure, differential pressure, etc.), quantities (air mass) and positions (camshaft, crankshaft, etc.), from around 30 manufacturers (Bosch, Sensata, Valeo, etc.) This is documented in SAE 2716.

The disadvantage is that SENT sensors only have a limited linear range in which values are reliably recorded.