Development of an open-source hardware evaluation kit for smart vibration sensors

This paper presents the development and verification of the smart sensor evaluation kit, a compact low-cost desktop shaker as an open-source tool for testing smart vibration sensors. The system is based on consumer hardware including a Raspberry Pi, mini shaker, and touch display, integrated in a waterproof box and powered by a power bank. It enables controlled excitation as well as energy and latency measurement through a separate power profiler kit to evaluate multiple relevant properties of smart sensors. The integrated software allows for common vibration patterns like white noise, sine and sine sweep, as well as custom signals to reproduce recorded acceleration data for validating on-device classification algorithms on the end-hardware. The dynamic performance of the shaker system was characterized by experimental investigations using a laser vibrometer to determine the frequency response function, and the gain settings and effects of applied mass. This sensor evaluation platform closes the gap between hand excitation and commercial shakers, providing an practical and affordable tool for researchers, educators and developers. By enabling reliable sensor testing without costly equipment lowers the barrier for the development of smart sensors and accelerates implementation in intelligent condition monitoring systems.