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To provide detailed information about the novel universal frequency‐to‐digital converter UFDC‐1, which can help engineers and researchers to design new digital sensors and transducers, as well as smart sensors and sensor systems.

The high performance of the UFDC‐1 is achieved by using four novel measuring methods for frequency‐time parameters. All existing integrated frequency‐to‐digital converters and frequency (time) output sensors have been reviewed and current design requirements for the UFDC‐1 have been formulated.

The UFDC‐1 enables the transition from traditional analog (voltage and current) sensors output to frequency‐time output. This yields a lot of benefits due to the properties of frequency as informative parameter. No output standardization is necessary, as opposed to the case of analog output sensors. Users can now work with the UFDC‐1, the same as with traditional ADCs. Sensor manufacturers can simply integrate the UFDC‐1 in microsystems and digital output sensors in order to produce serial output or bus capability.

The UFDC‐1 has many applications: obtaining a digital output from any frequency, period, duty‐cycle, time interval, phase‐shift, pulse number output sensors, up to one chip digital sensors design and smart (self‐adaptive) sensors, thanks to its programmable relative error and non‐redundant conversion time. The UFDC‐1 can work with any existing frequency‐time domain sensor to produce a digital output or create multiparametric smart sensors and systems.

This paper fulfils an identified information need and offers practical help to engineers and researchers in designing new digital sensors and transducers, as well as smart sensors and systems using a minimum of hardware.