What interface do the sensors use to communicate with the OS in smartphones?

Question

Electronics

Hello.
Studying the device of smartphones, I became interested in what interface the sensors (optical, gyroscope, etc.) interact with the central software processor of the smartphone, and with the OS (for example, Android (Linux)).
After searching the Internet for the architecture of the smartphone, I did not come to a final decision about the interface. While stopped on I2C.
If I2C, then it turns out that the sensors work under the guidance of a processor dedicated to them (a microcontroller, for example) or does each sensor have a full harness?

Answer 1

I don’t know about smartphones, but when I was developing for microcontrollers, there was no single universal interface for all occasions. It depended on the sensor itself (they are all different), on the free ports of the controller, on the required operating parameters, on the architecture as a whole. Anything could be, built-in ADCs, external ADCs, I2C, SPI, UART, GPIO in various combinations, etc.

Answer 2

any of the above, at the choice of the developer. Fortunately, current processors are not limited in interfaces, but at the very least it is always possible to implement the interface programmatically gpio free enough.

Answer 3

And if I want to make in my potential device a universal interface for almost any sensor in the form of interchangeable modules a la Project Ara, then which interface is better to choose?

Answer 4

Each sensor is separate.
If you want to know what interface it has, then just find a datasheet for it
. Basically, yes, sensors love I2C, but only for control, such an interface is not suitable for transferring large amounts of data and there can be anything, USB for example

Answer 5

Each smart has a controller that connects all the sensors with the processor, so it can be different, but basically, of course, I2C