WORLD PULP&PAPER 83 sensors continuously measure and correlate the quantity of water in the forming board zone, the press zone and directly on the paper sheet, both in the drying section as well as in other zones deemed particularly crucial to the process, such as before the size press, allowing these parameters to be controlled well before the finished product is output. All this, however, is just one piece of information that the AMS system can provide the production control system. The complexity of the required control systems does not stop at the need to know the moisture content at certain points in the process. Control systems have to be able to aggregate and transfer information, in an integrated manner, to the machine’s control system so that the information can be used in strict correlation with other information from other locations and, above all, so that the information can be used in conjunction with the multitude of other parameters that are measured such as temperature, Each of the main phases in the paper manufacturing process… has significantly different measuring contexts stringent targets for quality, efficiency in production and energy use (not to mention environmental compatibility, combined with strict safety regulations) are very clearly moving in one direction: the development of innovative technologies, specifically, integrated sensors that, when installed on a machine, can measure automatically and in real-time, correlate these measurements with the main process parameters and make data available on-line. Naturally, in the paper manufacturing process, where controlling moisture is crucial, the technological development of specific on-line moisture sensors takes on a fundamental role and it is precisely for this scenario that the integrated AMS system was created. INTEGRATED SYSTEM OF SENSORS FOR THE ENTIRE PAPER MANUFACTURING PROCESS For over 20 years, Advanced Microwave Engineering (A.M.E.) has designed and built sensors to measure moisture and permeability on-line specifically for use in the pulp and paper industry. Each of the main phases in the paper manufacturing process, which can be associated with the three main parts of the machine – the forming section, the press section and the drying section – has significantly different measuring contexts. In each of the three phases, the moisture content in the formed paper sheet varies continuously, dropping from 98% as a near-liquid mixture at the start of the process to approximately 5% in the finished product as an almost completely dry sheet. Even the supports carrying the material and the “environmental” measuring conditions (mechanical configuration, temperature, etc. of the various parts of the machine) in the three main zones are very different. These considerations led A.M.E. to develop a family of sensors, each one unique and designed for a specific task, each one optimised for use in the various measurement positions required. The differences between the sensors in the AMS family are in the technology used (radiative, resonant), the frequencies used (millimetre waves, low microwaves), the way in which the sensor interacts with the material (contact, contactless), the mechanical characteristics and the materials used to make the sensor in order to withstand the various environmental conditions. The range of sensors that A.M.E. provides (the AMS range) covers every phase of paper manufacturing (see Figure 1) starting from the forming board (AMS_P1), going to the press section (AMS_P2) up to the drying section (AMS_R1 and AMS_R2). The Figure 2.R1 Sensor.