in accordance with the teachings of the present invention connected to microcontroller 110 in one embodiment on board memory 120 on microcontroller 110 may include programs 170 for controlling and interacting with sensor system 165 sensor system 165 is shown schematically in fig2 and has a form factor that may be easily integrated within product 105 without changing its packaging or shipping requirements sensor system 165 may include a microcontroller interface 205 control circuitry 220 memory 215 a power source 225 one or more sensors 230 a sensor interface 260 to accommodate additional sensors a communications port 265 and a power switch 270 microcontroller interface 205 generally provides an interface between the circuitry in sensor system 165 and microcontroller 110 microcontroller interface may include analog to digital and digital to analog converters level shifters multiplexers demultiplexers and any other circuitry for providing a signal path between microcontroller 110 and the circuitry of sensor system 165 control circuitry 220 may include logic circuitry for generally controlling the operation of sensor system 165 and may operate in conjunction with memory 215 for example control circuitry 220 may include a processor that operates programs found in memory 215 memory 215 may provide storage for measurements acquired by the one or more sensors 230 memory 215 may be arranged as a 128 k u00d7 8 1 mbit flash memory with a serial address and data bus memory 215 may also be configured as a non volatile memory which retains its contents in the event of a power loss in one embodiment the above mentioned programs 170 that may be accessed by microcontroller 110 for controlling and interacting with sensor system 165 may be stored in memory 215 in addition or as an alternative to storing them in on board memory 120 power.