Diagram of D'Arsonval/Weston type galvanometer. As the current flows from + terminal of the coil to − terminal, a magnetic field is generated in the coil.This field is counteracted by the permanent magnet and forces the coil to twist, moving the pointer, in relation to the field's strength caused by the flow of current.
In electrical engineering, current sensing is any one of several techniques used to measure electric current. The measurement of current ranges from picoamps to tens of thousands of amperes. The selection of a current sensing method depends on requirements such as magnitude, accuracy, bandwidth, robustness, cost, isolation or size. The current value may be directly displayed by an instrument, or converted to digital form for use by a monitoring or control system.
Current sensing techniques include shunt resistor, current transformers and Rogowski coils, magnetic-field based transducers and others.