Integrated controllers, also known as microprocessor-based controllers, are those pieces of hardware that have the complete landscape needed to interface with a sensor or an actuator and relay it to the outside world.
For instance, Raspberry Pi: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/. One single board has all the features that we need to interface with the sensors as well as with the outside world.
Another example is a BeagleBone board: http://beagleboard.org/bone.
As you can see, these credit card-sized mini computers can be a simple solution for a remote sensor that needs to be deployed. They have all the built-in capabilities that we need for doing all the tasks. They are for sure overkill and a poor choice if ...
