Patent attributes
According to one embodiment, a control apparatus for controlling a sensor that operates on power supplied by a power generator via an electric circuit including a rectifying and smoothing circuit converting AC power output from the power generator into DC power and a converter transforming an output voltage of the rectifying and smoothing circuit includes a first and a second signal generator and a controller. The first signal generator generates a first signal based on the output voltage of the rectifying and smoothing circuit. The second signal generator generates a second signal based on an output voltage of the converter. The controller switches an operation mode of the sensor between a sleep mode and an active mode based on the first and second signals.