International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / There are seven parts of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1451 Smart Transducer family of standards either approved, in work, or in review. These documents are providing a nonproprietary set of standards for the implementation of smart transducers (i.e., sensors and actuators). This paper overviews these standards and their status. In particular, the IEEE P1451.5, which addresses wireless transducers, and the IEEE P1451.0, which will provide a common high level architecture for the entire family, will be discussed. A reference model, which is being used as a focus for the IEEE P1451.0, will be introduced to help show the relation between all the members of the family.