Basically, a pitot tube is used in wind tunnel experiments and on airplanes to measure flow speed. It's a slender tube that has two holes on it. The front hole is placed in the airstream to measure what's called the stagnation pressure. The side hole measures the static pressure. By measuring the difference between these pressures, you get the dynamic pressure, which can be used to calculate airspeed.

On an airplane, the pitot tube can be mounted in a number of ways, including jutting out from the edge of the wing or sticking up from the fuselage.

MEMSCAP has developed multiple pressure sensors and transducers which are used in this application. The MEMSCAP devices exist in multiple flavors, including differential set up for a direct measurement of the differential pressure in the tubes. MEMSCAP devices are compact and can be easily integrated in our customers systems.