A sensor device has a sensor base with a sensor mount, for which different sensor assemblies are attachable to the sensor mount. The sensor base transmits different settings to the sensor assembly via the sensor mount interface. The transmission preferably is wireless, rather than using mechanical connectors. The sensor assembly stores the settings in control registers that determine the settings for the capture of sensor data. In one approach, the sensor base includes an application processor and software executing on the application processor determines the settings. The control registers for the sensor assembly are thus software programmable, allowing different settings to be applied to different samples of sensor data.