In electronics, sense is a technique used in power supplies to produce the correct voltage for a load.
In local sense, the supply simply measures the voltage at its output terminals, where the leads to the load connect.
This method has the problem of not accounting for the voltage drop due to resistance of the leads, which is proportional to the amount of current drawn by the load.
If successful, it will cancel the drop along the leads, yielding the correct voltage at the input terminals of the load.
This is accomplished by using separate "sense leads," connected to the load's input terminals, to measure the output voltage.