Instrumentation Course 2001 Prof. G. Hall
P3.2 Instrumentation
About 27 lectures.
The concept of sensors as
physical transformation of the variable or quantity to be measured into
other physical quantities and (principally) into electrical quantities;
(differential) equations relating output to input; output vs input as a
function of time; first and second order response; Fourier and Laplace
transforms and the concept of transfer functions and linear systems; quality
parameters: range, linearity, resolution, noise, frequency response.
Signal conditioning: origins
of noise, location of noise sources, filtering through systems, Campbell’s
theorem, input equivalent noise, the concept of amplifiers, input and output
impedances; (ideal) op-amps and op-amp circuits for voltage, current and
charge amplification; calibration, instrumentation amplifiers; use and
advantages of feedback techniques in instrumentation for improved linearity
and frequency response; motivation for digital processing techniques, the
concept of sampling and sample-and-hold circuits, the Nyquist criterion;
multiplexers; analogue-to-digital converters and their applications; data
acquisition systems and digital sampling oscilloscopes, data transmission,
queueing. Digital electronic components, Field Programmable Gate Arrays,
DSPs.
Practical constraints in real
systems: space, power, weight, material.
Implementation of electronic
systems: custom design, programmable systems, dominant technologies.
Examples to be used may include:
resistance measurements (Wheatstone bridge); temperature measurements:
resistance thermometry, thermocouples, thermistors, semiconductor temperature
sensors, applications. Ionisation sensors: semiconductors, photodiodes,
gaseous detectors. Displacement sensors, acceleration sensors; capacitance
sensors; piezoelectric sensors, strain gauges; applications. Time, time
interval and frequency measurements: oscillators, generation of stable
clocks, pulse counting.