Objectives

CHAPTER 3

SIGNAL CONDITIONING

At the end of the chapter, student should be able to: Understand the purpose and operations involved in performing analog and digital signal conditionings. Understand the differences between analog and digital signal conditionings Describe some of the main operations in analog and digital signal conditionings.

Introduction

Principle Of Signal Conditioning

Signal conditioning in measurement system performs necessary operations on sensor outputs and conditions the signal to a form and level necessary to interface with other components of the measurement system.

The information or data generated by a basic measuring device generally require processing or conditioning of one sort or another before they are presented to the observer as an indication or a record.

Signal conditioning circuits improve the quality of signals generated by sensors before they are converted into suitable signal, e.g. digital signal.

Signal conditioning circuit also provide protection to measurement systems from possible damage that may be caused by accidental high voltage, surge, etc.
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For example:The voltage generated by a thermocouple, used as sensor in a temperature measurement system is very low in level and weak in power. Hence, the output of the sensor needs to be conditioned by proper signal conditioner e.g. instrumentation amplifier.
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Signal Conditioning Processes

3.

Signal Conditioning Processes (cont.)

The following are some of the processes that can occur in conditioning a signal:-

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4.

Protection to prevent damage to the next element. Eg; a microprocessor, due to high current or voltage, component used may be series current limiting resistor, fuse, polarity protection and voltage limitation circuit.
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2.

Getting the signal into the right type of signal. It means making the signal into d.c. voltage or current. Eg; resistance change of a strain gauge has to be converted into a voltage change. (Wheatstone bridge)
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Getting the level of the signal right. The signal from thermocouple is just a few milivolts. If the signal is to fed into an ADC as input to uP, it needs to be made into much larger volts. (Op-amp) Eliminate or reducing noise. Signal may be susceptible to electromagnetic radiation which causes noise. Thus noise need to be removed. (filter) Signal manipulation, e.g. making it a linear function of some variables. (flowmeter)

Signal Conditioning Operations

Analog Signal Conditioning

Analog signal conditioning means manipulating an analog signal in such a way that it meets the requirements of the next stage for further processing. It is primarily utilized for data acquisition, in which sensor signals must be normalized and filtered to levels suitable for analog-to-digital conversion so they can be read by computerized devices. The output from the analog signal conditioning is still an analog signal.
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Signal conditioning circuits are designed based on sensor, signal type, signal level, frequency, environment and distance. Signal conditioning circuits improve the quality of signals generated by transducers before they are converted into digital signals by the PC's dataacquisition hardware. Examples of signal conditioning are signal scaling, amplification, linearization, cold-junction compensation, filtering, attenuation, excitation, common-mode rejection, and so on.

Analog Signal Conditioning Components

Amplifiers : Op-amp is an example of amplifier that can perform summing, integration, differentiation and comparator. The common types of amplifier are noninverting op-amp, and inverting op-amp with feedback.

Analog Signal Conditioning Components

Analog signal conditioning circuit may consists of any of the following components;

Buffering : basic and straightforward signal conditioning circuit, op-amp IC is an example of good buffer.

Modulator : Uses ac amplifier to change dc signal to pulses / square wave signal. There are few types of modulator used in signal conditioning circuit. Linearization : A non-linear output from transducers must be linearized by using amplifier.

Filtering : unwanted signal or noise especially in industrial application is reduced or eliminated using proper filtering circuit. Combination of resistors, capacitors & inductors are called passive filters while using an op-amp with gain & feedback is called active filter.

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Common Analog Signal Conditioning Operations

Buffering
Many transducers have a limited current capability and must be operated into a high impedance. So buffer amplifier It is required for matching impedances and thus reducing the loading. It is a circuit which transforms electrical impedance from one circuit to another. Its main purpose is to prevent the loading of a preceding circuit by the succeeding one. A basic and straightforward signal conditioning circuit, op-amp IC is an example of a good buffer. For example, a sensor may have the capability to produce a voltage or current corresponding to a particular physical quantity it sense but it may not have the power to drive circuitry it is connected to. In such situations a buffer can be used. A buffer when connected between the sensor and the succeeding circuitry easily drives the circuitry in terms of current or voltage according to the sensor output. Buffers are classified into voltage buffers and current buffers: Voltage buffer - A circuit which transfers a voltage from a circuit with high output impedance to a circuit with low input impedance. Current buffer - Current buffer is a circuit that is used to transfer current from a low input impedance circuit to a circuit having high input impedance.
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Electrical signals are conditioned so they can be used by analog input board. Some analog signal conditioning operations are:1. Buffering 2. Filtering 3. Amplification 4. Modulator 5. Linearization However, only amplification and filtering are normally required to prepare the signal for conversion into digital form.

Filtering
Filter are used for the elimination of noise. Primary purpose of filters is to remove signal content at unwanted frequencies. Filters can be passive or active. Passive filter comprised of resistors, capacitors, and inductors that require no external supply. Active filters use resistors and capacitors with operational amplifiers, which requires power.

Filtering

Filters are circuits that are capable of passing signals within a band of frequencies while rejecting or blocking signals of frequencies outside this band. This property of filters is also called frequency selectivity. Since the output level of sensors is very low, it is easily susceptible to electromagnetic noise. Hence, simple amplification is not sufficient and after amplification it is necessary to eliminate noise from the signal.
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Advantages Of Active Filters Over Passive Filters

Basic filter Responses

A filter is a circuit that passes certain frequencies and rejects all others. The passband is the range of frequencies allowed through the filter. The critical frequency defines the end (or ends) of the passband. Basic filter responses are:
Gain Gain Gain Gain

Active filters can be designed to provide required gain, and hence no attenuation as in the case of passive filters No loading problem, because of high input resistance and low output resistance of opamp. Active Filters are cost effective as a wide variety of economical op-amps are available.
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Low-pass

High-pass

Band-pass

Band-stop

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The Basic Low-Pass Filter

The high-pass filter passes all frequencies above a critical frequency and rejects all others. The simplest high-pass filter is a passive RC circuit with the output taken across R.
Gain (normalized to 1) 3 dB Passband C 0 dB

The Basic High-Pass Filter

The low-pass filter allows frequencies below the critical frequency to pass and rejects other. The simplest low-pass filter is a passive RC circuit with the output taken across C.
Actual response of a single-pole RC filter
20 dB Actual response of a single-pole RC filter
d ca de e

Gain (normalized to 1)

3 dB 0 dB

Passband R Vout
40 dB
/ dB 0 2

20 dB Transition region
2 0 dB / de ca de

Vout Vs f

40 dB Stopband region f fc 10 fc 100 fc 1000 fc

0.01 fc 0.1 fc 60 dB 0.001 fc fc

BW Vs C

60 dB 0.01 fc

0.1 fc

10 fc

100 fc

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The Band-Pass Filter

The Band-Stop Filter

A band-stop filter rejects frequencies between two critical frequencies; the bandwidth is measured between the critical frequencies. The simplest bandstop filter is an RLC circuit.
Gain (dB) 0 3

A band-pass filter passes all frequencies between two critical frequencies. The bandwidth is defined as the difference between the two critical frequencies. The simplest band-pass filter is an RLC circuit.

Vo ut (normalized to 1)

L C Vout Vs R

R Vout

0.707

Vs C

BW

f fc2

fc1

f0 BW

fc 2

fc1

f0

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Active Filters

Active Filters

o Active filters include one or more op-amps in the design. o Active filters are mainly used in communication and signal processing circuits. o These filters can provide much better responses than the passive filters illustrated. Active filter designs optimize various parameters such as amplitude response, roll-off rate, or phase response.
A

v Filters with a flat pass-band gain are commonly used, and such a response is provided by Butterworth filters. An another class of filters called chebyshev filters, provide a ripple (or overshoots in) Butterworth: flat amplitude response pass-band gain.

Chebyshev: rapid roll-off characteristic

Bessel: linear phase response

f

Adding capacitors to op-amp circuits provides external control of the cutoff frequencies. The op-amp active filter provides controllable cut-off frequencies and controllable gain. Low-pass filter High-pass filter Bandpass filter Band-stop filter Each of these filters can be built using op-amp as the active element and resistors and capacitors as the passive elements (frequency selective part). Better filter performance is obtained by employing op-amps with higher slew rates and higher gain-bandwidths.
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Low-Pass Filter

High-Pass Filter

The cutoff frequency is determined by:

The upper cutoff frequency and voltage gain are given by:
f OH = 1 2 R 1 C 1
Av = 1+

f OL =
Rf R1
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1 2 R 1 C1

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Band-Pass Filter
One of the most common signal conditioning functions is amplification. For maximum resolution, the voltage range of the input signals should be approximately equal to the maximum input range of the A/D converter. Amplification expands the range of the transducer signals so that they match the input range of the A/D converter. For example, a x10 amplifier maps transducer signals which range from 0 to 1 V into the range 0 to 10 V before they go into the A/D converter.
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Amplifiers

There are two cutoff frequencies: upper and lower. They can be calculated using the same low-pass cutoff and highpass cutoff frequency formulas in the appropriate sections.

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Amplifiers

Amplifiers
Most sensors produce very low level signals in the form of voltage, current or resistance. If the output of sensor is V or I, the signal conditioner will use a voltage @ current amplifier. If the output of a sensor is a change in resistance, then a bridge circuit is employed for detecting the changes in resistance and a bridge amplifier is used for amplifying bridge outputs and improving the sensitivity of detection.

Signal amplification is carried out when the typical signal level of a measurement transducer is considered to be too low. Amplification by analog means is carried out by an operational amplifier. Normally requires to have a high input impedance so that loading effect on the transducer output signal is minimized. When amplifying the output signal from accelerometers and some optical detectors, the amplifier must have a high frequency response, to avoid distortion of the output reading.
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Basic Op-Amp

Inverting Op-Amp

Operational amplifier or op-amp, is a very high gain differential amplifier with high input impedance (typically a few ) and low output impedance (less than 100 W). Op amp is the basic component in analog signal conditioning circuit. Can perform many operations like amplification, addition, subtraction, integration, differentiation , etc Note the op-amp has two inputs and one output.
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The signal input is applied to the inverting () input. The non-inverting input (+) is grounded. The resistor Rf is the feedback resistor. It is connected from the output to the negative (inverting) input. This is negative feedback.
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Inverting Op-Amp Gain

Inverting/Noninverting Op-Amps
Inverting Amplifier Noninverting Amplifier

Gain can be determined from external resistors: Rf and R1 V R Av = o = f Vi R1

Rf Vo = V1 R1

Vo = (1 +

Rf )V1 R1

Unity gainvoltage gain is 1

Rf = R1 Rf Av = = 1 R1

The negative sign denotes a 180 phase shift between input and output.

Constant Gain - Rf is a multiple of R1

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Voltage Follower
Because the op-amp has a high input impedance, the multiple inputs are treated as separate inputs.
Rf Rf Rf Vo = R V1 + R V2 + R V3 2 3 1

Summing Amplifier

Any amplifier with no gain or loss is called a unity gain amplifier.

The advantages of using a unity gain amplifier: Very high input impedance Very low output impedance

Realistically these circuits are designed using equal resistors (R1 = Rf) to avoid problems with offset voltages and useful as an intermediate-stage (buffer) amplifier to isolate one circuit from another. Also minimizes interaction between the 2 stages and eliminates interstage loading.
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Integrator

Differentiator
The differentiator takes the derivative of the input. This circuit is useful in high-pass filter circuits.

The output is the integral of the input. Integration is the operation of summing the area under a waveform or curve over a period of time. This circuit is useful in lowpass filter circuits and sensor conditioning circuits.

v o (t) = RC

dv 1 (t) dt

v o (t) =

1 v 1 (t)dt RC

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Instrumentation Amplifiers Instrumentation Amplifiers

The bandwidth of any IA (or op-amp for that matter) is lower for higher gain. The graph shows the BW for various gains for the AD622.
1000

Some applications requiring the amplification of very low-level signals, a special type of amplifier known as an instrumentation amplifier is used. The first advantage is differential input impedance is much higher. Common mode rejection capability is much better. An instrumentation amplifier (IA) amplifies the voltage difference between its terminals. It is optimized for small differential signals that may be riding on a large common mode voltages.
100
VinInput 1 1 + Vcm
+ R3 A1 Gain set R1 R2 A3 + Gain set R4 A2 Output R5

What is the BW for a gain of 35?

V oltage gain 10 1 0 100

The gain is set by a single resistor that is supplied by the user.

RG

Reading the graph, the BW is approximately 200 kHz.

V out = A cl ( V in2 V in1 )

R6

1k

The output voltage is the closed loop gain set by RG multiplied by the voltage difference in the inputs.
VinInput 2 2 + Vcm
+

10k 100k Frequency (Hz)

1M

10M

Acl = 1 + 2R/Rg
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Instrumentation Amplifiers Guarding

Example
What is the range of output voltage in the circuit if the input can vary from 0.1V to 0.5V?

Guarding is available in some IAs to reduce noise effects. By driving the shield with the common-mode signal, effects of stray capacitance are effectively cancelled.

Solution

Guarding is useful in applications such as transducer interfacing, and microphone preamps where very small signals need to be transmitted.

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Example
What range of output voltage is developed in the circuit?

Example

What input must be applied to the input of the circuit to result in an output of 2.4V?

Solution Solution

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Example

Modulation
Modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted. This is done in a similar fashion to a musician modulating a tone (a periodic waveform) from a musical instrument by varying its volume, timing and pitch. The three key parameters of a periodic waveform are its amplitude ("volume"), its phase ("timing") and its frequency ("pitch"). Any of these properties can be modified in accordance with a low frequency signal to obtain the modulated signal. Typically a high-frequency sinusoid waveform is used as carrier signal, but a square wave pulse train may also be used.
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Design a first order low pass filter that has a gain of 26 dB and a bandwidth of 500 Hz. In your design, let R1 || R2 and choose C to meet the BW requirement.

Solution

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Linearization
The transfer function for many electronic devices, which relates the input to output, contains a nonlinear factor. In most cases this factor is small enough to be ignored. However, in some applications it must be compensated either in hardware or software. Thermocouples are the classic example of a sensor that requires linearization. They have a nonlinear relationship from input temperature to output voltage, severe enough to require compensation. Eg, by varying the gain of an amplifier as a function of input level or by varying the current in feedback loop of an amplifier in nonlinear relation with input voltage, certain sensor output can be linearized.
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Linearization

Most sensors do not produce outputs in linear relation with the input. The non-linear response of sensors can be corrected by proper signal conditioning technique. Linearization is necessary when sensors produce voltage signals that are not linearly related to the physical measurement. Linearization is the process of interpreting the signal from the sensor and can be done either with signal conditioning or through software.

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Digital Signal Conditioning

Digital Signal Conditioning Elements

Multiplexer : very useful in data acquisition system where only one ADC used for few analog signals. Sample & Hold : voltage-memory circuit for ADC process. Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) : convert the analog signal into digital form

An important application area of modem computer systems is that of digital signal processing. This discipline is concerned with the analysis or modification of digitally represented signals, through the use of simple mathematical operations

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Multiplexer
Several analog signals are processed sequentially through a multiplexer, which is a digitally controlled switch. The multiplexer accepts parallel inputs from several channels and provides one analog output at a time for conversion to digital form. The individual analog signals are applied directly or after amplification of signal conditioning to the multiplexer. These are further converted to digital signals by ADC.

Multiplexer

For a general data acquisition system its schematic block diagram is as shown below.

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Summary

Signal conditioning is an important component of any complete measurement system. Regardless which type of sensors used, signal conditioning can improve the accuracy, effectiveness, and safety of measurements. Signal conditioning has the capabilities such as amplifications, isolation, and filtering. There are two types of signal conditioning; analog and digital signal conditionings.
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