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By: Gebremariam Fisseha

Adigrat University, Ethiopia
2010E.C
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Chapter-3: Signal Conditioning and Conversion

3.1. Introduction
 The output of sensors is usually small or not suitable to directly process or present it.
 Thus conditioning or suiting of the signal is necessary.
 Signal conditioners are circuits that takes the output of a sensor or transducer and converts it in to a form
more suitable for further processing or presenting. This form is usually a d.c. voltage, a d.c. current or a
variable frequency a.c. voltage.
 Some signal conditioners
 Amplification
 Attenuation
 Filtering (high pass, low pass, band pass, or band stop)
 Differentiation
 Integration
 Linearization
 Converting a resistance to a voltage signal (bridges)

3.2. Deflection Bridges

 Deflection bridges are used to convert the output of resistive, capacitive and inductive sensors into a
voltage signal.
 The deflection bridge has four arms of impedance.
 Initially all impedances values of the deflection bridge are adjusted in such a way that the measured
voltage at the detector is zero.i.e.Vo=0
 At this moment the bridge is called at balanced condition or null condition.

3.2.1. Thévenin equivalent circuit for a deflection bridge

Any linear network can be represented by a Thévenin equivalent circuit consisting of a voltage source ETh
together with a series impedance ZTh .Figure 3.1 shows a general deflection bridge network. ETh is the open-
circuit output voltage of the bridge, i.e. when current i in BD = 0. Using Kirchhoff’s laws:

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Figure 3.1:Calculation of Thévenin equivalent circuit for a deflection bridge.

ZTh is the impedance, looking back into the circuit, between the output terminals BD, when the supply voltage
VS is replaced by its internal impedance. Assuming the internal impedance of the supply is zero, then this is
equivalent to a short circuit across AC (see Figure 3.1). We see that ZTh is equal to the parallel combination of
Z2 and Z3 in series with the parallel combination of Z1 and Z4 , i.e.

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3.2.2.Types of deflection Bridge
 Deflection brides are classified depending up on:-
 Energy source as DC or AC bridges
 The impedances as resistive, or reactive (inductive, capacitive) bridges
 Depending up on the number of sensors present on the bridge arm as quarter, half and full
Deflection Bridge

3.2.2.1. DC bridge
 With a dc galvanometer used as a detector and resistive arms the bridge becomes a dc bridge known as
Wheatstone bridge.
 The Wheatstone bridge is usually used to measure resistance values ranging from 1 ohm to 1mega ohm
 For low resistance the Kelvin double bridge is used.

3.2.2.2. AC bridge
 Based on these balance conditions various a-c bridges are used in practice under the broad classification
of capacitance and inductance bridges.

3.2.3.Design of Resistive Deflection Bridge

 In a resistive or Wheatstone bridge all four impedances Z1 to Z4 are pure resistances R1 to R4.
 It is used to convert a variation of resistance into voltage.
 usually it is excited by DC sources
 Depending up on the number of sensors present on the bridge arm it is called as:
 Quarter-bridge- single element of the bridge changing resistance in response to the measured variable.
 Half-bridge - two element of the bridge changing resistance in response to the measured variable.
 Full-bridge - four elements of the bridge changing resistance in response to the measured variable.
 Now lets design the quarter bridge :from [9.3] we have:

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3.3. Amplifiers and Attenuators

Since most of the electrical signals produced by most sensors or transducers are low voltage or power level
An Amplifier is an electronic device used to increase the size of a voltage or current signal without changing the
signals basic characteristics.
3.3.1. Operational amplifier (OPAMP)
Opamp have two inputs indicated by – and + sign which stands for inverting and non inverting inputs as show
below.
 An op amp is ideal if it has the following characteristics:
(a) high input amplification(Infinite Open loop gain)
(b) high input impedance: thus current is not drawn from the input
(c) low output impedance: there is no voltage drop at the output
(d) low offset voltage: low drift
An ideal op amp is an amplifier with infinite open-loop gain, infinite,input resistance, and zero output
resistance. Two important characteristics of the ideal op amp are:
1. The currents into both input terminals are zero:i1=i2=0
2. The voltage across the input terminals is equal to zero; i.e., vd=v1-v2=0 v1=v2

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 Common OPAMP circuit Configurations
a) Voltage comparator e) Inverting amplifier
b) Non inverting amplifier f) Summing amplifier
c) Voltage follower g) Differential amplifier
d) Integrating amplifier h) Differentiating amplifier
a) Voltage Comparatator
 This is used for comparing input voltages, it is a differential amplifier
 If V2> V1 the output voltage is positive
 If V2< V1 the output voltage is negative
 If V2= V1, then the output voltage is zero
b) Inverting amplifier
 The out put is an inverted (opposite polarity) form of the input voltage
 It reverses the polarity of the input signal while amplifying it.

c) Non inverting amplifier

 The output is the non-inverted form of the input
 The input voltage is applied directly at the non-inverting input terminal, and resistor R1 is connected
between the ground and the inverting terminal.

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d) Voltage follower
 The output is the same as the input. The advantage of the circuit is lies in high input impedance
avoiding loading effect that may occur; it is also referred to as buffer circuit.

e) Summing amplifier
 The output is the sum of the input voltages.
 It combines several inputs and produces an output that is the weighted sum of the inputs.

f) Differential amplifier
 Amplifies the difference between two inputs but rejects any signals common to the two inputs.

V0=R3(1+R1/R3)/R1(1+R2/R4)V2-R3/R1V1
 Since a difference amplifier must reject a signal common to the two inputs, the amplifier must have
the property that vo=0 when v1= v2 . This property exists when R1/R3=R2/R4
 If R1 = R3 and R2=R4 , the difference amplifier becomes a subtractor, with the output

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3.3.2. Instrumentation Amplifier (INA)
One of the most useful and versatile op amp circuits for precision measurement and process control is the
instrumentation amplifier, so called because of its widespread use in measurement systems.. The
instrumentation amplifier is an extension of the difference amplifier in that it amplifies the difference between
its input signals and it consists of three op amps and seven resistors as shown in figure below.

An instrumentation amplifier (INA) is specially designed amplifier to have differential gain, high input
impedance, and high CMRR ratio.Basically it is buffered a differential amplifier so as to have high input
impedance.

3.4. Oscillators and Resonators

Both oscillators and resonators are used to give a variable frequency signal, i.e. frequency modulation.
Oscillators are purely electrical but resonators are electromechanical. They are both feedback systems which
rely on the dynamic property of a closed-loop system, consisting of elements with dynamic characteristics, to
sustain continuous oscillations, if certain conditions are satisfied.

An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic signal, often
a sine wave,Triangular wave or a square wave.. Oscillators convert direct current (DC) from a power supply to
an alternating current (AC) signal. They are widely used in many electronic devices. Common examples of
signals generated by oscillators include signals broadcast by radio and television transmitters, clock signals that
regulate computers and quartz clocks, and the sounds produced by electronic beepers and video games.

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Oscillators are often characterized by the frequency of their output signal:

 A low-frequency oscillator (LFO) is an electronic oscillator that generates a frequency below approximately
20 Hz. This term is typically used in the field of audio synthesizers, to distinguish it from an audio
frequency oscillator.
 An audio oscillator produces frequencies in the audio range, about 16 Hz to 20 kHz.[2]
 An RF oscillator produces signals in the radio frequency (RF) range of about 100 kHz to 100 GHz.[2]

Oscillators designed to produce a high-power AC output from a DC supply are usually called inverters.

Natural frequency is the frequency at which a system naturally oscillates. resonance is a phenomenon in
which a vibrating system or external force drives another system to oscillate with greater amplitude at
specific frequencies. Frequencies at which the response amplitude is a relative maximum are known as the
system's resonant frequencies or resonance frequencies. At resonant frequencies, small periodic driving
forces have the ability to produce large amplitude oscillations, due to the storage of vibrational energy.
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior, that is, it naturally oscillates at
some frequencies, called its resonant frequencies, with greater amplitude than at others. Resonators are used to
either generate waves of specific frequencies or to select specific frequencies from a signal. Musical instruments
use acoustic resonators that produce sound waves of specific tones.

3.5. Filters
There are many instances in instrumentation systems where it is necessary to filter a time-varying signal by
passing it through a linear, frequency dependent gain device. Such filtering is often used to improve the SNR by
attenuating those frequencies containing noise, but which do not contain significant signal information. A filter
is a circuit that is designed to pass signals with desired frequencies and reject or attenuate others.

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As a frequency-selective device, a filter can be used to limit the frequency spectrum of a signal to some
specified band of frequencies. Filters are the circuits used in radio and TV receivers to allow us to select one
desired signal out of a multitude of broadcast signals in the environment.

A filter is a passive filter if it consists of only passive elements R, L, and C. It is said to be an active filter if it
consists of active elements (such as transistors and op amps) in addition to passive elements R, L,and C.

There are four types of filters whether passive or active:

Figure 3.2 : Types of filters

 Low pass filter: passes low frequencies and stops high frequencies.  [Figure.3.2(a)]
 High pass filter: passes high frequencies and rejects low frequencies.  [Figure.3.2(b)]
 Band pass filter: passes frequencies within a frequency band and blocks or attenuates frequencies
outside the band.  [Figure.3.2(c)]
 Band stop filter : passes frequencies outside a frequency band and blocks or attenuates frequencies
within the band.  [Figure.3.2(d)]

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3.6. Signal Conversion
3.6.1. Types of Signals
Analog Signals

Digital Signals:

3.6.2. Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)

 It is an electronic integrated circuit which converts a signal from analog (continuous) to digital (discrete) form
 Provides a link between the analog world of transducers and the digital world of signal processing and data
handling.
 The three operations involved in A/D conversion are sampling, quantisation and encoding. The first
operation is performed by a sample-and-hold device; the second and third are combined in an analogue-to-
digital converter.

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I. Sampling
A continuous signal y(t) could be represented by a set of samples yi , i = 1, . . . , N, taken at discrete intervals
of time ∆T (sampling interval). The operation is shown in Figure 3.3; the switch is closed fS times per
second, where sampling frequency fS = 1/(∆T). In order for the sampled signal yS (t) to be an ade quate
representation of y(t), f S should satisfy the conditions of the Nyquist sampling theorem, which can be stated
as follows: A continuous signal can be represented by, and reconstituted from, a set of sample values
provided that the number of samples per second is at least twice the highest frequency present in the signal.

Figure 3.3: Time waveform and frequency spectrum of sampled signal.

 If Nyquist Sampling rate is not satisfied, fs>2fm,

 Aliasing occurs- phenomenon of two different signals being constructed from a given set of sample values.
 The sampling components occupy the same frequency range as the original signal and it is
impossible to filter them out and reconstitute the signal.
 Sampling and Holding

The operation of analogue-to-digital conversion can take up to a few milliseconds; it is necessary therefore to
hold the output of the sampler constant at the sampled value while the conversion takes place. This is done
using a sample-and-hold device as shown above. In the sample state the output signal follows the input signal;
in the hold state the output signal is held constant at the value of the input signal at the instant of time the hold
command is sent. The sample-and-hold waveform shown is ideal; in practice errors can occur.

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II. Quantization

Figure 10.4 : Quantization

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III. Encoding

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Generally:

3.6.3. Types of ADC

 Successive Approximation A/D Converter
 Flash A/D Converter
 Dual Slope A/D Converter
 Delta-Sigma A/D Converter

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3.6.4.Digital To Analog Converter
The digital-to-analog converter (DAC) transforms digital signals into analog form.

 Two Basic Approaches

 Weighted Summing Amplifier
 This approach is not satisfactory for a large number of bits because it requires too much
precision in the summing resistors.
 This problem is overcome in the R-2R network DAC.
 R-2R Network Approach

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summarizes the result of the digital-to-analog conversion.

3.7. Signal transmission

[Reading Assignment]

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