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REVIEW QUESTIONS – SECTION 1: DESIGN OF THE MEASUREMENT CHAIN
FUNCTIONS IN SENSOR‐BASED MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
1. Which one(s) of the three general measurement functions in a system whose output communication is a display
perform(s) a conversion and which one(s) perform(s) an adaptation? Explain your answers.
2. Name three conversion functions that are common in measurement systems with digital output and write which
conversion does each of them perform?
3. What is the role of analog multiplexers in data acquisition systems?
4. Briefly explain the basic advantages of simultaneous sampling with respect to sequential sampling in a data
acquisition system.
5. A given data acquisition system spends 20 μs to acquire each sample. If a 1 kHz sine wave is applied to two
consecutive channels (TDM multiplexing), what is the phase shift (in degrees) between the two samples
acquired? A: 7.2°.
TRANSFER CHARACTERISTIC OF DIGITIZING SYSTEMS
6. If the voltage reference (Vref) of a given ADC is decreased, how do the input range and resolution (in volts) of the
ADC change? A: The smaller the voltage reference, the better the resolution but the smaller the input range.
7. A given 12 bit ADC uses an external voltage reference and is supplied between 0 V and 10 V. Can we apply it to
the conversion of signals whose maximal amplitude is 1 V and obtain 12 bit resolution by using a convenient
voltage reference? Why? Could it be applied to the conversion of a 12 V signal by using a convenient voltage
reference? Why? (Hint: How do power supply rails affect?)
8. A given signal whose peak‐to‐peak amplitude is 3 V must be digitized with a resolution better than 3 mV. If we
select a 12 bit ADC whose input voltage range (Vir) is 0‐5 V, how much offset can the signal have? Explain your
response. A: 12 bit yields a resolution of 1.2 mV when Vref = 5 V, which is enough. The voltage at the input of the
ADC cannot be negative hence we need 1.5 V offset minimum. Therefore we can add 5 V – 3 V = 2 V more
without any problem (3.5 V offset overall).
9. When do we say that a given ADC is “linear”? (Hint: Does “linear” refer here to the ADC dynamic response?)
10. A given data acquisition module has 16 bit resolution and ENOB = 14.6 bit. What does this last specification
mean?
11. What is the main advantage of integrating ADCs as compared to sampling ADCs? (Hint: consider the SMRR)
12. Determine the minimal integration time for an integrating ADC able to cancel interference from 50 Hz, 60 Hz,
400 Hz and 1 kHz power supply lines. A: 100 ms (The period of the frequency that is the highest common factor
of all frequencies to cancel, i.e. 10 Hz.)
13. A given measurement system includes a 14 bit integrating ADC. How large must the SMRR (NMRR) be for a 50 Hz
interfering voltage equal to the full‐scale input range for the ADC to result in less than ½ LSB? A: SMRR > 90 dB.
14. A given 14 bit dual‐slope ADC with Vref = 10 V designed to cancel 50 Hz interference is applied in an environment
with 60 Hz interference. If we accept a maximal interference of 1 LSB, calculate the SMRR and the maximal
interfering voltage acceptable? A: SMRR = 20 × lg|(60 × 0.02)/sin(60 × 0.02)| = 16 dB. Maximal interfering
voltage: [sin(60 × 0.02)/(60 × 0.02)]Vmax < 10 V/214; 0.156Vmax < 0.61 mV; Vmax < 3.9 mV
DYNAMIC RANGE
15. What is the basic design criterion for the dynamic range of consecutive stages of an analog signal processing chain?
16. A given measurement system includes a sensor, an amplifier and an ADC. If the sensor is replaced by another
sensor whose sensitivity is twice larger than that of the previous sensor, what other change(s) should be
introduced in the system design? A: Divide the gain by 2.
17. A given 16 bit data acquisition system (Keithley KUSB‐3108) has programmable gains 1, 10, 100, 500, and input
ranges ±(10, 1, 0.1 and 0.02) V. If we connect it to a sensor whose sensitivity is 50 µV/K, and its output at 0 °C is
0 V, what is the best resolution (°C) that we can achieve? A: 0.012 °C.
18. What is the function of the programmable gain amplifier (PGA) Included in many data acquisition systems? (Hint:
How does the resolution at the input of the system change as a function of the gain?)
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19. When do we need to amplify a signal before digitizing it?
20. Does the PGA affect the dynamic range of a data acquisition system? (Hint: Consider the effect of gain on the input
range and resolution.)
21. Do amplifiers increase or reduce the signal‐to‐noise ratio of the amplified signal with respect to that of the input
signal. (Hint: If the input noise is en and the gain is G, calculate DR or SNR at the input and at the output.)
22. When do we need to shift the (zero) voltage level of a signal in analog signal processing? A: When the minimal
voltage level or the maximal voltage level are beyond the minimal or maximal input voltages of the stage to what the
signal is applied to.
23. What is the common order for the amplification and level shifting functions in analog signal processing? Why? A:
Level shifting uses to be first to prevent saturation of the amplifier output.
24. A temperature is to be measured in the range from 0 °C to 100 °C with a 0.5 °C resolution by a sensor whose
sensitivity is ‐2.2485 mV/°C and whose output voltage at 25 °C is 0.6 V. If the system is supplied at 5 V and the
desired output voltage is from 0.54 V to 4.46 V, determine the dynamic range and the gain for the analog
processor, and any other analog functions required. A: The sensor output will be 656 mV at 0 °C and 431 mV at 100 °C.
Gain = (4.46 – 0.54)/(0,431 – 0,656) = ‐17.4. To obtain 0.54 V at 0 °C, we need (656 – Vos) × (‐17.4) = 0.54, hence Vos = 687.
We need to subtract 687 mV before amplifying.
25. A given signal whose range is from ‐100 mV to 600 mV has to be digitized with a resolution not worse than
0.05 mV. If there is an 18 bit ADC available whose input range is 0‐5 V, do we need an amplifier and a voltage
level shifter? Why? A: 5 V/218 = 19 µV: no amplifier but +100 mV level shifter needed.
IMPEDANCE ADAPTATION AND SIGNAL COUPLING
26. To obtain a voltage from a 4‐20 mA current loop, we place a 250 resistor in series with the loop. If the resistor
terminals are directly connected to a 12 bit ADC, what is the minimal value for the internal resistance of the
current source for its effect to be smaller than the quantization uncertainty? (Note: a direct connection implies
that there is not any signal processing previous to the conversion, not even a voltage level shift). A: R > 2.05 M.
27. Design a resistive voltage attenuator whose input resistance be 1 M and able to divide by 5 the amplitude of a
dc voltage when the output of the attenuator is connected to a circuit with 1 M input resistance. What would
happen if the input resistance of the load were ignored when designing the attenuator? A: R1 = 800 k, R2 =
250 k. If the input resistance of the load were ignored in the design, when connecting the attenuator to the
load the resulting attenuation factor would less than 5 and the equivalent input resistance for the attenuator
would be also smaller.
28. Why the voltage loading effect is usually worse when measuring ac voltages than when measuring dc voltages?
29. A given data acquisition card intended for piezoelectric microphones or accelerometers includes a high‐pass
first‐order filter whose corner frequency is 0.8 Hz. If the internal ADC has 10 bit and we accept an amplitude
deviation of up to 1 LSB, determine the minimal frequency of the input signal. A: 18 Hz. (Hint: What is the
relation between the corner frequency of a high‐pass filter and the attenuation at a given frequency?)
30. A given digital oscilloscope with 8 bit resolution is applied to measure sine waves superimposed on a 5 V power
supply voltage. To improve the resolution on the measured voltage, the input signal is connected to the
oscilloscope using the ac‐coupling option. If the corner frequency of the internal high‐pass filter is 10 Hz, what is
the minimal signal frequency that is not attenuated by more than the quantization uncertainty? A: 160 Hz.
31. A 1 V, 5 Hz sinusoidal signal is applied to a given ac‐coupled oscilloscope and the displayed signal has 0.5 V
amplitude. What is the corner frequency for the high‐pass (ac‐coupling) filter? A: 8.7 Hz.
ACCURACY, UNCERTAINTY AND CALIBRATION
32. Explain the relationship between resolution and uncertainty in a measurement system, if there is any.
33. What is the difference between the calibration diagram and the calibration curve?
34. Define the coverage factor for uncertainty calculation.
35. Determine the maximal tolerance (in parts per million) allowed for the voltage reference of a 16 bit ADC to result
in less than ±½ LSB uncertainty. A: 2‐17 = 7.6 × 10‐6.
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36. A given data acquisition module has 16 bit resolution and 0.03 relative uncertainty for a full range input and
gain 8. Discuss whether these specifications are compatible or not. (Hint: Is there any relation between
resolution and uncertainty?)
37. A given 12 bit ADC with external voltage reference is supplied between 0 V and 10 V. In order to apply it to the
conversion of signals of up to 100 V, we design an external resistive attenuator. Determine the tolerance of the
resistors so that it has no influence on the digital output in the worst case condition. A: U(R)/R < 0.014 %.
38. A given 12 bit data acquisition card has programmable gain (G) and the following temperature coefficients: gain
drift = 50 10‐6/°C max. of full‐scale voltage; zero drift = (10 µV 50 µV/gain)/°C. For G = 10, the full‐scale
input voltage is 1 V. How much can the ambient temperature change in order for the output to remain the same
when the input voltage is 1 V? A: 18.8 °C. (Hint: Write the input voltage as a function of the input signal and
offset.)
39. A given 12 bit ADC uses a voltage reference Vref = 4.096 V (at 25 °C), whose accuracy is ±2 % and thermal drift
±150 10‐6/K. If the input voltage is about 1 V, determine:
a) What is the digital output (B) when Vref has its nominal value? A: B = 999 (or B =1000, because of the
quantization uncertainty).
b) What is the digital output when Vref has its minimal value (because of the limited accuracy)? A: There is an
uncertainty of 40 “counts” or “bits”: 980 B 1020.
c) If the ambient temperature is from 10 °C y 50 °C, what is the digital output at each of those temperatures?
Assume that at 25 °C Vref has its nominal value. A: B = 1002, 996.
GENERAL
40. A method to protect a signal source from short circuit damage is by placing a resistor R in series with one of its
output terminals.
a) Calculate R for a given signal source that yields a 5 V (rms) low‐frequency signal and can dissipate 100 mW.
A: R = V2/P = 250 .
b) If the signal is connected to a 12 bit data acquisition system (DAS) that has a maximal input voltage range
from 0 V to 10 V and we select R = 600 , calculate the minimal input resistance so that the voltage loading
effect be smaller than (1/8)LSB. A: Rin > 19.7 M.
c) If the DAS has programmable gain G = 1, 2, 4, 8, which gain must we select to guarantee an input resolution
better than 1 mV? A: 4. G = 10 V/212/0.001 V = 2.44 4.
41. A 4‐20 mA [dc] current is to be measured by detecting the drop in voltage across a resistor R, which is measured
by a data acquisition system (DAS). No other analog function is implemented before the DAS.
a) If the input voltage range of the DAS is 0‐10 V, design the value for R. A: 500 .
b) If the DAS has 12 bit resolution and its input impedance is 10 M10 pF, would this finite impedance affect
the result? Why? A: No, because for Rin > 4.09 M the effect is less than Q/2.
c) If the finite input resistance of the DAS is taken into account, what is the minimal value for the output
resistance of the current source for it not to influence the result? A: Ro > 6.9 M.
d) The uncertainty limit for the DAS is 0.04 %FSR (Full Scale Range). If the tolerance for R is 1 %, what is the
relative uncertainty in the measured current when its value is about 4 mA? A: UI/I 1 % if the uncertainties
for the DAS and the resistor are assumed to be uncorrelated.
42. A 4‐20 mA [dc] current is to be measured by detecting the drop in voltage across a resistor R, which is measured
by a data acquisition system (DAS). No other analog function is implemented before the DAS.
a) I the input voltage range of the DAS is 0‐5 V, design the value for R. A: R = 250 .
b) If the DAS has 12 bit resolution and its input impedance is 10 M10 pF, will this finite impedance affect
the result? Why? A: No, because for Rin > 2.045 M the effect is less than Q/2.
c) If the finite input resistance of the DAS is taken into account, what is the minimal value for the output
resistance of the current source for it not to influence the result? A: Ro > 2.57 M.
d) The uncertainty limit for the DAS is 0.03 %FSR (Full Scale Range). Calculate the relative uncertainty in the
current measured for the worst‐case condition. A: UI/I 0.15 %.
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e) Calculate the tolerance for R so that the relative uncertainty in the measured current in the worst‐case
condition be determined by the DAS? A: tR 0.05 % if the uncertainties for the DAS and the resistor are assumed
to be uncorrelated (Less than one third of the maximal relative uncertainty, which corresponds to 4 mA.)
43. To measure a temperature from ‐20 °C to 80 °C we select the AD592, which is a temperature sensor with current
output and whose sensitivity is 1 µA/K and yields 273 µA at 0 °C. The sensor is connected to a 1 k resistor and
the drop in voltage across it is amplified and digitized by an ADC.
a) If we wish 0.1 °C resolution, determine the minimal number of bits for the ADC. A: N = 10.
b) If the input voltage range of the ADC is 0 V to 3.3 V, determine the amplifier gain. A: G = 33.
c) Explain whether we need or not any other function before amplifying the voltage? A: 253 mV subtraction.
d) Determine the minimal input resistance for the amplifier so that its effect results in less than 1 LSB change at
the output of the ADC. A: Ri > 34 MΩ.
e) If we use a two‐point calibration, can we compensate for the effect of the finite input resistance of the DAS?
Why? A: Yes, because the voltage attenuation is constant in this case.
f) If we do not shift the input voltage to obtain 0 V for T = ‐20 °C and use gain 1, how many bits do we really
need to achieve the desired 0.1 °C resolution? A: M = 15.
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