E415 Homework Assignment #2

Assigned: February 18th, 2011

Due: February 25th, 2011

Reading: Chapter 8 and 9

Problems:

1. Why is it not possible to connect sensors such as thermocouples, strain gauges, and
accelerometers directly to a digital computer or microprocessor?

2. Assuming that the bandwidth of an audio music track is 15 kHz, what is the
minimum sampling rate necessary to digitize the track with high fidelity for storage
on an audio CD?

3. Plot two periods of the function V(t) = sin(t) + sin(2t) at time intervals
corresponding to 1/3, 2/3, 2, and 10 times the Nyquist frequency. Comment on the
results.

4. Given a 12-bit A/D converter operating over a voltage range from -5V to 5V, how
much does the input voltage have to change in order to be detectable?

5. If an 8-bit A/D converter with 0 to 10 V voltage range is used to sample an analog

sensor’s voltage, what digital output code would correspond to each of the following
sensor values:
a. 0.0 V
b. 1.0 V
c. 5.0 V
d. 7.5 V
6. How much computer memory (in bytes) would be required to store 10 seconds of a
sensor signal sampled by a 12 bit A/D converter operating at a sampling rate of 5
kHz?

7. As a mechatronic designer moves progressively from an 8-bit, 10-bit to 12-bit A/D

converter, what problem might be incurred in the design of the data acquisition
system?

8. What is the angular resolution of a two-channel incremental encoder with a 2X

quadrature decoder circuit if the code disk has 1000 radial lines?

9. Using 4X quadrature decoder, what is the maximum and minimum velocity that can
be measured by a 16-bit microprocessor sampling at 10 kHz with a 1000 radial lines
code disk?

10. If each line of a coded disk represents 1 mm, repeat question 9 to determine the
minimum and maximum acceleration expressed in g’s. (1g = 9.8 / ).