VIRTUAL

INSTRUMENTS

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 Group Members

• Shubham Gupta EC/163

• Shreyansh Singh EC/162
• Shrey Agarwal EC/161

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CONTENT
 Introduction
 History

 Architecture

 Block diagram

 Example

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 INTRODUCTION
Virtual instrumentation is an
interdisciplinary field

It merges sensing, hardware and

software technologies.

Used to create flexible and

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sophisticated instruments for
control and monitoring
applications.
 There are several definitions of a virtual
instrument available in the open literature.

 “Aninstrument whose general function and

capabilities are determined in software“.

 “Avirtual instrument is composed of some

specialized subunits, some general-purpose

 Computers, some software, and a little know-

how”. 5
HISTORY
 The concept of was born in late 1970s.

 when microprocessor technology enabled a

machine's function to be more easily changed
by changing its software.

 The flexibility is possible as the capabilities of

a virtual instrument depend very little on

dedicated hardware. 6
 The first phase:
 It is represented by early "pure" analog
measurement devices, such as oscilloscopes etc.
 They were completely closed dedicated systems.

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The Second phase
o It is started in 1950s, as a result of demands from
the industrial control field.

o Instruments started to digitalize measured

signals, allowing digital processing of data.

The third phase

o Measuring instruments became computer based.

o They begun to include interfaces that enabled

communication between the instrument and the
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computer.
 As a result, virtual instrumentation
made possible decrease in price of an
instrument.

 As the virtual instrument depends

very little on dedicated hardware, a
customer could now use his own
computer.

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 VIRTUALINSTRUMENT
ARCHITECTURE
A virtual instrument is composed of the following
blocks:
 Sensor module

 Processing Module

 Output

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SENSORMODULE
 Performs signal conditioning.
(transforms it into a digital form for further
manipulation)

 The digital can be displayed, processed,

compared, stored in a database, or converted
back to analog form for further process control.

 It interfaces a virtual instrument to the external

analog world.
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SENSORMODULE
 A sensor module principally consists of three
main parts:
 input

 the signal conditioning part

 the A/D converter

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 SENSOR MODULE

INPUT
 Real World Data.

 According to the type of connection, sensor

interfaces can be classified as wired and wireless.

 Wired Interfaces are usually standard parallel

interfaces, such as General Purpose Interface Bus

 Wireless Interfaces are increasingly used because

of convenience.
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SIGNALCONDITIONING
It is the techniques used to convert
immeasurable or unworkable signal
into useful or functional form.

Example:
 Some sensors give signal in micro volts which
needs to be amplified in order to use in the
circuit.
 If the signal has high amplitude then it needs to
be attenuated in order to use it. 14
ANALOGTO DIGITAL
CONVERTER
 Real world data is then converted in
digital form by using ADC.

 Analog data is converted in the form

which a computer can easily
understand.

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PROCESSINGMODULE
 It allows flexible implementation of sophisticated
processing functions.

 A virtual instrument depends very little on

dedicated hardware, which principally does not
perform any complex processing.

 Functionality and appearance of the virtual

instrument may be completely changed utilizing
different processing functions.

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OUTPUT PRESENTATION
 Computer’s user interfaces are much
easier shaped.

 they are changed than conventional

instrument’s user interfaces.

 it is possible to employ more presentation

effects and to customize the interface for
each user.
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BLOCKDIAGRAM

Signal
Input ADCs
Conditioning

Processing Output

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EXAMPLE
Wehave an example of a virtual instrument
developed in SITT

Instruments :
• Voltmeter
• Ammeter
• Ohmmeter
• Oscilloscope

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 Applications

Main Form to Select Voltmeter

Virtual Instrument 20
Ammeter Ohmmeter

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Oscilloscope 22
FLOWCHART --

Start
Analog to Digital
Conversion

Initialize ADC
Computation and
Formulation

Transmit through
Serial Port

Take Input from the

real world End
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FLOWCHART – MATLAB GUI

Start

If Ohmmeter

If Voltmeter Select If Ammeter

Instrument

If Oscilloscope

1 2 3 4
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 1
Receive Data Close Serial Port

Open GUI of Voltmeter Computation &

Clear All
Conversion

Print Result on Text Box

End

Is Hold No
Button
Pressed?

Yes

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 2
Receive Data Close Serial Port

Open GUI of Oscilloscope Computation &

Clear All
Conversion

Plot Data
End

Is Hold No
Button
Pressed?

Yes

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 3
Receive Data Close Serial Port

Open GUI of Ammeter Computation &

Clear All
Conversion

Print Result on Text Box

End

Is Hold No
Button
Pressed?

Yes

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 4
Receive Data Close Serial Port

Open GUI of Ohmmeter Computation &

Clear All
Conversion

Print Result on Text Box

End

Is Hold No
Button
Pressed?

Yes

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Advantages
• Lower cost of instrumentation

• Easy-to-use graphical user interface

• Portability between various computer platforms

• Increases the utility of computer

• Flexibility

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DISADVANTAGES
 Security

Sensitive information may be accessible to public

users.

 Power Consumption

VIdemands that many devices run simultaneously

and can consume a lot of power. Each computer
will consume a large amount of power in addition
to any external hardware.
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