Data acquisition and control

Module 3
Signal conditioning

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 Agenda

1. Introduction to signal conditioning

2. Types of signal conditioning
3. Classes of signal conditioning
4. Shielded and twisted pair cable

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Introduction to Signal
Conditioning

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Functional Representation of DAQ
System
 Signal conditioning: Why?

• Many transducers signals must be conditioned (altered) in

some way before DAQ board or measurement system can
accurately acquire the signal
• In addition, many transducers require excitation currents or
voltages, Wheatstone bridge completion and linearization to
allow accurate measurement of the required signal
• Therefore, most PC based DAQ systems include some from
of signal conditioning equipment
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 Signal conditioning: Definition

• Signal conditioning is a term generally used to describe the

front end pre-processing required to altered the electrical
signals received from transducers into signal which DAQ
plug-in boards or other forms of data acquisition hardware
can accept

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 Review Questions
• Explain why signal conditioning is required?
• Define signal conditioning?

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Types of Signal Conditioning

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 Types of Signal conditioning

• The fundamental functions that a signal conditioning

equipment performs are:

– Amplification

– Isolation

– Filtering

– Excitation

– Linearization
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 A) Amplification

• Amplification is one of the primary tasks carried out by

signal conditioning equipment
• It performs 2 important functions:

1) Increase the range and resolution of the signal

measurement

2) Increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) –reduces

the effect of noise

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1. Increase the range and resolution of
the signal measurement

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• If you send the signal from a thermocouple
straight to a DAQ device, a change of a
degree or two in temperature might not be
detected by the system.
• However, if you amplify the signal, you have
a signal that is better suited to the range of
the DAQ device. You can amplify the signal
either on the DAQ device or externally.

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• Amplification is primarily used to increase the resolution of
the signal measurement.

• Consider a low-level signal of the order of a fraction of an

mV, fed directly to a 12-bit A/D converter in DAQ device
with full-scale voltage of 10 V.
• There will be a resultant loss of precision because the A/D
converter has a resolution of only 2.44 mV
• The highest possible resolution can be achieved by
amplifying the input signal so that the maximum input
voltage swing equals the maximum input range of the ADC.

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 The Three R’s of ADC in Data Acquisition :
Range, Resolution, Rate

• For the highest possible accuracy, amplify the signal so the

maximum voltage range equals the maximum input range of
the analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

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• Range refers to the minimum and maximum
analog signal levels that the ADC can
digitize. Many DAQ devices feature
selectable ranges (typically 0 to 10 V or –10
to 10 V), so you can match the ADC range to
that of the signal to take best advantage of
the available resolution to accurately
measure the signal.

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The smallest detectable voltage increases from 1.25 to
2.50 V, and the right chart is a much less accurate
representation of the signal.

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The Three R’s of ADC in Data Acquisition:
Range, Resolution, Rate

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• The number of bits used to represent an analog
signal determines the resolution of the ADC. The
resolution on a DAQ device is similar to the marks
on a ruler. The more marks a ruler has, the more
precise the measurements are.
• The higher the resolution is on a DAQ device, the
higher the number of divisions into which a system
can break down the ADC range, and therefore, the
smaller the detectable change

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Calculating the Smallest
Detectable Change—Code Width

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• A high-resolution A/D converter (ADC)
provides a smaller code width given the
preceding device voltage ranges.
• device range/ 2resolution = 10/216 = 0.15 mV
• device range/ 2resolution = 20/216 = 0.3 mV

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Exercise

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Solution

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The Three R’s of ADC in Data Acquisition :
Range, Resolution, Rate

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According to the Nyquist Theorem, the sampling rate
must be at least 2fmax, or twice the highest analog
frequency component

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 2) Increase Signal-to-Noise Ratio
• The SNR is a measure of how much noise
exists in a signal compared to the signal itself.
SNR is defined as the voltage level of the signal
divided by the voltage level of the noise. The
larger the SNR, the better.

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Amplify low-level signals at the DAQ device or External Amplifier (SCXI)
located nearest to the signal source to increase the signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR).

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• If you amplify the signal at the DAQ device,
the signal is measured and digitized with
noise that might have entered the lead wire,
which decreases the SNR

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Tips: There are several ways to reduce
noise:
• Use shielded cables or a twisted pair of
cables.
• Minimize wire length to minimize noise the
lead wires pick up.
• Keep signal wires away from AC power cables
and monitors to reduce 50 or 60 Hz noise.
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 B) Isolation

• Signal isolation must be used in order to pass the signal

from the source to the measurement device without a
physical connection: it is often used to isolate possible
sources of signal perturbations (disturbance). Also
notable is that it is important to isolate the potentially
expensive equipment used to process the signal after
conditioning from the sensor.
• Two types of isolation : Digital Isolation and Analog Isolation

• Digital isolation is simpler and less expensive to implement

than analog isolation

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• In case of digital isolation, Magnetic or optic
isolation can be used.
• Magnetic isolation transforms the signal from
voltage to a magnetic field, allowing the
signal to be transmitted without a physical
connection (for example, using a
transformer).

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• Optic isolation takes an electronic signal and
modulates it to a signal coded by light
transmission (optical encoding), which is
then used for input for the next stage of
processing

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 Isolation: Methods

Example of Digital Isolation

– Opto isolation

Optical isolator, is a component that transfers electrical signals

between two isolated circuits by using light. Opto-isolators
prevent high voltages from affecting the system receiving the signal
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– In case of analog isolation magnetic and
capacitive isolation can be used

It is done by modulating the signal to convert it

from a voltage to a frequency and transmitting
the frequency signal across a transformer or
capacitor without a direct physical connection
before being converted back to a voltage

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 Isolation: Advantages

• Isolation performs several important functions:

– Isolation provides an important safety function by
protecting expensive computer equipment and DAQ
boards
– Protect the equipment operators, from high voltage
transients that could be caused by electrostatic
discharge, lightning or high voltage equipment failure
– Protection is usually provided at the input(s) of the signal
conditioning equipment to prevent internal damage to the
signal conditioning equipment itself

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Isolation: Advantages

– In medical applications, isolation prevents

the possibility of potentially fatal voltage or
current signals from reaching
sensors/transducers attached or
implemented in human body

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 C) Filtering

• Filtering removes unwanted noise from signal

measurements before they are amplified and presented to
A/D converter
• Two types of filtering
– Software filtering
– Hardware filtering

• Software filtering: the technique involves taking many more

measurements than is necessary to acquire the wanted
signal, than averaging them to produce a single
measurement.....what is the software to implement this ???
• See demonstration in Labview
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 Filtering

• Hardware filtering:
– Passive filters that use only passive components such as
capacitors and resistors
– Active filters that utilize operational amplifiers

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• Ideal filters:
– Should eliminate all data at frequencies outside the
specified frequency range
– Provide a very sharp transition between the frequencies
that are passed and those are filtered out
• Most practical filters are not ideal and do not usually
eliminate all the undesirable amplitude components outside
a specified range

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 Filtering: Attributes

• Attributes common to filters are:

– Cut-off frequency: This is the transition frequency at which
the filters takes effects. It maybe HP cut-off or LP cut-off
frequency and usually defined as the frequency at which
the normalized gain drops 3dB below unity
– Roll-off: This is the slope of amplitude versus the
frequency graph at the region of the cut-off frequency. This
characteristics distinguishes an ideal filter from a practical
(non-ideal) filter. The roll-off is usually measured on a
logarithmic scale in dB
– Quality factor “Q”: This variable is an adjustable
characteristics of a tuned filter and determines the gain of
the filter at its resonant frequency, as well as the roll-off of
the transfer characteristics, on either side of the resonant
frequency.
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 Filtering: Active filters (Signal Gained)

• Active filters are more frequently used since they provide a

sharper roll-off and better stability
• Low pass filter: low pass filters pass low frequency
components of the signal and filter out high frequency
components above a specific high frequency

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High pass filter: High pass filters pass high
frequencies and filter out low frequencies
beginning at a specific frequency

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Band pass filter: Also known as a selective filter.
Band pass filters pass only those frequencies
within certain range specified by a low and high
cut-off frequency.

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Band Pass Filter – Q Factor

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• Band stop filters: (also known as Notch
filter), pass only those frequencies specified
by a start and stop frequency, and pass all
others
– Combine a high pass and low pass in
parallel, each tuned to the low and high
cut-off frequencies respectively

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• Butterworth filter: Butterworth filters provide
a higher level of low pass filtering, containing
two or more low pass filter stages
– The number of stages “n” of the filter
determine how sharp the roll-off is at the
cut-off frequency
– A two stage filter of this type is known as a
second order Butterworth filter.
– A fourth order Butterworth filter would have
two of the filters sections cascaded together

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https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/filter/filter_5.html

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 D) Linearization

• The output signals from transducers such as thermocouples

exhibit a non linear relationship to the phenomena being
measured over a given input range
– The data acquisition software typically performs
linearization of these signals;
– However, where the non-linear relationship is predictable
and repeatable this task can be performed by intelligent
signal conditioning hardware
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 Review Questions
• Name the different functions involved in signal conditioning.
• Explain the two basic purposes of amplification.
• Define isolation and discuss the methods of circuit isolation.
• What is the major difference between active and passive
filter.
• Why linearization is performed and how?
• Calculate the minimum voltage that can be measured for a
12 bit ADC whose input range is -5 V to +5 V.

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Design Signal Conditioning

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