Chapter 2: Intelligent instrumentation

By Tesfaye M.
Instrumentation Engineering
January 22,2021.

Debre Markos University

ደብረ ማርቆስ ዩኒቨርስቲ
Debre Markos Institute of Technology
ደብረ ማርቆስ ቴክኖሎጂ ኢንስቲትዩት
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
 Introduction
• The manifestation of a measurement system or instrumentation in
the real world so that human being can perceive the situation by
high level of interaction preferably called intelligent
instrumentation.

• For example the perception of temperature in room can be like “

too cold”, “cold ”, “hot ”, “ too hot ”,and “warm” rather than
saying -20,50,100,200 degrees Celsius (ºC).

 What is the difference between sensor and smart sensor???

 Used for Industrial Automation or Robotation or Control System
 Proximity Sensor, Magnet Sensor, Light Sensor, Pressure Sensor, Speed
Sensor (RPM), Encoder Sensor and Temperature Sensor

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 Introduction
• Smart sensors acquire information about a non-electrical quantity of interest
(the measurand) and convert this information to a useful electrical output
signal.
• In order to do so, they combine a sensing element and the associated interface
electronics on a single chip or in a single package.
• The sensing element performs the conversion from the non-electrical domain of
the measurand to an electrical signal, while the interface electronics further
process this signal to produce an output that can readily be used in a
measurement or control system.
Interface electronics
• To communicate with the outside world, the output of a smart sensor should
preferably be a digital signal
• and then to perform any additional signal conditioning, such as filtering,
linearization, cross-sensitivity compensation and so on,
• This approach facilitates the interconnection of several sensors via a digital bus,
and takes advantage of the flexibility and ever-increasing digital signal
processing capability of integrated circuitry.
• However, most sensors output low-level analog signals. This is especially true
of silicon sensors such as thermopiles, Hall plates and piezo-resistive strain
gauges, whose outputs contain information at the microvolt level. 3
 Introduction
• One reason for this is the nature of the transduction mechanisms available in
silicon.
• Another is that their small size limits the amount of energy that they can extract
from their environment. While this is a desirable feature in a sensor, which
should not disturb, that is, extract energy from, the physical process that it
observes.
• it makes the design of transparent interface electronics quite challenging.
• today’s mainstream use CMOS technology, which high-quality switches and
digital circuits can easily be realized

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 Introduction
• Let’s see in a car system like human body system

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 Smart vs Intelligent
• There is considerable overlap between the characteristics of smart and intelligent
device.
• Most of the time the name given too them in the absences of following the formal
definition.
• The following ideas could help distinguish between a smart and an intelligent
sensor
 a smart sensor has functionalities that improve its measurement performance
 An intelligent sensor integrates function that allow it to fully participate in an
automated system
• Advantages of intelligent sensor
 improve accuracy and repeatability
 reduce maintenance cost
 Large range coverage, allowing flexibility
 Remote adjustment, recalibration
 Ability to store data so that plant and instrument performance can be analysed.

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 Smart vs Intelligent
• Intelligent sensor as the linkage of one or several measurement chains to a
computing “machine”.
• Its main function is providing reliable, useful information.
• we remember that the purpose of a sensor is essentially to provide information,
that is, to measure a variable and to communicate representative information of
the value of this variable.
Basic features
• Self calibration
 Errors introduced in these steps affect the performance and reliability of the
overall system. Therefore, it is very important to determine how large these
errors are. The process of doing so is generally referred to as calibration
 In order to verify how accurate a given thermometer is, one can compare its
reading with that of a more accurate thermometer.
 Alternatively, one can submerge the thermometer in ice water or boiling water,
and see whether it correctly indicates 0°C or 100°C. These procedures are
essentially calibration procedures

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• Example: To check if the transducers and load cells are functioning properly, the
following should be evaluated:
 Does the weight indication return to zero when the system is empty or unloaded?
 Does the indicated weight double when the weight is doubled?
 Does the indicated weight remain the same when the location of the load changes
(uneven loading)? If the answers are yes, the cells and transducers are probably in
good condition and need no attention.
In case of other sensor we have two methods
1. Look-up table: stores a range of correction point within the memory
2. Interpolation
• Self diagnosis or faults identification and correction
 Example sensor during used to detect break down of insulation
• Automatic calculation of measurement accuracy and compensation for random error
• Adjustment of measurement nonlinearities
 The non-linearity between the measured quantity and the sensor output, digital
processing unit convert the output into linear

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• A sensor is always part of an action/reaction loop:
• This action/reaction loop may be “closed” in the technological sense through a
certain number of components such as controllers, calculators, Programmable Logic
Controllers (PLC) or actuators.
• The sensor is then an element in an automation loop that provides a representative signal
of a physical variable: for example, it provides a signal to a regulator or to a PLC that will
itself provide a command signal to be transmitted to an actuator.
• In the automotive field, a typical example is that of a rotation speed sensor placed on each
of the wheels which transmits this rotation “speed” information to the central Anti-
Breaking System (ABS), which makes the “right” decision by comparing the rotation
speeds of the same axle.
• This action/reaction loop could also be closed by a human operator. Still in the automotive
context, it is the driver who usually observes the speedometer and either brakes,
accelerates or reduces gear to adjust the speed of the car to the speed limits

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• Sensor in an action/reaction loop

Real world
environment Sensing

Acting

Information

Extract

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 Smart vs Intelligent
• a smart sensor has functionalities that improve its metrological performances by
using numerical processing
• an intelligent sensor integrates functions that allow it to fully participate in the
goal of an automated system

• An intelligent sensor is then seen as a fully functional system with its own
processing abilities, one that can take part in more complex systems.
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Architecture of an Intelligent instrument

A basic architecture include one or more transducers connected to conditioners

1. Basic sensor components: most of the time analog signals produced
2. Numerical processing units
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•• Interface of measurement(multiplexer, amplifier (gain adjuster), Sample and hold
 then ADC )
• Calculation unit(microcontroller or DSP) and linked peripherals like memories
• Communication interface that ensure bidirectional communication (the
communications using the RS232/485 protocol, the Serial Peripheral Interface
(SPI), and the Control Area Network (CAN), Ethernet, wireless, so on…)
 though not all systems support all interfaces. The designer must select an
interface that provides the easiest integration of the product with other
elements of the system while staying within the cost and reliability constraints
necessary for a particular application.
• Power unit
• Many microcontroller allows broad variety of interfaces that allow it to
communicate with other devices on the same printed circuit board or with remote
systems.
1. the Synchronous Peripheral Interface (SPI),
2. the Inter-Integrated Circuit (C) interface,
3. the Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART),
4. RS-232 or RS-485
4. the Controller Area Network (CAN) interface.
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 Smart vs Intelligent
• SPI as it is more commonly called, is a synchronous serial interface that is
designed primarily to transfer data between devices that are all located on a single
printed circuit board (PCB) or board to board.
• Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) is an interface bus commonly used to send data
between microcontrollers and small peripherals such as shift registers, sensors,
and SD cards.
• Each word is sent in a sequence of bits along the same wire,
• The standard interface most commonly used for parallel communication is the
general purpose instrument bus(GPIB) IEEE-488
• IEEE-488 refers to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Standard number 488.
• Today, IEEE-488 is the most widely recognized and used method for
communication among scientific and engineering instruments.
• The IEEE-488 interface, sometimes called the General Purpose Interface Bus
(GPIB), is a general purpose digital interface system that can be used to transfer
data between two or more devices(up to 15 device at a time ).
• The IEEE-488 connector is a 24-pin connector.

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 Smart vs Intelligent
• In GPIB interface system three categories of instruments or device are used
 Talkers
 Listeners
 Controllers
• A talker is a unit which is able to transmit on the bus pertinent measurement data
or information concerning from the controller
examples: Voltmeter, tape readers, frequency counter, etc..
• Listeners is a device which can receive commands and data when addressed and
may or may not be a capable of the talk function
• A listener is an entity connected to the bus that accepts instructions from the bus.
An example of a listener is an item such as a printer that only accepts data from
the bus.
examples: printers, display device, etc.…
• Generally talkers are listeners as well.
• controllers are brain of the system. It provides the command(using programming
and software) that cause each and every instrument and device on the bus to
perform its task
• The controller are usually a talker and a listener
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 Smart vs Intelligent
• The devices connected to IEEE-488/GPIB system (i.e. Computer, frequency
counter, signal generator and digital multimeter) are categorised as controller,
listener and/or talker.
• IEEE 488 connectors

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• IEEE 488 Connector showing the identity of the pin connection

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• General purpose instrument bus structure

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More clear way.

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• the bus is a two way communication channel and data flow in both direction as
shown in the figure above
• General Interface Management (GIM) bus : This bus coordinates the whole system
and ensures an orderly flow of data over the data input/output (DIO) bus.
1. IFC (Interface Clear Signal)
2. ATN(Attention Signal)
3. SRQ(Service Request Signal)
4. EN(Remote Enable Signal
5. EOI(End or Identify Signal)
• Data I/O(DIO) bus: DIO1-8 pins
• Data Byte Transfer (DBT) bus:
1. DAV(Data Valid Signal)
2. NRFD (Not Ready For Data Signal)
3. NDAC(Not Data Accepted Signal)
• Generally there are about 16 active connectors

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Sensor technology
• Methods of sensor fabrication are numerous and specific for each particular design
• They comprise of semiconductors, metals optical components ceramics and
plastics
• Silicon as sensing materials
• Silicon is the second most abundant element on the earth
• It occur chiefly as oxide(sand, quartz, rock crystal, clay, mica, and so forth) and as
silicates
• It prepared by heating silica and carbon in an electric furnace using carbon
electrodes
• Silicon is in expensive, and exhibits a number of physical effects, which are quit
useful in sensor application
Example: photovoltaic effect from the effect of light stream or radiation,
piezoresistive from the effect of mechanical strain
• The major problem for silicon is that its response shows temperature sensitivity
• It is possible to deposit a layer of materials with the desired sensitivity on top of
the silicon substrate to obtain the desired response

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Thank you for your attention!!!

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Exam
1. Design(A,V,MM)
2. General Theory
3. Unexpected question like

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