SIGNAL CONDITIONING

Figure shows the block diagram of signal conditioning. The transducer is used to convert the quantity to be measured
into an electrical signal. Signal inputs accepted by signal conditioners include DC voltage and current, AC voltage and
current, frequency and electric charge. Sensor input devices can be
accelerometer, thermocouple, thermistor, resistance thermometer, strain
gauge or bridge, and LVDT or RVDT. Specialized input devices
include encoder, counter of tachometer, timer or clock, relay or switch,
and other specialized inputs. Outputs for signal conditioning equipment
can be voltage, current, frequency, other specialized outputs from timer
or counter, relay, resistance or potentiometer, etc.
The electrical output signal generated by a transducer often needs
“conditioning” before it can be measured. The signal may require
amplification, filtering, linearization and more before it can accurately
read it. Additionally, some transducers require an excitation source or
proper biasing to complete measurements.
The signal conditioning equipment may be required to perform linear
processes such as amplification, attenuation, integration, differentiation, addition or subtraction. They are also required
to do non-linear processes such as modulation, demodulation, sampling, filtering, clipping and clamping, squaring and
linearizing or multiplication by another function. These functions require proper selection of components and
reproduction of the final output for the presentation stage.
The signal conditioning in many situation is an excitation and amplification system for passive transducer. For active
transducers it may be amplification system. In both the application, the transducer output is brought up to sufficient
level to make it useful for conversion, processing indicating and recording.
Excitation is needed for passive transducer because these transducers don’t generate their own voltage or current
depending upon the excitation source, a signal conditioning circuit may have an AC or a DC voltage source and
according to these sources, signal conditioning circuit may be classified as-
1. D.C Signal Conditioning System
2. A.C Signal Conditioning System

D.C SIGNAL CONDITIONING SYSTEM-

These are generally used for common resistance transducers such as potentiometer and strain gauges. In the calibration
and zeroing network unit the calibration of desired or required parameters like voltage, current, resistance is calibrated
in terms of measurand, for example, strain gauge is used in the dc bridge, whose parameters are found in terms of
resistance but is calibrated in terms of force, pressure or displacement.
The zeroing network process for calibration such that
only linear portion of the transducer characteristics is
generated. Therefore zeroing network fixes the zero
point and calibration starts from here.
In the DC amplifier we have amplification, integration,
addition, subtraction etc units. This unit works only
when it is supplied by power supply. The low pass filter is used for filtering high frequency signal.

AC SIGNAL CONDITIONING SYSTEM

It is used for variable reactance transducer and for systems where signals have to be transmitted via long cables to
connect the transducer to the signal conditioning equipment.
In this the purpose of calibration and zeroing network
unit is same as in DC signal conditioning system. The
carrier oscillator provides oscillating signal with
certain frequency to run the AC bridge. This carrier
signal is also provided to the phase sensitive
demodulator circuit to multiply the signal coming from
the bridge via AC amplification. The phase sensitive demodulator senses the phase or the signal and demodulates the
incoming signal. The low pass is used for filtering high frequency signal.
VOLTAGE TO FREQUENCY CONVERTER-
The block diagram of a voltage to frequency ADC is shown in the Figure. The analoginput voltage VAis applied to an
integrator which in turn produces a ramp signal
whoseslope is proportional to the input voltage. When the
output voltage V0 attains a certainvalue (a preset threshold
level), a trigger pulse is produced to discharge the
integrator capacitor C. Now a new ramp isinitiated. The
time between successive threshold level crossings is
inversely proportionalto the slope of the ramp. Since the
ramp slope is proportional to the input analog voltageVA,
the frequency of the output pulses from the comparator is
thus directlyproportional to the input analog voltage. This
output frequency may be measured with thehelp of a
digital frequency counter.The above method provides measurement of the true average of the input signal over the
ramp duration, and so provides high discrimination against noise present at the input. However, the digitizing rates are
slow because of high integration durations.

VOLTAGE-TO-CURRENT CONVERTER-
The left hand side figure is used for voltage to current conversion in case of
afloating load resistor, i.e. , load is not connected to ground. Applying KVL in
the input loop, Vin=Vid+Vf ≈ Vf ,
or, Vin= Vf= I0R1
V¿
or, I0 = .
R1
For a voltage to current converter with
grounded load resistor, thecircuit as
shown in the right hand side figure is
used.
I1+I2=IL
V 0−V 1 V ¿ −V 1
or, IL= +
R R
or, IL R= V0+Vin-2V1 --------------(i)
R
As the amplifier is in non-inverting mode, V0 =(1+ )V1= 2V1.
R
Putting this in (i), we get, IL R = V0+Vin-2V1 = V0+Vin- V0 = Vin
V¿
or, IL = .
R

CURRENT-TO-VOLTAGE CONVERTER-
Sometimes for measurement of current, a current-to-voltage converter may also be
used, as shown in the figure. The current under measurement is applied to the non -
inverting input of the op-amp. The current in the feedback resistor (R f)IRis equal to
the input current IINbecause of very high input impedance of the op-amp. The
current IRcauses a voltage drop across one of the resistors selected as R f, which is
proportional to the input current IIN. Different resistors are employed for different
ranges. Vout = IRRf = IINRf.

SAMPLE AND HOLD CIRCUITS-

Analog-to-digital converters are used to convert the electrical signals in analog form to their digital equivalent. In most
of the applications in real world, the signals produced by sensors or actuators are continuously changing with time in
response to the changing real world variables (e.g. pressure, volume, density,
speed, distance etc). For such situations, when the sensor or actuator output is
directly connected as an input to an A/D converter, the conversion process will
be affected due to continuous change in analog inputs. This problem isovercome by placing a sample and hold circuit
before the A/D converter.
In most of the circuits, a capacitor is used to store the analog voltage and an electronic switch or logic gate is used to
connect or disconnect the capacitor from the analog inputs. The rate at which the switch or logic gate is operated
defines the number of samples per second taken from a signal. It is also called sampling rate.
The figure below shows a typical circuit diagram of the sample and hold operation. Here analoginput is given to the
unity gain buffer amplifier A1 that offers high impedance to
the analog signal and a low output impedance to charge to
capacitor CSH. When the switch is closed, the capacitor CSHis
connected to the output of amplifier A1and will be charged.
The switch will be controlled by a digital input. The
capacitor gets charged as long as the switch is in closed
position. This is called sample operation. When the switch is
opened, the capacitor CSHwill hold this voltage so that the output of amplifier
A2 will apply the voltage to A/D converters. The unity gain amplifierA2gives
high input impedance that will not discharge the capacitor during the
conversion time of the A/D conversion operation. Thus the A/D converters
receive the steady DC input voltage. This operation is called as ‘hold’
operation.
The righthand side figure shows the waveform of the input and output of the
circuit in dashed and solid line respectively. The vertical lines represent the
instances at which the sampling is taking place. In between the two
consecutive sampling intervals, the voltage is held constant.

FILTERING
In noisy environments, it is very difficult to acquire low magnitude signals received fromsensors such as signals from
thermocouples and strain gauges (in the order of mV). If thenoise is of the same or greater order of magnitude than the
required signal, the noise mustfirst be filtered out. Signal conditioning equipment often contains low-pass filters
designedto eliminate high-frequency noise.
Filtering is a process by which the unwanted noise frequencies are removed from thesignal. Ideally, a filter should
have a very sharp cut-off frequency, in order to separate theuseful frequencies from the noise frequencies. However,
most practical filters do notaccurately attenuate the undesired frequencies beyond the desired range.
In general, analog filter hardware consists of two types of filters—namely active filtersand passive filters.
While active filters use components like OP-AMPs, passive filters consist of passivecomponents like capacitors,
inductors and resistors. Few key terms associated with a filter are discussed below.
1. Cut-off Frequency-
It is the frequency beyond which the filter attenuates all the frequencies. In general, cut-off frequency is considered as
the frequency where the normalized gain of the signal drops below 0.707 times the maximum gain.
2. Roll Off-
This is the slope of the amplitude versus the frequency graph at the region of the cut-off frequency. This characteristic
differentiates an ideal filter from a non-ideal filter.
Active filters are more frequently used as compared to passive filters due to their sharper roll-off and better stability.
Types of Filters
There are four kinds of filters, namely
Low-pass filter, high-pass filter, band-pass filter and band-stop filter.
(a) Low-Pass Filter:
A low-pass filter allows the low frequencies to pass
while attenuates the higher frequencies. The figure-(a)
shows thecharacteristics of an ideal low-pass filter,
where fOHis the cut-off frequency of the filter, and the
figure (b) shows the circuit diagram of an active low-
pass filter. The actual filter response deviates from the
original when implemented.
This circuit of a low-pass active filter uses a single
resistor and capacitor. Such a circuit is also referred to
as first-order (or single-pole) low-pass filter. It is called first-order because it makes use of a single resistor and a
capacitor. The response of such a first-order low pass filter is as shown in figure below.

The response below the cut-off frequency (fOH) shows a constant gain (indicated by a
horizontal line ‘ab’).
However, beyond the cut-off frequency, the gain does not immediately reduce to zero but
reduces with a slope of 20 dB/decade (i.e., the output voltage reduces by a factor of 100 when
the frequency increases by a factor of 10).
1
The cut-off frequency is determined by the relation, fOH = .
2 π R1 C 1

(b) High-Pass Filter:

A high-pass filter allows the high frequencies to pass while attenuates the lower frequencies. Figure (a) shows the
ideal high-pass filter characteristics, where f OH is the cut-off frequency of the filter. Figure (b) shows the circuit
diagram of an active high-pass filter. Practical filter response deviates from the original when implemented. Figure (c)
1
shows the practical filter characteristics.The cut-off frequency is determined by the relation, fOH = .
2 π R1 C 1

(c) Band-Pass (selective) Filter:

A band-pass filter is the one that is designed to pass all frequencies within its bandwidth. The first stage of the band-
pass filter will pass all frequencies that are below its cut-off value, f2. All the frequencies passed by the first stage will
head into the second stage. This state will pass all frequencies above its value of f1. The result of this circuit (as in the
figure (a) below) action is as shown in figure (b) below. The only frequencies that will pass through the amplifier are
those that fall within the pass band of both amplifiers. The values of f1 and f2 can be obtained by using the relations
1 1
and respectively. Then bandwidth, BW = f2–f1, center frequency,f0= f1f2 and Quality-factor (or Q-
2 π R1 C 1 2 π R2 C 2
f
factor) of the band-pass filter circuit,Q = 0 .
BW

(d) Band-stop (Notch) Filter:

The notch filter is designed to block all frequencies that fall within its bandwidth. The figure (a) below shows a block
diagram and the figure (b) shows the gain versus frequencies response curve of a multistage notch filter.
MODULATION METHODS:Modulation technique is used to change the signal characteristics. A sinusoidal ac
signal can be described by its (a) amplitude (b) frequency and (c) phase shift.
Accordingly three methods of modulation are used and they are (i) Amplitude
modulation, (ii) Frequency modulation, (iii) Phase modulation.
Modulation of a signal is a widely used phenomenon in telecommunication and
electronics.
Going by the definition Modulation is a technique for impressing information
(voice, music, picture, or data) on a radio-frequency carrier wave by varying one or more characteristics of the wave
by the signal carrying the information.
The carrier wave, usually a high-frequency wave used to carry the information wave, can travel up to a longer distance
without getting affected by external disturbances, thus called so.
The transmitter side uses modulation and the receiver side uses demodulation.
 Amplitude modulation:-
In amplitude modulation, the amplitude of a carrier signal is varied by a
modulating voltage signal (output of a transducer) whose frequency is
much lower than that of the carrier.
Let the modulating signal be m(t)=A mcos(2πfmt) and the carrier signal be
x(t)=Accos(2πfct)
Then equation of Amplitude Modulated wave will be
s(t)=[Ac+Amcos(2πfmt)]cos(2πfct)
=[Ac+m(t)]cos(2πfct)
= x(t) + m(t)cos(2πfct)
 Frequency modulation:-
Frequency modulation is a system in which the amplitude of the modulated carrier is kept constant, while its frequency
is varied by the modulating signal.
Equation of Frequency Modulated wave will be

Modulation makes the signal suitable for long distance transmission as

original signal is of very low frequency and hence not suitable for long distance transmission.
MULTIPLEXING-
Multiplexing is the process of combining multiple signals into one signal, over a shared medium. If analog signals are
multiplexed, it is Analog Multiplexing and if digital signals are multiplexed, that process is Digital Multiplexing.
The purpose of multiplexing is to enable signals to be transmitted more efficiently over a given communication
channel, thereby decreasing transmission costs. A device called a multiplexer (often shortened to "mux") combines the
input signals into one signal.
Generally two types of multiplexing are widely used. These are Frequency Division Multiplexing and Time Division
Multiplexing.
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM):
Frequency division multiplexing is defined as a type of multiplexing where the bandwidth of a single physical medium
is divided into a number of smaller, independent frequency channels.
Frequencies of individual signals are changed appropriately with the
help of modulation. In this process for different signals carriers of
different frequencies are used as shown in the figure below. Then each
of the modulated signals is transmitted through the channel reserved
for the respective frequency bandwidth. At the receiver, the composite signal is demodulated to get back the original
signals at different output lines.
FDM is used in radio and television transmission.In FDM, we can observe a lot
of inter-channel cross-talk, due to the fact that in this type of multiplexing the
bandwidth is divided into frequency channels. In order to prevent the inter-
channel cross talk, unused strips of bandwidth must be placed between each
channel as shown in the attached figure. These unused strips between each
channel are known as guard bands. But this reduces the effective bandwidth
used for signal transmission.
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM):
A TDM system enables the joint utilization of a common
communication channel by a plurality of independent message
sources, without mutual interference among them.
We can see that source A, B and C wants to transmit data
through a common medium. Thus, the signal from the 3 sources
is divided into multiple frames each having their fixed time slot.
Here 3 units from each source are taken into considerations that
jointly form the actual signal. A frame is transmitted at a time
that is composed of one unit of each source. When a frame gets
transmitted over the particular time slot, the next frame uses the
same channel to get transmitted. Here we have taken the example
of 3 different sources, but one can perform multiplexing of n
number of source signals.
Two types of TDM are there – synchronous and asynchronous,
the latter being more efficient and uses bandwidth more effectively.
Nyquist Theorem/ Sampling Theorem:
According to the Nyquist Theorem, the sampling rate of an analog signal must be at least 2fmax, or twice the highest
analog frequency component present in the signal for faithful reproduction of the original signal from its samples.
The Nyquist Theorem, also known as the sampling theorem, is a principle that engineers follow in the digitization of
analog signals. For analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) to result in a faithful reproduction of the signal, slices,
called samples, of the analog waveform must be taken frequently. The number of samples per second is called the
sampling rate or sampling frequency
Few more types of multiplexing are used in physical systems. These are discussed below.
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM):
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is used in optical fiber by transmitting multiple optical signals
simultaneously over a single optical fiber, each signal with a different wavelength. At the receiving end, the signals are
separated by their wavelengths, de-multiplexed and routed to their respective destinations.
Code Division multiplexing (CDM):
In CDM, the modulation is done by a code specified to each of the users to generate spread spectrum signal. Then the
signals are transmitted through the same channel and upon reception demodulation is done by the same codes
specified for the respective users.
Space Division Multiplexing (SDM):
One type of SDM uses multi-core cables to transmit multiple signals through a single cable, each core of which is
dedicated to one signal.