Course Schedule for ELEC 105

Instrumentation Course - Flow of Material
(Note: This is under construction. Details of the schedule will be adjusted as we proceed through the course. The flow of material through the units outlined below is fairly firm, with two exceptions. If we can find enough time, we will consider the topics of Digital Filters (filtering signals within programs) and some simple Control Systems. Each unit will take approximately a week, although the material on diodes will be short - just covering what we need for processing the AC tachometer signal.)

Note:

Quizzes on Wednesdays - the first day of each weekly segment in bold red
Problems due on Mondays - the last day of each weekly segment in bold green

Week 1 (Jan 19, 21, 26) - Basic Concepts & Basic Measurements
Week 2 (Jan 26, 28, 31) - Sensors & Time Constants
Week 3 (Feb 2, 4, 7) - Signals & Diodes + Another Time Constant System
Week 4 (Feb 9, 11, 14) - Operational Amplifiers
Week 5 (Feb 16, 18, 21) - Filters
Week 6 (Feb 23, 25, 28) - Fourier Series
Week 7 (Mar 2, 4, 7) - FFT (Fast Fourier Transform)
Week 8 (Mar 16, 18, 21) - LabVIEW
Week 9 (Mar 23, 25, 28) - GPIB (IEEE-488 Instruments) - Including GPIB in LabVIEW
Week 10 (Mar 30, Apr 1, 4) - Data Representation & File Operations
Week 11 (Apr 6, 8, 11) - Data Conversion
Week 12 (Apr 13, 15, 18) - Control
Week 13 (Apr 20, 22, 25) - Network Measurements
Week 14 (Apr 27, 29,May 2) -
Links: Basic Concepts, Sensors, Time Constants, Diodes, Opamps, Filters, Filters with Noise, Fourier Series, FFT, LabVIEW, GPIB, Data Representation, Data Conversion (Meter Data), File Operations, Network Measurements. Control Systems,

Study Guide - Basic Concepts & Basic Measurements

Topics

Charge, Current & Voltage
Lab to measure voltage and sensor output for temperature sensors
After lab, need to discuss voltage dividers, sensor dynamics.

Problems

Lab Work

General Readings

Class Notes
Objectives

Study Guide - Sensors (Voltage Sources)

Topics

Resistive Sensors
Voltage Divider Circuits

Problems

Lab Work

Readings (Print these)

General Readings

Class notes
Objectives

Study Guide - Time Constants

Topics

What is a time constant?
Measuring time constants

Problems

Time Constant Quiz (Interactive Problem) - Not for hand-in

Lab Work

AC Tachometer (Time Constant/Rectification Circuit) (See also Diode Lab Work)
You will need to build a diode detector for this laboratory.
The Starry Night experiment.

Readings (Print these)

General Readings

Linear First Order System Dynamics

Class notes
Objectives

Study Guide - Diodes - (We will cover enough material about diodes to ensure that you can use diode circuits - rectifiers with filters, as in power supply circuits - to rectify and filter signals from AC tachometers.)

Topics

Diode circuits

Problems - for other problems see the Study Guide

Basic Power Supply Circuit (Interactive Problem) - Not for hand-in
Using Diode-Capacitor Rectifiers with Varying Signals
A Guided Problem - Problem Diode4P00 -This problem is not for hand in. Do it to help yourself learn about how the tachometer signal can be changed into a DC signal that can be sampled by a Data Acquisition Unit or a Digital Voltmeter.
Problem Diode4P07 - Filtering a 60 Hz signal with constant amplitude

Lab Work

General Readings

Class notes
Objectives

Study Guide - Signals

Topics

Kinds of Signals - Sinusoidal, DC, Noise
Signal Representation - Parameters of Sinusoidal Signals

Problems - for other problems see the Study Guide

Lab Work

The Starry Night Experiment - A Simulator Problem

Readings (Print these)

Note on the Nyquist Sampling Theorem

Class notes
Objectives

Study Guide - Operational Amplifiers -

Topics

What are operational amplifiers?
Basic op-amp circuits (especially for instrumentation and measurement applications)

Problems - for other problems see the Study Guide

Problem OpAmp2P04 - Calculating resistor values in an inverting amplifier.
Problem OpAmp2P05 - Determining the function of a more complex op-amp circuit
Problem OpAmp3P05 - Op-amp averaging circuit

Lab Work

The op-amp buffer (isolation amplifier) is needed for the diode rectifier lab and the introduction to filter lab.

Readings (Print these)

General Readings

Class notes
Objectives

Study Guide - Filters

Topics

What is a filter?
Effects of a filter on AC (sinusoidal) signals

Problems

Interactive Problems A, B, - Not for hand-in
Problem Freq1P01 - A Filter Problem
Problem Freq1P02 - A Filter Problem
Problem Freq1P03 - A Filter Problem

Lab Work

Filter Appreciation Day

Readings (Print These)

First Order Filters (without Phasor Analysis)

Class notes - Filters
Objectives

Study Guide - Filters with Noise

Topics

Effects of a filter on noise

Problems

Interactive Problem C - Not for hand-in

Lab Work

Readings (Print These)
Class notes - Filters/Noise
Objectives

Study Guide - Fourier Series

Topics

What is a Fourier Series?
Calculating Fourier Series coefficients

Problems - for other problems see the Study Guide

Freq4P00 - A guided problem (not for hand-in)
Freq4P01 - The half-wave rectified sine wave
Freq4P02 - A rectangular pulse signal

Lab Work

Fourier Series Intro - Get Square Wave Data

Readings (Print These)

General Readings

Introduction to Fourier Series

Class Notes - Fourier Series
Objectives

Study Guide - FFT (Fast Fourier Transform)

Topics

What is the FFT?

Problems - for more problems see the Study Guide

Freq4P17 - A Five Volt Square Wave (Lab Data) - Getting the Fourier coefficients using the FFT
Freq4P03 - Twanging a bar (Lab Data)

Lab Work

Readings (Print These)

Numerical Calcuation of Fourier Series Coefficients (FFT) - some points to observe
A Note on How Fourier Coefficients are calculated in FFT Algorithms
A Note on What the c's mean in a Fourier Series
Calculating the FFT in Matlab
Calculating the FFT in Mathcad
An Example (Interpreting the FFT) - Triangle Wave

Class Notes
Objectives

Study Guide - LabVIEW

Topics

Introduction to programming in LabVIEW
Add 2 Numbers
Loops
Writing data to files
IEEE-488 (GPIB) Instrument control in LabVIEW
Intro to GPIB in LabVIEW

Problems

Lab Work

Introduction to LabVIEW - Adding Two Numbers
Introduction to LabVIEW - Using a Timed Loop

Readings

LabVIEW for Dummies - A Web-Link that is a good resource for LabVIEW. (No implication that anyone reading this material is a dummy!)
LabVIEW for Everyone - available (paperback) at the bookstore.

Class Notes
Objectives

Study Guide - Computer Controlled Measurements & Instruments - GPIB (IEEE-488)

Topics

Computer Controlled Instruments (General)
What is GPIB (IEEE-488)?

Problems
Lab Work

Taking temperature measurements with the Hydra in LabVIEW

Readings (Print These)

Readings

An Introduction to GPIB/IEEE-488 Measurements (using the Hydra DAU)

Class Notes
Objectives

Data Representation,

Topics

Numerical Formats - Integers, Floating Point, Strings
Why different formats?
Conversion between formats

Problems

Problem DataFile1P01 -
Problem DataFile1P03 - Size of a Data File
Problem DataFile4P02 - Dr Mallity's Data File
Problem DataFile4P03 - Data Transmission Rate

Lab Work

Readings (Print These)

General Readings

Class Notes
Objectives

Data Conversion - Meter Data & A/D & D/A Converters

Topics

Meter Data

Problems

Problem ConvADP00 - A Guided Problem
Problem ConvADP01 - A/D Problem
Problem DVMP01 - DVM Problem
Problem DVMP02 - DVM Problem
Problem DVMP03 - DVM Problem

Lab Work

A/D Converter Lab - Using the A/D in a DVM and determining parameters for that A/D. Link to report form.
Remote Viewing in LabVIEW - Do this and let your instructor or lab assistant check you off.

Readings (Print These)

Note: Going from an A/D to a DVM

General Readings

Comparators - Background for A/Ds, etc.
D/As
A/Ds
Meter Data

Class Notes
Objectives

File Operations

Topics

File Operations

Opening a file
Writing data to a file (including data formats)
Closing a file

Problems

Problem DataFile1P01 - Data Transfer Rate in SneakerNet
Problem DataFile1P03 - Given Data, Calculate File Size
Problem DataFile4P01 - File Size from a Data Set
Problem DataFile4P02 - Time to fill a disk
Problem DataFile4P03 - Data Rate over a Phone Line

Lab Work

General Readings

Class Notes
Objectives

Network Introduction - Network Measurements

Problems

Problem Network1P01 - An introductory question
Problem Network3P01 - A TCP/IP question

Readings (Print These)

Remote Viewing in LabVIEW - Viewing operation of a vi over a remote connection
TCP/IP Note - A short discourse on what needs to take place when implementing a TCP/IP server.
TCP/IP in LabVIEW - Anatomy of a simple data server and of a client that works with the server.

Lab Work

Remote Viewing in LabVIEW
TCP/IP Connections - Wiring your control vi to send output measurements.

Readings

Basic Network Concepts

Class Notes
Objectives

Control Systems

Topics

General Structure of a Control System

Problems

A First Order Control System - Contains material to hand in
A Second Order Control System - Contains material to hand in
A First Order Control System/Digital Control - Contains material to hand in

Simulator

Third Order Proportional Control

Lab Work

Introduction to Control Systems - ON-OFF Control - Using the Home Heating System Simulator
A Note on Programming Control Systems in LabVIEW
Introduction to Control System - Proportional Control - Using the Liquid Level System

Readings (Print These)

Class Notes
Objectives