Name of the experiment: Frequency measurement using Integrated Circuits.

I. Objective Fig. 1 Experimental circuit for frequency measurement

Study of frequency to voltage conversion using integrated
circuits for frequency measurement purposes. III. Experimental Circuit

The circuit diagram is shown in Fig. 1. A uA741 OPAMP

II. Measurement technique
A mono-stable timer produces a pulse at the output whose
width is dependent on the timing resistance and
capacitance. For a 555 timer connected in mono-stable
mode, the pulse width is given by
t w =1.1RC seconds (1)
Triggering pulses are generated from the frequency signal
using a ZCD and an inverting buffer through a RC
differentiator. The mono-stable timer is triggered at the
frequency, f. The average dc voltage output of the mono-
stable timer will be,
Vout = Vcc t w f =1.1V cc fRC (2)
Measure the voltage Vout for a known frequency, fs. The
voltage output at fs is monitored.
is configured as a zero crossing detector (ZCD). The
output of the ZCD is connected to an inverting buffer
using transistor Q2N2222. The 555 timer is configured in
mono-stable mode. The output of the timer is connected to
a RC low pass filter.
Proceed according to the following steps.
Step 1 Adjust the signal generator frequency to 100 Hz
and the signal amplitude to 1V.
Step 2 Measure and record the output voltage of the RC
filter with a dc meter.
Step 3 Record voltage waveforms at different points.
Step 4 Repeat steps 2 & 3 for frequencies at 100Hz steps
upto 1kHz.

V s =1.1V cc f s RC (3) IV. Software simulation

• Simulate the experimental circuit in Fig. 1 with
Combining (2) and (3) one gets, PSPICE.
Vout f • See the effects of changing the RC parameters of the
= (4) filter.
Vs fs

Vout V. Report
or, f = f s (5)
Vs • Describe how frequency is measured using this
circuit.