IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 20, NO.

3, FEBRUARY 1, 2020 1383

Design and Implementation of an RF-Based

Wireless Displacement Transmitter
Bikas Mondal, Rajan Sarkar, Member, IEEE , and Nirupama Mandal , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract —The main objective of this article is to design and

implement a wireless inductive type displacement transmitter.
Wireless networks are playing a vital role in the modern
process industrial environment due to their robustness, lower
installation cost, low maintenance cost and low energy con-
sumption in public frequency band domain. A simple, cost-
effective general-purpose multi-channel hardware module
has been designed using Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver in
the field of wireless sensor network applications. The electric
signal from the modified differential inductance bridge circuit
is fed to the RF based wireless module for transmitting the
sensor’s data to the control room of the process industry. The
output of the sensor is conditioned in the range of 0-5 volt
for the proposed system. This time varying analog data is converted into 8-bit parallel data. This 8-bit parallel data is
transmitted through the transmitter module and then received by the receiver in the form of power. The output is decoded
with the decoder of the receiver side. The decoded voltage signal is almost same as the output voltage signal of the sensor.
From the experimental datasheet, it is reflected that this modified wireless RF based transmitter has good linearity and
repeatability for short distance transmission.
Index Terms — Inductive sensor, modified Maxwell’s bridge, wireless transceiver, displacement transmitter.

I. I NTRODUCTION chosen as a primary sensing element in this work. The output

M EASUREMENT of displacement is very crucial part in
the process industry as well as in laboratory applica-
tions. Vibration measuring system plays the vital role in power
plant like thermal, hydel etc. where the motor shaft rotates
and generally vibration is measured by means of measurement
of displacement. Other applications of displacement measure-
ment are measurement of thickness, flatness and roughness
etc. In process industries, many physical properties are used
in different types of displacement sensing instrument such as
inductive, capacitive, resistive, eddy current, Proximity pick-
up, magnetic, sonic and optical properties. These displace-
ments sensing instruments have some merits and demerits in
terms of static and dynamic characteristics [1]–[6]. Among
these techniques, inductive displacement sensing technique is
Manuscript received July 9, 2019; revised September 21, 2019;
accepted October 6, 2019. Date of publication October 14, 2019; date of
current version January 17, 2020. The associate editor coordinating the
review of this article and approving it for publication was Prof. Yu-Te Liao.
(Corresponding author: Rajan Sarkar.)
B. Mondal is with the Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
Department, Asansol Engineering College, Asansol 713305, India.
R. Sarkar is with the Electrical Engineering Department,
Asansol Engineering College, Asansol 713305, India (e-mail:
rajan_maa@rediffmail.com).
N. Mandal is with the Electronics Engineering Department, Indian
Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, Dhanbad
826004, India.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2019.2947318
of the sensor is proportional to the change in linear displace-
ment and this output voltage signal needs to be transmitted to
the control room for the controlling, monitoring, data storing
purpose etc. Here, for transmitting purpose, RF based wireless
transmitter module is used. For displacement measurement and
transmission, many researchers have reported different tech-
niques. Flammini et al. [7] have presented a multi-channel
small displacement (μm) measurement technique where mea-
surement has been done by differential variable reluctance
transducers (DVRTs) and the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
evaluation-based signal processing technique. Fericean and
Droxler [8] have reported a non-contact type linear displace-
ment and proximity inductance type sensor. Wu et al. [9]
have designed a highly sensitive self-actuating transducer
for the measurement of linear displacement using modified
linear variable differential transformer (LVDT). Another dis-
placement sensor combining with accelerometer has devel-
oped by Zeng et al. [10]. The transducer is based on fiber
Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity and the developed transducer is
compared with the theoretical values. Chattopadhyay and
Bera [11] have designed an inductance measurement tech-
nique using a modified Maxwell–Wien bridge circuit. The
main component of the modified Maxwell-Wien bridge is
operational-amplifier (OP-AMP) to minimize or to nullify
stray capacitance effect between bridge nodal points and the
ground and also reduce the stray inductance on the inductive

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1384 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 20, NO. 3, FEBRUARY 1, 2020

coil. Zhou and Yu [12] have designed a fiber-optic Fabry–

Perot interferometer based displacement sensor, having a high
resolution and dynamic range of 3 mm. Chen et al.[13] have
presented a high sensitive (0.036 nm/mm) optical fiber dis-
placement sensor based on piston and hydromantic structured
transducer and dual-wavelength Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG),
which can measure linear displacement and the range of the
displacement is up-to 45 mm approximately. Sun et al. [14]
have designed an ultrasonic (frequency 25KHz) non-contact
type displacement measurement technique with the resolution
of 0.1mm, which can measure the displacement from 6 mm
to 7 meters. Nowadays wireless data transmission is recom-
mended for different applications with the help of WSN as
the information of a number of variables can be transferred
to remote location. Zhu et al. [15] have developed a Wireless
Sensor Network (WSN) for monitoring the moisture contain
of soil, temperature or humidity of air, etc. by sensor nodes
of the WSN in the field of agricultural monitoring system for
distance of more than 200 meters in an open field environment.
Anandan and George [16] have designed a unique capacitive
based displacement sensor that can measure linear displace-
ment as well as angular displacement. Tan Lam et al. [17]
have proposed a sensing module for Wireless Sensor Net-
work (WSN) and compared it with some commercially avail- Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of proposed displacement sensor.
able products for the same purpose. The authors have also
focused on the designing part of the wireless sensor nodes
and programming algorithm of the data transfer protocol for precise micro and nano range displacement transducer based
wireless sensing nodes of WSN. Reverter and Gasulla [18] on radio frequency resonant cavities [27].
have reported a unique technique for the demodulation of In this paper, a RF based wireless displacement technique
Amplitude Modulation (AM) signals by using a digital timer for inductive pick-up type displacement sensor is reported.
which can only be incorporated with a low-cost microcon- The simpler design and less costly prototype proposed system
troller as a core. Kisic et al. [19] have developed a hetero- can be used for transmission of the data in inflammable areas
geneous integrated WSN based inductance type displacement for various industries or electrically hazardous areas where
measurement technique with the help of an inductor, which electrical wired transmission is not possible. In transmitter
is fabricated using Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology, section, five transducers may be connected for wireless data
a spacer and an electrode on a flexible polyimide foil as mem- transmission. The change in displacement is measured by
brane. van de Ven et al. [20] have proposed highly precise, inductive pickup type displacement sensor and the voltage
self-aligning, self-calibrating capacitive type displacement sen- signal from modified Maxwell bridge circuit is then wirelessly
sor, which can compensate the unwanted small vibration. transmitted through radio frequency signal to the control room
Babu and George [21] have designed a contactless inductive or remote location.
type displacement measurement technique considering a fixed
planar spiral coil and a movable U-shaped magnetic core as an II. M ETHOD OF A PPROACH
inductive sensing element. Sandra et al. [22] have developed
a non-contact type displacement sensor by combining of A. Primary Sensing Element
variable reluctance and Hall probe sensor. Ozdagli et al. [23] Primary sensing element is a metallic, laminated,
have reported a low budget, Arduino-based, wireless sensing rectangular frame which is made of soft iron material. One side
network system for the measurement of the displacement of the soft iron frame consists of circular holes as presented in
of Railroad bridges. Sinha et al. [24] have designed a cost Fig. 1. A cylindrical frame made of insulating material Teflon,
effective, wireless, capacitive type technique for the mea- wound by solenoid coil is placed behind the holes of the
surement of pressure and Frequency Shift Key (FSK) based rectangular frame. The installation of the cylindrical frame is
transmitter for transmission of pressure signal. Mondal et al. done in such a manner that the holes present on the cylindrical
have designed an optical inductive linear displacement trans- Teflon frame are on the similar axis of the hole of rectangular
ducer based on Mach-Zehander Interferometers (MZI) [25]. frame. Let’s again consider that diameter of holes of Teflon
But the main disadvantage of the design is its cost, and frame as same as that of the metal frame and the diameter
only one transducer is attached with the MZI transmitter of soft iron cylinder is less than that of holes. The soft iron
unit. Ozdagli et al. [26] have introduced a low-cost wireless rod is connected mechanically to the moving object whose
dynamic transverse displacement system of railroad bridge in displacement is to be measured and other end of the cylindrical
real time using Arduino. Asua et al. have developed a highly iron rod is kept free. When the moving object displaced,

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MONDAL et al.: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RF-BASED WIRELESS DISPLACEMENT TRANSMITTER 1385

the rod moves freely through the circular holes present on Therefore,
the Teflon frame. The controlling torque or force provided  
1 1 1
by the spiral spring reduces the damping torque or oscillation K2 = + (6)
2 μ0 A 3 μ0 μ2 A 2
of the circular solid rod which is connected with the moving
object. The magnetic path reluctance also gets reduced with Hence, K 2 is positive.
the spiral spring. For that consideration, the spring is made Now,
 
of magnetic material. The construction of the metal structure 1 d1 t d 1 1
is done in such a manner that magnetic flux produced by the K1 = ( + )+ ( + ) (7)
2 μ0 μ1 A 1 μ0 A 1 2 μ0 μ2 A 2 μ0 A 3
coil gets two paths which are parallel in nature. Therefore, or,
the effectiveness of the reluctance of the magnetic path of
the coil gets decreased, which increases the sensitivity of the K1 = K3 + K2 d (8)
movement of the solid rod. The overall effective reluctance
where,
of the magnetic field of the solenoid coil is expressed as [25],
  K3 =
1
(
d1
+
t
) (9)
1 d1 d d t
R0 = + + + 2 μ0 μ1 A 1 μ0 A 1
2 μ0 μ1 A 1 μ0 μ2 A 2 μ0 A 3 μ0 A 1
  Again, d > Y0
Y0 1 1 1 1
+ − + − (1) or, K 2 d > K 2 Y0
2 μ0 μA μ0 μ2 A2 μ0 A 4 μ0 A 3 Therefore,
where, K 1 = K 3 + K 2 d > K 2 Y0 (10)
Y0 = Initial length of the core (solid rod) which is inserted
into magnetic field (mm); So, for starting length (Y0 ) of the moving rod, the produced
D = Total magnetic field length inside the coil (mm); inductance of the pick-up coil is given by,
d 1 = Parallel magnetic path effective length of each
n2 n2
coil (mm); L0 = = (11)
t = Thickness of air gap between magnetic core and fixed X0 K 1 − K 2 Y0
magnetic path (mm); where, ‘s’ denotes the total number of turns of each of the
A = Movable iron rod cross-sectional area; coil.
A1 = Parallel magnetic path cross-sectional area; Two identical pick-up coils make two inductors having
A2= cross-sectional area of spiral spring inside coil; inductance L 0 of each inductor for same Y0 as presented in
A3 and A4 are the effective cross-sectional area of the air Fig. 2. One of these pick-up coils rigidly fixed with the core
gap of the magnetic path in restoring spring inside coil and at the length of Y0 and the other pick-up coil is attached to
that in movable core inside coil; the movable core. The movable core is connected to the object
μ, μ1, μ2 = Relative permeability of material of movable whose linear displacement is to be monitored.
rod, the rectangular metal frame and restoring spiral spring Let’s consider that the change in displacement Y of the
respectively; movable solid rod which act as a core from its starting position
Therefore, the magnetic reluctance can be expressed as Y0 , and due to which, the inductance of the coil is changed
from L 0 to L 0 + L.
R0 = K 1 − K 2 Y0 (2) Therefore, the inductance of the coil of movable core
with the change in displacement of the core Y due to the
where,
  movement of object from its initial position is expressed by,
1 d1 d d t
K1 = + + + n2
2 μ0 μ1 A 1 μ0 μ2 A 2 μ0 A 3 μ0 A 1 L Y = (L 0 + L) = (12)
K 1 − K 2 (Y0 + Y )
and
 
1 1 1 1 B. Signal Conditioning Unit
K2 = − +
2 μ0 μ2 A 2 μ0 μA μ0 A3 A modified Maxwell’s bridge circuit based on the opera-
Now from construction of the sensor, tional amplifier is used for the measurement of the change
in inductance with respect to the change in displacement of
μA  μ2 A2 (3) core which is attached to a moving object as presented in
Fig. 2. A fixed or dummy inductor having inductance of L0
since μ2 may be less than or equal to μ, but A2  A. and a fixed resistor having resistance of R0 is attached to the
Therefore, modified Maxwell’s bridge arm AB and the movable core
1 1 having the inductance of LY is attached in arm AD of the
 (4)
μ0 μA μ0 μ2 A 2 same measuring bridge circuit. A potentiometer having the
value of R1 and a fixed resistor having a value of R2 are
Hence,
connected at arm BC and CD respectively. Two operational
1 1 1 amplifiers, namely G1 and G2 are connected at the nodes B
− ≈ (5)
μ0 μ2 A 2 μ0 μA μ0 μ2 A 2 and D of the measuring bridge circuit respectively which are

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1386 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 20, NO. 3, FEBRUARY 1, 2020

Fig. 2. Schematic figure of signal conditioning unit.

in the same potential of virtual ground. Therefore, the stray From (15) & (17), we have,
capacitance effect between output nodes of the bridge and with  
V2 R1 VS VS
the ground are nullified. This modified induction measuring = − (18)
Rf R2 R0 + j ωL 0 RY + j ωL Y
bridge is delivered with a stabilized ac having r.m.s value of
V2 VS
Vs and frequency of ‘f’. let us consider that I1 , I2 , I3 and or, =
I4 are the currents passing through the bridge arms AB, BC, Rf R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 )(RY + j ωL Y )
CD and DA respectively. The output voltages of op-amps G1 , × [R1 (RY + j ωL Y ) − R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 )] (19)
G2 are V1 and V2 respectively. VS R f
or, V2 =
Hence, R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 )(RY + j ωL Y )
× [R1 (RY + j ωL Y ) − R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 )] (20)
VS V1 V1 For two identical coils RY = R0 and LY = L0 + L for dis-
I1 = , I2 = , I3 = ,
R0 + j ωL 0 R1 R2 placement Y. Therefore, equation (20), can be rewritten as,
VS V0 Vs R f [R1 [R0 + j ω (L 0 + L)] − [R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 )]]
I4 = and I f = (13) V2 =
Rx + j ωL x Rf R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 ) [R0 + j ω (L 0 + L)]
Applying KCL at D, I3 + I4 + I f = 0 (14) (21)
Again, assume that R1 = R2 = R and the measuring bridge
From (13), we have is balanced at zero displacement i.e., at Y = 0 and L = 0.
From the equation (21) the change of the bridge output
  voltage due to the change in displacement of Y and change
V2 VS in inductance of L becomes as follows,
V1 = −R2 + (15)
Rf RY + j ωL Y Vs R f j ωL
V2 = (22)
R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 ) [R0 + j ω (L 0 + L)]
and, or,
V2 = K 4 L (23)
I1 + I2 = 0 (16) where,
Vs R f j ω
K4 = (24)
From (13) & (16), we have, R2 (R0 + j ωL 0 ) [R0 + j ω (L 0 + L)]
Since L  L 0 , so equation (24) has become,
 
VS Vs R f j ω
V1 = −R1 (17) K4 = = Constant (25)
R0 + j ωL 0 (R0 + j ωL 0 )2

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MONDAL et al.: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RF-BASED WIRELESS DISPLACEMENT TRANSMITTER 1387

From equations (11) & (12) we have, TABLE I

B INARY C ODED O UTPUT OF DTMF D ECODER
L = L Y − L 0 (26)
or,
n2 K 2
L = Y (27)
[K 1 − K 2 Y0 ][K 1 − K 2 (Y0 + Y )]
Assuming, Y  Y0 , equation (27) reduces to
n2 K 2
L = Y = K 5 Y (28)
(K 1 − K 2 Y0 )2
n K2 2
where, K 5 = (K −K
2 Y0 )
2
1
Combining (23) and (28) we get,
V2 = K 4 L = K 4 K 5 Y (29)
Let, us consider that the output voltage of measuring bridge
is ‘a’ for null displacement of the core which is fixed at
the starting position of the core with a fixed supply voltage
varying the resistance of the span adjustment potentiometer
and frequency. The output of the bridge is increased by V2
(R5 ) as presented in Fig. 2. The signal conditioner output is
on account of displacement of Y. Hence, the bridge output
minimum at the zero displacement and is maximum when the
voltage for the change in displacement Y of the core from
measured displacement is maximum i.e, 400mm.
its initial position, is given by,
V2 = a + V2 = a + K 4 K 5 Y = a + bY (30) C. RF Based Wireless Transceiver Module
where, Now the third part of this proposed device is a wireless
  transceiver module. The output of the signal conditioning unit
 Vs R f j ω  n2 K 2
b = K 4 K 5 =  
2
(31) is transmitted from the transmitter unit. It is installed near
(R0 + j ωL 0 ) (K 1 − K 2 Y0 )2 the signal conditioner block to the receiving unit which is
The sensitivity of the transducer ‘b’ is constant for a fixed located at remote location or in the control room through
supply voltage Vs at fixed frequency of ‘f’ and fixed feedback public frequency domain (RF based). Fig. 3 shows the details
resistance of the op- amp G2 . schematic for RF based wireless transmitter.
Hence, from the equation (30), the output voltage due to The wireless transmitter section, installed in the field can
change in inductance of the measuring bridge is fairly linear be interfaced up-to five sensors. The signal from sensors is
with the variation of displacement. The proposed transducer then wirelessly transmitted to a receiver unit through analog
has sensitivity factor ‘b’ which can be changed by adjusting to digital converter (ADC) and RF based 433MHz transmitter
the feedback resistance Rf connected to the op-amp G2 with module. At a time one sensor’s data is to be transmitted and
the constant excitation supply voltage and frequency of the this is done by the DTMF module which is instructed by user’s
measuring bridge circuit. It is one of the advantages of pro- mobile. For selecting a sensor, user needs to press some key on
posed transducer. Also noted that for a fixed excitation supply their phone after making a call to receive phone and the binary
voltage and a fixed feedback resistance Rf , the sensitivity coded output of the DTMF decoder is shown in Table I.
‘b’ of the measuring bridge changes linearly with supply Required control signal for selecting analog channels for
excitation frequency. In this work, the effect of feedback resis- sensor data is shown in Table II. Three control bits are required
tance (Rf ) on the output of the proposed wireless transmitter for selecting the analog channel as well as sensor in this
has been analysed. proposed work. So, we have to connect 3-bit out of 4-bit binary
Now this AC signal V2 from op-amp G2 is converted into output of DTMF decoder. Here it is noted that by default the
DC signal in the range of 1.36 Volt to 3.96 Volt which is then Sensor-1 is always selected.
fed to the wireless transmitter module through proper signal Since the sensitivity of this proposed system is approx-
conditioner unit consisting of three op-amps like G3 , G4 and imately 0.0065 Volt/mm, for that reason an amplifier is
G5 for precision rectification, for zero-span adjustment and for required. After amplification this voltage signal can precisely
buffer circuit respectively. Now the output of the buffer circuit be transmitted, received and displayed in display devices. After
(G5 ) is V3 which is linear with the output voltage of G2 (V2 ) selecting the analog channel, the analog data from the sensor
and can be written as, is first being converted into digital signal with the help of
  microcontroller based ADC, for that purpose PIC16F72 IC is
V3 = a1 + b1 V2 = a1 + b1 V2 (a + bY ) = a + b Y (32) used here. The input output relationship for 8-bit analog to
  digital conversion is given by the equation (33).
where, a = a1 + ab1 and b = bb1
Here, a1 can be varied by adjusting the resistance of the 2 N ∗ Vin
zero-adjustment potentiometer (R6 ) and b1 can be changed by D0 = (33)
Vref

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1388
Fig. 3. Transmitting unit with DTMF module.
TABLE II
C ONTROL S IGNAL FOR S ELECTING A NALOG C HANNEL
where, D0 =Digital Output
Vin =Analog Input Voltage
Vref =Reference Voltage
N = Number of bits in ADC
This digital output is converted into encrypted data by
encoder, in order to make it compatible for transmission over
RF channels. This encrypted data is transmitted in the form
of the RF frequency.
At the receiver side, the encrypted data from the transmitter
which is in the form of RF signal, is received and then
converted into its equivalent analog signals for indicating
purpose or for further use. Fig. 4 shows the details schematic
for RF based wireless receiver unit. In the receiving unit
decoder is being used to decrypt the digital data and then fed
it to Arduino. In Arduino, calibration is done for displaying
the process variable and then the calibrated data is displayed
on the LCD which is acting as an indicator. After getting the
8-bit parallel digital output, it is converted into decimal by
the equation (34). The decimal value ranges from 0 to 255,
where 0 is presented by 0000 0000 and 255 is presented as
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 20, NO. 3, FEBRUARY 1, 2020
1111 1111. The decimal value can be written as,
A = D0 20 +D1 21 +D2 22 +D3 23 +D4 24 + D5 25 + D6 26 + D7 27
(34)
The equivalent output analog voltage can be written as,
Vre f ∗ A
Vout = Vin = (35)
2N
where,
A = Equivalent Decimal output for N-bit binary input
Vref = Reference Voltage = 5V
N = Number of bits in ADC
Therefore, we obtain equivalent 0 to 5 Volt signal as
expressed in equation (35).
III. D ESIGN
In this proposed system, the magnetic frame, the movable
rod act as a core which is connected to moving object
whose displacement is to be measured and controlled. The
Spiral spring are made from the silicon iron steel having
large permeability. To reduce the effect of eddy current loss,
the frame is laminated by electrical insulation. The whole
setup is mounted to the plastic cover. Two coils having length
of 110 mm each are wound on the cylinder which is shown
in Fig. 1. Each of the coils are wound about 5000 turns.
Copper wire of 40 Standard Wire Gauge (SWG) is used for the
winding. The detail specifications of the primary displacement-
sensing unit of the proposed system are shown in Table III.
The signal conditioning unit is designed with the op-amps
based low noise amplifier as shown in Fig. 2. All the resisters
of the signal conditioner unit are selected as 1/2 Watt resis-
tances with a 1% tolerance. The proposed primary transducer
is supplied with an external stabilized AC supply voltage
of 5Volt and frequency of 250 Hz. The signal conditioning
MONDAL et al.: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RF-BASED WIRELESS DISPLACEMENT TRANSMITTER
Fig. 4. Receiving unit with display section.
TABLE III
S PECIFICATION OF P RIMARY D ISPLACEMENT S ENSING U NIT OF
P ROPOSED S YSTEM
block is designed in order get 0 to 5Volt DC signal which
is equivalent to the output of the sensor. It also consists of
INA101KP IC which is an instrumentation amplifier and also
zero and span adjustment circuit.
The obtained DC voltage from the signal conditioner is
then converted into an equivalent binary signal by ADC
PIC16F72 IC for transmission through wireless. An integrated
chip, RF 433MHz transmitter module consists of encoder
module and Amplitude Shift Key (ASK) module is used for
encoding and transmission of the binary data. The details
schematic diagram is shown in Fig. 3.
The receiver received the transmitting data from transmitter
unit and then decoded by decoder which is then encrypted in
the RF 433 MHz Receiver module. After that the decoded
digital data is converted into its equivalent analog value
with the help of DAC0808 IC and then indicated by an
indicating instrument. Here an Arduino UNO is used for dis-
playing the digital data in LCD display unit. The transmission
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1389
distance of this proposed system is approximately 200 meters.
However, the transmission distance of the ASK also depends
upon the transmitter power, frequency and antenna sensitivity.
IV. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS
The experiment is accomplished with the proposed set-up
as presented in Fig. 2 with a signal conditioner unit. The
main component of the signal conditioner unit is the modified
Maxwell Bridge circuit. This bridge is supplied with 5-volt
AC signal having frequency of 250 Hz.
Now the displacement of an object which is attached to
the movable core of the proposed transducer is measured
from the linear scale and the respective output voltage V2 is
then displaced by digital multi-meter and this voltage signal
are processed by signal conditioning unit for zero and span
adjustment. After signal conditioning the output voltage V3 is
fed to the transmitter unit for the wireless transmission purpose
which is the main objective of this work. From the receiver
side, we have seen that the voltage signal is almost same as
the input voltage signal of transmitter unit.
The statics characteristic curve of the proposed transmitter
as presented in Fig. 5, is plotted from the mean value of six sets
of increasing and six sets of decreasing order output of voltage
V2 against the displacement of the core. The experiment is
repeated for the different feedback resistance Rf of values
70K, 80K and 90K which is shown in Fig. 2. From
Fig. 5 it is found that the static characteristic of the proposed
displacement transducer is linear with the displacement to be
measured.
The percentage deviation curve from the linearity with
different feedback resistances is shown in Fig. 6 and is found
to small throughout the range of the proposed transducer.
1390
Fig. 5. Variation of output voltage of signal conditioner at transmitter
with displacement.
Fig. 6. Percentage deviation of displacement transducer at transmitter
side.
Fig. 7. Standard deviation of displacement transducer at transmitter
side.
The standard deviation curve with the same feedback resis-
tances for experimental datasheet of six increasing and six
decreasing, shown in Fig. 7 indicates very good repeatability
of the transducer. Fig. 8 shows the static characteristic of
the receiving voltage signal with respect to displacement of
the core of the proposed transducer due to displacement
of the object whose displacement is to be measured. The
static characteristic curve which shows the relation between
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 20, NO. 3, FEBRUARY 1, 2020
Fig. 8. Variation of output voltage of receiver side with displacement.
Fig. 9. Percentage deviation at receiver side.
Fig. 10. Standard deviation at receiver side.
displacement of the object and output voltage of the receiver
is almost linear.
Fig. 9 shows the percentage deviation curve from the linear-
ity at receiver side and this shows a small value throughout the
operating range. Fig. 10 shows the standard deviation curve
for receiver side with respect to the displacement of the core
of the proposed transducer caused by the displacement of the
object and this curve indicates very good repeatability of the
proposed displacement transducer.
Fig. 11 shows the relationship between receiving and trans-
mitting voltage signal coming from proposed displacement
MONDAL et al.: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RF-BASED WIRELESS DISPLACEMENT TRANSMITTER
Fig. 11. Variation of receiving voltage signal with transmitting voltage
signal for Rf of 70K, 80K, 90K.
TABLE IV
C OMPARATIVE S TUDY OF VARIOUS D ISPLACEMENT T RANSMITTERS
transducer through modified Maxwell Bridge circuit and signal
conditioner unit for different value of feedback resistance such
as 70K, 80K and 90K.
As the output terminal of modified Maxwell bridge circuit
is present the similar virtual ground potential therefore, the
measurement error in the output terminals as well as with the
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1391
ground is eliminated. The error caused by the electromagnetic
induction in inductor gets neglected by taking the difference
between the two inductor which are identical to each other.
The proposed transducer is simple in construction and
is cost effective. The cost of proposed transducer can be
decreased more by decreasing the size of the inductor coil.
The sensitivity of proposed transducer can be increased by
increasing the number of the turns of the coil, by choosing the
large magnitude of feedback resistance Rf and by lowering the
magnitude of excitation frequency of the bridge circuit as it is
represented in equation (31). For decreasing the noise effect
of the supply frequency in the proposed system, the value
of excitation frequency may be chosen larger than the power
cycle frequency (50Hz). The error due to the hysteresis loss
and eddy current loss gets reduced by choosing the lower
excitation frequency. The resolution of the transducer can be
enhanced by selecting higher sensitivity and we can measure
very low vibration on account of displacement. The novelty
of the proposed transducer is that the displacement trans-
ducer output is transmitted wirelessly approximately up-to
200 meters with the help RF based transceiver module. The
comparison analysis of some basic Characteristics of different
displacement measuring systems is shown in Table IV.
V. C ONCLUSION
The proposed wireless displacement transducer is low cost,
reliable technique for the measurement of vibration as well as
displacement in the public frequency band domain. In this
transducer the error due to stray capacitance and electro-
magnetic interference is nullified. For the measurement of
differential inductance between two similar coils, the proposed
bridge network is an improved and better technique than the
conventional inductance measuring bridge with minute mea-
surement error. This transducer can be used in different process
plant where the environment is not suitable for electrical
wired data transmission, like chemical or petrochemical where
inflammable materials are used in large scale. This proposed
transceiver may be connected to other five transducers on
dedicated channel of the transmitting unit whose output is in
the range of 0 to 5-volt DC signal for remote transmission
over 200 meters range which is controlled by the mobile phone
and DTMF module where wired transmission is restricted. The
advantage of this technique is that, it can also be compatible
with the modern Internet of Things (IOTs) based technology
after some modification for accessing the data globally. This
measurement system is also novel in terms of the simpler
design of the measurement system. The hardware part of this
system is also less costly. Another novelty of the present sys-
tem is that the proposed methods can be used for transmission
of the data in inflammable areas for various industries or elec-
trically hazardous areas where electrical wired transmission is
not recommended or not possible. Using RF based wireless
transmission, the advantages of wireless data transmission over
wired data transmission are achieved. The main disadvantage
of the proposed ASK based RF data transmission system for
displacement data transmission is that, noise immunity and
bit rate is low with respect of FSK and PSK based RF data
transmission.
1392
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Department of Elec-
tronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM)
Dhanbad, (under MHRD, Government of India) for providing
the facilities to carry out this research work.
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Bikas Mondal was born in India, in 1982.
He received the B.Tech. degree in electronics
and instrumentation engineering from Asansol
Engineering College, Asansol, India, in 2007,
and the M.Tech. degree in instrumentation and
control engineering from the University of Cal-
cutta, Kolkata, India, in 2009. He is currently
working as an Assistant Professor with the
Department of Electronics and Instrumenta-
tion Engineering, Asansol Engineering College.
He has authored three articles in international
journals and five papers in international conference proceedings. His cur-
rent research interests include process transducers and process-plant
instrumentation.
Rajan Sarkar was born in India, in 1977.
He received the B.E. degree in electrical engi-
neering from the National Institute of Technology,
Agartala, India, in 1999, and the M.Tech. degree
in instrumentation engineering and the Ph.D.
(Tech.) degree in instrumentation engineering
from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India,
in 2001 and 2012, respectively. From 2001 to
2002, he was a Lecturer with the Bankura
Unnayani Institute of Engineering, Burdwan,
India. He joined Asansol Engineering College,
Asansol, India, as a Lecturer in 2002, where he is currently an Associate
Professor and the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering.
He has authored 17 articles in international journals and 12 papers
in international conference proceedings. His current research interests
include process transducers and process-plant instrumentation.
Nirupama Mandal (M’13–SM’19) received
the B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in physics,
the B.Tech. degree in instrumentation
engineering, the M.Tech. degree in
instrumentation and control engineering,
and the Ph.D. (Tech.) degree in instrumentation
engineering from the University of Calcutta,
Kolkata, India, in 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2012,
respectively. She has joined the Department of
Electronics Engineering, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad,
India, as an Assistant Professor in 2013. She is
involved in carrying out research projects on transducer development,
process-plant instrumentation, and process modeling. She has guided
four research scholars who have been awarded with the Ph.D. (Tech.)
degree from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. She has authored 42 articles in
international journals and 22 papers in international conference
proceedings. Her current research interests include transducer design,
PC-based instrumentation, controller design, MEMS, and process
modeling.