CHINHOYI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHATRONICS

SUPPLEMENTARY

COURSE: INSTRUMENTATION AND EMBEDDED CONTROL /

COMPUTER PROGRAMMING FOR INSTRUMENTATION

CODE: CUME 221 / CUPHY 411

DATE: JULY 2018

TIME: 3 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

 The paper consists of five (5) questions, one (1) in Section A and four (4) in Section B
 Section A is compulsory and carries 40 Marks
 Answer any three (3) questions in Section B
 Each question in Section B carries 20 marks
 Clear state any assumption made

REQUIREMENTS

 Non Programmable Calculator

Page 1 of 6
 SECTION A

Question 1

Compulsory

You are required to design a system that monitors and controls the position of a rotating
machine tool piece connected to a 12V DC geared motor. The motor is driven by use of an
ULN 2003 IC. The position of the DC motor is controlled by signals from the PIC 18F4550.
To measure the position of the tool piece a potentiometer is connected to the shaft of the tool
piece. The position of the shaft is set through the operation of switches A, B and C resulting
in angular positions of 90o, 180o and 270o minute respectively. When either switch A or B or
C is set, either a green or red or yellow LED switches ON with the other LEDs OFF. A
resonator is provided as a clock input.

a) With aid of diagrams and equations, explain how a potentiometer can be used to
measure angular position. [5]
b) Design a circuit using the PIC 18F4550 microcontroller for the positioning system.
[7]
c) Calculate the signals that are supplied to the microcontroller by the potentiometer for
angular positions of 90o, 180o and 270o? [5]
d) Convert the potentiometer outputs to their digital equivalence after analog to digital
conversion by the microcontroller.
e) Design a flow chart that represents every stage of the speed control and monitoring
system. [6]
f) Using MikroC write a program for the position control and monitoring system
providing comments for each program line. [15]

Page 2 of 6
SECTION B

Answer any three questions in this section

Question 2

a) In reference to applications how does a microcontroller differ from a microprocessor?

[3]
b) Explain why it is sometimes necessary to use assembly language instead of a high
level language when programming microcontrollers. [4]
c) What conditions are best suited for use of resistor-capacitor timing components in
embedded systems design. [3]
d) Compare and contrast the application of either a ceramic or crystal oscillators in the
design of embedded systems. [4]
e) With aid of diagrams and equations explain the principles of operation of capacitive
element based sensors. [6]

Question 3

a) You have been requested to design an embedded system. Outline how you will select
the best microcontroller from a number of possible choices. [5]
b) Given a PIC18F4550 with a 40MHz crystal oscillator how long will it take to execute
the instructions?

MOVWF PORTE [4]

Goto Label_1

c) State four different ways a microcontroller can be reset explaining briefly how each
reset is implemented. [8]
d) Discus the various specifications that need to be considered before using a
thermocouple for the reading temperature of a furnace. [3]

Question 4

a) When programming microcontrollers using, it is sometimes necessary to make use of

the interrupt service routine.
a. With reference to microcontrollers what is an interrupt. [2]

Page 3 of 6
 b. Explain the role of the stack, return address and interrupt flag when handling
an interrupt. [4]
b) Self-heating is one of the disadvantages of resistance temperature detectors. Using
relevant equations explain what is meant by self-heating. [4]
c) In reference to thermistor performance, what is meant by “thermal time constant?”
[3]
d) Using information provided in the PIC18F4550 datasheet write a code snippet using
assembly language to configure ADCON1 such that the microcontroller may read
sensor output data in the range 2V – 4V. [4]
e) State the pins of the PIC18F4550 that will be used to read the signal from the sensor
in 4d) above. [3]

Question 5

a) How do active transducers differ from passive transducers giving an example of each
[4]
b) Discus the advantages and disadvantages of asynchronous communication in
microcontrollers. Which pins are used when it RS232 communication is implemented
[5]
c) A resistance temperature detectors (RTD) works on the principle that the electric
resistance of a metal changes due to change in its temperature. RTD’s are
purchased with 2, 3 or 4 lead wires per element. With aid of diagrams and equations
explain the 2, 3 and 4 wire constructions of the RTD giving an example of an
application for each construction. [6]
d) Explain the difference between a low pass filter and a high pass filter. Why it is
sometimes necessary to connect filters ad sensors. [5]

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