Digital computation and intelligent

devices

1
By
Syed Khawar Hussain Shah
2 Principles of digital computation

 The primary function of a digital computer is the manipulation of

data.
 The three elements that are essential to the fulfilment of this task
are
 Central processing unit,
 Memory
 Input–output interface
3 Digital computers and Digital System

Processor
Control unit Or
Arithmetic unit

Storage
Or
memory unit

Input devices and Output devices

control and control

 Block Diagram of a Digital computer

4 Computer operation

 As it has already been mentioned, the fundamental role of a

computer is the manipulation of data.
 Numbers are used both in quantifying items of data and also in
the form of codes that define the computational operations that
are to be executed.
 Decimal
 Binary
 Octal
 Hexadecimal
5 Binary Numbers
   decimal number such as 7392 represents a quantity equal to 7 thousand
A
plus 3 hundreds plus 9 tens plus 2 units.
 7x+3x +9x +2x
The decimal number system is said to be base or radix 10 because it uses 10
digits and coefficients are multiplied by power of 10.
Binary system is a different number system consist of two states.
For example the decimal equivalent of the binary number 11010.11 is 26.75
1x1x0xx +0x 1x+1x
Hexadecimal system ( base 16)
(B65F)16 = 11 x 6 x + 5 x 16 +15 =(46687)10
6 Binary to decimal conversion

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

What is 10011100 in decimal?

1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0

128 + 0 + 0 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 0 + 0 = 156
7 Hexadecimal to binary conversion
Dec Bin Hex Dec Bin Hex
0 0000 0 8 1000 8
1 0001 1 9 1001 9
2 0010 2 10 1010 a
3 0011 3 11 1011 b
4 0100 4 12 1100 c
5 0101 5 13 1101 d
6 0110 6 14 1110 e
7 0111 7 15 1111 f

2 Ac
0010 1010 1100
2ac = 001010101100
 Numbers with different bases
8

Decimal Binary Octal Hexadecimal

(Base 10) (Base 2) (Base 8) (Base 16)
00 0000 00 0
01 0001 01 1
02 0010 02 2
03 0011 03 3
04 0100 04 4
05 0101 05 5
06 0110 06 6
07 0111 07 7
08 1000 10 8
09 1001 11 9
10 1010 12 A
11 1011 13 B
12 1100 14 C
13 1101 15 D
14 1110 16 E
15 1111 17 F
9 Intelligent devices

The term intelligent device is used to describe a package containing

either a complete measurement system or else a component with in a
measurement system, which incorporates a digital processor.
They are also named as intelligent instrument, smart sensor and smart
transmitter.
10 Intelligent instruments

 One of the main functions performed by the first intelligent

instruments to become available was compensation for
environmental disturbances to measurements that cause
systematic errors.
 Thus, apart from a primary sensor to measure the variable of
interest, intelligent instruments usually have one or more
secondary sensors to monitor the value of environmental
disturbances.
11 Intelligent instruments

 The processor within an intelligent instrument allows it to apply

pre-programmed signal processing and data manipulation
algorithms to measurements.
12 Smart sensors

 A smart sensor is a sensor with local processing power that

enables it to react to local conditions without having to refer back
to a central controller.
 Smart sensors are usually at least twice as accurate as non-smart
devices, have reduced maintenance costs and require less wiring
to the site where they are used.
13 Smart sensors

The functions possessed by smart sensors vary widely, but consist of at least
some of the following:
 Remote calibration capability.
 Self-diagnosis of faults.
 Automatic calculation of measurement accuracy and compensation for
random errors.
 Adjustment for measurement of non-linearities to produce a linear output.
 Compensation for the loading effect of the measuring process on the
measured system.
14 Calibration capability

 Self-calibration is very simple in some cases.

 Sensors with an electrical output can use a known reference
voltage level to carry out self-calibration.
 Also, load-cell types of sensor, which are used in weighing
systems, can adjust the output reading to zero when there is no
applied mass.
 In the case of other sensors, two methods of self-calibration are
possible, use of a
 look-up table
 interpolation technique.
15 Self-diagnosis of faults

 Smart sensors perform self-diagnosis by monitoring internal

signals for evidence of faults.
 Whilst it is difficult to achieve a sensor that can carry out self-
diagnosis of all possible faults that might arise.
 One example of self-diagnosis in a sensor is measuring the sheath
capacitance and resistance in insulated thermocouples to detect
breakdown of the insulation.
 One difficulty that often arises in self-diagnosis is in
differentiating between normal measurement deviations and
sensor faults.
16 Automatic calculation of measurement accuracy
and compensation for random errors

 Many smart sensors can calculate measurement accuracy on-line

by computing the mean over a number of measurements and
analyzing all factors affecting accuracy.
17 Adjustment for measurement non-linearities

 In the case of sensors that have a non-linear relationship between

the measured quantity and the sensor output, digital processing
can convert the output to a linear form,
 Providing that the nature of the non-linearity is known so that an
equation describing it can be programmed into the sensor.
18 Smart transmitters

 In concept, a smart transmitter is almost identical to the

intelligent instruments described earlier. The change in name has
occurred over a number of years as intelligent instruments have
become smaller and assumed a greater range of functions.
 Usage of the term ‘smart transmitter’ rather than ‘intelligent
instrument’ is therefore mainly one of fashion.
 In some instances, smart transmitters are known alternatively as
intelligent transmitters.
 The term multivariable transmitter is also sometimes used,
particularly for a device like a smart flow-measuring instrument.