Chapter 1: Basic Concepts of Measurement Methods:, 2014 by Daniel Rodriguez and Dr. Davood Moslemian

CHAPTER 1: BASIC
CONCEPTS OF
MEASUREMENT
METHODS
Copyright May 1st, 2014 by Daniel Rodriguez and Dr. Davood Moslemian
Overview
• Basic Measurement System Components

• Measurement System Calibration
• Measurement System Accuracy and Errors
Copyright January 1 st, 2014 by Daniel Rodriguez and Dr. Davood Moslemian
General Template for a Measurement System
• Generally, a sensor’s signal gets processed through several systems
before final results are obtained. Each task a system performs on the
signal is called a stage.
• The sensor stage acquires information from the process under
investigation.
• The transducer stage converts the information from the process under
consideration into a more readable form
For a piezoelectric accelerometer,
the acceleration signal becomes
converted into a stress
signal which becomes
converted to a charge
signal which gets
converted into an electrical
signal which can be stored
on a computer.
General Template for a Measurement System
• The signal conditioning stage prepares the signal to be read or
digitized and stored on a computer.
• Raw Signals may have low magnitude and may need to be
amplified.
• Signals can contain noise that may need to be filtered.
• The control stage is only present in a control system where the
information from a sensor gets passed onto a controller which
changes the process.
What is a sensor?
• Sensor: A physical element that uses a natural
phenomena to sense the variable being measured
• Phenomena- Objects change length under the application

of a load
• A sensor by itself is useless since we cannot record the

information (by hand or via a computer)
What is a transducer?
• A transducer converts the sensed information into a
detectable signal (usually electric).
The laser reflected off of the shiny surface of the cantilever

sensor gets picked up by the light sensors which send
electrical signals to a computer.
Sensor-Transducer examples
• Glass Thermometer
• Sensor-Mercury
• Phenomena- Liquids expanding due to temperature increase
• Transducer- The tick marks on stem of the thermometer.
• Potentiometer
• Sensor- Variable Resistor
• Phenomena- There is a voltage drop across a resistor with a
current running through it.
• Transducer-Voltage divider circuit
Signal Conditioning Example
• The figure below shows two types of unwanted
interference that corrupts a measured signal
• The bottom signal shows a sine wave that is measured
from a sensor with a “fuzziness” superimposed on it. The
fuzziness is due the sensor
acquiring unwanted signals
from nearby electrical
equipment. The true signal
is buried within the fuzziness,
which is referred to as noise.
Signal Conditioning Example
• The top portion of the figure contains noise as well, but the
difference is the noise varies much slower than in the bottom figure.
• Filtering is an operation used to remove unwanted interference from
a signal that one is trying to acquire
• Generally, filtering is
performed based on how
quickly a signal is varying.
• Both the quickly varying
(high frequency) signal and
the slowly varying signal (low
frequency) signal can be
removed and the sine wave
can be recovered.
Calibration
• Question: How does one know what each tick mark on a
thermometer corresponds to what temperature?
• Answer: Calibration
• Calibration applies a known input to the measurement

system to view the system’s output.
• One applies a known temperature to the thermometer and

measures the height that the mercury expands to.
• This is done repeatedly for a range of temperatures.
Calibration Data from a Thermistor
Resistance Temperature
Ohms C
10,100 100
39,050 200
91230 300
157000 400
250000 500
Example Calibration Curve Fit
• T = -4E-09R2 + 0.0028R + 83.726
• The sensor’s output is resistance, the above equation will
convert the resistance the microprocessor is reading into
temperature
• Besides polynomials, exponential equations can be used
as well
• Knowing which type to use requires engineering judgment
and will be discussed in later chapters.
Pressure Transducer Calibration System
Static Sensitivity
• The derivative of the calibration curve yields the static
sensitivity.
• It is a measure of how the output of the sensor changes
with the input.
Full-Scale Operating Range (FSO)
• The full-scale operating range is the range of the output
values of the sensor:
• FSO=ymax− ymin
• Most commonly, a sensor’s output is voltage potential, for
example in volts
• Example: A displacement transducer output voltage range
is from -5 V to 5 V and it can measure 0 to 7 inches
• FSO=10V
• Input Range= 7 Inches
Uncertainties in Measurement
• Increasing resolution decreases uncertainty but does not
eliminate it.
• Even with infinite resolution, there will still be uncertainties
due to inherent limitations of a particular measurement
system.
• Estimating the uncertainty of a measurement system is
important so that an overly accurate (and expensive)
sensor is not purchased.
• Example: Suppose one wants to measure the density of a
crown to see if it is made out of gold or a cheap alloy. The
densities are shown below:
• Two experimentalists, George and Martha measure the

density of the crown in question and their results are
shown on the next slide.
• George cannot say for certain
that the crown is gold due to high uncertainty.
Martha can say with high probability
that the crown is not gold.
Conclusion: Uncertainties
in a measurement system
can destroy a hypothesis.
• Measured value: Value detected by measurement
system.
• True value: The exact value of a variable
• There is no such thing as a true value due to uncertainties inherent
in a measurement system.
• The true value is taken to be a value with extremely low uncertainty
or a theoretically calculated value.
• Accuracy: Closeness of the measured value to the true
value.
• Error: Difference between measured value and true value
• Errors have dimensions, be mindful of your units when performing

error calculations.
• Relative Error: Error normalized by a reference value
%
• Note: Relative error is dimensionless
Random error and Systematic error
• Random Error: Error that causes variability in the data.
• Systematic Error: Error that causes the measurement to
be offset at a constant value.
Accuracy versus Precision
• Accuracy and precision can be made clear with the
dartboard analogy. The bullseye represents the true value
of a measurement.
• Accuracy represents how close one is to the true value of
a measurement (how close the darts are to the bullseye)
• Precision (repeatability) represents how often one can
take the same measurement under the same conditions.
Accuracy versus Precision
• The leftmost dartboard has high precision but low
accuracy
• The middle dartboard has high precision and high
accuracy
• The rightmost dartboard has low accuracy and low
precision.
Types of Errors
• Hysteresis Error: When a measurement system is
dependent upon a previous measurement
• Hysteresis error is usually quoted as a percentage of FSO range.
• Due to friction, viscous damping, electronic residual charge
Types of Errors
• Many instruments have an almost linear relationship
between its input and output variables (constant
sensitivity)
• Linearity Error: When a sensor’s behavior deviates from
this linear behavior.
Types of Errors
• Sensitivity Error: Error due to random scatter in the data
• Thermal Sensitivity Error: Change in the sensitivity in a
measurement system due to the sensor properties being
temperature dependent.
Types of Errors
• Zero Error (Drift)- Random Variation in the y-intercept.
Overall Instrument Uncertainty
• We can estimate the overall uncertainty in a instrument
due to various errors by using the expression for
instrument uncertainty:
Correction to Table 1.1
• “of Reading” refers to the current pressure reading

Chapter 1: Basic Concepts of Measurement Methods:, 2014 by Daniel Rodriguez and Dr. Davood Moslemian

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 1: Basic Concepts of Measurement Methods:, 2014 by Daniel Rodriguez and Dr. Davood Moslemian

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

CHAPTER 1: BASIC

• Basic Measurement System Components

• Phenomena- Objects change length under the application

• A sensor by itself is useless since we cannot record the

The laser reflected off of the shiny surface of the cantilever

• Calibration applies a known input to the measurement

• One applies a known temperature to the thermometer and

• Two experimentalists, George and Martha measure the

• Errors have dimensions, be mindful of your units when performing

• Note: Relative error is dimensionless

You might also like