Telemetry

Dr. Aijaz Mehdi Zaidi, Assistant Professor, ECE, NIT Jalandhar

Telemetry

• Telemetry is the technology which enables a user to collect data from

several measurement points at inaccessible or inconvenient locations,
transmit that data to a convenient location, and present the several
individual measurements in a usable form.
• Telemetry may be defined as measurement at a distance.

• GENERAL TELEMETRY SYSTEM

• There are three system elements in the intermediate stage which are
peculiar to a telemetering system, they are: (1) Telemeter
Transmitter, (2) Telemeter channel, (3) Telemeter receiver.
Telemetry
• The function of the telemeter transmitter is to convert the output of a
primary sensing element into an electrical signal and to transmit it
over a telemetering channel.
• This signal is in electrical format and is received by a receiver placed
at a remote location.
• This signal is converted into a usable form by the receiver and is
indicated or recorded by an end device, which is graduated in terms
of the measurand.
• The end device may be a control element which may be used for the
control of the input quantity (measurand), through a feedback loop to
produce desired output.
TYPES OF TELEMETRY SYSTEMS
• Two types of telemetering systems are used.
1. A Land line telemetry.
2. A R.F. (radio frequency) telemetry.
1. A Land line telemetry.
• The land line telemetering is, in fact, a direct transmission of
information through cables and transmission lines. The direct
transmission via cables employs current, voltage, frequency, to
convey the information. Current, voltage and position type systems
can be used only for short distances while for long distance
telemetry, pulse and frequency types of systems are used.
• The information may be in the form of analog or digital signals.
While current, voltage, position, frequency types of signals can be
used for analog telemetry, only pulse signals can be used for digital
telemetry. The land line telemetry systems can be classified as : (1)
voltage telemetering systems, (2) current telemetering systems, and
(3) position telemetering systems.
Voltage-Telemetry-System
• A voltage telemetering system transmits the measured variable as a
function of an a.c. or d.c. voltage. A simple voltage system is shown in
Fig. A slide wire potentiometer is connected in series with a battery.
• The sliding contact is positioned by a pressure sensitive bourdon tube.
The telemetering channel consists of a pair of wires connected to a
voltage measuring device such as a null balance d.c. potentiometer
indicator or recorder.
• As the measured pressure changes, the bourdon tube actuates the sliding
contact thereby changes the voltage.
Current-Telemetry-System
• A current telemetering system is shown in Fig. It has a slide wire
potentiometer connected in series with a battery.
• The sliding contact of the potentiometer is positioned by a pressure
sensitive bourdon tube. The telemetering channel consists of a pair of
wires connected to a current measuring device.
• As the pressure, which is measured, changes the bourdon tube moves
and changes the position of the sliding contact on the slide wire ,
thereby changing the current in the circuit.
• This current is measured with the help of a millimeter whose scale is
graduated terms of pressure.
Position-Telemetry-System
• A position telemetering system transmits and reproduces the measured
variable by positioning variable resistors or other electrical components in a
bridge circuit form so as to produce proportional changes at both the
transmitter and receiver ends.
• Fig shows two potentiometer one at transmitting and other at receiving end.
The two potentiometers are energized by a common power supply. The
sliding contact at the transmitting end is positioned by the bourdon tube as
pressure is applied to the latter. If the sliding contact at the receiving end is
positioned until the centre zero galvanometer indicates Zero,
• The position of the contact will assume the same position as the contact at
the transmitter. The receiving contact moves the pointer which indicates on
the scale the pressure which is being measured (the scale is directly
calibrated in terms of pressure).
MERITS and DEMERITS OF LANDLINE TELEMETRY
MERITS :
• Effective for short distance measurement.
• V and I can be easily transmitted.
• Circuitry required is simple.
• Wide variety of primary sensing elements are available to measure
required variable.

DEMERITS
• It is difficult to calibrate.
• Need to be protected from EMI, noises and distortions in the channel.
• Multiplexing is difficult.
• Limited frequency response.
 RADIO FREQUENCY (R.F.) TELEMETRY
• No physical link between telemetry transmitter and receiver .
• Link is established through radio links.
• The telemetry, earlier on, has been defined, as a technology that enables the
user to collect data from several measurement points at inaccessible or
inconvenient locations.
• This is very true of applications which require Radio Frequency (R.F.)
telemetry, as in such applications, there is no physical link between the
transmitting and receiving stations.
• The link between the transmission station (where the actual measurements are
being carried out) and the receiving station (where the measurand is measured,
recorded and information used for control purposes) can only be established
through radio links.
RADIO FREQUENCY (R.F.) TELEMETRY
• The output of transducer and single conditioner modulates the
frequency of a voltage controlled subcarrier oscillator. Many oscillators,
each operating in a dedicated part of the frequency spectrum, are mixed
for radio transmission.
• As each voltage controlled oscillator is assigned with a separate
frequency of separate frequency spectrum, so each signal can be
transmitted without interfering with other signals.
• At the receiving station, discriminator is tuned to the frequency of each
subcarrier. Thus when measurement value change at source, the output
voltage of discriminator change accordingly.
Example1: A quartz piezo-electric crystal having a thickness of2
mm and voltage sensitivity of 0.055 V - m/ N is subjected to a
pressure of 1.5 MN/ 𝑚2 . Calculate the voltage output. If the
permittivity of quartz is 40.6 x 10−12 F / m, calculate its charge
sensitivity.
Example2: A piezo-electric crystal having dimensions of 5mm x
5mm x l.5mm and a voltage sensitivity of0.055 V -m/ N is used for
force measurement. Calculate the force if the voltage developed is
100 V.
Example3: A barium titanate pickup has the dimensions of 5 mm x 5 mm
x 1.25 mm The force acting on it is 5 N. The charge sensitivity of barium
titanate is 150 pC/N and its permittivity is 12.5 x 10−9 F / m. If the
Modulus of elasticity of barium titanate is 12 x 106 N /𝑚2 , calculate the
strain. Also calculate the charge and the capacitance.
Example4:The output of a LVDT is connected to a 5 V voltmeter
through an amplifier whose amplification factor is 250. An output
of 2 mV appears across the terminals of LVDT when the core
moves through a distance of0.5 mm. Calculate the sensitivity of the
LVDT and that of the whole set-up. The milli-voltmeter scale has
100 divisions. The scale can be read to 1/5 of a division. Calculate
the resolution of the instrument in mm.
Thank You