Lab Manual:

Measurements and Instrumentation

Using the NI Automated Measurements Board for NI ELVIS III

Lab 1: Signal Chain

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Lab 1: Signal Chain

Learning Objectives
In this lab you will get acquainted from a high-level perspective with the signal chain process. Through
hands-on experimentation you will explore the steps involved in the process that starts with drawing an
electric signal from a sensor and ends with meaningful information about the physical phenomenon that
this sensor is measuring. This involves:

Understanding the why and the how of:

✔ Measuring an electric signal

✔ Amplifying a signal

✔ Converting an analog signal into a digital signal

✔ Analyzing and interpreting a signal through software analysis

Deliverables
You will be expected to:

✔ Conduct experiments using the NI ELVIS III and record your observations

✔ Conduct experiments using the NI Automated Measurements Board and record your
observations
✔ Complete Check for Understanding Questions
Required Tools and Technology
Platform: NI ELVIS III ✔ View User Manual: http://www.ni.com/en-
us/support/model.ni-elvis-iii.html
● Digital Multimeter
✔ View Tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
Note: The NI ELVIS III Cables and
list=PLvcPIuVaUMIWm8ziaSxv0gwtshBA2dh
Accessories Kit (purchased separately) is
_M
required for using the instruments.

Hardware: NI Automated Measurements ✔ View Breadboard Tutorial:

Board
http://www.ni.com/tutorial/54749/en

Software: LabVIEW ✔ Before downloading and installing software,

Version 19.0 or Later refer to your professor or lab manager for
information on your lab’s software licenses
Toolkits and Modules: and infrastructure
● LabVIEW Real-Time Module ✔ Download & Install for NI ELVIS III:
http://www.ni.com/academic/download
● NI ELVIS III Toolkit
✔ View Tutorials:
http://www.ni.com/academic/students/lear
n-labview/
Introduction
The signal chain describes a series of stages and components that work together to convert measurable
effects of a real phenomena to usable digital information. For example, consider how a fitness tracker
works. Signals acquired from sensors that detect your motion and pulse are transformed into data such
as number of steps, calories burnt, heart rate and sleep.

This process of transformation has to take into account resolving inconsistencies that arise in such
physical phenomena. For instance, the fitness tracker needs to differentiate between your pulse and the
thuds coming from you taping your desk.

Furthermore, it has to convert a signal to digital data that can be processed by a computer. It might also
need to amplify the signal from your pulse to a detectable level in order for that transformation to
happen without loss of important information.

The software transforming the data into meaningful information about calories burnt or steps walked
has to perform optimally and must have a sound scientific basis.

Finally, automated fitness summary reports, recommendations and alerts need to be generated based
on the analyzed signal.
 Schematic Representation of the Signal Chain

Essentially the signal chain describes a series of electronic components and software that convert a real
phenomenon to usable digital information. In the signal chain, the signal is a function (usually of voltage
over time) that transfers information reflecting the event or phenomenon being measured. The chain is
the series of components, including circuitry, devices, and software, through which the signal is passed.
Each step in the chain uses the output from the previous component as its input.

The signal chain is comprised of four main steps:

1. The sensor: Sensors are the first component of the signal chain. The role of the sensor is to
convert the physical phenomenon into an electric phenomenon such as a voltage signal.
2. The signal conditioning circuit(s): A signal conditioning circuit modifies the sensor output
if/as needed, such as by amplification, noise reduction, or attenuation.
3. The analog-to-digital converter (ADC): The ADC translates the analog signal into a digital binary
stream of data so that it can be processed by a device such as a computer. It interfaces with the
computer using a computer bus such as a USB and the appropriate driver software.
4. The application software: The final step in the signal chain is processing and analyzing the data.
Software analysis can include producing graphic representations of the information, controlling
a system based on the measurements taken, and more.

In data acquisition, the signal source is the physical phenomenon being measured. A sensor is used to
generate an electrical signal from the physical phenomenon. Then, depending on the nature of the
sensor and the signal being measured, the signal can undergo signal conditioning in preparation for the
next step in the chain. A conditioned signal can then be digitized and sampled resulting in the generation
of raw binary data. The signal chain ends with application software reading the processed data.

In the following sections you will run different measurement experiments that would highlight the
different parts of the signal chain. First, you will experiment with a complete signal chain that acquires a
signal from a light sensor and returns the intensity of light shed on the sensor in Engineering units. Then,
to gain an intuitive understanding and appreciation of the importance of each section of the chain, you
will acquire the signal and read it but not before skipping important part(s) of the chain.
k
Your application board is equipped with a sensor called a phototransistor. A phototransistor senses
changes in the intensity of light it is subjected to. The sensor is embedded in your application board in
such a way where a programmatically controlled electric current flows through it.

Different levels of light intensity shining on the sensor causes the sensor to resist the current flow to
different levels. This gives us a way of measuring light intensity. As we will see in later labs, there are
multiple electronic devices and techniques that allow us to measure such resistance. What we would
have to do is correlate resistance measures to intensities of light and write a program that acquires the
resistance measure and converts it to units of light intensity. As we will see later in this lab, the signal
would have to undergo some work on our part before this becomes possible. However, from a high-level
view point, the aim is always to correlate a measured physical phenomenon to an electric phenomenon
and automate this correlation.

For more on the concepts of electric current and resistance consult the Current and Resistance labs. For
now, think of an electric current as the “electricity” that flows through the wires to power the computer
you are using. An everyday resistance phenomenon that we encounter is found in the coils of electric
stoves and electric heaters. The coils resist the current flowing through them to high levels. A byproduct
of this resistance is heat.

Going back to the details of the sensor, the phototransistor section of your application board is
equipped with the sensor itself and other electric components. When illuminance increases, the current
flowing through the phototransistor and components increases. There are many devices that we can
use, such as the DMM (Digital Multimeter), to measure and quantify changes in this electric
phenomenon.

The phototransistor section on the NI Automated Measurements Board.

For students that are interested and/or have necessary background, the following is a detailed
explanation of the electric circuit corresponding to the Phototransistor area (see the figure below). The
following schematic of the Phototransistor circuit is optional.
Circuit schematic of the phototransistor section. The 5V voltage source drives a current though the sensor and the 2kΩ resistor.
When the illuminance increases, the resistance of the sensor decreases. This causes the current flowing through the 2kΩ resistor
to increase. This causes the voltage across the resistor to increase. Use Ohm’s Law and Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law to explain this
phenomenon. Measuring that voltage gives us a measurable way for assigning voltage measures to various levels of light
intensity.

In this experiment, you will be provided with a step-by-step guide to making the necessary application
board wiring and running a LabVIEW project that will help you test the Phototransistor by acquiring the
signal from it, running it through the signal chain and displaying it on your screen.

Load the LabVIEW Project

● Make sure your:

o NI ELVIS III is powered on
o Connected to your computer
o The application board is powered on.
● Open the /Signal Chain folder in the zip file provided in your lab kit.

● Launch the LabVIEW Project named Signal Chain.lvproj.

● From the project window, configure the NI ELVIS III IP address to reflect the IP address of the
actual NI ELVIS III your computer is connected to.
o You can find the IP address of your NI ELVIS III by clicking and holding the button on the
left-hand side until the IP address is displayed on the LED screen.
o To configure the NI ELVIS III from your project window,
▪ right-click NI ELVIS III (0.0.0.0)[Unconfigured IP Address]
 ▪ click General in the window prompt you get.

▪ In the IP address section enter the IP address of the NI ELVIS III connected to
your computer.

o Save your project.

Open the VI named “Full Signal Chain.VI”.

Perform the proper wiring on the NI Automated Measurements Board

● Acquire the voltage signal from the phototransistor into the non-inverting amplifier on the
application board in order to amplify it
o Connect socket 9 to socket 15.
o Connect the AMP socket to socket 10 in the Phototransistor section.
You will find the AMP socket under the Instrumentation Amplifier. Note that the AMP
socket is not reserved to the Instrumentation amplifier only. It is actually the common
reference to all the amplifiers in the application board. We will discuss that further in the
Amplifiers Lab.
 ● Acquire the amplified voltage signal from the non-inverting amplifier into the ADC.
o Connect socket 16 to socket 32.
o Connect the analog ground to socket 33
● Acquire the digital signal from the ADC into your LabVIEW VI for software analysis.
o Run the VI named Full Chain.vi

This VI allows you to control the sampling rate of the ADC and displays a Voltage, which is indicative of
the intensity of the light. The current flowing through the phototransistor varies with the ambient light
intensity, producing a varying voltage measurement. We will cover the sampling rate in more depth in
other Labs. What we need to know for now is that the sampling rate is the amount of times per second
your board (precisely the ADC) reads the value of the incoming voltage signal from the amplifier and
sends it to your computer for analysis. Furthermore, the job of the ADC is to translate the signal into
digital data that a computer can process. The ADC will send these values to the NI ELVIS III processor as a
string of digital numbers. The LabVIEW VI deployed and running on the NI ELVIS III and other device
drivers will processes this string of digital numbers and translate it into numeric values expressed in
units that correspond to the intensity of light.

Open the Front Panel of your LabVIEW VI and run it.

1. The Light Intensity chart on your Front Panel displays the intensity of light as it changes over
time.
a. What is the light intensity in your lab, measured in Volts? (Make sure the sensor is not
covered or overshadowed but rather is fully exposed to the light in the room)
____________________________
b. Using a light source, such as your smart phone’s camera flash light, subject the sensor to
light from different angles and from various distances.
i. What is the minimum intensity you were able to measure?
________________________________________________________
ii. What is the maximum intensity you were able to attain?
________________________________________________________
iii. In your own words describe the best angle and the distance from which your
light source is best detected.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
c. From your Front Panel, set the sampling rate of your ADC successively to 0, 20, 100, 500
and 1000. With each sampling rate picked, repeat the earlier experiment. What do you
notice about the chart displaying the changes in voltage?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. The ADC LED display provides a view of the raw digital data that is provided by the ADC to the
LabVIEW VI. Each row of LEDs represents one digital voltage value composed of 12 bits of 1’s or
0’s. An On-LED represents the digit 1 and an Off LED represents the digit 0.
 a. What is the string of 12 bits corresponding to the lowest possible voltage reading?
Shield your sensor from light to attain that value.
______________________________________
b. What is the string of 12 bits corresponding to the highest possible voltage reading?
Subject your sensor to the brightest light source to attain that value.
______________________________________
c. What are the corresponding voltage readings to these 12-digit numbers?
_____________________________________________________

Experiment: Measuring the Signal Directly from the Sensor

In the previous section you experimented with a complete signal chain. In this section you will skip most
of the signal chain parts and simply observe the output of the sensor. You will do this by measuring the
signal from the sensor directly using a digital multimeter (DMM).

First, we will switch the Phototransistor section ON programmatically using the following VI. Then we
will use the DMM to measure the emitted signal.

Load the LabVIEW Project

● Make sure your:

o NI ELVIS III is powered on
o Connected to your computer
o The application board is powered on.
● Open the /Signal Chain folder in the zip file provided in your lab kit.

● Launch the LabVIEW Project named Signal Chain.lvproj.

● From the project window, configure the NI ELVIS III IP address to reflect the IP address of the
actual NI ELVIS III your computer is connected to.
o You can find the IP address of your NI ELVIS III by clicking and holding the button on the
left-hand side until the IP address is displayed on the LED screen.
o To configure the NI ELVIS III from your project window,
▪ right-click NI ELVIS III (0.0.0.0)[Unconfigured IP Address]

▪ click General in the window prompt you get.

 ▪ In the IP address section enter the IP address of the NI ELVIS III connected to
your computer.

o Save your project.

Open the VI named “Direct DMM.vi” from the same project and run it. The sensor is activated and
emitting a signal however, the signal is not being read. The lit LED on the Phototransistor section
indicates that the Phototransistor is operational.

Launch the DMM Soft Front Panel (SFP) to measure the signal from the sensor.

● Make sure your:

o NI ELVIS III is powered on
● Launch the Measurements Live Website https://measurementslive.ni.com/
o Connect to your computer via network
▪ Click the Device icon -> Connect via network

▪ Key in the Device Id.

You can display the NI ELVIS III Device ID on its LED screen by clicking and
holding down the button on the left-hand side of the station.
▪ Click Connect
Once connected, the Device dropdown window will show the NI ELVIS III
platform name
o From the Instruments button Launch the DMM SFP.

Place the probe connected to the Common Ground (COM) of the DMM in socket 10 and the probe
connected to the voltage socket of your DMM to socket 9 of the application board.

Run the DMM.

1. What is the voltage reading corresponding to the light intensity in your room?
________________________________________________________________
2. Using your phone’s flashlight, shed light directly on the sensor. What is the corresponding DMM
measurement? ___________________________________________________
3. What is the DMM measurement reading if the sensor is fully shaded?
_______________________
4. Compare this measurement experiment with the preceding experiment you conducted. In your
own words, list and justify two disadvantages that measuring the signal directly through the
DMM has.
 a. ________________________________________________________
b. ________________________________________________________

Experiment: Using the Analog to Digital Converter in the Signal Chain

In the previous section you had to convert the voltage measurement reading from the DMM into
engineering unit. In practice, this process should be automated using a computer software. However,
before the software can be used to create a conversion program, the signal itself has to be transformed
into a digital signal (a stream of bits of 1’s or 0’s) so that the computer can process it.

The Analog to Digital Converter is the device in charge of doing this. In this section, your will use the ADC
in your application board to convert the signal from the sensor into a digital signal.

For this experiment, we need to programmatically activate both the Phototransistor and the ADC
sections of the application board. We need to display the output of the ADC on the screen. i.e. The
stream of bits corresponding to each voltage value output from the ADC. Finally, we need to wire the
output of the sensor to the input of the ADC to ensure that the ADC periodically reads voltage values
emitted by the sensor and converts each value to a 12-bit stream of 1’s or 0’s.

Load the LabVIEW Project

● Make sure your:

o NI ELVIS III is powered on
o Connected to your computer
o The application board is powered on.
● Open the /Signal Chain folder in the zip file provided in your lab kit.

● Launch the LabVIEW Project named Signal Chain.lvproj.

● From the project window, configure the NI ELVIS III IP address to reflect the IP address of the
actual NI ELVIS III your computer is connected to.
o You can find the IP address of your NI ELVIS III by clicking and holding the button on the
left-hand side until the IP address is displayed on the LED screen.
o To configure the NI ELVIS III from your project window,
▪ right-click NI ELVIS III (0.0.0.0)[Unconfigured IP Address]

▪ click General in the window prompt you get.

 ▪ In the IP address section enter the IP address of the NI ELVIS III connected to
your computer.

o Save your project.

Open the VI named “ADC.vi” from the same project. The sensor is activated and emitting a signal
however, the signal is not being read.

Connect sockets 9 and 10 of the phototransistor respectively to sockets 32 and 33 of the ADC.

Follow the instructions on the Front Panel and Run the VI.

The Front Panel shows the output of the ADC. Your ADC is a 12-bit ADC. Thus, each voltage
measurement reading from the sensor is represented using 12 digits of 1’s or 0’s (binary system). In
order to obtain a measurement value similar to the one read on the DMM, this stream of digits has to be
converted into a decimal format. Your ADC is designed with a specific protocol that determines which
stream of bits corresponds to each voltage reading.

To convert the 12-bit binary-base numbers to voltage measurements,

1. Convert the numbers from the binary base to the decimal base.
To do this, multiply each digit by 2 raised to a power equal to the position of the digit in the
number subtracted by 1. Then, add up all the answers. For example,
3 1 0
000000001011=1 ×2 +1× 2 + 1× 2 =11
2. Scale the decimal value obtained to the range of the ADC. In our specific case,
Number 0 corresponds to 0V
Number 8191 (Decimal number composed of 12 bits of 1’s) corresponds to 12V
Thus, the scaling formula is
 x × ( 12 )
Decimal number=
8191
Where x represents the 12-bit number converted to the decimal system.

Run the VI and follow the instructions on the Front Panel.

1. Record the ADC output corresponding to the light intensity in the current room:
_________________________________
2. Convert that value to voltage value: _____________________________________________

Including the ADC in the signal chain was certainly helpful because it gave us a way to input the signal
form the sensor into the computer. However, practically this is of little value to the end-user for two
main reasons. The first reason is the fact that the voltage values read were expressed in binary base as
opposed to the usual decimal base. The second reason is because, even with those values transformed
to decimal base, they do not represent values that reflect the intensity of light in engineering units.

In the next section we will add to the signal chain the software analysis needed to remedy the situation.
However, we will remove the use of any amplifiers.

Experiment: Advantage of Amplifying a Signal

The amplifier essentially magnifies the strength of a signal. This allows small variations in a signal to be
detected by the ADC and thus captured by your software.

In the following, you will experiment with a signal chain that skips the amplification step. Then, you will
run the complete signal chain again and compare the performance of both.

Load the LabVIEW Project

● Make sure your:

o NI ELVIS III is powered on
o Connected to your computer
o The application board is powered on.
● Open the /Signal Chain folder in the zip file provided in your lab kit.

● Launch the LabVIEW Project named Signal Chain.lvproj.

● From the project window, configure the NI ELVIS III IP address to reflect the IP address of the
actual NI ELVIS III your computer is connected to.
o You can find the IP address of your NI ELVIS III by clicking and holding the button on the
left-hand side until the IP address is displayed on the LED screen.
o To configure the NI ELVIS III from your project window,
▪ right-click NI ELVIS III (0.0.0.0)[Unconfigured IP Address]
 ▪ click General in the window prompt you get.

▪ In the IP address section enter the IP address of the NI ELVIS III connected to
your computer.

o Save your project.

Open the VI named “No Amp Signal Chain.VI”.

Connect sockets 9 and 10 respectively to sockets 33 and 32.

Acquire the digital signal from the ADC into your LabVIEW VI for software analysis. For this, you need to
make sure your application board is powered on and the VI you opened earlier is running.

Shed a light source on the Phototransistor such as the camera flash light in your smartphone. Your task
is to try to find the minimum change in intensity that can be recorded on your Front Panel. You might try
achieving that by experimenting with placing your light source at various distances and angles from the
Phototransistor.

1. Describe how well you are able to see small changes in light intensity? For example, what is the
difference in the measurement between ambient light and the measurement with the
phototransistor covered?
 ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Repeat the above experiment but this time include the Non-Inverting Amplifier in the signal
chain using the same wiring you did earlier, in the first experiment. Now how well are you able
to see small changes in light intensity? What is the difference in the measurement between
ambient light and the sensor being covered?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
3. In your own words describe the impact the amplifier had on the signal acquisition.
_____________________________________

Conclusion
Note: The following questions are meant to help you self-assess your understanding so far

1) Which of the following describes the correct sequence of events in the signal chain?
a) Transducer, Signal Source, Application Software, Signal Conditioning, Analog to Digital
Conversion
b) Analog to Digital Conversion, Transducer, Application Software, Signal Source, Signal
Conditioning
c) Signal Source, Signal Conditioning, Transducer, Application Software, Analog to Digital
Conversion
d) Signal Source, Transducer, Signal Conditioning, Analog to Digital Conversion, Application
Software
Explore Further
In this series of labs, we cover in detail each step of the signal chain. We also experiment with other
types of amplifiers and other conditioning circuits such as filters. Furthermore, the software analysis we
used in this lab was restricted to converting from binary base to intensity values expressed in decimal
base. Software analysis often involves more than that. At times, we need to programmatically, extract
the frequency components of a signal (patterns that the signal repeats periodically). Other times, we
need to acquire multiple signals from various sensors and programmatically determine automatic
actions based on those parameters. Refer to the IoT (Internet of Things) Application lab to further
explore this topic.