Instrumentation and

Measurements
EE-303
Lecture-(1-2)
Prof. M. K. Islam
[email protected]
 Course Plan
Text Book:
D. A. Bell, “Electronic Instrumentations and Measurements”, Prentice Hall, 2nd
edition or latest edition, 2008.
Essential Reference:
Thomas Floyd, “Digital Fundamentals”, Prentice Hall, Eleventh Edition, 2015.

Other References:
John Wakerly, “Digital Design: Principles & Practices”, Prentice Hall, fourth Edition, 2005.
Stephen Brown and Svonko Vranesic, “Fundamentals of Digital Logic”, McGraw Hill, latest
edition.
Charles H. Roth, Jr., “Fundamentals of Logic Design”, PWS Publishing Company, Boston MA,
latest edition.
Grading Policy:
Assignments, Quiz, Midterm Exam (1), Final Exam,
Laboratory
 Course Description
Types of error in measurements; Permanent-moving–coil
instrument for ac and dc; Typical Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter
(VOM); Electrodynamic instrument for ac and dc
instruments; Transistor and op-amp in Volt-Ohm-
Milliammeters instruments; Digital voltmeters and
frequency meters; Resistance measurements, Wheatstone
bridge, Kelvin bridge and megohmmeter; Capacitance
bridge; Inductance comparison bridge; Instrument
transformers; Waveform analyzing instruments.
 Course Objectives
Use the electrical instrumentation and demonstrate their measuring
techniques.
Apply and use laboratory equipment and get hands on experience.
Distinguish between practical measurements and theoretical computation.
Calculate the percentage of errors in analog and digital measured electrical
values.
Applied different bridge techniques for determining the values of electrical
elements.
Use transformer instrument in measuring high current and voltage.
learning addressed by the course:
1. Describe the concept of electrical instrumentation for
measurement of various electrical parameters.
2. Calculate the percentage of errors in analog and digital
measured electrical values.
3. Design Analog and Digital Instruments.
4. Reconstruct the basic measurement instruments and bridge
circuits for accurate and precise measurement of electrical
parameters.
5. Measure electrical parameters by using laboratory equipment
(waveform analysis) and get hands on experience.
6. Work effectively as an individual and a member in team.
7. Demonstrate numerical techniques to analyze electrical
measurements.
 Course Assessment

• Attendance, Participation and Quizzes: 5%

• Homework Assignments, and project: 5%
• Lab Work 20%
• Major exam: 30%
• Final Exam: 40%
 Course Expectations
•Learning is a cooperative task and students must
participate actively.
•The students are expected to attend the lectures and be
prepared to think and learn.
•The lecture period will be used to introduce and establish
fundamental concepts.
•To get the most out of the lectures, you need to read
sections of the textbook assigned in the tentative schedule,
and go over the examples and related exercise Problems.
•You are encouraged to work in groups and discuss the
homework, However, copying and cheating is not allowed.
 Definition
• Measurement
– A method to obtain information regarding the
physical values of the variable.

• Instrumentation
– Devices used in measurement system
Purpose of a measurement system

measurand Sensor, signal conditioning, display Man, tracking control etc

 Terminology-I
• Measurand: Physical quantity being measured.
• Calibration: Implies that there is a numeric relationship
throughout the whole instrumentation system and that it is
directly related to an approved national or international
standard.
• Test instrumentation: It is a branch of instrumentation and
most closely associated with the task of gathering data during
various development phases encountered in engineering, e.g.
flight test instrumentation for testing and approving aircraft.
 Terminology-II
• Physical quantity: variable such as pressure,
temperature, mass, length, etc.
• Data: Information obtained from the
instrumentation/measurement system as a result of
the measurements made of the physical quantities
• Information: Data that has a calibrated numeric
relationship to the physical quantity.
• Parameter: Physical quantity within defined
(numeric) limits.
 Types of measurements
• Direct comparison
– Easy to do but… less accurate
• e.g. to measure a steel bar
• Indirect comparison
– Calibrated system; consists of several devices to
convert, process (amplification or filtering) and
display the output
• e.g. to measure force from strain gages located in a
structure
Types of instruments in measurements

• Active Instruments
– the quantity being measured simply modulates
(adapts to) the magnitude of some external power
source.
• Passive Instruments
– the instrument output is entirely produced by the
quantity being measured
• Difference between active & passive instruments is
the level of measurement resolution that can be
obtained.
 Active Instruments
• e.g. Float-type petrol tank level indicator
 Passive Instruments
• e.g. Pressure-measuring device
 Analogue Instruments
• An analogue instrument gives an output that varies
continuously as the quantity being measured; e.g.
Deflection-type of pressure gauge
 Digital Instruments
• A digital instrument has an output that varies in
discrete steps and only have a finite number of
values; e.g. Revolution counter
 Units Of Measurement
• To define physical quantities in Type and
Magnitude
• Units of measurement may be defined as
the standard measure of each kind of
physical quantity.
• Efforts were made to standardize the
systems of measurement so that
instrument professionals and specialist in
other disciplines could communicate
among themselves.
 Fundamental Units & Derived
Units
• Two types of units are used in science and
engineering
– Fundamental units ( or quantities)
• E.g. meter (length), kilogram (mass), second (time)
– Derived units (or quantities); i.e. All units which
can be expressed in terms of fundamental units
• E.g. The volume of a substance is proportional to its
length (l), breadth (b) and height (h), or V= l x b x h.

• So, the derived unit of volume (V) is cube of meter (m3).

International System (SI) Of Units
Quantity Unit Unit Symbol

Fundamental (Basic) Units

Length Meter m
Mass Kilogram kg
Time Second s
Electric current Ampere A
Thermodynamic temperature Kelvin K
Luminous intensity Candela cd
Quantity of substance Mole mol
Supplementary Units
Plane angle Radian rad
Solid angle Steradian sr
Derived Units
Area Square meter m2
Volume Cubic meter m3
Velocity Meter per second m/s
 English Systems Of Units
• Foot-pound-second (F.P.S.) used for:
– Length
– Mass
– Time
 Standard Of Measurement
• As a physical representation of a unit of
measurement
• It is used for obtaining the values of the physical
properties of other equipment by comparison
methods; e.g.
– The fundamental unit of mass in the SI system is
the kilogram, defined as the mass of a cubic
decimeter of water at its temperature of
maximum density of 4C.
 Examples of Standard Bodies
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
• International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
• Standards Council of Canada ( SCC)
• British Standards (BS)
• Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization
 Calibration involve a comparison of
an instrument with either:
1. A primary standard
2. A secondary standard
3. A known input
Standard weight
Example: measurement facility

Another weighing
Weighing instrument instrument of higher
accuracy

Mass standard
 Few Applications
• Home
– Thermometer
– Barometer
– Watch
• Road vehicles
– speedometer
– fuel gauge
• Industry
– Automation
– Process control
– Boiler control
 Measurement
• Gross Errors or Human Errors
Errors
– Resulting from carelessness, e.g.
misreading, incorrectly recording

26
• Systematic Errors
– Instrumental Errors
• Friction
• Zero positioning
– Environment Errors
• Temperature
• Humidity
• Pressure
– Observational Error
• Random Errors

27
• Absolute Errors and Relative Errors

Absolute Error (e ) = X t − X m
where X t : True Value
X m : Measured Value

Xt − Xm
Relative Error (%Error) =  100%
Xt

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• Accuracy, Precision, Resolution, and Significant
Figures
– Accuracy (A) and Precision
• The measurement accuracy of 1% defines how close the
measurement is to the actual measured quality.
• The precision is not the same as the accuracy of measurement,
but they are related.
Accuracy = 1 − %Error
Precision = 1 −
xn − x n
xn =
x
xn n

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a) If the measured quantity increases or decreases by 1 mV, the reading becomes
8.936 V or 8.934 V respectively. Therefore, the voltage is measured with a
precision of 1 mV.
b) The pointer position can be read to within one-fourth of the smallest scale
division. Since the smallest scale division represents 0.2 V, one-fourth of the
scale division is 50 mV.

– Resolution
• The measurement precision of an instrument defines the smallest
change in measured quantity that can be observed. This smallest
observable change is the resolution of the instrument.
– Significant Figures
• The number of significant figures indicate the precision of
measurement.

30
Example: An analog voltmeter is used to measure voltage of 50V across
a resistor. The reading value is 49 V. Find
a) Absolute Error
b) Relative Error
c) Accuracy
d) Percent Accuracy
Solution

a) e = X t − X m = 50V − 49V = 1V
Xt − Xm
b) % Error =  100%
Xt
50V − 49V
=  100% = 2%
50V
c) A = 1 − % Error = 1 − 2% = 0.98
d) % Acc = 100% − 2% = 98%
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Example : An experiment conducted to measure 10 values of voltages
and the result is shown in the table below. Calculate the
accuracy of the 4th experiment.

No. (V) No. (V)

1 98 6 103
2 102 7 98
3 101 8 106
4 97 9 107
5 100 10 99

Solution
xn =
 x x
=
+ x2 + ... = x10
1
n 10
98 + 102 + 101+ 97 + 100 + 103 + 98 + 106 + 107 + 99
=
10
= 101.1
xn − xn 97 − 101.1
% Accuracy = 1 − = 1− = 0.959  96%
xn 101.1
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• Measurement Error Combinations
– When a quantity is calculated from measurements made on two (or
more) instruments, it must be assumed that the errors due to
instrument inaccuracy combine is the worst possible way.
– Sum of Quantities
• Where a quantity is determined as the sum of two measurements,
the total error is the sum of the absolute errors in each
measurement.

E = (V1  ΔV1 ) + (V2  ΔV2 )

giving E = (V1 + V2 )  ( ΔV1 + ΔV2 )

33
34
– Difference of Quantities
• The error of the difference of two measurements are again additive

E = (V1  ΔV1 ) − (V2  ΔV 2 )

= (V1 −V2 )  (ΔV1 + ΔV 2 )
– Product of Quantities
• When a calculated quantity is the product of two or more quantities, the percentage
error is the sum of the percentage errors in each quantity

P = EI
= (E  ΔE )(I ΔI )
= EI  EΔ I  IΔ E  ΔEΔI
since ΔEΔI is very small,
P  EI  (EΔ I  IΔ E )

35
− Percentage Error
EI + IE
percentageerror =  100%
EI
 I   E 
= +   100%
  
I E 

% errorin P = (% errorin I ) + (% errorin E )

E
% error in = (% error in E ) + (% error in I )
I

− Quotient of Quantities
% error in A = B(% error in A)
B

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Example 2.4 An 820Ω resistance with an accuracy 10% of carries a current of
10 mA. The current was measured by an analog ammeter on a 25mA range with
an accuracy 2% of of full scale. Calculate the power dissipated in the resistor,
and determine the accuracy of the result.
Solution

P = I 2 R = (10 mA)  820

2

= 82 mW
error in R =  10%
error in I =  2% of 25 mA
=  0.5 mA
 0.5 mA
= 100% =  5%
10 mA
%error in I 2 = 2( 5% ) =  10%
%error in P = (%error in I 2 ) + (%error in R )
=  (10% + 10% ) =  20%

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❖ Basics in Statistical Analysis
− Arithmetic Mean Value
x1 + x2 + x3 + ... + xn
x=
n
• Minimizing the effects of random errors
– Deviation
• Difference between any one measured value and the
arithmetic mean of a series of measurements
• May be positive or negative, and the algebraic sum of
the deviations is always zero

dn = x n − x
• The average deviation (D) may be calculated as the
average of the absolute values of the deviations.

d 1 + d 2 + d 3 + ... + d n
D =
n
– Standard Deviation and Probability of Error
• Variance: the mean-squared value of the deviations

d 12 + d 22 + ... + d n2
 2
=
n
• Standard deviation or root mean squared (rms)

d 12 + d 22 + ... + d n2
SD or σ =
n

• For the case of a large number of measurements in

which only random errors are present, it can be shown
that the probable error in any one measurement is
0.6745 times the standard deviation:

Probable Error = 0. 6745

Example 2.5 The accuracy of five digital voltmeters are checked by using each of them to measure a
standard 1.0000V from a calibration instrument. The voltmeter readings are as follows: V1 =
1.001 V, V2 = 1.002, V3 = 0.999, V4 = 0.998, and V5 = 1.000. Calculate the average measured
voltage and the average deviation.
Solution
V1 + V2 + V3 + V4 + V5
Vav =
5
1.001 + 1.002 + 0.999 + 0.998 + 1.000
= = 1.000V
5
d1 = V1 − Vav = 1.001 − 1.000 = 0.001V
d 2 = V2 − Vav = 1.002 − 1.000 = 0.002V
d 3 = 0.999 − 1.000 = − 0.001V
d 4 = 0.998 − 1.000 = − 0.002V
d 5 = 1.000 − 1.000 = 0V
d1 + d 2 + ... + d 5
D =
5
0.001 + 0.002 + 0.001 + 0.002 + 0
= = 0.0012V
5
 ✓ Be Prepared for Take Home
Assignments Based on Exercises