Lecture 2. Basics of Sensors and Measurement Technology

Basics of Sensors and
Measurement
Dr. Muhammad Shafique
Head of Biomedical Engineering Dept.
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Riphah International University, Islamabad
Date: 14-10-2020
Objectives
• Measurement technology
• Basic sensor microfabrication technology,
• Common measuring methods and systems.
• Moreover, the serious concern about devices that comes

from direct contact with the human body, which termed as
“biocompatibility”,
Sensor Measurement Technology
• The sensor measurement technology is used to detect
a signal.
• According to different classifications, the measurement

methods can be classified as direct and indirect, active
and passive, invasive and non-invasive, wired and
wireless.
• To detect signals, a proper sensor system is needed.

Measurement Methods
• Direct and Indirect Measurement
• Active and Passive Measurement
• Invasive and Non-invasive Measurement
• Wired and Wireless Measurement
Direct and Indirect Measurement
• The direct measurement method uses the
outputs of instruments as the results.
• For example, the measurement of a circuit by

an electromagnetic current meter, and the
measurement of pressure by a bourdon tube
pressure gauge are both direct measurements
Direct and Indirect Measurement
• The indirect measurement method uses the calculated results of
some measured parameters as the final ones
• For example, the measurement of inductance by measuring the

resonant frequency of the circuit is an indirect measurement.
• This method has more steps and requires a longer time, and
generally, it is only used when direct measurement is inconvenient.
Active and Passive Measurement
• According to the power supply of the measurement system,
measurement is divided into active measurement and passive
measurement.
Active measurement:
• The structure of the active measurement system is shown in Fig. 2.7
• It provides power to the measured object.
• For example, when measuring the impedance, we need to supply an

electrical voltage perturbation to measured sample.
Active and Passive Measurement
• Passive measurement:
• The structure of the passive measurement system is shown in Fig. 2.8.
• The passive measurement system does not need power supplies from
outside.
Invasive and Non-invasive
Measurement
• Invasive measurement uses methods that will influence or even
injure the objects while the non-invasive measurement will have
tiny or non influences on the objects.
• For example, there are many methods to detect cancers, including

gene detection, blood detection, PET-CT, e-Nose and so on.
• Among these methods, only the electronic nose is non-invasive as it

just collects the patients’ exhaled without any injures. This is
thought to be the great advantage of the electronic nose compared
with other methods.
Wired and Wireless Measurement
• In recent years, wireless measurement has developed very fast and is being used in more and more
fields such as communication technology, biomedical fields and so on.
• For example, an RFID-Based Closed-Loop Wireless Power Transmission System has been reported in
use in biomedical field, especially for inductively powering implantable biomedical devices.
• In this system, the transmitter and receiver coils are in a wireless power transmission.
• Any changes in the distance and misalignment will cause a significant change in the received power.
• As it is a closed loop, this change will get detected.
• This system can be used on the implanted chips to better detect diseases.
Sensor Measurement System
• With the development of micro-processing technology,
the composition of the sensor detecting system has
also developed significantly.
• Smart sensor detecting systems with a microprocessor

is the direction for modern sensor detecting
technology
• The basic components are shown in Fig. 2.9

• The detecting system is generally composed of sensors, measuring
circuits (sensor interface and signal pre-processing circuit) and
output system.
• The sensors detect the measured signals in the measurement

environment, and convert them into electric signals.
• Sensors are generally called the primary instrument, while the

following measuring circuits and output circuits are called the
secondary instrument.
• In the process of measurement, the measuring circuits can be divided into
the sensor interface circuit and the pre-processing circuit.
• The sensor interface circuit connects the sensor and the pre-processing
circuits.
• It is usually composed of the parameter conversion circuit (PCC) (basic

conversion circuit), sensor output signal modulation and impedance
matching circuit (IMC).
• The sensor interface circuit extracts the measured signal.

• The signal pre-processing circuit is usually composed
of operations, demodulation, filtering, A/D and D/A.
• It detects the measured signal, and conducts the

discrete signal processing if necessary.
• Intelligent sensing detection systems can not only

detect and process signals, but also self-diagnose and
self-recover
Parameter converting circuits
• The measured signal makes the sensors’
electrical parameters change, such as
resistance, inductance and capacitance.
• In general, these changes are converted into

voltage or frequency signals that are
proportional to them.
Parameter converting circuits
• The commonly used parametric conversion circuits
include:
• the bridge circuit (converting resistance, inductance or
capacitance into voltage);
• current-voltage (IV) converting circuit; resistance,
inductance, capacitance (RLC)
• oscillation circuit (converting resistors, inductors,
capacitors into voltage or frequency digital signal), etc.
Impedance converting circuits
• Sensors can be regarded as a signal source with certain output impedance, while
the following interface circuit has certain input impedance.
• In order to decrease the effects of the input impedance on the output signal, the
impedance transformation is used in the design of the sensor interface circuit.
• By taking high input impedance amplifiers, the sensors’ high output impedance is
converted into low output impedance.
• For example, in the design of measuring circuits of the voltage equivalent circuit
using piezoelectric sensor, voltage amplifier has the effects of impedance
conversion and signal amplification
Computing circuits
• In the measurement circuits, operation
circuits mainly consist of ratio circuits,
addition and subtraction circuits, integral
circuits, differential circuits, logarithmic
circuits, exponential circuits, multiplication
and division circuits, and so on.
Analogue filter circuit
• In the measurement system, the analog filter in the signal pre-
processing circuit is very important as it can select the needed
frequency components.
• Filtering circuits can pass specific frequency components but greatly

decrease other frequency components, so as to filter the noise
• Which circuit type is preferred for biomedical purposes?

• Why?
DAC and ADC interface circuits
• Both the signals from the sensor to the sensor
interface and those the pre-processing circuits
involved are analog signals.
• In order to adopt DSP in the measurement

system, analog signals must be converted to
digital signals so that computers can handle them
Digital Signal Processing
• The use of computer and Digital Signal Processing technology greatly
advances the measurement system.
• Computers can analyze, judge the signals, and display the results.
• For example, in the measurement and control system, the zero point error
correction will be very simple under the microchip’s control.
• In a system without a microchip, the only choice to reduce the zero-point

error caused by temperature drift is to choose components with low drift
coefficients and to design a temperature compensation circuit.
Digital Signal Processing
• Digital signal processing has the advantages of stability and good
repeatability, compared with analogue signal processing.
• To improve detection accuracy and reduce the cost of the hardware

circuit, sensor linearization software is very applicable in
engineering practices.
• With the development of advanced high-speed computer and the

increase of storage capacity, technologies such as the multi-sensor
detection have been widely used
Signal Modulation and Demodulation
• If the sensor’s output values are relatively small, the noise
voltage of the amplifier, the DC amplification temperature
drift of the measuring circuits, zero-point drift and inter-
stage coupling will result in serious measuring errors.
• In order to improve the anti-interference capability, the

sensor’s output signal is modulated in a parametric
conversion circuit so that the sensor would output an AC
signal, with the change of the signal corresponding to signal
amplitude, frequency or phase changes.
Signal Modulation and Demodulation
• In the measuring circuit, narrow-band filter demodulation and the
relevant demodulation can both be used to detect the measured signal
• Generally the slow-varying signals which control the high-frequency

oscillation is called modulation wave (measured signal);
• the high-frequency oscillatory signals containing the variables are called

the carrier (the excitation signal in the parameters conversion circuit);
• and modulated high-frequency oscillatory waves are called the modulated

wave (the sensor output signal). Demodulation processes the modulated
wave to gain the slowly changed measured signal.
Improvement of Sensor Measurement
System
• Choosing proper sensors:
• When designing and choosing sensors, the following requirements
should be considered:
– the detecting environment,
– the characteristics of the detected signals,
– and the requirements for the test accuracy.
• With all the above aspects fulfilled, the type, structure, material,
size, weight and life expectancy of the sensors should also be
considered.
System
• Stabilization technology:
• The various materials and components that constitute the sensor will
change with time and environment.
• Then the performance of the sensor will change, resulting in instability.
• In this case, it is necessary to stabilize materials, components or even the

overall sensors (also known as the aging processing).
• Electrical materials, such as magnetic materials, conductive materials,

insulation materials, are first stored and even exposed to a certain voltage
for a period of time to stabilize their performance and then the good ones
among them are chosen.
System
• Linearization technology:
• The non-linearity of the sensor may be caused by the non-linearity of the

input-output model or a poor sensor manufacture process.
• Thus, in the practical application, the input and output of the sensor is
hardly linear.
• To improve the linearity of the sensor, generally some methods such as

the differential design and the sensor linearization correction circuits (this
method is related to the design of sensor interface circuit) are used

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Basics of Sensors and

• Basic sensor microfabrication technology,

• Common measuring methods and systems.

• Moreover, the serious concern about devices that comes

• According to different classifications, the measurement

• To detect signals, a proper sensor system is needed.

• For example, the measurement of a circuit by

• For example, the measurement of inductance by measuring the

• It provides power to the measured object.

• For example, when measuring the impedance, we need to supply an

• For example, there are many methods to detect cancers, including

• Among these methods, only the electronic nose is non-invasive as it

• As it is a closed loop, this change will get detected.

• Smart sensor detecting systems with a microprocessor

• The basic components are shown in Fig. 2.9

• The sensors detect the measured signals in the measurement

• Sensors are generally called the primary instrument, while the

• It is usually composed of the parameter conversion circuit (PCC) (basic

• The sensor interface circuit extracts the measured signal.

• It detects the measured signal, and conducts the

• Intelligent sensing detection systems can not only

• In general, these changes are converted into

• Filtering circuits can pass specific frequency components but greatly

• Which circuit type is preferred for biomedical purposes?

• In order to adopt DSP in the measurement

• In a system without a microchip, the only choice to reduce the zero-point

• To improve detection accuracy and reduce the cost of the hardware

• With the development of advanced high-speed computer and the

• In order to improve the anti-interference capability, the

• Generally the slow-varying signals which control the high-frequency

• the high-frequency oscillatory signals containing the variables are called

• and modulated high-frequency oscillatory waves are called the modulated

• Then the performance of the sensor will change, resulting in instability.

• In this case, it is necessary to stabilize materials, components or even the

• Electrical materials, such as magnetic materials, conductive materials,

• The non-linearity of the sensor may be caused by the non-linearity of the

• To improve the linearity of the sensor, generally some methods such as

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