Chapter Digital Meters 2.1 INTRODUCTION Analog meters use an electromechanical movement of a pointer over a calibrated scale to display the value of the quantity (voltage, current, resistance, etc.) being measured by the meter. Digital meters, on the other hand, use an alphanumeric or numeric LED (Light Emitting Diode) display or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for showing the reading of the measured quantity. Further, the internal circuitry used in digital meters is different from that of analog meters. Digital meters normally use analog-to-digital (A/D) converters (or ADC) and other digital processing circuits. Figure 2.1 shows the block diagram of a digital multimeter. AC AC Digital Digital [| ob converter processing [*) display Ac HL) Onc ‘Output ports L (GPIB, ‘Ohm RS 232) Precision reference ‘ohm converter Figure 2.1 Block diagram of a digital multimeter, 34C Digital Meters) ED The basic input blocks are same as used in an electronic analog multimeter. The attenuators are used for lowering (attenuating) the input voltage. Annexure A gives more details on attenuators. DC input voltage is first attenuated, if required, and then interfaced with an A/D converter which converts it into digital form. This digital signal is then processed and displayed. AC input voltage is also first attenuated, if required, and then fed to an AC converter which rectifies it. The rectified output is then interfaced with an A/D converter which converts it into digital form. This digital signal is then displayed after processing. ‘The current is converted to a voltage by passing it through precision shunt resistors. The voltage is then processed and displayed in the units of current. For ohms measurement, an ohms converter is used. As explained for the electronic analog ohmmeter, the converter includes a constant current source which is made to flow through the unknown resistor. The voltage so developed is then measured and displayed in the units of resistance. ‘We observe that the A/D converter plays an important role in the digital meters. These converters also constitute the core of other instruments like oscilloscopes, signal analyzers, etc. Many modern meters and other digital instruments use microprocessors for processing digital signals and providing other additional features. In this chapter we will study basics of AUD converters and then describe some commonly used architectures. Some of the A/D converters use built-in digital-to-analog (D/A) converters for converting digital signals to analog signals. Therefore, first let us learn about the different types of converters. 2.2 DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER Figure 2.2 illustrates the basic function of a D/A converter. Reference voltage, V, DIA commer | Analog output, Vaz Binary input, By Figure 2:2 Basic function of a DYA converter. By is defined to be an N-bit digital word such that Big = by2! + by®? +... + byT™ where 6; is a binary digit and equals a 1 or a 0. We also define by to be the most significant bit (MSB) and by the least significant bit (LSB). The analog output signal, Vea. is related to the digital signal, Bj, through an analog voltage reference, V;. The relationship between these three signals is given byi j } i $ i ; one GD Reccironic Instruments and Instrumentation Technology ) Vou. = Vy (B27! & B32? +... & by) = Ve Bin We can define Visp to be the voltage change when one LSB changes, or mathematically, Vv, BN Visa = Example 2.1 ‘An 8-bit D/A converter has V, = 5 V. What is the output voltage when Bj, = 10110100? Find also Vism- Solution Using the previous equations, we get Bi = 2! + 23 + 24 + 2 = 0.703125 Vos = Vi Bin = 5 x 0.703125 = 3.516 V We see that precision depends upon the number of bits \. 2.2.1 Transfer Characteristics Figure 2.3 shows the transfer characteristics of an ideal 3-bit D/A converter. V,=10V Analog output voltage, Vou ooq 001 O10 Ol! «1001011 Digital input word Figure 2.3 Transfer characteristics of an ideal 3-bit DYA converter.