Development of network capable smart transducer interface for traditional sensors and actuators

摘要

A general scheme for development of network capable smart transducer interface in distributed measurement and control environment is presented in this paper. The architecture has several choices for analog signal conditioning and processing as well as their digital conversion and processing. A microprocessor-based module is incorporated for added control, digital processing capability and communication functionality. Smart transducers have programming capability so that the user can accommodate any sensor or actuator. It provides great flexibility for the systematic development of smart transducer microsystems. A fieldbus with multi-drop configuration is adopted in each transducer to introduce network capability. The transducer comprises of the following features like analog signal conditioning, analog to digital conversion, digital data processing and filtering for analog inputs. They also have analog output, digital input/output, pulse modulated wave (PWM) generation and frequency measurement features. They are cost effective and flexible in the sense that the user need not keep separate transducer for each sensor or actuator. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.