magnifying ADC resolution

[Fritz Oppliger]

Yo-
I am measuring a 0...5 VDC over the full range of an ADC. I would like to
magnify a sub-range of the same signal for another channel of the same
ADC. So that I could have the sub-range say from 4VDC to 4.25 VDC scaled
to the full bit resolution width of the ADC.
I understand this is done with an OpAmp. I will have to set it up to
amplify the signal by the correct amount.
Its output voltage will be zero until the bottom threshold voltage of the
desired range is reached, and pegs max at the top and beyond...
How does one shift the new signal such that it refers to the same analog
ground, as I am using the same ADC chip?

Does anyone have pointers to ADC interfacing design techniques for
beginners?

Thanks in advance...


--
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[CFoley1064]

Subject: magnifying ADC resolution
From: "Fritz Oppliger" invalid@nospam.biz
Date: 4/19/2004 1:29 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id: <ee7f330d7ac3ebf065d85bc9276f4713@news.teranews.com

Yo-
I am measuring a 0...5 VDC over the full range of an ADC. I would like to
magnify a sub-range of the same signal for another channel of the same
ADC. So that I could have the sub-range say from 4VDC to 4.25 VDC scaled
to the full bit resolution width of the ADC.
I understand this is done with an OpAmp. I will have to set it up to
amplify the signal by the correct amount.
Its output voltage will be zero until the bottom threshold voltage of the
desired range is reached, and pegs max at the top and beyond...
How does one shift the new signal such that it refers to the same analog
ground, as I am using the same ADC chip?

Does anyone have pointers to ADC interfacing design techniques for
beginners?

Thanks in advance...


--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Yo, Fritz. (You wouldn't be from Philidelphia, perchance?) The op amp
configuration you're looking for is called a "difference amplifier". You can
google it, or go to www.national.com and look up AN-31 on their website for
details on basic op amp configurations. I'm assuming you're working with a
single +5V supply here. If so, you'll need a "rail-to-rail" op amp to do this
job. Without knowing more about your circumstances, I can't recommend an op
amp for you, but your basic circuit should look like this (view in fixed font
or M$ Notepad):

Difference Amplifier Vout = (Rf/Ri)*(VIN-4V)
Rf
___
.---|___|----.
| |
| VCC |
Ri | + |
+4V ___ | |\| |
o---|___|---o---|-\ | Vout
___ | >-----o----o
o---|___|---o---|+/
Vin | |/|
Ri | |
.-. ===
Rf| | GND
| |
'-'
|
===
GND

created by Andy´s ASCII-Circuit v1.24.140803 Beta www.tech-chat.de

All you need to do is figure out values for Rf and Ri (which should be matched
as closely as possible). If you're trying to get a range of 5V out of 0.25V,
your gain should be 5/0.25 = 16. That will give you Ri = 10K, and Rf = 160K.

Good luck
Chris

 

[John Fields]

On 19 Apr 2004 19:45:13 GMT, cfoley1064@aol.com (CFoley1064) wrote:

Difference Amplifier Vout = (Rf/Ri)*(VIN-4V)
Rf
___
.---|___|----.
| |
| VCC |
Ri | + |
+4V ___ | |\| |
o---|___|---o---|-\ | Vout
___ | >-----o----o
o---|___|---o---|+/
Vin | |/|
Ri | |
.-. ===
Rf| | GND
| |
'-'
|
===
GND

created by Andy´s ASCII-Circuit v1.24.140803 Beta www.tech-chat.de

All you need to do is figure out values for Rf and Ri (which should be matched
as closely as possible). If you're trying to get a range of 5V out of 0.25V,
your gain should be 5/0.25 = 16. That will give you Ri = 10K, and Rf = 160K.

---
Two things:

1. 5/.25 = 20

2. The +4V reference needs to be stiff enough so that it doesn't
change when the voltage on the inverting input follows the
voltage change on the non-inverting input.

With Vin = 4.0V that'll be:

Vin*Rf/Ri+Rf = 4V*200k/10k+200k = 3.8095V

which is a current _out of_ the reference of

I = E/R = (4.0V-3.8095V)/10k ~ 19.1ľA.

Then, with Vin = 4.25V, it'll be:

Vin*Rf/Ri+Rf = 4.25V*200k/10k+200k = 4.0476V

which is a current _into_ the reference of

I = E/R = (4.0476-4.0)/10k ~ 4.8ľA


--
John Fields

 

[Don]

Fritz, I was in a similar situation, but measuring 10-15volts using a
0-5V ADC. There are a few options:

1. use two resistors in series to form a resistor divider
2. use an op-amp to scale the voltage
3. use a zener diode to "subtract the voltage"

I chose using a zener. It was easier and gave a bit more accuracy.
If you want to do this, get a 4v zener diode and a 5k resistor and put
them in series and attach to your 5V load. Then connect your ADC
across the resistor. This will "subtract" 4v from your 5v load, and
give you a range from 0-1 volt.

My circuit is at http://www.cameronsoftware.com/ev/BMSV0.0.2.html


Don

 

[CFoley1064]

Subject: Re: magnifying ADC resolution
From: John Fields jfields@austininstruments.com
Date: 4/19/2004 3:18 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id: <vhb8809u6c6dtkp4ma37m40afmuo

<snip>

Two things:

1. 5/.25 = 20

Oops -- senior moment. Thanks. That would make Ri = 10K, and Rf = 200K.

<snip>
2. The +4V reference needs to be stiff enough so that it doesn't change when
the voltage on the inverting input follows the voltage change on the
non-inverting input.
<snip>

One good way to get a stiff voltage reference would be to use a dual
rail-to-rail op amp, and use the first as a voltage follower to buffer the
supply voltage divider. Otherwise, you could use a precision bandgap reference
IC, and use the first op amp to amplify/buffer that.

Thanks for the spot, Mr. Fields. I appreciate it. Have a good day.

Chris

 

[John Larkin]

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 18:29:52 GMT, "Fritz Oppliger"
<invalid@nospam.biz> wrote:

Yo-
I am measuring a 0...5 VDC over the full range of an ADC. I would like to
magnify a sub-range of the same signal for another channel of the same
ADC. So that I could have the sub-range say from 4VDC to 4.25 VDC scaled
to the full bit resolution width of the ADC.
I understand this is done with an OpAmp. I will have to set it up to
amplify the signal by the correct amount.
Its output voltage will be zero until the bottom threshold voltage of the
desired range is reached, and pegs max at the top and beyond...
How does one shift the new signal such that it refers to the same analog
ground, as I am using the same ADC chip?

Does anyone have pointers to ADC interfacing design techniques for
beginners?

Thanks in advance...

The other thing that works is to average a lot of measurements to
improve resolution. For this to work well, the ADC has to be
reasonably linear, you have to have an LSB or two of fairly random
noise present, and you have to tolerate the lower effective sample
rate. You can get 16 bit data from an 8-bit ADC if you're patient
enough!

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

John

 

[Fritz Oppliger]

Gentlemen,

Thanks one and all for your suggestions and insights.

The task is moving from A:
(a plain 8051 working a 4051 MUX to feed a CS5501 /AD7701 16bit serial ADC)
to B:
(Analog Devices ADuC832 with built in 8 channel 12bit ADC)

The important thing to be accurate about is the output of an AD592 temp
sensor which will give 1 microAmp per kelvin from input voltages +4 to
+30volts.
I am striving for better than 0.05 F precision especially around 99F. I
would have magnified a window around there, making up for the loss of 4
bits by OpAmping around it. Seems to me though that given
- the fact that I am much better versed in programming than in analog
electronix
- the considerable speed improvements in the new setup (putative at
present)
... I will DO IT IN SOFTWARE!
(as first option)

Thanks again!
Fritz Oppliger
in rainy northern California

 

[Fritz Oppliger]

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
<jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

The other thing that works is to average a lot of measurements to
improve resolution. For this to work well, the ADC has to be
reasonably linear, you have to have an LSB or two of fairly random
noise present, and you have to tolerate the lower effective sample
rate. You can get 16 bit data from an 8-bit ADC if you're patient
enough!

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

John

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and

changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!
I'm still grappling with the odd requirement that there should be noise. -
I am sure there are subtle differences between averaging and various
smoothing strategies... I will try to find out about this.
THanks again.


--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

 

[John Larkin]

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 03:15:01 GMT, "Fritz Oppliger"
<invalid@nospam.biz> wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

The other thing that works is to average a lot of measurements to
improve resolution. For this to work well, the ADC has to be
reasonably linear, you have to have an LSB or two of fairly random
noise present, and you have to tolerate the lower effective sample
rate. You can get 16 bit data from an 8-bit ADC if you're patient
enough!

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

John

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and
changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!

You can also do a 2nd order version of this... better noise rejection
and faster settling at the same time. I have some 68K assembly code
around here somewhere...

I'm still grappling with the odd requirement that there should be noise. -
I am sure there are subtle differences between averaging and various
smoothing strategies... I will try to find out about this.

Well, without noise you might wind up averaging the same ADC code for
an extended interval, and then the data would be quantized to that
step. 12-bit and up systems generally have enough noise by themselves,
without having to add any. Since most ADCs have imperfect differential
linearity (uneven step sizes) several LSBs of noise is nice to
essentially smooth out the cruddy transfer function curve.

John

 

[Jeffrey C. Dege]

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 03:15:01 GMT, Fritz Oppliger <invalid@nospam.biz> wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and
changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!

It's called an "exponential moving average".

It averages an indefinite series of numbers, with each multiplied by a
weighting factor, that decrease according to an exponential relationship.

It's a quite sophisticated technique, and if the appropriate smoothing
factor is chosen, it can be very simple to calculate, as well.

--
He shifted his weight from foot to foot, but it was equally uncomfortable
on both. Obviously somebody had been appallingly incompetent and
he hoped to God it wasn't him.
- Douglas Adams

 

[John Larkin]

On 23 Apr 2004 03:35:21 GMT, jdege@jdege.visi.com (Jeffrey C. Dege)
wrote:

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 03:15:01 GMT, Fritz Oppliger <invalid@nospam.biz> wrote:
On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and
changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!

It's called an "exponential moving average".

It averages an indefinite series of numbers, with each multiplied by a
weighting factor, that decrease according to an exponential relationship.

It's a quite sophisticated technique, and if the appropriate smoothing
factor is chosen, it can be very simple to calculate, as well.

Right. Using integer math, and with N a power of 2, the divide is just
a shift, and this can reduce to a few lines of machine code.

This is just a discrete model of a simple R-C lowpass filter.

John

 

[Jeffrey C. Dege]

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 20:47:52 -0700, John Larkin <jjlarkin@highlandSNIPtechTHISnologyPLEASE.com> wrote:

On 23 Apr 2004 03:35:21 GMT, jdege@jdege.visi.com (Jeffrey C. Dege)
wrote:

It's called an "exponential moving average".

It averages an indefinite series of numbers, with each multiplied by a
weighting factor, that decrease according to an exponential relationship.

It's a quite sophisticated technique, and if the appropriate smoothing
factor is chosen, it can be very simple to calculate, as well.

Right. Using integer math, and with N a power of 2, the divide is just
a shift, and this can reduce to a few lines of machine code.

If you're doing it paper-and-pencil, use N = 10.

(Financial types used to do this with stock prices, and feel wonderfully
sophisticated.)

--
Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do
nothing, they don't hurt anybody. When they do something is when they
become dangerous.
- Will Rogers

 

[John Popelish]

Fritz Oppliger wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

The other thing that works is to average a lot of measurements to
improve resolution. For this to work well, the ADC has to be
reasonably linear, you have to have an LSB or two of fairly random
noise present, and you have to tolerate the lower effective sample
rate. You can get 16 bit data from an 8-bit ADC if you're patient
enough!

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

John

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and
changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!
I'm still grappling with the odd requirement that there should be noise. -
I am sure there are subtle differences between averaging and various
smoothing strategies... I will try to find out about this.
THanks again.

In the presence of impulse noise that produces outliers, I have added
a nonlinear trick to this method. I make three measurements and use
only the middle value to run through such a smoothing filter.
Discards unusually high and low samples.

Not much code overhead, but three times the A/D conversions.

--
John Popelish

 

[Bob Masta]

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 03:15:01 GMT, "Fritz Oppliger"
<invalid@nospam.biz> wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

The other thing that works is to average a lot of measurements to
improve resolution. For this to work well, the ADC has to be
reasonably linear, you have to have an LSB or two of fairly random
noise present, and you have to tolerate the lower effective sample
rate. You can get 16 bit data from an 8-bit ADC if you're patient
enough!

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

John

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and
changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!
I'm still grappling with the odd requirement that there should be noise. -
I am sure there are subtle differences between averaging and various
smoothing strategies... I will try to find out about this.
THanks again.

I have some articles with explanations you may find helpful:
"Synchronous Waveform Averaging - Magic Bullet for Noise"
at <www.daqarta.com/tm01.htm>, and especially
"Dither - Making a Lemon Into Lemonade" at
<www.daqarta.com/tm05.htm>

Hope these help!



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com

 

[John Larkin]

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 00:39:06 -0400, John Popelish <jpopelish@rica.net>
wrote:

Fritz Oppliger wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

The other thing that works is to average a lot of measurements to
improve resolution. For this to work well, the ADC has to be
reasonably linear, you have to have an LSB or two of fairly random
noise present, and you have to tolerate the lower effective sample
rate. You can get 16 bit data from an 8-bit ADC if you're patient
enough!

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

John

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and
changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!
I'm still grappling with the odd requirement that there should be noise. -
I am sure there are subtle differences between averaging and various
smoothing strategies... I will try to find out about this.
THanks again.

In the presence of impulse noise that produces outliers, I have added
a nonlinear trick to this method. I make three measurements and use
only the middle value to run through such a smoothing filter.
Discards unusually high and low samples.

Not much code overhead, but three times the A/D conversions.

If the intent is to expand ADC resolution, I'd be concerned that
tossing samples would introduce a nonlinearity, when what we're trying
to do is improve linearity to well below the quantization steps of the
ADC itself. We sometime need to *add* noise to pull off this trick, so
why throw it away?

Hmmm... the middle value of a sample triplet is the median, not the
mean. So the average of the three is statistically a better
representation of the voltage than just the middle sample. If impulse
noise is AC coupled into the system, which it usually is, tossing
impulses actually introduces an opposite bias into the remaining
samples. I think.

John

 

[John Popelish]

John Larkin wrote:

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 00:39:06 -0400, John Popelish <jpopelish@rica.net
wrote:

Fritz Oppliger wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:58:15 -0700, John Larkin
jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:

The other thing that works is to average a lot of measurements to
improve resolution. For this to work well, the ADC has to be
reasonably linear, you have to have an LSB or two of fairly random
noise present, and you have to tolerate the lower effective sample
rate. You can get 16 bit data from an 8-bit ADC if you're patient
enough!

Try this: float the ADC sample as variable S

Now do

F = F + (S-F) / N every sample

F is the smoothed (filtered) result

N is the smoothing factor; try 16 maybe.

John

Thank you for mentioning this; I just went through my current code and
changed from averaging arrays to this smoothing thingy - much less
horsepower required!
I'm still grappling with the odd requirement that there should be noise. -
I am sure there are subtle differences between averaging and various
smoothing strategies... I will try to find out about this.
THanks again.

In the presence of impulse noise that produces outliers, I have added
a nonlinear trick to this method. I make three measurements and use
only the middle value to run through such a smoothing filter.
Discards unusually high and low samples.

Not much code overhead, but three times the A/D conversions.

If the intent is to expand ADC resolution, I'd be concerned that
tossing samples would introduce a nonlinearity, when what we're trying
to do is improve linearity to well below the quantization steps of the
ADC itself. We sometime need to *add* noise to pull off this trick, so
why throw it away?

The idea is to keep only the samples that represent gaussian noise
that average out ot the true value, and discard those contaminated by
large spikes that include foreign information about something else
that just happened to coincide with the sample interval.

Hmmm... the middle value of a sample triplet is the median, not the
mean. So the average of the three is statistically a better
representation of the voltage than just the middle sample.

This is true only if the noise is gaussian. If the noise has other
forms, discarding the outliers can give a more accurate average.

If impulse
noise is AC coupled into the system, which it usually is, tossing
impulses actually introduces an opposite bias into the remaining
samples. I think.

Typically, two of the three samples are valid and differ by only a
count (so either is a fair addition to the average process. The
impulse contaminated sample is usually way off. No amount of
averaging will eliminate this bias if some percentage of samples are
so contaminated.

--
John Popelish