SIGNAL CONDITIONING ANALOG CIRCUITS P. PIETRZAK, W. TYLMAN, M. MULARCZYK, A.

NAPIERALSKI TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF LODZ

BASED Z.

ON

PROGRAMMABLE B. PKOSAWSKI,

KULESZA,

KEYWORDS: Programmable Analog Circuit, Signal Conditioning, Vibration Measurement Systems

ABSTRACT: Programmable circuits are commonly used class of electronic devices. In practice this term usually refers to microcontrollers with different kind of programmable memories and to programmable logic circuits (PAL, CPLD, FPGA). Most of these devices are digital circuits. Thanks to the huge progress in miniaturization of electronic circuits, the new class of devices programmable analog circuits was put on the market. These circuits bring new possibilities to design electronic circuit. One of the most promising fields of application is construction of analog signal conditioning circuits. This paper describes feature and parameters of sample programmable analog circuits. It depicts internal structure and theory of operation of these devices. One of commercially available programmable analog circuits was used in development of signal conditioning block for vibration measurement system. It works as programmable gain amplifier and low-pass anti-aliasing filter with programmable cut-off frequency. Amplifier transient characteristics for different gain values and frequency response of the filter were measured.

GENERAL INFORMATION
The common trend among the manufacturers of electronic devices is to miniaturize their products. Very often this leads to integration of large number of functional blocks of the device in one small, complex integrated circuit. Small dimensions and weight of the device gives the possibility to use it as a portable apparatus. However, this is not the main and sole objective. Using one, specialized integrated circuit instead of many separate ones gives the opportunity to significantly lower the price of the device when the mass production methods are employed. Moreover, a single integrated circuit will require much less electric energy, therefore it can operate much longer using battery power. An important advantage of the integrated measurement systems is the ability to improve the parameters of the constructed devices both in the field of precision (e.g. due to minimisation of the influence of the environment noise) and of operation speed. Such systems may integrate advanced analog circuits, signal processor cores and various measurement transducers. It is extremely important for example for the distributed vibrations measurement

system [3, 4], for which it may be possible to mount the measurement modules inside the generator. Manufacturers of the analog integrated circuits have problems manufacturing capacitors, inductors and resistors in the silicon substrate. They take up large amount of space and often turn out to be thermally unstable. Besides, the polysilicon resistors are nonlinear. The solution to these problems are the switched capacitance circuits [6]. They allow to manufacture complex analog circuits with arbitrary frequency response. The switched capacitance technique is the basis of the construction of the reprogrammable analog circuits. They are universal circuits for which the user can determine the configuration of the interconnections between internal elements and set the required values of the passive elements. As a result it is possible to obtain a circuit having virtually any desired functionality and programmatically adjustable parameters (gain, filter frequencies) without any need for external elements. At the Department of Microelectronics and Computer Science, Technical University of d, in order to test the possibility to use the reprogrammable analog circuits in the industrial measurement systems, one of the commercially available circuits of this type has

been used to construct signal conditioning circuit in the vibration monitoring system for large rotating machines [2].

ANALOG REPROGRAMMABLE CIRCUITS: STRUCTURE AND OPERATING PRINCIPLE

The vast progress in the field of semiconductor integrated circuits production, which can be observed in the last few years, resulted in development of analog integrated circuits that not only can have their operation parameters adjusted programmatically, but also the interconnections between the built-in analog blocks can be changed in the same manner. Such devices are called analog reprogrammable circuits. One of the main blocks used for their construction is a transconductional amplifier, which principle of operation can be compared to a voltage controlled, linear current source. Its main elements are two FET or bipolar transistors, working as classical differential amplifier. An important feature of theses amplifiers is their low output impedance. Other important elements of the circuit are digitally controlled analog switches and multiplexers, which allow circuit programming. By writing required values to the configuration memory they allow to alter the circuit's internal interconnections and define signal propagation paths. The analog switches also allow to construct electronic potentiometers and programmable capacitances. The semiconductor switches are the basic elements of the abovementioned switched capacity circuits. These circuits can be manufactured using the most popular CMOS technology, which allow them to be integrated in large scale integration circuits. In the switched capacitance technique the capacitors are used to to store charge that corresponds to samples of the analog circuits. This type of circuits can be used to construct generators, digital-analog converters, modulators, and above all filters. In comparison to the classic active filters, designed on the basis of operational amplifiers, the switched capacitance filters have small dimensions, steep frequency response at the band limits, easy realization of high-level filters, low power requirements, easy tuning. By changing the operating frequency of various parts of the circuit (using built-in frequency dividers) it is possible to adjust the steepness of the frequency response outside the band limits. The cut-off frequency and gain can be adjusted by connecting appropriate number of capacitors (using analog switches). The signal-to-noise ratio of the switched capacitance filters is limited by thermal noise of the amplifiers and switches. As far as this parameter is concerned, classic active RC filters are often better.

Fig. 1. Internal structure of simple CAB of AN10E40 circuit [7]

In the frequency spectrum of the switched capacitance circuit output signal there are spectral lines corresponding to the sidebands of the base band (band close to the filter fundamental frequency). Moreover, the filtered signal contains disturbances with the frequency equal to the switching signals frequencies and their multiplicities. In order to eliminate this behaviour it is necessary to use additional continuous filters, for example active RC filters: antialiasing at the input and smoothing at the output. The main way to construct resistive elements, still remain the FET transistor configured to work in triode area [6]. The analog reprogrammable circuits utilizing the abovementioned elements can be divided into three groups. The first one are the circuits similar to the digital reprogrammable FPGA circuits. A typical example is Anadigm AN10EXX family [7]. These circuits consist of analog cells (Fig. 1) basic blocks usually containing an amplifier and resistive and capacitive elements using switch capacitance technology. The configuration of each cell is stored and determined using digital signals that control analog switches. The circuit contains signal lines, to which the inputs and outputs of the selected cells can be connected using analog switches (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Internal structure of AN10E40 integrated circuit [7]

In this way the FPAA (Field Programmable Analog Array) circuits can be used to implement amplifiers (including measurement amplifiers), filters or comparators that have desired parameters. The second group are circuits where the analog blocks are designed specifically to perform particular functions (amplifying, filtration etc.). They often offer only limited means of altering configuration of their elements. An example is the Lattice ispPac family [9]. The simplest member of this family ispPac10 (Fig. 3) contains four amplifiers, connected by a programmable matrix of analog connections. The gain of each amplifier can be programmed between 0 and 20sB. The circuit can serve as a basis for simple programmable gain amplifiers and filters.

The circuit contains eight blocks of programmable digital logic and twelve programmable analog blocks. The connections between these blocks are made using a network of signal lines (separately for the digital and analog parts) connected to a complex matrix of configurational multiplexers. A sample structure of the analog block is presented in Fig. 6. The built-in microcontroller executes most of the instructions during one clock cycle. A multiplier, capable of multiplying two 8-bit numbers in three clock cycles, further aids the computations. The microcontroller program is stored in ISP FLASH memory. The user can utilize SRAM memory for the data.

Fig. 3. Internal structure of ispPAC10 integrated circuit [9]

In the ispPAC20 circuit some of the amplifiers are replaced with comparators and 8-bit digital-analog converter. Additionally, one of the amplifiers has a programmable voltage source connected to its input. The ispPAC8X series circuits contain programmable fifth-order filters together with programmable gain amplifiers (Fig. 4).

Fig. 5. . Internal structure of CY8C27 series circuit [8]

The last, third group is represented by Cypress CY8C25XXX family. These circuits contain reprogrammable analog subcircuits, reprogrammable digital subcircuits and modified core of the '51 microcontroller with digital input/outputs (Fig. 5).

Fig. 4. Internal structure of ispPAC80 integrated circuit [9]

Fig. 6. Internal structure of type C analog block in CY8C27 integrated circuit family [8]

The reprogrammable analog blocks of the CY8C25XXX family can be used to construct amplifiers and filters. Its digital blocks to construct counters, D/A and A/D converters, multiplexers, timers and PWM generators. It should be noted that the builtin microprocessor can supervise the analog and digital blocks, utilizing its interruption system. It can also alter parameters of the blocks during circuit operation. Thanks to the built-in charge pump, the circuit can be used with the supply voltage of 1V. The manufacturer makes available free software that facilitates design process of devices that make use of the abovementioned circuits.

AN APPLICATION OF THE ANALOG REPROGRAMMABLE CIRCUIT IN THE SIGNAL PATH OF THE VIBRATION MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
The reprogrammable analog Cypress CY8C27443 circuit, belonging to the last of the groups described in the previous section, has been used to construct signal conditioning circuitry in the data acquisition and processing module for the acceleration sensors. Its block diagram is presented in Fig. 7.
MEMS Accelerometer Piezoelectric Accelerometer Power Supply

Fig. 8. Configuration of analog programmable circuit [2]

The amplifier consists of two analog blocks and has the gain of 2, 4, 8 or 16 times. The connections between blocks are depicted in Fig. 9.

Input Amplifier Input Multiplexer Analog Programmable Circuit Reference Voltage Source

EEPROM

Fig. 9. Diagram of amplifier made of two CY8C27443 analog blocks [8]

Signal Processor

A/D Converter

CAN Interface

Fig. 7. Diagram of vibration measurement module [2]

The preamplified and having 2.5V bias signals from the piezoelectric and micromachine silicon sensors are routed to the CY8C27443 inputs. The bias is necessary because the circuits are powered using single 5V voltage (the bias is equal to half the supply voltage) [2]. The role of the CY8C27443 circuit in the signal conditioning block is twofold: it is a programmable gain amplifier and low-pass fourth-order filter with programmable cut-off frequency. The parameters of both these subcircuits are determined on the basis of the signals supplied to the appropriate inputs of the CY8C27443 circuit (Fig. 8).

Looking at the parameters of the circuit (Table 1) it can be seen that the circuit has high value of the noise density coefficient, high value of the input offset voltage and small value of the common mode rejection ratio. In order to minimize the negative influence of these parameters the amplitude of the input signal should be high. This results in the need of preamplifier circuits (Fig. 7).
TABLE 1. Parameters of the amplifier realized using the analog programmable circuit

Supply voltage Supply current Maximum offset voltage Maximum offset current Maximum noise density coefficient Input voltage range Output voltage range Frequency bandwidth Common mode rejection ratio

5V 4mA 3mV 1nA 99nV/Hz 0V..5V 0.05V..4,95V 2MHz (G=2) 59dB

The measured transfer characteristic of the amplifier circuit are presented in Fig. 10.

Fig. 10. Amplifier transient characteristics for different gain values

The plots show amplifier saturation for the input voltages below 0.3V and above 4.6V. The amplifier has good linearity and (not shown in the plot) constant gain for wide range of input signal frequencies. Converting the analog signal into digital representation requires antialiasing filters that satisfy the NyquistShannon theorem (stating that the sampling frequency bust be at least two times higher that the maximum frequency of the sampled signal). In the discussed module this function is performed by two identical, constructed using the reprogrammable circuit, secondorder filters connected in series. A schematic of one of these filters is presented in Figure 11.

Fig. 12. Designed frequency response of 1kHz cut-off frequency low-pass filter [2]

As anticipated, the noise density coefficient and input offset voltage of the filter turned out to be too high for precise diagnostic measurements (Table 2).
Table 2. Parameters of the filter developed using the analog programmable circuit

Supply voltage Supply current Maximum offset voltage Maximum noise density coefficient Input voltage range Output voltage range

5V 4mA 18mV 2000nV/Hz 0V..5V 0.05V..4,95V

Fig. 11. Diagram of programmable 2-nd order filter

In order to obtain good selectivity a Chebyshev filter was used. The values of the capacitors and their switching frequencies were calculated using the MS Excel spreadsheet provided by the manufacturer [8]. The implementation of the filter in the circuit was aided by libraries from the PSoC Designer program. The transfer function of the filters is following: (2)

In order to change the upper cut-off frequency of the filter it is necessary to change values of capacitors and operating frequency of the internal switches. Unfortunately, the configuration of the built-in programmable PWM modulator cannot be change during circuit operation. This limitation has been overcome by constructing an additional, programmable PWM modulator using digital blocks. The measured amplitude characteristic for different settings of the circuit are presented in Figure 12.

The desired amplitude characteristic of the filter with the cut-off frequency of 1kHz is presented in Figure 12.

Fig. 12. Obtained frequency response of the filter [2]

After switching the power supply on the built-in microcontroller configures the circuit. The internal multiplexers are set so that they connect the analog blocks, digital blocks and external terminals according to the code stored in the flash non-volatile memory. After the configuration phase is finished, the circuit

starts execution of the microcontroller code. In the presented system, the microcontroller checks the inputs that control the amplifier gain and filter cut-off frequency and accordingly connects or disconnects appropriate elements to the analog blocks and changes the PWM modulator parameters. The output signal of the CY8C27443 analog reprogrammable circuit is fed to 12-bit analog-digital successive approximation converter, and from it to Texas Instruments TMS320 digital signal processor. The DSP performs fast Fourier transform over the received samples. Apart from this, it also supervises the whole measurement module and transfers data to the supervising computer. The design utilizes built-in CAN controller. The CAN standard has been designed for the needs of automotive industry, but thanks to its advantages [2] it is also used in industrial measurement, supervision and control systems. The complete vibration measurement module is presented in Figure 13.

proved during tests of the vibration measurement module. This is the price that has to be paid for applicability, small area needed on the PCB and universality of configuration and parameter values. Thanks to free software provided by the circuit manufacturers, designing and implementing of even complex analog circuits is straightforward.

THE AUTHORS
Piotr Pietrzak, MSc., Wojciech Tylman, PhD, Zbigniew Kulesza, MSc, Bartosz Pkosawski, MSc, Marcin Mularczyk, MSc, Andrzej Napieralski, Prof. are with the Department of Microelectronics and Computer Science, Technical University of Lodz, Al. Politechniki 11, 90-924 d, Poland. E-mail: pietrzak@dmcs.pl

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Information Society Technologies of Poland as a grant founded from scientific and educational budgetary means.

REFERENCES
Signal Processor Analog Programmable Circuit MEMS Accelerometer

Fig. 13. Vibration measurement module [2]

As it has already been mentioned, the data from the measurement module are transferred to the computer using 3-wire bus. According to the CAN standard, one bus can connect up to 127 nodes (measurement modules). The computer in the network serves as a master, which, thanks to proprietary software, can control all measurement modules and presents results of the measurements as vibration frequency spectrum. The measurement data, together with additional information, such as node address and number, its configuration and measurement timestamp can be saved to a text file [2].

CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents operation principle, internal construction and properties of a new class of integrated circuits, namely analog reprogrammable circuits. The basis of the discussion is application of such circuit in signal conditioning circuit for acceleration sensors. The research shows that such circuits have high noise density coefficient, high input offset voltage and low common mode rejection ratio. These results have been

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