INSTRUMENTATION USING LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

THERE HAVE BEEN MANY MAJOR ADVANCEMENTS IN DIGITAL ELECTRONICS WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN APPLIED TO TEST INSTRUMENTATION. SPECIFICALLY, SIGNAL CONDITIONING INSTRUMENTATION COULD BE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED BY APPLYING SOME RECENTLY DEVELOPED LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS. CURRENTLY, SIGNAL CONDITIONING IS DONE USING ANALOG FUNCTION CIRCUITS WHICH HAVE MANY LIMITATIONS AND PROBLEMS. BY APPLYING CURRENTLY AVAILABLE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS IT IS POSSIBLE TO ELIMINATE ANALOG SIGNAL CONDITIONING IN DATA ACQUISITION INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEMS. THE DIGITAL CIRCUITS WILL BE MORE STABLE, RELIABLE, ACCURATE, AND LESS EXPENSIVE THAN THEIR ANALOG COUNTERPARTS.INET CORPORATION PROPOSES TO CONDUCT FEASIBILITY RESEARCH INTO DIGITAL SIGNAL CONDITIONING INSTRUMENTATION. THE RESEARCH WILL DETERMINE THE BEST COMBINATION OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS TO PERFORM A WIDE VARIETY OF SIGNAL CONDITIONING FUNCTIONS. THE SECOND STEP IN THE RESEARCH IS TO BUILD A PROTOTYPE CIRCUIT AND RUN PERFORMANCE TESTS ON IT. THE EVENTUAL GOAL IS TO DEVELOP, MANUFACTURE, AND MARKET DIGITALSIGNAL CONDITIONING INSTRUMENTATION FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATION. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS ATTRACTIVE BECAUSE IT WILL RESULT IN IMPROVED QUALITY OF TEST DATA AND MORE PRODUCTIVE TEST OPERATIONS. INET IS COMMITTED TO SEEING THIS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TO A PRODUCT THAT WILL HAVE BROAD INDUSTRIAL BENEFIT AND APPLICATION.