Timer-Based Demodulator for AM Sensor Signals Applied to an Inductive Displacement Sensor

This paper proposes a novel method for demodulating low-frequency amplitude-modulated (AM) signals provided by sensors. The method relies on a digital timer that carries out the demodulation and digitization simultaneously, without requiring a rectifier, a mixer, a low-pass filter, or an analog-to-d...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Reverter Cubarsí, Ferran|||0000-0003-1653-0519, Gasulla Forner, Manuel|||0000-0002-0364-6806
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/116556
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/116556
https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2017.2711918
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Detectors
Demodulator
digital timer
displacement sensor
inductive sensor
sensor interface electronics
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica
Descripción
Sumario:This paper proposes a novel method for demodulating low-frequency amplitude-modulated (AM) signals provided by sensors. The method relies on a digital timer that carries out the demodulation and digitization simultaneously, without requiring a rectifier, a mixer, a low-pass filter, or an analog-to-digital converter. This timer-based demodulator extracts the amplitude of the AM signal by measuring the period of a reference signal that is altered by the AM signal itself. The period measurement undergoes a deviation that carries information about the amplitude of the AM signal. The feasibility and also the limitations, such as the nonlinearity and aliasing effects, of this novel demodulator are proved theoretically and experimentally. The concept is also applied to measure an inductive displacement sensor in a range of ±30 mm. A nonlinearity error of 0.5% full-scale span and a resolution of 9 bits are achieved for an overall measuring time of 100 ms.