Instrumentation and Control

Measurement

Contents

What is measurement?
Units of measure
Fundamental units of measure
Derived units of measure
Conversion of units of measure
Dimensional analysis
Purpose of measurement systems
Essential requirements of measurement system
Types of measurements
Essential elements of measurement system
Calibration
Accuracy and Precision Concept
Accuracy and Errors in system
Source of measurement errors in system
Error reduction techniques

What is a Measurement?
Encyclopedia Definition
In classical physics and engineering , measurement
generally refers to the process of estimating or
determining the ratio of a magnitude of a quantitative
property or relation to a unit of the same type
of quantitative property or relation.
Process of measurement involves the comparison of
physical quantities of objects or phenomena.

What is a Measurement?
Wikipedia
Measurement is the estimation or determination of
extent, dimensions or capacity, usually in relation to
some standard or unit of measurement.

Comparison to a Standard (Metrology)

Metrology is the study of measurement.
- In general, a metric is a sale of measurement defined in
terms of a standard: i.e. in terms of well defined unit.
- If one says I am 5, that person is indicating a measurement
without supplying an applicable standard.
- They could mean I am 5 years old or I am 5 feet high.
- Measurements are at best ambiguous, or at worst,
meaningless, without units!

Units of Measure
What is a Unit of Measure?
- Act of m measuring involves comparing the
magnitude of a quantity possessed by an object with
a standard unit by using an instrument under
controlled conditions.
What are

- Examples of measuring
instruments include:
Thermometers (Deg.)
Current Meter (Amps)
Pressure Sensor (psi)

These gages
Readings?

Without
prior
knowledge
of units we
have no
idea!

Units of Measure (contd)

Same quantity,

.. Different units.

Units of Measure (contd)

System of Units
Imperial (English)
Before SI units were widely adopted around the
world, the British systems of English units and later
Imperial Units were used in Britain,
the
Commonwealth and the United States.

Sometimes called foot-pond-second system after

Imperial units for distance , weight (mass), and time.

Units of Measure (contd)

System of Units
Metric (MKS)
The metric system is a decimalised system of measurements
based on the Meter (M), Kilogram (Kg), and seconds (S).
The main advantage of the metric system is that it has a single
base unit for each physical quantity. All other units are powers of
ten or multiples of ten of this base unit.
Unit conversions are always simple because they will be in the
ratio of ten, one hundred, one thousand, etc.
Also referred to as System International (SI) Units.

Fundamental Units of Measure

A system of measurement is a set of units which can be
used to specify anything which can be measured. Some
quantities are designated as fundamental units meaning
all other needed units can be derived from them.

Historically a wide range of units were used for the same

quantity; for example, in several cultural settings , length
was measured in inches, feet, yards, fathoms, rods,
chains, furlongs, miles, nautical miles, leagues, with
conversion factors which are no simple powers of ten or
even always simple fractions.

Fundamental Units of Measure(contd)

The disagreement of units had serious military,
cultural, and Fiscal impacts and eventually the British
Royal Society headed by Michael Faraday adopted 3
fundamental Units, distance (ft), weight (lb), and
time (sec).
Later (1824) it was determined to be more
fundamental to substitute Mass (slugs) for weight
(lb) as a fundamental unit of measure
F ma 1lbf 1slug ft
sec 2

Fundamental Units of Measure(contd)

In the 19th century, science developments showed that
either electric charge or electric current must be added
to complete the minimum set of fundamental quantities.
Mesures usuelles (French for customary measurements)
were a system of measurements introduced to act as
compromise
between
metric
and
traditional
measurements.

This system of measures will eventually lead to the

evolution of the modern SI system of measurements.

Fundamental Units of Measure

(SI System)
Quantity

Name of Unit

Symbol

Length

Meter

Mass

Kilogram

Kg

Time

Second

Electric current

Ampere

Thermodynamic
Temperature

Kelvin

Luminous intensity

candela

cd

Plane angle

Radian

rad

Amount of substance

mole

mol

Derived Units of Measure, SI system

Derived units are
algebraic
combinations of the
eight base units with
some
of
the
combinations being
assigned
special
names and symbols

Symbol

Expression in
terms of SI
base units

Expression in
terms of
other units

gray

Gy

m2 s 2

J/kg

Electrical
capacitance

farad

m-2kg-1s4A2

C/V

Electrical
charge

coulomb

As

Electrical
conductance

siemens

m-2kg-1s3A2

Electrical
inductance

Henry

m2kg s-2A-2

Electrical
potential

volt

m2kg s-3A-1

W/A

Electrical
resistance

Ohm

m2kg s-3A-2

V/A

Force

Newton

Kgms-2

Quantity

Name of
Unit

Absorbed
radiation

A/V

Derived Units of Measure, SI system

(contd)

Quantity

Name of Unit

Symbol

Expression in terms
of SI base units

Frequency

Hertz

Hz

s-1

Luminance

lux

lx

m-2cdsr

Luminous flux

Lumen

lm

cd sr

Magnetic flux

Weber

Wb

m2kg s-2A-1

Vs

Magnetic flux
density

Tesla

kg s-2A-1

Wb/m2

Power or
radiant flux

Watt

kg m2s-3

J/s

Pressure

Pascal

Pa

Kg/(ms2) =
(N/m2)

Radioactivity

Becquerel

Bq

s-1

Work, energy,
heat

Joule

m2kg s-2

Expression in terms
of other units

lm/m2

Nm

Conversion of Units of Measure

Although the Imperial System of units is gradually
being replaced by SI system, these units are still in
common use.
This use of the Imperial system is especially prevalent
for mechanical units like distance, force, moments of
inertia, pressure, and volume.

Accurate conversion from one system to another is

essential.

Conversion of units of measure

(contd)

The mars climate orbiter (1998) was

destroyed when a navigation error caused the
spacecraft to miss its intended 150 km
altitude above mars during orbit insertion
Instead the spacecraft entered the Martian
atmosphere at about 57 km altitude
The spacecraft was destroyed by atmospheric
stresses and friction at this low altitude.

Conversion of units of measure

(contd)

Not important?!
A review board found that thruster impulse data
was calculated on the groud in imperial units
(pound-seconds) and reported that way to
navigation team, who were expecting the data in
metric units (newton-seconds)
Anticipating a different set of units, systems
aboard the spacecraft were not able to reconcile
the two systems of measurement, resulting in the
navigation error and loss of spacecraft.

Dimensional analysis
Most physical quantities can be expressed in
terms of combination of five basic dimensions.
These are mass (m), distance (D,L), time (t),
electrical current (I), temperature (T).
Dimensions are not the same as units i.e the
physical quantity, speed may be measured in
units of meters per second, knots . . . ; but
regardless of the units used, speed is always a
distance divided by time, so we say that the
dimension of speed are distance divided by time,
or instantaneously dD/dt.

Dimensional analysis (contd)

Dimensional analysis (contd)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Volume
Acceleration (velocity/time)
Density ( mass/volume
Force (mass acceleration)
Charge (currenttime)

L3
L/t3
M/L3
M.L/t2
I.t

Dimensional analysis (contd)

more complex dimensional analysis examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Pressure (force/area)
(Volume)2
Electric field (force/charge)
Work (force x distance)
Energy (gravitational, potential mgh)
Square root of area

M.L-1 .t-2
L6
M.L.I-1.t-3
M.L2/T2
M.L2/t2
L

Dimensional analysis (contd)

In algebric expression, additive terms must have same
directions.
each term on the left hand side of an equation
have the same dimensions as each term on the
hand side

must
right

a = b.c + x . Y

a must have same dimensions as the product bc and

(1/2) xy must also have same dimensions as a and bc
Equation is dimensionally correct when terms have consistent
dimensionality.
Dimensional analysis is a valuable tool for validating the
correctness of an algebraic derivation i.e. finding algebra
errors.

Purpose of measurement systems

OUTPUT

INPUT

Process machine
or system being
measured

Measurement
system
True value
of
variables

Observer
Measured
value of
variables

Essential requirement of
measurement system
Descriptive
Provide relationship between output and state

Selective
Provide desirable information only

Objective
Be independent of arbitrary observers

Validated
Represent the true value

Types of measurement
Manufacturing measurements
Discreetly monitoring products quality

Performance measurements
Providing performance evaluation as needed

Operational measurements
Continuously monitoring operation processes

Control measurements
Continuously providing feedback signals

Essential elements

Input

Output
Measurement System

The value
of variables

Sensing element

Measured value
of variables

Conditioning
element

Processing
element

Displaying
element

Sensing elements
In contact with the information carrier or
medium
Given a signal output related to the quantity
being measured
Examples
Strain gauge, Resistance depends on mechanical strain
Thermo couple, Voltage depends on the temperature

Signal conditioning elements

Prepares sensor outputs suitable for further
processing
Mostly use various conditioning circuits
Examples
A deflection bridge, converts an impedance change into a
voltage change
Amplifier, amplifies millivolts to volts

Signal processing elements

Converting conditioning output into forms
more suitable for presentation
Calculation
secondary
variable
from
measureable variables.
Examples
Analog-to-digital converter
Analog or digital filter
Signal compensation

Data display elements

Display and/or store measured signals in
recognizable form
Use analog and/or digital form
Examples
Visual display units, like oscilloscope
Analog chart recorders
Digital data array

CALIBRATION
The relationship between the physical
measurement variable (x) and the signal
variable (s)
A sensor or instrument is calibrated by
applying a number of KNOWN physical inputs
and recording the response of the system

Accuracy and Precision

Accuracy
Deviation of the output from the
true value
indicates the closeness of measured
and true values

Precision
Degree of reproducibility of a
measurement
indicates the
measured values

repeatability

of

Definition of Accuracy
Accuracy is a property of complete measurement
rather than a single element.
Accuracy is quantified using measurement error:
E = measured value true value
= system output system input

Definition of Precision
The capacity of measuring instrument to give the
same reading when repetitively measuring the
same quantity under the same prescribed
conditions.
Precision implies agreement between successive readings,
NOT closeness to the true value.
Precision is a necessary but not sufficient condition for
accuracy.

Definition of Precision
Two terms are closely related to precision:
Repeatability:
The precision of a set of measurements taken over a short
time interval.

Reproducibility:
The precision of a set of measurements BUT taken over a
long time interval or performed by different operators or
with different instruments or in different laboratories.

Accuracy and Precision

Accuracy and Errors

Systematic errors:
Result from a variety of factors:

Interfering or modifying variables (e.g. temperature)

Drift (i.e., changes in chemical structure or mechanical stresses)
The measurement process changes the measurand (i.e., loading error)
The transmission process changes the signal (i.e., attenuation)
Human observers

Systematic errors can be corrected with COMPENSATION methods (i.e.,

feedback, filtering etc.)

Accuracy and Errors

Random errors:
Also called Noise: a signal that carries no information.
True random errors (white noise) follow a Gaussian distribution
Sources of randomness:
Repeatability of measurand itself (i.e., height of a rough surface)
Environmental noise (i.e., background noise picked by a microphone)
Transmission noise (i.e., 60Hz hum)
Signal to noise ratio (SNR) should be >> 1
With knowledge of the signal characteristics it may be possible to
interpret a signal with a low SNR (i.e., understanding speech in a loud
environment)

Sources of Measurement Errors

Improper sensing position
Improper element calibration
Improper data acquisition method
Improper sampling rate
Elements non-linearity
Environmental effects

Error Reduction Techniques (1)

The most effective method
of reducing measurement
error is to:
Set the sensing element at
the right position.

Error Reduction Techniques (2)

An effective and useful
method
of
reducing
measurement error is to:
Calibrate each element to
eliminate or reduce bias.
Bias (offset) is the residual error
between the output and the true
value
after
all
possible
compensation.

Error Reduction Techniques (3)

Another effective method
of reducing measurement
error is to:
Setup a proper sampling
rate for a data acquisition.

Error Reduction Techniques (4)

An effective and useful
method
of
reducing
measurement error is to:
Compensate
sensing
element non-linearity.

Error Reduction Techniques (5)

Another effective method
of reducing measurement
error is to:
Compensate
the
environmental effects.

Environmental effects isolation:

Itotal = Itrue
Environmental input cancellation:
Iactual = Itotal - IEnvironmental