Syllabus

Introduction and Background of state-of-art sensing and measurement techniques. Contactless potentiometer (resistance-capacitance scheme) – Methodology,Interface Circuits, Overview of Flight Instrumentation. Analog Electronic Blocks, CMRR Analysis (Non-ideal opamps) of an Instrumentation Amplifier, Linearization circuits for single-element wheatstone bridges (application to strain gauge), Direct Digital Converter for Strain gauges, Signal conditioning for Remote-connected sensor elements. Inductive sensors and electronic circuits, Eddy-current based sensors, Synchros and Resolvers, Magnetic shielding techniques. State-of-art Magnetic Sensors – Principle, Characteristics and Applications – Induction Magnetometer, Flux gate Magnetometer, Hall Effect Sensor, Magnetoresistance Sensors, GMR Sensors – Multi-layer and Spin Valve, Wiegand Effect, SQUID. Case Study-1: GMR Based Angular Position Sensor, Sensing Arrangement, Linearization Electronics – Methodology, Circuit Design and Analysis. Case study-2: Brake Wear Monitoring, Reluctance-Hall Effect Angle Transducer–Sensing arrangement,Front-end Electronics.Overview of Basic Capacitive sensors.Various design considerations; guarding, stray fields, offset and stray capacitance, Ratio metric measurement – advantages and circuit implementations. RMS, Peak, Average Value Electronic Schemes for Capacitive Sensors, Synchronous Phase Detection – multiplier and switching type. Case study-3: Liquid level detection – Concentric Cylindrical Plates, Plates on container walls – Dielectric  and Conductive Liquids - Analysis. Case study-4: Capacitive Angle Transducers and Front-end electronics. Piezoelectric sensors, Seismic transducers. Introduction to MEMS, Piezoelectric, Electrodynamic and MEMS Capacitive Accelerometers, Principles of Ultrasonic sensors - Equivalent circuit and transfer  function of a piezoelectric transmitter, crystal oscillator. NDT using ultrasonic and eddy-current. Optical and Fibre Optic Sensors MEMS Pressure sensors, Vaccum-pressure estimation and important flow measurement (volume and mass flow rate) schemes, Flapper-nozzle systems. Sensing Schemes for Attitude, Position measurement and navigation, Instrumentation Systems for Occupancy Detection – Ultrasound, Inductive and Capacitive schemes. Non-contact current and voltage measurement, Newhuman vital-sign sensing techniques.