Electronic instrumentation for smart structures

George J. Blanar

doi:10.1117/12.207677

20 April 1995 Electronic instrumentation for smart structures

George J. Blanar

Proceedings Volume 2444, Smart Structures and Materials 1995: Smart Sensing, Processing, and Instrumentation; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.207677
Event: Smart Structures and Materials '95, 1995, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The requirements of electronic instrumentation for smart structures are similar to those of data acquisition systems at our national particle physics laboratories. Modern high energy and heavy ion physics experiments may have tens of thousands of channels of data sources producing data that must be converted to digital form, compacted, stored and interpreted. In parallel, multiple sensors distributed in and around smart structures generate either binary or analog signals that are voltage, charge, or time like in their information content. In all cases, they must be transmitted, converted and preserved into a unified digital format for real-time processing. This paper will review the current status of practical large scale electronic measurement systems with special attention to architectures and physical organization. Brief surveys of the current state of the art will include preamplifiers and amplifiers, comparators and discriminators, voltage or charge analog-to-digital converters, time internal meters or time-to-digital converters, and finally, counting or scalar systems. The paper will conclude by integrating all of these ideas in a concept for an all-digital readout of a smart structure using the latest techniques used in physics research today.

Citation Download Citation

George J. Blanar "Electronic instrumentation for smart structures", Proc. SPIE 2444, Smart Structures and Materials 1995: Smart Sensing, Processing, and Instrumentation, (20 April 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.207677

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