Week 1 - Intro, Taking Measurements, Signal & Noise Flashcards
What are the essential considerations for a measuring system?
- ensuring the system is specific to what you are trying to measure
- it is not too complex/sensitive/accurate
What are some purposes of the measurement?
- improving understanding/ establishing a patient condition
- monitoring patients
- using measurements within a control system to maintain a certain level/temperature for e.g.
How to collect a good signal of interest?
- improve position of the transducer
- improve specificity of the transducer
- improve signal conditioning to optimise signal of interest
What is an example of how the positioning of a transducer can be improved?
An ultrasound to monitor fetal heartbeat (palpate for fetal position to estimate location of fetal heart before placing the doppler in that place)
2016, transducer positioning aid, multiple ultrasounds in an array, positioned main one where the others gave off the most signals
What does improving the specificity mean/involve?
Increasing the number/proportion of identified negatives to reduce the instances that a positive could be identified incorrectly
What are the 3 main sources of error?
- positioning of the transducer (internal positioning can be limited by anaesthesia for example as lung pressures are different when patient is lying supine)
- presence of the transducer interfering with signal being measured
- characteristics of the transducer & signal processing (static and dynamic characteristics influence transducer behaviour)
What does it mean when we talk about static transducer characteristics?
Quality of measurements done when maintaining the measured quantity at a constant value or it is moving very very slowly
What does it mean when we talk about static transducer characteristics?
Quality of measurements done when the measured quantity is changing overtime
What are some examples of transducer characteristics?
- sensitivity
- linearity
- frequency
- dependence
What type of characteristics is linearity?
A static characteristic
What is linearity?
Closeness of the input/output to a straight line
How can we determine linearity?
- calculate the % non linearity by seeing how close values are to the linear region
- or by calculating the least squares fit between theoretical & true curves of the transducer
- allows us to answer the question: how well does the equation relating input and output fit?
Equation for % non linearity
(max. input deviation/full-scale input) x 100
generally given in transducer data sheet
What is sensitivity defined as?
Ratio of output quantity to an input quantity
How do we determine sensitivity?
- See what a small change in one control does to the other value among different transducers
- A greater change in the value as a result of a small change indicates greater sensitivity
- e.g. a 4V increase in voltage as a result of a 1 degree temperature increase is more sensitive than a 0.6V increase
Are linearity and sensitivity a trade off?
- can be
- linearity however is optimal as if not linear, sensitivity would depend on magnitude of interest
What is resolution?
- associated with sensitivity
- the smallest change in input the transducer can detect
What are some dynamic transducer characteristics?
- how stable is the output over time?
- does it drift off value?
- needs to be calibrated every year or few months depending on how much use it gets to ensure it remains accurate
- critical in medical applications
- less critical in other applications -e.g. a home oven
- need to consider the environmental conditions when these measurements are being taken as can affect output and therefore drift
How can changes in conditions influence accuracy/value of the output?
- displacement transducers are often made of metal and measure resistance through dimensional changes
- AND metal resistance is affected by temperature
What is hysteresis?
- does the past loading history affect the output reading
- error size in output per input if moving in opposite direction
What is mechanical hysteresis?
- backlash in gears period when changing direct so have a period of slack before they engage again
What is elastic hysteresis?
Material loading
force against extension
What is electrical hysteresis?
- Schmitt trigger
What is system overload?
- associated with hysteresis
- load beyond capacity = permanent damage
- may result in wrong read out/no read out
- need to look out for/check when analysing signals
Why do we need to process the output signal from a transducer?
- to amplify to a readable value
- to remove it from noise
- to digitise it for display
(first two considered together)
Why is amplification needed?
- most signals are in milli volt so need to amplify this small signal to match recorded device amplification
- also help improve signal to noise ratio
- also need to match range of analogue to digital convertors to increase resolution and sensitivity
What are the potential issues with amplification?
- large electrical noise so it is difficult to record
- noise can result in errors in recording in situations where we need error free measurements/ good accuracy, sensitivity, resolution etc.
What can help minimise problems with amplification and noise?
- signal conditioners (especially if located close to signal source or transducer to then increase signal to noise ratio before noise is introduced by environment)
- must amplify whole signal evenly (this means also amplifying noise and have to accommodate for capacitors which have different reactance at different frequencies)
- use gain = allows amplification to be adjustable and can calibrate it
How do we define gain?
Mean ratio of amplitude/power at the input port to the amplitude/power at the output port
How to minimise noise in an ECG?
- use a reference electrode = put on muscle/ mains
- can incorporate baseline drift filters
- uses a differential amplifier
How does a differential amplifier work?
- pulls out difference between signals and removes common signals
- only amplifies difference between 2 signals
- can remove general noise/ other biopotentials/mains