New concept for observing slow transient on analog oscilloscope
M.H.L.C. Hettiarachchi
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Technology
The Open University of Sri Lanka
#M.H.L.C. Hettiarachchi; <mhalackith@gmail.com>
Abstract Circuit testing is one of the most important
areas in electronics design and fault diagnosis. Among the
widely used testing methods, signal analysis using
oscilloscope is the major technique for time and frequency
related circuitry. Signal patterns describe important
parameters of a system such as transient, steady state,
and noise. In non-repetitive signals, trigger level does not
repeat at same interval. Hence it is difficult to observe
such signals in analog oscilloscope. As in the storage
oscilloscope this new concept first acquires signal data
within the transient period which is not repeated again. It
is then regenerated and repeated at a faster rate in order
to get a stable display on analog oscilloscope.
Slowly varying signals and transients observation on
analog oscilloscope is a novel approach that basically
improves the utilization efficiency of the circuit
measurement testing such as Feedback control system,
Electrical insulation test, observation of armature current
of a motor and RLC circuit responses. Therefore, using the
proposed system, it can increase the analog oscilloscopes
capability to a greater extent.
Keywords: Oscilloscope, Trigger level, transient response
I. INTRODUCTION
Circuit testing is one of the most important areas in
electronics design and fault diagnosis .Among the widely
used testing methods, signal analysis using oscilloscope is
the major technique for time and frequency related
circuitry .Signal patterns describe important parameters
of a system such as transient, steady state, and noise.
There are two types of oscilloscopes available; first -
Analog oscilloscope and second Digital oscilloscope .
Analog oscilloscope is the most common type .Digital
oscilloscope is used for advance testing .Digital
oscilloscope is very expensive than its analog counterpart .
CRO working principle is very simple .Electron beam
generated by the electron gun first deflected by the
deflection plates, and then directed on to the fluorescent
coating of the (CRO )screen, which produces a visible light
spot on the face plane of the oscilloscope screen .If we
apply the voltage signal it is measured to an electron beam
moving across the oscilloscope screen .The voltage
deflects the beam up and down proportionally, tracing the
waveform on the screen.
The most of analog oscilloscopes can show 100Hz to
30MHz repetitive signals only .The analog oscilloscope
starts the sweep which is triggered at a selected voltage
level also called triggering point on the repetitive signal,
providing a stable display because repetitive signals find
the triggering level repeated at equal time intervals .In
non-repetitive or slow transients, the trigger level doesnt
repeat at same time interval .Hence it is difficult to
observe such signals in CRO .
Digital Storage Oscilloscope is one of the best solution in
slowly varying transient observation. But it is very
expensive than analog oscilloscope. Therefore, if a
recording option to existing CRO can be introduced, it can
be used for aforementioned function at a very low cost. As
in the storage oscilloscope this new concept first acquires
signal data within the transient period which is not
repeated .It is then regenerated and repeated at a faster
rate in order to get a stable display on analog oscilloscope .
The system consists of four parts namely, analog to digital
converter, controller, memory, and digital to analog
converter .As an example, if it is observed a slowly varying
transient in 10 minutes duration it will get 100 samples
and store it in the flash memory .Then compress the time
interval of sampling and forward it within 60 milliseconds
duration repeatedly. Block diagram of the system is shown
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 Block Diagram of the System
System was implemented on Arduino Due development
board. The Arduino Due is a microcontroller board based
on the Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU. It is the first
Arduino board based on a 32-bit ARM core
microcontroller. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of
which 12 can be used as PWM outputs), 12 analog inputs,
4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), an 84 MHz clock, an USB
OTG capable connection, 2 DAC (digital to analog), 2 TWI,
a power jack, an SPI header, a JTAG header, a reset button
and an erase button.
ADC
Arduino Due contain 12 analog input pins. The Due has the
ability to change its default analog read and write
resolutions (10-bits and 8-bits, respectively). It can
support up to 12-bit ADC capabilities that can be accessed
by changing the resolution to 12. This will return values
from analog Read () between 0 and 4095. The Dues
analog inputs pins measure from ground to a maximum
value of 3.3V. Applying more than 3.3V on the Dues pins
will damage the SAM3X chip. The analog Reference ()
function is ignored on the Due. The AREF pin is connected Fig. 3 Voltage Shift circuit to connect DAC out
to the SAM3X analog reference pin through a resistor
bridge. To use the AREF pin, resistor BR1 must be de- CALCULATIONS
soldered from the PCB. Analog0 pin connected Voltage shifter circuit calculation.

DAC
Arduino due contain 2 analog outputs. These pins provide
true analog outputs with 12-bits resolution (4096 level)
with the analog Write () function. These pins can be used If R1= R3, and R2= R4, then
to create an audio output using the Audio library. DAC
output range is from 0.55 V to 2.75 V only.

MEMORY It is required to convert a 10 Vpp signal to a 3.3 V signal,

The Arduino due development board has 512 KB (2 blocks
of 256 KB) of flash memory for storing code. The
bootloader is pre-burned in factory from Atmel and is
stored in a dedicated ROM memory. The available SRAM
is 96 KB in two contiguous bank of 64 KB and 32 KB. All the
available memory (Flash, RAM and ROM) can be accessed
directly as a flat addressing space. It is possible to erase
the Flash memory of the Due with the on-board erase
button. This will remove the currently loaded sketch from
the MCU. To erase, press and hold the Erase button for a
few seconds while the board is powered. (Arduino DUE,
2016)
therefore the gain should be 1/3. Selected resistor for R4
is 33 K and R1 is 100 K. Now we need to choose the positive
offset such that the signal is centered at 1.6 V. The gain off
the offset voltage is:
For the previous resistor values, the gain is 1 since R3=R1,
and so we use an offset voltage of 1.6 V. DAC0 pin
connected voltage shifter is done by reverse operation of
the previous one and change the resister value for the
maximum DAC output reconstruct the actual value.

DESIGN CIRCUITS FLOW CHART OF THE OVERALL SYSTEM

Arduino Due development board analog input pins and
ADC can measured ground to a maximum value of 3.3 V.
But proposed system maintain -5 to+5 voltage signals.
Therefore, repositioned zero-volt reference to 1.6 V and
attenuate shown circuit Fig.2. Also Arduino due DAC
output vary range is actually from 0.55 V to 2.75 V.
Therefore, that output reconstruct the previous stage.
Therefore, DAC output amplify and repositioned relative
to a zero-volt reference. Shown Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 Voltage Shift circuit to connect ADC

 Capacitor Charging Test provided 3.3V voltage to the RC
resonance circuit and get the samples 1mili seconds
period. DAC output plotted the CRO shown in Fig.6. In here
received the maximum 300samples.

Fig.5 CRO Output of RC resonance Circuit

Fig.4 Flow chart of the Overall system

Table 1. Proposed System Pre Defined Mode

Mode Samples Suitable Systems

Mode 400 samples High- oscillations
transient Period 2
1 2minute duration
minute.

Mode 400samples10 Slow- oscillations

transient Period 10 Fig.6 CRO Output of RC first order Circuit
2 minute duration
minute

Mode 300 samples 2 high- oscillations Arduino Due out put clearly show the repetitive signal in
transient Period 2 CRO screen. Tested RC circuit Capacitor charging and
3 minute duration
minute discharging time duration is equal and it is5. Calculated
time duration is 352.5 s. get the sample 1 s and total
Mode4 300 samples10 Slow- oscillations
sample time 300 oscilloscope show the repetitive signal
transient Period 10
minute duration frequency is 363.36 Hz. Compression ratio 1:100000. If
minute received more sample shape is become very accurate.
Auto Until stable get the Unpredictable
CONCLUSION
samples systems
Slowly variant transient observation is a novel approach
that basically improves the utilization efficiency of the
circuit measurement testing such as Feedback control
EXPERIMENTAL RESULT system, Electrical insulation test, and armature current of
the motor observation and RLC slowly variant response.
DAC resolution and sample rate are defending on the best
Test1 parameters: output. In here comparison ratio 1:100000 but propose
Applied voltage 3.3, Samples: 31, Time duration: system can adjust caparisons ratio to intelligent
300Second calculation of the test system it is the best way of the
RC first order circuit Resister value 4.7M and capacitor measurement. In future system will develop the above
value 10F. Test provided 3.3V voltage to the RC first order criteria.
circuit and get the samples 10seconds period. DAC output
plotted the CRO shown in Fig. 5.
Test2 parameters:
Applied voltage 3.3, Samples: 300, Time duration:
300Second
RC first order circuit Resister value 1.5M and capacitor
value 47F
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