CHM 502/533/602/633 Spring 2012 Laboratory Exercise 2: Analytical Signals and Noise The purpose of this laboratory exercise

e is to provide you with experience with concepts of: signals, noise, signal-to-noise ratio, ensemble averaging and digital smoothing Experimental overview: This exercise involves 150 Ideal data simulations that exhibit the influence of noise and Data with noise of digital noise-reduction methods on the appearance of output. You will access an Excel 100 workbook in which each worksheet has a data set that you can manipulate. The data set includes: Column A: x-values ranging from 0 to 200 in 50 unit steps, and two sets of y-values. Column B: y-values for an ideal Gaussian 0 signal that starts at y = 0, peaks at y = 100 at x = 100, and then returns to y = 0 at x = 200. You will be able to adjust the width of the peak. -50 Column C: y-values for the same signal, 0 50 100 150 200 but with random noise superimposed. Every time x-data value you make a change to the spreadsheet or press the F9 key, the random noise will be reevaluated and Figure 1: Ideal and noisy data sets for part I. the appearance of the plot will change. You will be able to manipulate the width of the peak and the signal to noise Signal* 100.0 ratio simply by typing new values into the set of parameters shown here. You Peak x* 100.0 will be able to change only the peak width and signal to noise ratio - the signal Peak width 20.0 height and peak position will be locked. Likewise, the noise rms (root-mean- S/N 5.0 square) value will automatically update when you change the S/N value, but Noise rms* 20.0 you will not be able to change it directly. Other entries indicated with asterisks are protected so that you cannot change them. Overview: There will be three parts to this exercise: 1. You will observe the change in appearance in the signal as you change the signal to noise ratio. 2. You will investigate the influence of ensemble averaging on the appearance of the signal. 3. You will investigate the influence of boxcar averaging on the appearance of the signal. For each part of the exercise, you should: Record your observations in your notebook. Copy and paste some of the plots from Excel into Word so that you can have several plots on one page. You do not need to print all of the plots, but try to get a representative selection of them. It helps to have Word set to two-column format.
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EXPERIMENTAL Part 1. Signal to noise ratio. The original data set should be set up with a plot showing the ideal signal and the signal + noise together. Set the peak width to 5 and S/N to 1000. How noticeable in the noise? Press the F9 key a few times (this automatically regenerates the random noise) and note how much the appearance of the signal changes. Any time you make any change to the spreadsheet, the random noise will be re-evaluated, not just when you press F9. Reset S/N to 500, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 3, 2, and 1. For each, briefly describe the appearance of the signal+noise plot compared to the ideal signal. In particular, at what point does it become difficult to accurately measure the peak height? At what point does the noise start looking like peaks? It may help to press F9 several times to see how much the signal can vary. Copy a few (3 - 4) representative plots into Word for later printing.

Part 2. Ensemble averaging. Make two copies of the plot. o Click on the plot to select it and then copy it (Edit Copy or simply Ctrl C). o With the plot no longer selected, paste the plot (Edit Paste or Ctrl V) twice. Leave the original plot alone, but delete the noisy data on the two copies. Set the peak width to 20 and the signal to noise ratio to 2. Describe the appearance of the peak. Copy the y-values in Column C (the signal + noise) into columns D - R so that you have sixteen columns of noisy data (fifteen new columns plus column C). In column S, calculate the average value of columns C - F for each x-value in column A, and add the column S results to the second plot. o Use the =average(range) Excel function. o You can highlight the values in the Column S and then drag them onto the plot. o This represents ensemble averaging of four data sets. In column T, calculate the average value of columns C - R for each x-value in column A, and add the column T results to the third plot. o This represents ensemble averaging of sixteen data sets. Describe the appearance of each of the new plots. Copy each of the plots into Word.

Part 3. Digital smoothing - Boxcar averaging. Select the second worksheet (click on the Boxcar Averaging tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet). The data set here is essentially the same as the one from the first spreadsheet. It is arranged a little bit differently to facilitate the calculations, and the plot is not provided. Plot the data (Column A = x-values, Column B = ideal signal, C = signal with noise.) o Label the axes (similar to the figure in the first worksheet). o Right click on a portion on the plot area away from points or gridlines. -This should bring up the Format Plot Area menu. -Under Patters/Area, click None to eliminate the plots gray background. (This makes the plot easier to read on requires less ink to print.) o Right click on each axis and use the Format Axis/Scale menu to fix the maximum and minimum values for each axis. Make two copies of the plot, and delete the noisy data from the two copies. Set the peak width to 50 and the signal to noise ratio to 5. The first y-value with noise should be in cell C11. In cell D11, type in the formula =average(C9:C13). This calculates the average value of the five cells centered around the first y-value. Copy this down for all of the x-values. (At each end of the data set, these calculations will include cells for which there are no y-values, so there will be a little distortion at each end, but it should not affect your interpretations.) Add the Column D values to the second plot. This represents boxcar averaging over five points. In cell E11, calculate the average of the twenty-one points surrounding the value in C11 (i.e., over the range C1 to C21). Copy this formula down for all of the other x-values. Add the column E values to the third plot. This represents 21-point boxcar averaging. Copy each of the plots to Word. Change the signal width to 10 and then to 5. o Observe and describe the effect of both 5-point and 21-point boxcar averaging on the plots. o Add the peak width 5 plots to your Word file. Print out all of the plots copied to your Word file. o Make sure the plots are labeled. o Attach the plots to your laboratory notebook. o You should turn in your laboratory notebook at the end of the session.

REPORT A notebook report is required for this lab exercise. The main part of the report is simply the observations and plots described above. In addition, answer the following questions. 1. Ensemble averaging: In the ensemble averaging part of the exercise, you observed the influence of ensemble averaging over 4 and 16 data sets. By what factors should the signal to noise ratio improve? Are your observations consistent (qualitatively) with this prediction? 2. Effect of boxcar averaging: What effect did 5-point and 21-point boxcar averaging have on the appearance of the peaks? To what extent did it appear to improve the signal to noise ratio? When did it significantly distort the appearance (width, height) of the peak?