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instrumentationand
measurementsystems continued
Table 1 - Typical features and requirements on I&M systems in traditional application domains
Test and measurement equipment
End use
Calibrated in/by
Specific requirements
Main user interfaces
Auxiliary user interfaces
Integration with other systems
Auxiliary functions
Measurement
Factory, user
Defined by established metrological
standards
Local control panels, PC
Standardized analog or digital
communication interfaces
Laboratory and metrological infrastructure
level
Specific calibration and measurement
procedures
signals and features input protection circuitry, analog signal
conditioning, A/D conversion and galvanic isolation. Similar
well-established and (to some degree) standardized solutions
for various measurement tasks can be found throughout the
I&M world (e.g., weight scales, power measurements, ultrasonic
instruments, etc.).
Evolution of Contemporary I&M
Systems
Over the past decades, the evolution of I&M systems has been
driven by two major factors. From one side, fast-growing application
markets, such as those arising under the umbrella
of Industry 4.0, have set new operational requirements for
I&M systems in terms of their measurement performance,
size, autonomy, ability to operate in harsh environments, scalability,
wireless connectivity, etc. [3], [4]. On the other hand,
developments of sensors, materials, data processing and networking
technologies have unlocked new I&M capabilities
and essentially changed the way we perceive modern I&M,
Industrial process instrumentation
Control and monitoring
Factory
Galvanic isolation, operation in harsh
environments, industry-specific
requirements (intrinsic safety, fail-safe
operation, etc.)
Standardized analog or digital
communication interfaces
Local control panels
Industrial plant level (sensor/actuator and
fieldbus level)
Threshold (alarm) signaling, local control
loops
as the borders between traditional engineering fields are
no longer easy to establish. Some of the major technological
breakthroughs and their influences on the evolution of contemporary
I&M systems are summarized in Table 2.
Example Application Domain: I&M
Systems Based on Acoustic Emission
Sensing
Brief Background on Phenomenology
Acoustic emissions (AE) are the phenomena described as transient
elastic waves that occur within the material under stress
when the accumulated stress energy is rapidly released [5],
[6]. These emissions may be caused by crack formation, plastic
deformation due to aging, temperature gradients, cavitation,
external mechanical forces, etc. Measurement techniques
based on AE have been used for the past few decades in engineering
fields such as nondestructive evaluation (NDE),
structural health monitoring and materials research [7].
Although the physics
describing interaction
between the elastic wave
propagating through the
medium and mechanical
properties of the test sample
could be quite complex,
an intuitive way of understanding
the problem is to
consider the measured AE
signal VAE
(t) as a convoluFig.
1. A generic block diagram of an electronic system.
18
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
tion of the pulse-shaped
source signal VS
(t) and the
February 2023
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1

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