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Advantages of digital output pressure sensors
26th July 2007
For the highest possible pressure sensor accuracy you will need an output signal which is not easily corrupted and has a very high resolution.
Digital output signals do not suffer from signal losses or interference like analogue ones do, either the complete signal gets through as originally transmitted from the pressure sensor or none at all. In order to achieve a high resolution on the output signal a relatively powerful analogue to digital converter is needed of at least 16 bit resolution to achieve precision levels better than 0.01% full scale. Also there is no need to convert a digital signal to analogue at any stage between the pressure sensor and the display or logging instrumentation since it can be easily interfaced to a computer or data acquisition card via a digital connection. Another benefit of digital output signals is that the microprocessor inside the digital pressure sensor can also be used to digitally characterise the pressure sensor over many pressure and temperature points virtually eliminating all linearity errors. However the ultimate accuracy of a digital pressure sensor is always going to be limited by the hysteresis and repeatability of the sensor technology utilised. Hysteresis and repeatability factors are very unpredictable and cannot be characterised easily. So a digital output has the potential to provide the most accurate signal for a particular type of pressure sensor but it has to be used in conjunction with stable sensing technology which has naturally low hysteresis and repeatability characteristics for it to be truly accurate over its operational life. RS485 is the most used interface for general applications and manufacturers will often supply desktop software for communicating with the digital pressure sensor via RS232 or USB converter boxes.
Related Products Digital output pressure sensors Instrumentation for connecting to a PC Pressure data loggers High accuracy pressure measurement instruments Pressure calibration equipment
Associated Topics Calibrating with digital pressre sensor Understanding the components of pressure sensor accuracy What is digital compensation
Resources Glossary of terms for pressure sensors Pressure calculation in different engineering units
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