Notes for ME 315 Instrumentation & Experimental Design

Introduction to instrumentation and experimental design

Chapter 1: Fundamentals of experimentation

Covered when discussing the outline of the course on the first day of class.

Chapter 2: Experiments

Introduction to experiments
A list of steps to plan for an experiment

Probability, statistics, & estimation

Chapters 11 & 12: Probability & Statistics

The relation between probability and measurements (and experiments)
Introduction to set theory
Basic probability
Independence and conditional probability (including Bayes' Theorem)
Populations, samples, and random variables
Random variables
Probability density functions (PDFs) and probability mass functions (PMFs)
Expectation or expected values
Central moments (including mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis)
Means and variances of data (sample mean and sample variance)
Student's t-distribution (probability density function)
Standard deviation of the means (SDOM)

Chapter 13: Uncertainty analysis

Basic uncertainty analysis (systematic and random errors)
Covariance
General uncertainty analysis

Chapter 14: Regression and correlation

Least-squares regression analysis

Electronics & measurement systems

Chapter 3: Fundamental electronics

Basic electronics (voltage, current, power, resistors)
Capacitors and inductors
Electrical sources
Circuit analysis
Voltage dividers
DC Motors and batteries
Wheatstone bridges
Complex voltage and current (phasors)
Impedance
Complex circuit analysis of a differentiator (high-pass filter) circuit
Impedance and measurement loading (notes by Joseph L Garbini)
Impedance and measurement loading (marked-up version)
Measurement loading impromptu, ugly example

Chapter 4: Measurement systems: sensors and transducers

Measurement sytems overview

Resistive sensors

Resistive sensors overview, RTDs, and thermistors
Strain gages with wheatstone bridges
Resistive force transducers
Resistive accelerometers

Capacitive sensors

Capacitive sensors (e.g. displacement indicators and pressure transducers)

Fluid sensors

Pitot-static tubes

Thermoelectric

Thermocouples (and the Thermoelectric/Seebeck Effect)

Chapter 5: Measurement systems: other components

Operational amplifiers (op-amps)

Chapter 6: Measurement systems: calibration and response

Dynamic resonse of measurement systems: an introduction (including first-order system response to a sinusoidal input)
First-order filter response

Signal analysis

Chapters 8 & 9: Signal characteristics and Fourier

Fourier series and orthogonal functions
Fourier series example
Fourier transform
Fourier transforms and frequency response functions
Frequency response example (UPDATED)