A Five-day  Engineering Course

5-9 November, 2007 Barcelona, Spain

General Information About the Course

This course is suitable for engineers who design different digital and intelligent sensors, data acquisition, and measurement systems. It should be also useful for researchers, graduate and post graduate students.The prerequisite for the course is a basic knowledge of electrical circuits and systems. Course will be taught in English. Each attendee will receive a certificate of attendance at the course.

Course Description

An advanced engineering course describes modern developments and trends in the field of sensor systems and digital sensors design. Its background is based on programmable parameter-to-frequency (time) converters as a smart sensor core and structural-algorithmic methods for data extraction in order to move from a traditional analog signal domain to frequency-time signal domain (frequency, period, duty-cycle, pulse-modulated, time interval, phase-shift, etc.). Working in the frequency-time domain simplifies design, and obviates some technical and technological problems, due to the properties of frequency as informative parameter.

After a general overview of data acquisition methods, modern smart, digital and quasi-digital (with frequency, period, duty-cycle, pulse-width modulated (PWM), phase-shift, pulse number, etc., output) sensors, smart systems details are discussed including: sensors, ADC (frequency-to-digital conversion based on advanced methods for frequency-time domain parameters measurements with adaptive possibilities), communications buses, PC interfacing and software. A systematic approach towards the design of low-cost high-performance smart sensors systems with self-adaptation and self-identification possibilities is presented. The proposed design approach compatible with MEMS and system-on-chip implementation. It is based on the novel integrated circuits as the Universal Frequency-to-Digital Converter (UFDC-1 and UFDC-1M-16), Universal Sensors and Transducers Interface (USTI and USTI-1M-20), and can overcoming current hurdles to truly widespread deployment of smart sensors and systems. Different examples of sensors systems will be given and discussed in details.

Objectives of the Course

• To give practical knowledge in digital, smart sensors and systems design; virtual instrumentation; sensors buses and interfacing circuits

• To help in evaluating and application of novel frequency-to-digital conversion methods in order to use it in smart digital sensors and  data acquisition systems

• To show how to apply the Smart Transducer Interface standard IEEE 1451 to quasi-digital sensors

• To give ‘hints’ for software and hardware level smart sensors systems design

Contents of the Course

• Introduction

• Smart and Quasi-Digital Sensors Sate-of-the-Art

• Data Acquisition Methods for Sensor Systems

• Classical Frequency-to-Digital Conversion Methods

• Advanced and Self-Adapted Conversion Methods

• Digital Sensors and Program-Oriented Conversion Methods

• Smart Sensor Systems

• Virtual Instruments

• Sensor Buses, Protocols and Networks

• Sensor Interface Chips and Frequency-to-Digital Conversion Integrated Circuits

• Advanced Analog-to-Digital Conversion Using Voltage-to-Frequency Converters

• Digital Sensors and Smart Sensors System Design

• IEEE 1451 Standards Family and Frequency Sensors

• Direct Sensor-to-Microcontroller Interface for Resistive, Capacitance and Resistive Bridge Sensing Elements

• Future Trends

Location

The course will be held at the Fundació UPC, Technical University of Catalonia, Campus Nord,  Edifici Vèrtex, Plaça Eusebi Güell, 6, Barcelona, Spain

This course is organized by:

Fundació UPC, Technical University of Catalonia (UPC-Barcelona)

EC in frame of Marie Curie EXC Project MEXT-CT-2005-023991 SMARTSES

International Frequency Sensor Association (IFSA)

Course Instructor

Prof. Sergey Y. Yurish,

Centre de Disseny d'Equips Industrials (CDEI),

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC-Barcelona)

Tel.: + 34 93 401 74 37

Fax: + 34 93 401 19 89

E-mail: syurish@sensorsportal.com

Prof. Sergey Yurish has received his PhD degree in 1997 from National University Lviv Polytechnic, Ukraine. Since 2006 he is a professor at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC-Barcelona, Spain). He has published more than 130 scientific and technical peer-review papers and articles, four books (including ‘Data Acquisition and Signal Processing for Smart Sensors’ and ‘Smart Sensors and MEMS’) and holds 9 patents. Prof. Yurish is an IFSA vice president and editor-in-chief of Sensors & Transducers Journal. He regularly serves on committees for conferences and other journals. Prof. Yurish has contributed to numerous advanced engineering courses in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. In 2003 he was a co-director of NATO Advanced Study Institute on Smart Sensors and MEMS in Portugal.

Contact Persons:

Merce Diaz Gil

Fundació UPC. Edifici Vèrtex

Plaça Eusebi Güell, 6

08034 Barcelona

Tel.: +34 93 401 25 17

Fax: +34 93 401 77 93

E-mail: merce.diaz@fundacio.upc.edu

Susana Escriche

Fundació UPC. Edifici Vèrtex

Plaça Eusebi Güell, 6

08034 Barcelona

Tel.: +34 93 401 08 94

E-mail: susana.escriche@fundacio.upc.edu

Registration fee: EUR 600

Included in the fee are lecture notes (printed and CD versions) and coffee breaks

Discounts:

10 % - for foreigner professors

30 % - for UPC's professors

25 % - for foreigner PhD students

15 % - for UPC's PhD students

Online Registration: Registration Form

Deadline for Registration: 29 October, 2007

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