Electrical Measurements  and 

Instrumentation
 Chapter One 

General Principles of measurement 
and instrumentation

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Outline
• Course objectives, assessment, and rules 
• Introductions
• Significant figures 
• Types of Error 
• Types of Measurement 
• Generalized measuring system
• Standard of Measurement System
• Characteristics of instruments
• Noise and Interference in Instrumentations
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Course objectives, assessment, Rules 
• The course aims at introducing you the following topics
General Principles of measurement and instrumentation (1)
Electronic Instruments for Measuring Basic Parameters (2)
Sensors and Applications (3)
Signal Conditioning and Processing Elements (4)
Output Presentation (5)
Frequency Counters and Time Interval Measurements (6)
Introduction to data Acquisition and Communication Systems (7)
Evaluation
Assignments, quizzes, Labs and projects: 35% (five tests, two assignments and one paper based
projects)
Mid‐term Exam: 30%
Final Exam: 35%

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Cont’d  …
• Rules
Quizzes can be given at any time with no prior knowledge of any
student, hence you must attend the lectures.
In case you are absent from the quizzes and Mid‐exam which are
assumed as a continuous assessment, you must come in the following
day with officially accepted documents. Thus you can seat for the
quizzes as well as the mid‐exam.

Home works, assignments and project must be submitted at a 
specified time.

You must attend the laboratory hours. They are marked.

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 Introduction
• Measurement is the experimental process of acquiring any
quantitative information about physical quantity.

• When doing a measurement, we compare the measurable

quantity – measurand ‐ with another same type of quantity.
This other quantity is called measurement unit

• Measurand – a physical quantity, property, or condition 
which is measured

• An Instrumentation
 a Device used in measurement system
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Continued
Why measurement?

•In the case of process industries and

industrial manufacturing…
•To improve the quality of the product
•To improve the efficiency of production
•To maintain the proper operation.

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Continued
Why instrumentation?
• To acquire data or information (hence data
acquisition) about parameters, in terms of:
putting the numerical values to the physical
quantities
making measurements otherwise inaccessible.
producing data agreeable to analysis (mostly in
electrical form)

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Continued
•The purpose of the measurement system is to
link the observer to the process

•The input to the measurement system is the 
true value of the variable

•The system output is the measured value.
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Continued
•Physical quantity: variable such as pressure,
temperature, mass, length, etc.

•Data: Information obtained from the

instrumentation /measurement system as a
result of the measurements made of the
physical quantities

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Continued
• Accuracy is the degree of closeness or conformity to
the true value of the quantity under measurement.
• Precision is the degree of agreement within a group
of measurement or instruments.
• Sensitivity is the response of the instrument to a
change of the input or measured variable.
• Error is the deviation from the true value of the
measured variable.

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Significant figures
• Significant numbers convey actual information
regarding the magnitude and the measurement
precision of a quantity.

• The more significant figures, the greater the

precision of measurement.

• When a zero digit is used to locate the decimal point,

it is not significant. For example, the numbers 0.048,
0.0032, and 0.00057 each have two significant digits
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Continued
•When a zero appears between two nonzero
digits in a number, it is significant. For
example, 2.04 has three significant digits;
8.002 has four significant digits.

•The number 5480 can be written for three

significant digits 5.48 X 103; for four
significant digits 5.480 X 103
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 Continued
• As a general rule, the number of significant digits of the
product or the division of two or more measurements
should be no greater than that of the measurement with
the least number of significant digits.
• For example: the length of a table is measured with a
meter stick as 1.8245 m (5 significant figures) and the
width as 0.3672 m (4 significant figures). The area A =
1.8245 m X 0.3672 m = 0.06703213 m2 as shown on a
calculator.
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Continued
• The correct value for the area is 0.06703 m2. This
value has four significant digits corresponding to
the least number of significant digits in the two
numbers making up the original data.

• Similarly, when two or more measurements with

different degrees of accuracy are added, the result
is only as accurate as the least accurate

measurement.
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Continued
•Suppose two resistance are added in series,
R1=18.7 ohm (three significant numbers),
R2=3.624 ohm (four significant numbers)

•Then RT=R1 + R2=22.324 ohm (five significant

numbers), therefore the result should be
accurate only to three significant numbers;
22.3 ohm
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 Continued
• Example: In calculating voltage drop, a current of
3.18A is recorded in a resistance of 35.68 ohm.
Calculate the voltage drop across the resistor to the
appropriate number of significant figures.

E=IR=(35.68)*(3.18)=113.4624=113 V

• Since there are three significant figures involved in the

multiplication, the answer can be written only to a
maximum of three significant figures
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Types of Error
• Error may come form different sources and are usually
classified under three main categories:
Gross error
Systematic error
Random error

• Gross errors: largely human errors, among them

misreading of instruments, incorrect adjustment and
improper application of instruments, computational
mistakes.

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Gross errors
• Example: A voltmeter, having a sensitivity of
1000Ω/V, reads 100V on its 150V scale when
connected across an unknown resistor in series with
a milliammeter, while the milliammeter reads 5mA.
Calculate (a) the apparent resistance of the
unknown resistor; (b) the actual resistance of the
unknown resistor; (c) the error due to the loading
effect of the voltmeter.

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Gross errors
• Solution:

(a) the total circuit resistance is

Rt=Vt/It=100V/5mA=20kΩ

Neglecting the resistance of the milliammeter, the resistance of the

unknown resistor is

Rx= 20kΩ

(b)The voltmeter resistance is

Rv=1000 Ω/V* 150V=150kΩ

Since the voltmeter is in parallel with the unknown resistor, we have

Rx=(Rt*Rv)/(Rv‐Rt)=23.05kΩ

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Gross errors
(c) % error =(actual–apparent)/(actual) *100%=13.23%

Example: repeat the example 2 if the milliammeter reads 800mA the

voltmeter reads 40V on its 150V scale.

(a) Rt=Vt/It=40V/0.8A=50Ω

(b)Rv=1000 Ω/V* 150V=150kΩ

Rx=(Rt*Rv)/(Rv‐Rt)=(50*150)/(149.95)=50.1Ω

(c) %Error=[(50.1-50)/50.1]*100%=0.2%

• Error caused by the loading effect can be avoided by using a proper

meter selection

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 Systematic error
• Short comings of the instrument (i.e. instrumental error),
such as defective or worn part, and effect of the
environment on the equipment or the user (i.e.
environmental error).

• Calibration error is another example of instrumental error.

• In general, instrumental error may be avoided by:

Selecting a suitable instrument for the particular

measurement application.

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Systematic error
Applying correction factor after the determining
the amount of instrument error.
Calibrating the instrument against a standard.
• Environmental error: effect of temperature,
humidity, pressure, or magnetic or electric fields on
the measuring instrument. These effects may be
reduced by including air conditioning, hermetically
sealing certain components in the instrument.
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Systematic error
• Systematic error can be also subdivided  into static 
or dynamic errors. 

• Static errors are caused by limitations of the 
measuring device or physical laws governing its 
behavior. 

• Dynamic errors are caused by the instrument’s not

responding fast enough to follow the changes in a
measured variable.
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 Random error
• Random errors are caused by erratic or unpredictable
fluctuations either in the composition of a material
quantity under measurement or in the procedures and
mechanisms employed in conducting measurement
exercises.

• Random errors often arise when measurements are

taken by human observation of an analogue meter,
especially where this involves interpolation between
scale points.
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Random error
•Electrical noise can also be a source of
random errors.

•To a large extent, random errors can be

overcome by taking the same measurement
a number of times and extracting a value by
averaging or other statistical techniques.

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Limiting Errors
• Circuit components (such as resistors, capacitors) are
guaranteed within a certain percentage of the their
rated value. The limits of these deviations from the
specified values are called Limiting Errors or guaranteed
errors.

• Example: A 0‐150V voltmeter has a guaranteed

accuracy of 1 per cent full‐scale reading. The voltage
measured by this instrument is 83V. Calculate limiting
error in percent.
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Limiting Errors
• The magnitude of the limiting error is 0.01*150V= 1.5V. This is
the full‐scale measurement error of the meter.

• The percentage error at a meter indication of 83V is

(1.5/83)* 100%=1.81

• If we measure voltages of lower magnitude with this meter we

should note that the per cent limiting error will increase as it is a
fixed quantity based on the full‐scale reading of the meter.

• Hence, taking measurements as close to full scale will reduce the

per cent limiting error.

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Probability of Errors
• The table below show 50 voltage readings that was taken at
small time intervals and recorded to the nearest 0.1V. The
nominal value of the measured voltage is 100.0V.

Voltage reading (Volts) Number of readings 

99.7 1

99.8 4

99.9 12

100.0 19

100.1 10

100.2 3

100.3 1
____
50

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Probability of Errors
• The measurement result can be plotted graphically as shown below
in which the number of observation is plotted against each observed
voltage reading.

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Probability of Errors

• With more and more data, taken at smaller increments,

the graph would become a smooth curve.

• This bell‐shaped curve is called as a Gaussian curve or

Normal distribution of the obtained data.

• The sharper and narrower the curve, the more

definitely an observer may state that the most probable
value of the true reading is the central value or mean
reading.

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Probability of Errors
• Mathematically, the normal or Gaussian distribution
function is given by

• where:  = mean or expected value (specifies center 
of distribution)

• σ = standard deviation (specifies spread of 
distribution).
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Probability of Errors
• Suppose that a user buys a batch of similar elements, e.g. a batch of 100 resistance
temperature sensors, from a manufacturer.

• If he/she then measures the resistance R0 of each sensor at 0°C, he/she finds that
the resistance values are not all equal to the manufacturer’s quoted value of 100.0
Ω.

• A range of values such as 99.8, 100.1, 99.9, 100.0 and 100.2 Ω, distributed
statistically about the quoted value, is obtained. This effect is due to small random
variations in manufacture and is often well represented by the normal probability
density function.

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Probability of Errors

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 Probability of Errors
• A manufacturer may state in his/her specification that R0 lies within ±0.15
Ω of 100 Ω for all sensors, i.e. he is quoting tolerance limits of ±0.15Ω.

• Thus, in order to satisfy these limits he must reject for sale all sensors with
R0 < 99.85 Ω and R0 > 100.15 Ω, so that the probability density function of
the sensors bought by the user now has the form shown in the Figure.

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Probability of Errors
•An error distribution curve can be drawn
based on the normal law and it usually shows
a symmetrical distribution of errors.

•This normal curve may be regarded as the

limiting form of the histogram of previous
figure in which the most probable value of
the true voltage is the mean value.
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Probability of Errors
•Normal probability density function

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Probability of Errors
•In summary for Gaussian or normal error 
distributions:
Area under the  probability curve 
Deviation (±),  Fraction of total Meaning 
σ area included 
0.6745 0.5 50% of observations lie within ±
0.6745 std dev of mean
1 0.683 68.3%      of observations lie within 
± 1 std dev of mean 
2 0.955 95.5%      of observations lie within 
± 2 std dev of mean 
3 0.997 99.7%      of observations lie within 
± 3 std dev of mean 
Note that total area underneath curve is 1.00 (100%)

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Probability of Errors
• A probable error of a quantity defines the half‐
range of an interval about a central point for the
distribution, such that half of the values from the
distribution will lie within the interval and half
outside.

Probable error = ±0.6745σ

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Probability of Errors
Exercise:

• The accuracy of five digital voltmeters are checked by

using each of them to measure a standard 1.0000V
from a calibration instrument. The voltmeter readings
are as follows: V1 = 1.001 V, V2 = 1.002, V3 = 0.999, V4 =
0.998, and V5 = 1.000. Calculate the average measured
voltage, the average deviation, the standard error of the

measurements and the probable error.

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Types of measurements
• Direct comparison

• Easy to do but… less accurate (measured quantity is registered directly 
from the instruments display.)

e.g. Measuring voltage vith voltmeter  and Measuring length with ruler

• Indirect comparison(result is calculated (using formula) from

the values obtained from direct measurements)
Calibrated system; consists of several devices to convert, process
(amplification or filtering) and display the output; e.g. to

measure force from strain gages located in a structure.

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Generalised measuring system

General Structure of Measuring System

 Stage 1: A detection‐transducer or sensor‐transducer, stage; e.g.
temperature sensor, pressure sensor

 Stage 2: A signal conditioning stage; e.g. amplifiers, filters, bridges

 Stage 3: Signal processing: ADC or PC or uC or uP

 Stage 4: A terminating or readout‐recording stage; 

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Contents
•Standard of Measurement System
Types of Standard

•Static  and Dynamic Characteristics of 

instruments.

• Noise and Interference in Instrumentations

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Standard of Measurement System
What does a ‘Standard’ mean?

Standard

• Unit has to have some relation to physical world, therefore, physical

records, called standards, are used to permanently record the size of
units.

Definition of standard:

• A standard is a permanent or readily reproducible physical record of

the size of a unit of measurement. A universal standard must be one
which is reproducible with such a degree of accuracy that for all
industrial and scientific purposes it may be considered as absolute.
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Types of Standard
• Four categories of standard:

International Standard

Primary Standard

Secondary Standard

Working Standard

• International Standard

Defined by International Agreement

Represent the closest possible accuracy attainable by the current
science and technology

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Contd.
• Primary Standard
Maintained at the National Standard
Laboratory (different for every country)
Function: the calibration and verification of
secondary Standard.
Each lab has its own secondary standard
which are periodically checked and certified by
the National Standard Laboratory.
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 Contd.
• Secondary Standard
Secondary standards are basic reference standards used by
measurement and calibration laboratories in industries.
Each industry has its own secondary standard.
Each laboratory periodically sends its secondary standard to the
National standards laboratory for calibration and comparison
against the primary standard.
After comparison and calibration, the National Standards
Laboratory returns the secondary standards to particular
industrial laboratory with a certification of measuring accuracy in
terms of a primary standard.
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Contd.
• Working Standard
Used to check and calibrate lab instrument for
accuracy and performance.
For example, manufacturers of electronic
components such as capacitors, resistors and
many more use a standard called a working
standard for checking the component values being
manufactured.
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Contd.
• Few of us will ever see/use a primary standard. Rather, we will
generally deal with a secondary standard (say, laboratory
standard) that has been copies from another secondary standard
that itself may be many steps removed from the primary standard.

• An even lower order standard (reference) is present in every

instrument that can perform an absolute measurement.

• Such instruments should also be calibrated regularly, since

aging, drift, wear, etc., will cause the internal reference to
become less accurate.

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Contd.

Definition of True value

•A true value of a variable is the measured

value obtained with a standard of ultimate
accuracy.

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Traceability ladder (The hierarchy of 
standards)
• Illustration:
International
standard

Primary
standard

Increased Absolute Relative

accuracy accuracy accuracy

Secondary
standard

Working standard

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IEEE standard
•IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering headquartered in New York
City.

•IEEE standard are not physical items that are

available for comparison and checking of
secondary standards but standard
procedures, nomenclature, definitions, etc.

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Contents
• Characteristics of instruments
Static Dynamic Characteristics of 
instruments;
• Noise and Interference in Instrumentations

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