A SURVEY ON FREQUENCY

RESPONSE ANALYSER
By Amruth M Rai, Dhananjaya A M, Harini M and Madhushree C

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering
Mysuru, Karnataka
 INTRODUCTION

• A Frequency Response Analyser (FRA) is a high precision measurement instrument

used to analyse components, circuits and systems (known as devices under test) in the
frequency domain.

• A very practical and important approach to the analysis and design of a system is the
frequency response method.

• The frequency response allows us to understand the system behaviour in the presence
of more complex inputs.

• A FRA typically generates a sinusoidal signal and injects it into a component, circuit
or system under test.

• After obtaining the output from the test circuit, the magnitude and phase relationship
between output and input waveforms as a function of frequency is calculated.
• By knowing the circuits gain, (or loss) at each frequency point helps us to
understand how well (or badly) the circuit can distinguish between signals
of different frequencies.

• Which is very important to distinguish between a good component and a

bad component such as microphones, loud speakers, telephone, earphones,
etc.
 APPLICATIONS OF FRA
• Radio spectrum frequency response gives the measurements of coaxial
cable, twisted-pair cable, video switching equipment, wireless
communications devices, and antenna systems.

• Infrasonic frequency response used to measure earthquakes and

electroencephalography (brain waves).

• In the audible range it is usually referred to in connection with electronic

amplifiers, microphones and loudspeakers.

• Frequency response curves are often used to indicate the accuracy of

electronic components or systems.

• The form of a frequency response curve is very important for anti-jamming

protection of radars, communications and other systems.
 LITERATURE SURVEY
A. Frequency Response Analyser:

• The aim of the invention was to measure the frequency characteristics of the
mechanical systems.

• The circuit is provided with an input signal and the output obtained from the
circuit is multiplied with a 90° phase shifted reference signal which corresponds
to test signal.

• The obtained product is integrated to obtain in phase and quadrature phase

components of the waveform to be analysed.

• They are then converted to polar form for further analysis required to obtain
frequency response of the circuit.
B. Low cost frequency response analyser for transformer analysis:

• FRA is a powerful diagnostic method in detecting

transformer winding deformation, which is generally difficult to get detected by
any method.

•This paper presents a low-cost frequency response analyzer (LCFRA).

•The developed LCFRA was composed of digital oscilloscope, function

generator, Labview software and 3 phase transformer.

•The frequency response of a transformer measured by the LCFRA was

compared with that from commercial Sweep Frequency Response Analyzer
(SFRA).

•The results of LCFRA were similar to that of the commercial SFRA.

•This was proven by the cross correlation coefficients (CCF) at 0.9976, which is
evident with the comparision between fig 2 and fig 3 with fig 4 and fig 5.
 The input is taken from a signal
generator and is provided to the
transformer and to the
oscilloscope. The output from
the transformer is given to the
oscilloscope. The oscilloscope
and signal generator is
connected to the system
through USB interface and RS-
232 interfacing respectively.

Fig. 1. LCFRA Connection

The values are monitored in the system through Labview software. The
difference between V1 and V2 could be displayed in the form of magnitude and
phase shift.
Fig. 2. Magnitude of SFRA Fig. 3. Phase of SFRA
Fig. 4. Magnitude of LCFRA Fig. 5. Phase of LCFRA
Programming:

•The developed programming consisted of two parts.

One was to create specific data of the transformer, the second was to display
magnitude and phase shift.

•The frequency range used in this was between 20 Hz to 1 MHz.

•During this frequency range, the programming transformed voltage amplitude

in volt and phase shift between input voltage V1 and output voltage V2 into
frequency domain.
C. Frequency response analyser

•The aim of the invention was to measure the frequency characteristics of the
mechanical systems.

•The circuit is provided with an input signal and the output is multiplied with a
90° phase shifted reference signal which corresponds to test signal.

•The obtained product is integrated to obtain in phase and quadrature phase

components of the waveform to be analysed.

•They are then converted to polar form for further analysis required to obtain
frequency response of the circuit.
Fig. 7. System schematic Fig. 8. Frequency response of a 3-stage
BJT audio amplifier displayed in
Labview
 CONCLUSION
• In this paper we discussed various methods of calculating and measuring
the frequency response of different circuits.
• In paper [1] the values obtained from the designed circuit were closer to that
obtained from the multifunctional oscilloscope. The correlation coefficient
was found to be 0.9976.
• In patent [2] and [3] we discussed about the various steps which are
required for the calculation of frequency response.
• In paper [4] the system was used in the characterization of the frequency
response of single and multi-stage amplifiers, operational amplifier circuits,
passive and active-filters.
• It was also used in measuring the frequency response of amplifiers built
from CMOS operational amplifier which was used to determine the Gain-
Bandwidth product of these internally frequency compensated operational
amplifiers.
The drawbacks of the existing system are as follows:
• The existing systems holds their advantage only on a specific application, they are
able to calculate the frequency response of certain devices/circuit.

• Presently available multifunctional oscilloscopes are very expensive (Infiivision

3000T) and are not affordable by many.

• The available methods to calculate frequency response is very complex and time
consuming.

• The system described in the paper [1] can perform analysis only on electrical
devices and is limited only to those.

• The system described in the paper [4] can perform the frequency response
analysis only with the addition of appropriate transducers and sensors along with
that system.

• The existing systems require complex circuits and more investments on software
licenses and the systems with high configuration for the software.
•The components used in the circuit effect the performance due to aging and
rusting.

• The existing system provides results at a slower rate and with less accuracy and
precision.

• The errors in the measurement can occur due to various reasons such as the user
error (parallax error), or due to temperature variations or variations in supply
voltage.

• The set up for measuring the frequency response in UG labs are quite time
consuming and involves large amount of connections.

• Wrong connections of any components may result in damaging of the component

and it can be dangerous to the user also.

• The circuits which require software usually have a system associated with it
which makes it non portable.
 PROPOSED SOLUTIONS FOR THE
EXISTING DRAWBACKS
• The drawbacks of the existing systems can be overcome by designing a
frequency response analyser which can calculate frequency response of all
the electrical circuit, mechanical systems and audio jack.

• To overcome the cost, one can design a cost effective system which includes
the electronic components (hardware), which costs less when compared to
dealing with buying the software licenses.

• To over come complex and time consuming method of calculating the

frequency response, one can design a system which accepts input and
produces output simultaneously using microprocessor with the electronic
circuit.
• To overcome the size issues one can design a circuit which is more compact and
consumes less power.

• The system problem can be overcome by making the circuit have an interfacing
so that it can be connected to a system whenever it is required making it portable.

• To overcome the accuracy issues one has to choose more accurate and precise
results by decreasing error rates.

• To overcome ageing and rusting issues, the components need to be regularly

replaced when they malfunction or get damaged.

• The circuit can be made compact by implementing them on a printed circuit

board (PCB).
 REFERENCES
[1] R. Sriphuek and S. Chotigo, “Low-cost frequency response analyzer for
transformer diagnosis,” in 2012 IEEE International Conference on
Condition Monitoring and Diagnosis. IEEE, 2012, pp. 437–441.

[2] H. Allison, “Frequency response analyzer,” Mar. 30 1982, uS Patent

4,322,806.

[3] F. E. Post, “Frequency response analyzer having a function generator for

providing stimulating signals to a system under test,” Sep. 1 1970, uS
Patent 3,526,832.

[4] M. Guvench, S. Gile, and S. Qazi, “Automated measurement of frequency

response of electrical networks, filters and amplifiers,” age, vol. 6, p. 1,
2001.