Computer Aided Measurement Channel Validation System for measurement modules with AVR ATmega microcontrollers

Uzasadniono potrzebę tworzenia komputerowych systemów wspomagających walidację kanałów pomiarowych wykorzystujących mikrokontrolery. Zaprezentowano ogólną koncepcję takiego systemu. Opisano opracowany i uruchomiony prototyp przeznaczony do walidacji kanałów pomiarowych wykorzystujących mikrokontrolery AVR ATmega 16. Prototyp ten składa się z części sprzętowej i oprogramowania.In the paper the need for creation of computer systems for supporting the validation of measurement channels using microcontrollers is justified. The general concept of such a system is presented. There is described the developed and implemented prototype, designed for validation of measurement channels using AVR ATmega16 microcontrollers. This prototype consists of two parts: hardware and software. The hardware is composed of a base which enables creation of the circuit (PS) for measurement signal processing and a module (RW) performing reconstruction of the numerical value of the measured quantities by means of an AVR ATmega16 microcontroller and a PC computer. The software master is called UMD and is written in C#. The slave software is embedded in the microcontroller memory and works with UMD application. The results of preliminary tests of the reconstruction unit (RW) obtained when the AVR microcontroller ATmega16 worked as a frequency counter in the range 0-2 MHz are presented. There are also given the results of preliminary tests obtained in a situation where the same module worked as a DC voltmeter in the range of 0-5 V. The concept of building a system designed to validate the measurement channels using ATmega16 AVR microcontrollers can be successfully applied to other types of microcontrollers