Portable Industrial Standard Mixed-Signal Transmitter for Laboratory

Abstract

This paper presents the design of industrial standard mixed-signal transmitter based on economical design aspect. The proposed signal transmitter is used to transmit the standard signals for testing and verifying the functionality of factory automation and process control systems in an industrial environment. The standard 4–20 mA current signal is provided in the designed signal transmitter. Additionally, some standard voltage signals are available to enable the flexibility in practical utilization. The voltage outputs can be transmitted within three ranges including 0–5 V, 0–10 V and 1–5 V. The proposed signal transmitter is designed utilizing an open-source electronics prototyping platform Arduino Nano ATMEGA328P microcontroller. Analog to Digital converter (ADC) ADS1115 is used in the transmitter with 16-bit resolution. Digital to Analog converter (DAC) MCP4922, which is dual channel with 12-bit resolution, is used for providing high accuracy output signal levels together with low noises performance. Furthermore, the current gain is used via the operational amplifier TLC 2272 exhibited rail-to-rail output performance. The main portion of signal transmitter is integrated within a small container that offers a portability of the device for field testing. The proposed industrial standard mixed-signal transmitter is tested to investigate the functionality and performance of the device in various experiments. The experimental results evidently demonstrate the complete designated functionality and satisfactory performance based on the existing conventional signal transmitter with low-cost solution.