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A VIRTUAL IMPLEMENTATION OF A DYNAMIC SIGNAL ANALYZER USING SIMULINK

John M. Watkins Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Wichita State University 1845 Fairmount Wichita, KS 67260-0044 J.Watkins@IEEE.org

Introduction The ability to understand and utilize the frequency response of a linear system is a critical building block in many undergraduate engineering disciplines. For example, undergraduate students in electrical engineering will often see the frequency response in courses on circuits, signals and systems, communications, and control systems. Yet despite this significant exposure to and need for the frequency response, many undergraduate students have limited intuition on what it means and represents.

As we have learned in other areas of engineering education, for students to understand a concept they need to work with it, either in simulation, or ideally in experimentation. Unfortunately, equipment for measuring the frequency response, such as a dynamic signal analyzer or frequency response analyzer, is often too expensive and complex for a typical undergraduate engineering lab. Furthermore, it does not allow to students to experiment in simulation, when an experimental lab is either not feasible or desired.

Consequently, we have developed a virtual dynamic signal analyzer in SIMULINK for measuring the frequency response. To utilize the dynamic signal analyzer, the user places a dynamic signal analyzer (DSA) block in their SIMULINK model file. The DSA block has two inputs: the input and output signals from the linear system. The DSA block has one output, a sinusoidal signal that is used to drive the linear system. This signal is swept through a series of frequencies. By measuring the frequency response at discrete frequencies, it provides a frequency response measurement with a high signal-to-noise ratio. More importantly, it allows the students to see the input and output signals at the different frequencies as they are being measured. The input and output signals in the time domain and the magnitude and phase of the frequency response are plotted in real time.

To run the virtual DSA in simulation mode requires only SIMULINK. However, if combined with the Quanser WinCon software and hardware input/output board, it can be used for measuring the frequency response of experimental apparatus in the laboratory. If the linear Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Watkins, J. (2005, June), A Virtual Implementation Of A Dynamic Signal Analyzer Using Simulink Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14596