Hybrid Multimeter (HMM) Cost-efficient Measuring Instrument

Jugal R. Panchal, Pranav M. Panchal, Pratik P. Dhage & Kunal S. Dembla

VeermataJijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Mumbai, India.
E-mail : jugalpanchal17@gmail.com, panchalpranav235@gmail.com, pratikpdhage@gmail.com,
demblakunal0@gmail.com

function generator generating various waveforms with

standard Multimeter with PC supportability. This device
has features of low-cost, affordable, portable and plug-in
kind of device that can be used with any commonpurpose computer with the associated software and can
make the expensive Oscilloscope redundant for
elementary signal analysis. It has the essential features
of these four devices which are combined in a portable
and low powered handy rugged tool. This device is
made up of
high end processors programmed to
perform the testing task and display the results on the
LCD display unit. It also includes switches to select the
appropriate operation to make it more user-friendly.

Abstract: This paper gives us a precise idea to develop a

device consisting of waveform analyzer, function
generator, Multimeter and logic probe. We present to you
a modular measuring device useful for testing and
troubleshooting in different areas where the current bulky
and costly devices like CRO, function Generator are not
available. This project, initially designed as an
undergraduate thesis, is currently being used for
laboratory testing purposes. The features of this device
make it suitable for implementing as an educational
resource for undergraduate students from Electrical,
Electronics, Instrumentation, and Computer Science
faculties. The prime reason for advancing attempts in this
field is to provide cheaper testing tools for using it in
various applications. The efficacy of this product as
compared to current model is moderate but it is sufficient
enough to fulfill the basic requirements.
Index
Terms-Oscilloscope,
Multimeter, Cost-efficient, and
convertors.

I.

II. ARCHITECTURE

WaveformGenerator,
Analog to Digital

INTRODUCTION

In todays educational institutes, especially in

electrical engineering and allied streams, digital
oscilloscopes, function generator & multimeter have
become popular for signal acquisition and analysis. The
digital oscilloscope is used over its analog counterpart
for effective storage of the data for subsequent analysis.
Along with this, digital oscilloscope gives the reading
directly as there is no need to do manual calculations.
However, with increasing attractive features, these
devices have become more expensive and less
accessible for undergraduate-level students. The
advanced features of these commercially available
oscilloscopes often are underutilized in the remote
location where the device should be portable enough to
carry out the testing. Moreover, the use of computers in
almost every step of any laboratory course, from
analysis to data representation to report preparation,
motivated for the development of the device that will
combine the essential features of the Oscilloscope,

Fig.1: HMM front panel

The Hybrid Multimeter architecture consist of
Waveform analyzer, Function generator, Multimeter and
Logic probe. Altogether it is a complete package of all
the basic testing and measuring device at a very low
cost. Thus this device embeds all instruments making it
portable, low cost, energy efficient which helps to meet
all basic requirements of students, professors and
passionate engineers. The concept model of this device
is shown in Fig1.

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Each section of this device is explained below:

A. Waveform Analyzer:
Waveform Analyzer in HMM constitute the
Oscilloscope section which helps to analyze the nature
of waveform on Graphic LCD with the help of
microcontroller. It is able to detect waveform from
analog to digital domain of any electronic circuit. The
processor is interfaced with high speed Analog to
Digital Converters (ADC) -delta sigma converters with
2Msamples/sec and has 16 bit resolution. The platform
used is PIC18f2550 which is interfaced with Linear
technology ADC IC [5]. After displaying nature of
signal, it also describes the various parameters of
waveform such as Peak-Peak Voltage (Vp-p), Minimum
Voltage (Vmin), Maximum Voltage (Vmax), Average
Voltage (Vavg), RMS Voltage (Vrms), Frequency.
Outputs of Waveform Analyzer are shown in Fig.2.
DISPLAYING
PARAMETERS
Vp-p
Vmin
Vmax
Vavg
Vrms
Frequency

Fig.3: Appearance of signal on GLCD

Technical Specifications:
[1]. Voltage: AC/DC
[2]. Voltage Range: 0- 110 V
[3]. Channels: 2
[4]. Coupling: AC/DC
[5]. Bandwidth: 1MHz

DISPLAYING
WAVEFORMS

B. Waveform Generator:

Nature of
Waveform

Square
Wave

Sawtooth
Wave
Reverse
Sawtooth
Wave

Triangular
Wave

Fig.2: Output parameters on Waveform Analyzer

The software compatible with this device will be a
VISUAL BASIC application having an USB interface,
so the recorded waveforms can be easily stored in
computer via USB and can easily make database to store
the recorded waveforms for further analysis. This
software helps to visualize the nature of waveform on
PC giving an emulated environment for the user. Any
arbitrary waveform can be analyzed, recorded and
displayed on PC through software. Algorithms are
developed to measure accurate frequency, rise time and
peak value of the input arbitrary waveform. It also has
the feature of freezing the signal for proper
visualization.

Sine Wave

Function
Generator

Noise
Signal
(Arbitrary)

Fig.4: Output signal by Waveform generator

Waveform Generator constitutes another important
feature for HMM which generates various function i.e.
output in the form of waveform with Amplitude and
Frequency variation as per the requirement of user.
Generally user needs various signals as input to test
various circuits where Sine wave as fundamental input
and other standard test inputs like triangular wave and
square wave. This device also generates sawtooth,
reverse sawtooth and noise signal along with the
standard test input. Various signal generated by function
generator is given in Fig.4 and appearance on
oscilloscope is shown in Fig.5.

The signal which is to be displayed is given by

formulae:
(1)
This continuous signal is sampled at regular
intervals and is further plotted on Graphic LCD using
micro-controller.
The appearance of various measuring parameters on
GLCD is shown in Fig.3

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A. Multimeter:

Sine Wave

Triangle
Wave

Square
Wave

Sawtooth
Wave

The DMM is crucial part of the HMM. It is a

debugging tool in any electrical engineers toolbox. It
combines several measuring instruments in a single unit.
It is basically sensing device, which is used to sense
currents, voltage, resistance, capacitance, and continuity
test. It has a LCD display which displays the reading
with a high degree of accuracy. It consists of analog
resistive network circuits which sense the different
parameters in terms of voltages which are given to the
ADCs. These parameters are converted to their
respective values by different calculation performed
using fixed algorithms [3]. Finally the readings are
displayed. It also allows us to test the Transistor
working capability by displaying its gain value directly
on the display. Its complete functional block diagram is
given in Fig.7 with its specification.

Reverse
Sawtooth
Wave

Fig.5: Signal generated by waveform Generator and

appearance on Waveform analyzer
Here the concept of displaying different waveforms
was cultivated from Digital to Analog converter where
continuous analog signal are produced from digital lookup table values for generation of different signals at the
output of DAC [4]. In Fig.6 grey analog signals are
produced from digital signal values of blue color.

Fig.7: Multimeter block diagram

Fig.6: D to A converter signal regeneration

The concept for measurement of various parameters

was based on Voltage Divider rule. Voltage divider is a
linear circuit that produces an output voltage (Vout) that
is a fraction of its input voltage (Vin). Voltage division
refers to the partitioning of a voltage among the
components of the divider. This Vout is sensed by ADC
port of microcontroller and gives respective value of
measurement device [1]. The equation and its basic
circuit are shown below

Technical Specifications:
[1]. Voltage range: -8 to +8 V
[2]. Frequency Range: 0-65536 Hz
[3]. Even High frequency range of 1MHz- 8MHz of
Square Wave is also generated considering the
point of clock generation section majorly used for
any digital circuits.
[4]. Duty Cycle variation from 10-90 %.
These are the basic requirements which are generally
required to generate various signals in Students
laboratory for performing any experiment from their
syllabus to higher level projects and testing of the
projects.

Fig 8: Voltage Divider concept

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D. Logic Probe:
In this section we can determine whether the signal
flowing through any section of the digital circuit is logic
high or low. These two logic levels will be indicated using
two LEDs. It can also indicate the High impedance state of
the device which is the most crucial part of the Logic probe.
The three logic levels are indicated by LED, its indication
for various signals will be followed as:

[2]. Cost is scaled down to 1/10 th of the actual products

available for these applications.
[3]. Rigid and robust can be used in field and Lab
environment
[4]. Protection circuits increases the devices life
[5]. Maximum Features are incorporated.
C. DISADVANTAGES:

Red Light Logic Low

[1]. Large voltage requires device to work on supply

voltage where the portability is lost.

Green Light Logic High

[2]. Processors speed limits the maximum bandwidth.

Yellow light High Impedance

[3]. Response is not linear for arbitrary functions.

[4]. The peak voltage is limited to certain value for
displaying the waveform.

III. SAFETY AND PROTECTION

The most important aspect of any device is its
safety. This device has protection circuits which can
handle over current up to 5A and high voltage up to
600V. There is a fuse provided to provide short-circuit
protection. This device employs the standard CAT I
followed under I.E.C (International Electro technical
Commission) and is entirely placed in thermally
insulated capsule which makes it very robust in hard
environment. The screen is made of hard glass which
increases its durability and stiffness.

D. APPLICATION:
[1]. Engineering students working on various laboratory
course.
[2]. Electronic passionate people who usually do
electronic-hobby projects.
[3]. It can be used by Field Engineers to perform testing
at remote locations.
V. CONCLUSION

HMM all together have proper grounding protection so

as to avoid current flowing through instrument body.
This is usually for students or users safety while
handling this device. Even it has proper protection from
device internal sparking and bursting. HMM works on
12VDC/1A supply. Even the probes used for measuring
various parameters are quite durable and rigid enough to
carry all the signals. They are also free from external
noise.

This article reviews the device, Hybrid Multimeter,

which is the upcoming need in electrical engineers
toolbox. This will allow a student to exploit every aspect
of its application which will help them develop their
technical skills and make testing and troubleshooting
easy. The cost of this device is also less than that of the
simplest mobile phone. The main aim of this project is
to make this device available like a calculator to every
engineering student for making testing easy and reliable.

IV. FEATURES
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A. POWER ASPECTS :

The authors would like to specially thank our

mentor Dr. Alice Noble Cheeran for her technical
support.
We
would
also
like
to
thanks
Dr.H.A.Mangalvedekar, Dr. M.S.Panse and Dr.
R.D.Daruwala, our faculty at VJTI, to motivate us for
this innovative project. And we also thank our parents
for their support and deep blessings.

The entire device is powered on 12V-DC supply.

The device is battery requires a 1AHr power. It can also
be charged by a Solar panel. It makes use of
rechargeable batteries. The device totally consumes
0.5W of power. For Waveform generators output more
than 5V we have to connect the device to the wallsocket through chargers power jack who enables more
amount of voltage to be sourced. Comparing this device
with the actual models which are operated on line
supply, this being a portable device the power issues is
limited and is manageable.

VII. REFERENCES
[1].

B. ADVANTAGES :
[1]. Portability to a greater extend.

A.K.Sawney
(4th
Edition)Electronic
Measurement and Instrumentation, Voltmeter,
Ammeter & Ohmmeter Pg. 192-288,Cathode Ray
Oscilloscope Pg. 655-676, Instruments of
Generation & analysis of Waveform Pg. 677-697,
Digital devices & Recorders, Pg. 909-961

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[2].

H.S. Kalsi, Electronic Instrumentation, 2nd

Edition, 2008, ISBN -13: 978-0-07-0583700-2,
pp 62-133

[3].

www.wikipedia.com retrieved on 18thFeb 12 for

Digital Multimeter

[4].

www.scienceprog.com/avr-dds-signal-generatorv20 for function generator

[5].

www.linear.com for Analog to Digital Converters

retrieved on 6th FEB13

[6].

www.ti.com for High speed Processor C2000

Piccolo Control Stick F28069

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