Low Noise Programmable DC Amplifier with Remote Control

Abstract

Introduction. In modern experimental technology, the direction associated with the development of information-measuring systems for recording, pre-processing and analyzing excess low-frequency noise (flicker noise) is well known. Currently, such measuring systems are mainly presented in the form of particular solutions, due to the large variety of research goals and objectives. At the same time, for automation of the experiment, multichannel measuring complexes with the possibility of flexible reconfiguration of the measuring channel according to the task are highly demanded. It is obvious that any distributed measuring channel is represented as a multi-stage scheme with given functions and parameters of each stage, which makes it difficult for the measuring system to adapt to different conditions and tasks of the experiment. The logical solution to this problem is a deep unification of all components of the measuring channel while maintaining good performance characteristics. One of the main problems with this is the evaluation of the intrinsic noise of electronic elements, which provide for changing the parameters of the amplifier.Objective. Experimental analysis of the intrinsic noise of electronic potentiometers, development of the concept and study of parameters of a low-noise DC amplifier with a high degree of unification, the possibility of external electronic control and the use of built-in characteristics correction algorithms.Materials and methods. To achieve the set result, a method for measuring the noise of electronic potentiometers was proposed and experimental studies were carried out.Results. According to the calculation results and experimental studies, it was shown that the specific noise of the electronic potentiometers corresponds to the noise of the metal-film resistors, which makes it possible to use them in low-noise amplification stages. The developed circuit solutions allow the implementation of a unified amplifying module with cascading to build low-noise measuring DC paths based on electronic potentiometers. External and internal digital control allows you to significantly improve the performance of the measuring path as a whole and allows you to adapt it to a wide range of tasks.Conclusion. As part of the study, a method was proposed for measuring the noise of electronic potentiometers, analytical and experimental studies were carried out, and a prototype of a low-noise amplifier was developed and investigated.