6.2 Simulate the Instrumentation Amplifier in Mindi™

Todo:
  • Download the pre-made instrumentation amplifier simulation file containing the AVR DB op amp model
  • Run the simulation
  1. Go to any of the OPn banners and press the Mindi™ Schematic link to get to the GitHub repository for the instrumentation amplifier. The position of the link is shown in Figure   1.
    Figure 6-9. Assignment 4: Mindi™ Link
    Info: A similar link to the one presented in MCC is also available in Atmel START.
  2. On the GitHub page, press the Releases button and then press the Source Code (zip) for the latest release to download the schematic.
  3. Unzip the folder to your location of choice.
  4. Open MPLAB® Mindi, press File→Open or Ctrl+o, and locate the file Instrumentation_Amplifier in the location where the zip file was extracted.
  5. Make sure the resistor values for OP0 and OP2 are correct for a 3x gain by looking at the Instrumentation Amplifier Gain Settings table under the schematic shown in Figure   2.
    Figure 6-10. Assignment 4: Instrumentation Amplifier Gain
  6. Simulate by pressing the Run Schematic button.
Result: The input and output of the instrumentation amplifier are plotted in MPLAB® Mindi™, as shown in Figure   3. The red waveform is the output from the instrumentation amplifier, and the green is the differential input. As expected, the output is three times as large as the input, and the plot is very similar to the one in the MPLAB® Data Visualizer.
Figure 6-11. Assignment 5: Mindi™ Result