Introduction

Author: Ankit Phougat, Microchip Technology Inc.

In sensor node application, a sensor needs an electronic circuitry (known as signal conditioning circuit) to interface with the microcontroller. Signal conditioning circuits are designed using analog and mixed signal components such as Operational Amplifier (OPA), Comparator (CMP), Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) and Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC). The 8-bit PIC® microcontrollers have these analog and mixed signal components as integrated peripherals, which can be used in sensing, signal conditioning, processing and generating analog output without the need of external components. Interconnectivity and a combination of multiple integrated analog and signal conditioning peripherals can offer significant advantages (such as configurable firmware, no external wiring, reduced circuit design complexity, PCB size and BOM cost) over other microcontrollers and external components.

This document provides an overview of sensors and signal conditioning circuits. It provides the technical details of signal conditioning circuits that can be realized using intelligent analog peripheral combinations (OPA, FVR, ADC, CMP and DAC) for various sensing and measurement applications. This document is also supported by the following sensor interfacing use cases for various real world applications:

Note:
  1. The content described in this document highlights the analog peripherals of the PIC16F17146 family of microcontrollers.
  2. This content is also relevant to all the other 8-bit PIC product families featuring these analog peripherals. Even though the analog peripheral features and their usage in various applications varies, the typical sensor and signal conditioning concepts described in this document are applicable to all the 8-bit PIC product families.