Practical Interfacing in the Laboratory: Using a PC for Instrumentation, Data Analysis, and Control

This text describes in practical terms how to use a desk-top computer to monitor and control laboratory experiments. The author clearly explains how to design electronic circuits and write computer programs to sense, analyze and display real-world quantities, including displacement, temperature, force, sound, light, and biomedical potentials. The book includes numerous laboratory exercises and appendices that provide practical information on microcomputer architecture and interfacing, including complete circuit diagrams and component lists. Topics include analog amplification and signal processing, digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion, electronic sensors and actuators, digital and analog interfacing circuits, and programming. Only a very basic knowledge of electronics is assumed, making it ideal for college-level laboratory courses and for practicing engineers and scientists.

• Everything you need to know about using a PC to monitor and control laboratory experiments
• Full of practical circuit designs and C-code examples
• Ideal for students and practicing scientists

About the Author

Stephen E. Derenzo is Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley and a Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He has been teaching courses on electronic circuits, electronic transducers, and microcomputer interfacing for over 15 years and this book was developed from those courses. He has authored and co-authored over 150 technical publications, was awarded the 1992 Annual Merit Award and the 2001 Radiation Instrumentation Outstanding Achievement Award of the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society of the IEEE, and is a Fellow of the IEEE.