ISSN:
1089-7623
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
Notes:
A double-washer dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) gradiometer with a flux-locked loop (FLL) based on a digital signal processor (DSP) has been developed for biomagnetic applications. All of the analog electronics in the conventional FLL are replaced and implemented by the DSP except for the low-noise field-effect transistor preamplifier at the front end of the signal recovery components. The DSP performs the signal demodulation by synchronously sampling the recovered signals and applying the appropriate full wave rectification. The signals are then integrated, filtered, and applied to the output. At 4.2 K, the white flux noise of the gradiometer measured in a DSP FLL mode is about 4μΦ0/(square root of)Hz and the noise at 1 Hz is 13 μΦ0/(square root of)Hz. The corresponding noise levels in the gradiometer operated by the conventional FLL are 1.8 and 3μΦ0/(square root of)Hz. The poorer system performance in the DSP FLL compared to the analog FLL is mainly caused by the ambient field noise and interference signals picked up through the connecting cables. Additional noise is also added to the overall noise floor by the instruments employed in the DSP system in the present prototype setup. Further improvement in the noise characteristics and the dynamic behavior of the DSP SQUID gradiometer is expected when a better configuration of DSP with the associated I/O devices is implemented. Additional improvements of the DSP programs are expected by incorporating higher-order integration, adaptive control, and noise reduction schemes. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1146575
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