Instrumentation is a well defined topic to study in the field of electronics and robotics.

This idea of me is presented in various colleges

History and development[edit]

A local instrumentation panel on a steam turbine

The history of instrumentation can be divide into several phases.

Pre-industrial[edit]
Elements of industrial instrumentation have long histories. Scales for comparing weights and
simple pointers to indicate position are ancient technologies. Some of the earliest measurements
were of time. One of the oldest water clocks was found in the tomb of the ancient
Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I, buried around 1500 BCE.[1] Improvements were incorporated in
the clocks. By 270 BCE they had the rudiments of an automatic control system device.[2]
In 1663 Christopher Wren presented the Royal Society with a design for a "weather clock". A
drawing shows meteorological sensors moving pens over paper driven by clockwork. Such
devices did not become standard in meteorology for two centuries.[3] The concept has remained
virtually unchanged as evidenced by pneumatic chart recorders, where a pressurized bellows
displaces a pen. Integrating sensors, displays, recorders and controls was uncommon until the
industrial revolution, limited by both need and practicality.

Early industrial[edit]

The evolution of analogue control loop signalling from the pneumatic era to the electronic era
Early systems used direct process connections to local control panels for control and indication,
which from the early 1930s saw the introduction of pneumatic transmitters and automatic 3-term
(PID) controllers.
The ranges of pneumatic transmitters were defined by the need to control valves and actuators in
the field. Typically a signal ranged from 3 to 15 psi (20 to 100kPa or 0.2 to 1.0 kg/cm2) as a
standard, was standardized with 6 to 30 psi occasionally being used for larger valves. Transistor
electronics enabled wiring to replace pipes, initially with a range of 20 to 100mA at up to 90V for
loop powered devices, reducing to 4 to 20mA at 12 to 24V in more modern systems.
A transmitter is a device that produces an output signal, often in the form of a 4–
20 mA electrical current signal, although many other options using voltage, frequency, pressure,
or ethernet are possible. The transistor was commercialized by the mid-1950s.[4]
Instruments attached to a control system provided signals used to
operate solenoids, valves, regulators, circuit breakers, relays and other devices. Such devices
could control a desired output variable, and provide either remote or automated control
capabilities.
Each instrument company introduced their own standard instrumentation signal, causing
confusion until the 4–20 mA range was used as the standard electronic instrument signal for
transmitters and valves. This signal was eventually standardized as ANSI/ISA S50, “Compatibility
of Analog Signals for Electronic Industrial Process Instruments", in the 1970s. The transformation
of instrumentation from mechanical pneumatic transmitters, controllers, and valves to electronic
instruments reduced maintenance costs as electronic instruments were more dependable than
mechanical instruments. This also increased efficiency and production due to their increase in
accuracy. Pneumatics enjoyed some advantages, being favored in corrosive and explosive
atmospheres.[5]

Automatic process control[edit]

Example of a single industrial control loop, showing continuously modulated control of process flow

In the early years of process control, process indicators and control elements such as valves
were monitored by an operator that walked around the unit adjusting the valves to obtain the
desired temperatures, pressures, and flows. As technology evolved pneumatic controllers were
invented and mounted in the field that monitored the process and controlled the valves. This
reduced the amount of time process operators were needed to monitor the process. Later years
the actual controllers were moved to a central room and signals were sent into the control room
to monitor the process and outputs signals were sent to the final control element such as a valve
to adjust the process as needed. These controllers and indicators were mounted on a wall called
a control board. The operators stood in front of this board walking back and forth monitoring the
process indicators. This again reduced the number and amount of time process operators were
needed to walk around the units. The most standard pneumatic signal level used during these
years was 3–15 psig.[6]

Large integrated computer-based systems[edit]

Pneumatic "three term" pneumatic PID controller, widely used before electronics became reliable and
cheaper and safe to use in hazardous areas (Siemens Telepneu Example)

A pre-DCS/SCADA era central control room. Whilst the controls are centralised in one place, they are still
discrete and not integrated into one system.

A DCS control room where plant information and controls are displayed on computer graphics screens. The
operators are seated and can view and control any part of the process from their screens, whilst retaining a
plant overview.

Process control of large industrial plants has evolved through many stages. Initially, control
would be from panels local to the process plant. However this required a large manpower
resource to attend to these dispersed panels, and there was no overall view of the process. The
next logical development was the transmission of all plant measurements to a permanently-
manned central control room. Effectively this was the centralisation of all the localised panels,
with the advantages of lower manning levels and easier overview of the process. Often the
controllers were behind the control room panels, and all automatic and manual control outputs
were transmitted back to plant.
However, whilst providing a central control focus, this arrangement was inflexible as each control
loop had its own controller hardware, and continual operator movement within the control room
was required to view different parts of the process. With coming of electronic processors and
graphic displays it became possible to replace these discrete controllers with computer-based
algorithms, hosted on a network of input/output racks with their own control processors. These
could be distributed around plant, and communicate with the graphic display in the control room
or rooms. The distributed control concept was born.
The introduction of DCSs and SCADA allowed easy interconnection and re-configuration of plant
controls such as cascaded loops and interlocks, and easy interfacing with other production
computer systems. It enabled sophisticated alarm handling, introduced automatic event logging,
removed the need for physical records such as chart recorders, allowed the control racks to be
networked and thereby located locally to plant to reduce cabling runs, and provided high level
overviews of plant status and production levels.

Applications[edit]
In some cases the sensor is a very minor element of the mechanism. Digital cameras and
wristwatches might technically meet the loose definition of instrumentation because they record
and/or display sensed information. Under most circumstances neither would be called
instrumentation, but when used to measure the elapsed time of a race and to document the
winner at the finish line, both would be called instrumentation.

Household[edit]
A very simple example of an instrumentation system is a mechanical thermostat, used to control
a household furnace and thus to control room temperature. A typical unit senses temperature
with a bi-metallic strip. It displays temperature by a needle on the free end of the strip. It activates
the furnace by a mercury switch. As the switch is rotated by the strip, the mercury makes
physical (and thus electrical) contact between electrodes.
Another example of an instrumentation system is a home security system. Such a system
consists of sensors (motion detection, switches to detect door openings), simple algorithms to
detect intrusion, local control (arm/disarm) and remote monitoring of the system so that the police
can be summoned. Communication is an inherent part of the design.
Kitchen appliances use sensors for control.

 A refrigerator maintains a constant temperature by measuring the internal temperature.

 A microwave oven sometimes cooks via a heat-sense-heat-sense cycle until sensing done.
 An automatic ice machine makes ice until a limit switch is thrown.
 Pop-up bread toasters can operate by time or by heat measurements.
 Some ovens use a temperature probe to cook until a target internal food temperature is
reached.
 A common toilet refills the water tank until a float closes the valve. The float is acting as a
water level sensor.
Automotive[edit]
Modern automobiles have complex instrumentation. In addition to displays of engine rotational
speed and vehicle linear speed, there are also displays of battery voltage and current, fluid
levels, fluid temperatures, distance traveled and feedbacks of various controls (turn signals,
parking brake, headlights, transmission position). Cautions may be displayed for special
problems (fuel low, check engine, tire pressure low, door ajar, seat belt unfastened). Problems
are recorded so they can be reported to diagnostic equipment. Navigation systems can provide
voice commands to reach a destination. Automotive instrumentation must be cheap and reliable
over long periods in harsh environments. There may be independent airbag systems which
contain sensors, logic and actuators. Anti-skid braking systems use sensors to control the
brakes, while cruise control affects throttle position. A wide variety of services can be provided
via communication links as the OnStar system. Autonomous cars (with exotic instrumentation)
have been demonstrated.

Aircraft[edit]
Early aircraft had a few sensors.[7] "Steam gauges" converted air pressures into needle
deflections that could be interpreted as altitude and airspeed. A magnetic compass provided a
sense of direction. The displays to the pilot were as critical as the measurements.
A modern aircraft has a far more sophisticated suite of sensors and displays, which are
embedded into avionics systems. The aircraft may contain inertial navigation systems, global
positioning systems, weather radar, autopilots, and aircraft stabilization systems. Redundant
sensors are used for reliability. A subset of the information may be transferred to a crash
recorder to aid mishap investigations. Modern pilot displays now include computer displays
including head-up displays.
Air traffic control radar is distributed instrumentation system. The ground portion transmits an
electromagnetic pulse and receives an echo (at least). Aircraft carry transponders that transmit
codes on reception of the pulse. The system displays aircraft map location, an identifier and
optionally altitude. The map location is based on sensed antenna direction and sensed time
delay. The other information is embedded in the transponder transmission.

Laboratory instrumentation[edit]
Among the possible uses of the term is a collection of laboratory test equipment controlled by a
computer through an IEEE-488 bus (also known as GPIB for General Purpose Instrument Bus or
HPIB for Hewlitt Packard Instrument Bus). Laboratory equipment is available to measure many
electrical and chemical quantities. Such a collection of equipment might be used to automate the
testing of drinking water for pollutants.

Measurement parameters[edit]
Instrumentation is used to measure many parameters (physical values). These parameters
include:
 Pressure, either differential or static  Viscosity
 Flow  ionising radiation
 Temperature  Frequency
 Levels of liquids, etc.  Current
 Density

Control valve
Instrumentation engineering[edit]

The instrumentation part of a piping and instrumentation diagram will be developed by an instrumentation
engineer.

Instrumentation engineering is the engineering specialization focused on the principle and

operation of measuring instruments that are used in design and configuration of automated
systems in areas such as electrical and pneumatic domains, and the control of quantities being
measured. They typically work for industries with automated processes, such
as chemical or manufacturing plants, with the goal of improving system productivity, reliability,
safety, optimization and stability. To control the parameters in a process or in a particular system,
devices such as microprocessors, microcontrollers or PLCs are used, but their ultimate aim is to
control the parameters of a system.
Instrumentation engineering is loosely defined because the required tasks are very domain
dependent. An expert in the biomedical instrumentation of laboratory rats has very different
concerns than the expert in rocket instrumentation. Common concerns of both are the selection
of appropriate sensors based on size, weight, cost, reliability, accuracy, longevity, environmental
robustness and frequency response. Some sensors are literally fired in artillery shells. Others
sense thermonuclear explosions until destroyed. Invariably sensor data must be recorded,
transmitted or displayed. Recording rates and capacities vary enormously. Transmission can be
trivial or can be clandestine, encrypted and low-power in the presence of jamming. Displays can
be trivially simple or can require consultation with human factors experts. Control system design
varies from trivial to a separate specialty.
Instrumentation engineers are responsible for integrating the sensors with the recorders,
transmitters, displays or control systems, and producing the Piping and instrumentation
diagram for the process. They may design or specify installation, wiring and signal conditioning.
They may be responsible for calibration, testing and maintenance of the system.
In a research environment it is common for subject matter experts to have substantial
instrumentation system expertise. An astronomer knows the structure of the universe and a great
deal about telescopes – optics, pointing and cameras (or other sensing elements). That often
includes the hard-won knowledge of the operational procedures that provide the best results. For
example, an astronomer is often knowledgeable of techniques to minimize temperature gradients
that cause air turbulence within the telescope.
Instrumentation technologists, technicians and mechanics specialize in troubleshooting, repairing
and maintaining instruments and instrumentation systems.

Typical industrial transmitter signal types[edit]

 Current loop (4-20mA) – Electrical

 HART – Data signalling, often overlaid on a current loop

 Foundation Fieldbus – Data signalling

 Profibus – Data signalling

Impact of modern development[edit]
Ralph Müller (1940) stated, "That the history of physical science is largely the history of
instruments and their intelligent use is well known. The broad generalizations and theories which
have arisen from time to time have stood or fallen on the basis of accurate measurement, and in
several instances new instruments have had to be devised for the purpose. There is little
evidence to show that the mind of modern man is superior to that of the ancients. His tools are
incomparably better."[8][9]:290
Davis Baird has argued that the major change associated with Floris Cohen's identification of a
"fourth big scientific revolution" after World War II is the development of scientific
instrumentation, not only in chemistry but across the sciences.[9][10] In chemistry, the introduction
of new instrumentation in the 1940s was "nothing less than a scientific and technological
revolution"[11]:28–29 in which classical wet-and-dry methods of structural organic chemistry were
discarded, and new areas of research opened up.[11]:38
As early as 1954, W. A. Wildhack discussed both the productive and destructive potential
inherent in process control.[12] The ability to make precise, verifiable and reproducible
measurements of the natural world, at levels that were not previously observable, using scientific
instrumentation, has "provided a different texture of the world".[13] This instrumentation revolution
fundamentally changes human abilities to monitor and respond, as is illustrated in the examples
of DDT monitoring and the use of UV spectrophotometry and gas chromatography to
monitor water pollutants.[10][13]

See also