LINE-ORIENTED SPECTRUM EVALUATION FOR SENSOR SNR ESTIMATION

When the dynamic performance of sensors has to be evaluated, the signa l-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a useful figure of merit. A method for estim ating the SNR of an analog sensor is proposed bg which the sensor is s timulated sinusoidally, and its output sampled. It is then subjected t o a digital fourier transform (DFT), and the resulting spectrum analyz ed to obtain the sensor's SNR value. This line-oriented evaluation sch eme provides detailed information on the sensor output. A low-noise ex perimental setup for coherently testing displacement sensors is also d escribed.