Real-time estimation of R, L, and C parameters under non sinusoidal conditions: A proposal

Modern electric and electronic devices frequently work with non sinusoidal waveforms, then, all the passive R, L, and C components present in these circuits are involved with non sinusoidal stimuli. Consequently, the behaviors of these components in presence of non sinusoidal environments have to be estimated. In previous researches authors proposed a suitable measurement method for the estimation of R, L and C parameters of passive components in non sinusoidal conditions. This paper deals with the realization of a real-time FPGA-based instrument, able to continuously update the estimated values of the considered components. Core of the realized instrument is the digital signal processing section that applies the previously proposed measurement method, based on a parameter estimation technique. This last can be implemented is a sequential (i.e. point by point) algorithm, suitable for the development on a FPGA platform. This implementation allows minimizing both required memory and computational burden. After a preliminary tuning of the measurement method, both the hardware and the software architectures of the realized measurement instrument are described. Experimental tests carried out in a suitable emulation environment and experiments on real R, L and C passive components are carried out in order to characterize the instrument.