Field-Programmable System-on-Chip for high-accuracy frequency measurements in QCM sensors

Currently, frequency is the physical variable that can be measured with the best accuracy. Therefore, sensors based on frequency measurements are used in many industrial applications. QCM sensors are a kind of resonator-based sensors that allow mass variations in the nanogram-picogram range to be detected. This paper presents a high-accuracy frequency meter system for QCM sensors based on a Field-Programmable System-on-Chip architecture. A high-performance custom hardware peripheral integrated in a Nios II-based system has been implemented and experimentally validated. The obtained results demonstrate the suitability of the proposed system for the target application, as well as its potential to be extended to others. Some limitations and possible ways of improvement have also been identified.