A well known L/C measurement circuit is pressed into service to make a bare bones measurement circuit.
Download the AVRStudio assembly source: lgm031227I.asm
Download the AVRStudio hex file: lgm031227.hex
Left-to-right: The 5 volt regulator, the LM393 oscillator (a 0.047 uf capacitor is mounted on the LC circuit connector), the AT90S2313, and the serial connector to the LCD module.
Recently, I have needed to measure inductances in the hundreds of microhenries to several millihenry range. Though I have a pretty good LRC meter and an excellent bridge on my workbench in Mesa, Arizona, I wanted to make these measurements in my home in Thailand, thus I decided to put something together. The RF Inductance meter on this website is good for low value rf inductors, but because of the way it works – putting a sharp-edged square wave through the inductor -its not suitable for inductors made with high permeability ferrites (Because of pulse shape distortion that results from high frequency losses in the core.) This meter operates at lower frequencies, and by careful selection of the resonating capacitor, the oscillator can be made to run anywhere from 100 kHz on down. This makes it possible to test near standard frequencies like 1 kHz and 400 Hz, to compare results with precision bridges.
LC Resonant Frequency Meter using AVR microcontroller
The AT90S2313 frequency meter drives a serial terminal with a 0 to 5 volt signal. The firmware was adapted from the RS-232 Freq. Meter/Pulse Generator project on this site, and then tailored to work with the a two-line LCD (See theserial interface for Truly LCD also on this site). The serial connector has switched +8 volts to power the LCD and its interface.
For more detail: LC Resonant Frequency Meter using AVR microcontroller
