Development of Digital Resistivity Meter

Abstract

A digital resistivity meter was designed and constructed using microcontroller (PIC16F877A) and other carefully selected components. The meter was developed, using the state of the art technology, to measure the earth’s electrical resistivity through application of direct current electrical resistivity method. It was designed as a system with various subunits implemented as modules, to help greatly in trouble shooting the system in case of system failure. This meter injected currents of 0.1mA, 1mA and 10mA and two, 6V batteries connected in series powered it. Its capability of accepting analog input and displaying digital output gives it advantage of minimizing errors associated with output display. Microcontroller operated using a configuration of hardware components and functional software written and burnt into the microcontroller’s memory. The meter was tested with a specially designed test unit and the generated results were compared with the calculated values, the two agreed.

Keywords: Electrical resistivity, microcontroller, analog, digital