Data fluctuations

Using Arduino Sensors
1

Hi everyone,
I am currently working on a measuring device and getting the results from the Arduino back to my GUI on my PC.

However there is a problem, the data result keeps going up and down. Imagine a needle (with no damping) on a voltmeter flickering up and down and not settling to a steady value.

I have implemented a moving average algorithm to dampen out this oscillation.
However, does anyone know what this phenomenon is called? And are there any other methods of removing its effects?

Cheers.

2

However, does anyone know what this phenomenon is called? And are there any other methods of removing its effects?

  1. Nasty oscillations?

  2. reality?

  3. you can dampen the input signal by adding additional electronics.

  4. you can search for the cause of the oscillation (most effective and often also most time consuming)

  5. you can program or build an anti oscillation to neutralize (but do you really want that?)

  6. it totally depends on your Code and schematics (hint post both!). We cannot see how you build the device...

In short, please tell more about the device, what it measures and schema and code links to datasheets etc and we probably can give some tips how to improve.