Experiment No.

-02

Exp. Title: Study of Analog to Digital Converter & Digital to Analog Converter

Aim

To study of the analog to digital converter & digital to analog converter.

Introduction

A converter a device for altering the nature of an electric current or signal, especially from
analog signal to digital signal or vice versa. It is an electrical devices that convert the voltage
from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) or digital current to alternating current
i.e. a converter is a device which convert one form of signal to other form. In the real world,
most data is characterized by analog signals. In order to manipulate the data using a
microprocessor, we need to convert the analog signals to the digital signals, so that the
microprocessor will be able to read, understand and manipulate the data. Some devices need
data in analog form for processing in this case we need digital to analog converter.

Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) translate analog quantities, which are characteristic of

most phenomena in the "real world," to digital language, used in information processing,
computing, data transmission, and control systems. Digital-toanalog converters (DACs) are
used in transforming transmitted or stored data, or the results of digital processing, back to
"real-world" variables for control, information display, or further analog processing.

Thus converter is need to convert one form of signal in to other. For example the main goal
of analog to digital Converter is to digitize the analog signals, which means to record and
store the analog signals in numbers.Converter is a important device in electrical field and
converter can be classify as follows:

Analog-to-digital converter (ADC)

Digital-to-analog converter (DAC)
Digital-to-digital converter (DDC)

Analog-to-digital converter (ADC): An analog-to-digital converter, or (ADC) as it is more

commonly called, is a device that convert analog signals
into digital signals. Analog information is transmitted by modulating a continuous
transmission signal by amplifying a signal's strength or varying its frequency to add or take
away data.In electronics, an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) is a device for converting an
analog signal (current, voltage etc.) to a digital code, usually binary. In the real world, most
of the signals sensed and processed by humans are analog signals. Analog-to-Digital
conversion is the primary means by which analog signal are converted into digital data that
can be processed by computers for various purposes, as shown in figure:
 Figure: Audio Signal Processing

There are many types of ADC for different applications. The most inexpensive type of ADC
is a Successive-Approximation ADC. Figure shows the transfer curve of a 4-bit ADC. Inside
a Successive-Approximation ADC, a series of digital codes, each corresponds to a fix analog
level, are generated successively by an internal counter to compare with the analog signal
under conversion. The generation is stopped when the analog level becomes just larger than
the analog signal. The digital code corresponds to the analog level is the desired digital
representation of the analog signal.

The performance of ADCs and DACs mainly depends on their Resolution and Speed.

The Resolution of a converter is expressed in the number of Bit. For an ADC, the Resolution
states the number of intervals or levels which can be divided from a certain analog input
range. An n-bit ADC has the resolution of 1 / 2n. For example, the Resolution of a 16-bit
ADC is 1 / 65536, since 216 = 65536. If the measuring voltage range is 10 V, then this input
range can be resolved into 10 V / 65536 = 0.153 mV precision.

The Speed of a converter is expressed by the Sampling Frequency. It is the number of times
that the converter samples the analog signal, its unit is Hertz (Hz). In audio signal processing,
Sampling Frequencies of 44 kHz, 22 kHz and 11 kHz are mostly used. Using 44 kHz
Sampling Frequency means the converter is sampling the analog audio signal and doing
analog to digital conversion at 44000 times per second. The higher the Sampling Frequency,
the lower the distortion and the better the sound quality.

Digital-to-analog converter (DAC): A Digital to Analog Converter, or DAC, is an

electronic device that converts adigital code to an analog signal such as a voltage, current, or
electric charge. Signals can easily be stored and transmitted in digital form; a DAC is used
for the signal to be recognized by human senses or non-digital systems.

Figure: Digital to Analog Converter

The resolution of either a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) or an analog-to-digital converter

(ADC) is the measure of how finely its output may change between discrete, binary steps. For
instance, an 8-bit DAC with an output voltage range of 0 to 10 volts will have a resolution
of 39.22 mV.

A Digital to Analogue Converters (DAC) can be constructed by using a Binary Weighted

Ladder as shown in figure:
Starting from V1 and going through V3, this would give each input voltage exactly half the
effect on the output as the voltage before it. In other words, input voltage V 1 has a 1:1 effect
on the output voltage (gain of 1), while input voltage V2 has half that much effect on the
output (a gain of 1/2), and V3 half of that (a gain of 1/4). These ratios are the same ratios
corresponding to position weights in the binary system. If we drive the inputs of this circuit
with digital gates so that each input is either 0 volts or full supply voltage, the output voltage
will be an analog representation of the binary value of these three bits.