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EE 472 Senior Project

Noise Characterization of A/D


Converter on PIC Microcontroller

Hang B. Lee, Applied Physics & EE


Advisor: Prof. Robert Grober
EE 472 Senior Project

PIC Microcontroller

PIC: Programmable Interface Controller


Modifiable by end user:
- Software (C code)
- Hardware (modification to circuitry)
Common use in robotics and control applications
Potential use in data acquisition or measurement
EE 472 Senior Project

Project Goal

Understand noise characteristics of A/D Converter


Investigate methods to minimize or eliminate noise
Artificially enhance resolution software methods
EE 472 Senior Project

A/D Converter

10-bit resolution
8 channels for analog input
Throughput: 35,000 samples per sec
Method of conversion:
(i) sample and hold
(ii) successive approximation
EE 472 Senior Project

Resolution

What is maximum resolution?

Vref 5V
10 5mV
2N 2

For 5V, maximum resolution ~ 5 mV


1 LSB represents 5mV increment
EE 472 Senior Project

A/D Converter Noise


Quantization noise (error due to discretizing)
Thermal noise
Reference voltage variations
Etc.

What is the sum of all these contributions?


EE 472 Senior Project

Oversampling and Averaging

Artificially enhance resolution


Cost efficient alternative to paying for higher resolution

BUT .

Tradeoff throughput
(High resolution means slower conversion speed)
More CPU intensive
EE 472 Senior Project

Requirements

Must be able to approximate sum of all noise


contributions as white noise

White noise has uniform power spectral density

Two ways to check for this:

(1) Histogram analysis


(2) Take FT of autocorrelation
EE 472 Senior Project

Data Measurement

Built-in potentiometer / DC power supply


Labview collects digital output values
Histogram analysis
EE 472 Senior Project

Serial Interface

Serial interface PIC chip with PC


Receive streaming data from output pin
Approaches taken:
(1) Visual Basic failed effort
(2) Labview better
EE 472 Senior Project

Problems with Visual Basic

Buffer check requires too much time


Causes lag in data acquisition
Too slow for collecting large number of data points
EE 472 Senior Project

Labview Waveform
EE 472 Senior Project

Waveform Close-up
EE 472 Senior Project

Another Waveform
EE 472 Senior Project

Histogram 88
Histogram of Digital Output - 88

30000

Counts

20000

10000

0
82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96

Digital Output
EE 472 Senior Project

Histogram - 11
Histogram of Digital Output - 11
20000

15000

Counts

10000

5000

0
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Digital Output
EE 472 Senior Project

Histogram 255
Histogram of Digital Output - 255
40000

30000

Counts

20000

10000

0
240 245 250 255 260 265 270

Digital Output
EE 472 Senior Project

DC Histogram 18
Histogram of Digital Output - 18

4000

3000

Counts

2000

1000

0
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Digital Output
EE 472 Senior Project

What Now?

We understand that effective resolution is not


nearly as good as maximum resolution
Dithering may help introduce white noise
then oversample and average

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