ECE 353

Introduction to
Microprocessor Systems

Week 14
Michael G. Morrow, P.E.
Topics
Digital versus analog
Data acquisition systems
Quantization and aliasing
Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs)
Digital to Analog Converters (DACs)
Waveform Generation
ADuC7026 Analog Peripherals
Digital Filtering and Audio Demos
Characteristics of Signals
Analog Signals
 Infinite number of possible signal levels (values)
 Can change at any instant to any other value
 Bandwidth is potentially infinite
 Analog signals are continuous in both time and value
 There are no noise margins in analog!
Digital Signals
 Signal level (value) only representable in fixed steps
within a finite range
 Only know the signals value at distinct instants in time
 Bandwidth is limited to a finite value
 Digital signals are discrete in time and value (they are
a vector of values)
 Signal can be exactly identified in the presence of some
amount of noise
Why Use Digital Signals?
Pros
 Digital signals can be faithfully stored and copied
 Allows for numeric processing by digital computers
(digital signal processing - DSP)
 Lossy and lossless data compression possible
 Can mathematically represent physically unrealizable
systems
Cons
 Cannot exactly represent or reconstruct the original
analog signal
 Requires greater bandwidth (uncompressed)
Data Acquisition Systems
Block Diagram
 Isolation/Buffering
 Amplification
 Bandwidth-limiting
 Sample and Hold
 Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)
Shannon’s Sampling Theorem
 FS > 2FMAX
Aliasing
 Must be prevented - it can not be detected in the data
 Anti-aliasing Filters
Data Acquisition Systems (cont)
Quantization
 An ADC converts a continuous signal to a
discrete digital value at each sample point
 The ADC uses some scheme to map the
analog value to a digital code
 We will only discuss uniform (linear)
quantization
Quantization Noise
 There is always uncertainty as to what the
actual value of the analog signal value was
 This is manifested as quantization noise
Types of ADCs
Parallel (Flash) Converters
Successive Approximation Converters
Pipelined Converters
Also other types
 Integrating (Dual-Slope) Converters
 Slow, but noise immunity very good, can’t alias
 Sigma-delta Converters
 Commonly used for high resolution (16-24 bits)
audio signal conversion at 44.1KHz or higher
 Dramatically reduce anti-aliasing filter
requirements by oversampling
Digital to Analog Converters (DACs)
Device Characteristics
 Coding scheme
 Output type and range
 Resolution
 Accuracy
 Ideal DAC transfer characteristic
 Errors
 Offset
 Gain
 Nonlinearity
 Latency and settling time
 Output glitching
Digital to Analog Converters (DACs)
PWM DAC
R-2R Ladder DAC
 Each input bit controls an analog switch
 Op amp converts current sum to voltage
Reconstruction filters
 What was the value of the signal between
the samples?
Waveform Generation
DACs allow the generation of analog
waveforms under digital control
Example – generate sinusoid
 VOUT = VMAXsin(2πft)
 Calculate directly as a function of t
 Calculate as a function of the desired
signal phase
 Use lookup table to obtain sin/cos values,
use index as a phase accumulator
 Use complex vector rotation
ADuC7026 Analog Peripherals
12-channel, 12-bit successive
approximation ADC operating at up to
1MS/s
 Bootloader code uses factory-programmed
values to compensate for ADC gain and offset
errors
Four 12-bit voltage output DACs
On-chip precision 2.5V voltage reference
 External capacitor required
On-chip temperature sensor (+/-3°C)
Digital Filters
We can implement filters digitally that
operate on digital signals
Advantages
 No temperature/aging/drift characteristics
 Repeatability
 Can create identical filters
Implementation
 Finite Impulse Response
 No feedback
 Stability guaranteed
 Infinite Impulse Response
 Uses feedback
 Can be unstable
DSP Demos
Hardware Audio Effects
Quantization  Echo
Aliasing  Flanger
 Tremelo
FIR filter
 Frequency Translation
Audio Equalizer  Subharmonic Synthesis
Karplus-Strong
Guitar Synthesizer
Vocoder
Wrapping Up
Homework #7 is due on Friday, May 11th
Final Exam is on Wednesday, May 16th, at
12:25pm, in room 2255EH
 Coverage is over all course material
 Pipelined ADC
Conversion is performed in stages by lower
resolution (faster!) ADCs.

Vin
+ 2n
+ 2n
- -
n n
ADC DAC ADC DAC

CONTROL LOGIC

m*n
CLOCK
DATA EOC CONV
Parallel (Flash) ADC
Simultaneous comparison to all possible
quantized values.
VREF

n
LOGIC

VIN
Successive Approximation ADC
Compares value from DAC with input.

VIN
CMP

DAC Dn CONTROL
CLOCK
LOGIC
D0

DATA EOC CONV

DSP
Hardware

TMS320C6713 DSP, 225MHz

 1350 MFLOPs, 1800 MIPs
TLC320AIC23 16-bit stereo CODEC
 48KHz sample rate
Audio Audio
In ADC DSP DAC Out
Aliasing

1/FS

1/FS
Anti-aliasing Filters
1

DESIRED SIGNAL UNDESIRED SIGNALS

8
0
Frequency
Anti-aliasing Filters - Ideal
1

Gain SIGNAL WILL ALIAS IF NOT

DESIRED SIGNAL
FILTERED OUT BEFORE ADC

0
FS/2 FS

8
0
Frequency
Anti-aliasing Filters - Ideal
1

Gain SIGNAL WILL ALIAS IF NOT

DESIRED SIGNAL
FILTERED OUT BEFORE ADC

0
FS/2 FS

8
0
Frequency
IDEAL FILTER RESPONSE
Anti-aliasing Filters - Practical
1

SIGNAL WILL ALIAS IF NOT

DESIRED SIGNAL
FILTERED OUT BEFORE ADC

8
0
Ideal FS/2 Frequency
Anti-aliasing Filters - Practical
1

SIGNAL WILL ALIAS IF NOT

DESIRED SIGNAL
FILTERED OUT BEFORE ADC

8
0 Ideal FS/2
Frequency
PRACTICAL FILTER
RESPONSE
Anti-aliasing Filters - Practical
1

SIGNAL WILL ALIAS IF NOT

DESIRED SIGNAL FILTERED OUT BEFORE
ADC

8
0 FS/2
INCREASED FS TO COMPENSATE
Frequency
FOR PRACTICAL FILTER
Uniform Quantization

Error function
Ideal DAC Transfer Characteristic
7/8
6/8
5/8
VOUT / VFS

4/8
3/8 Ideal transfer
characteristic
2/8
1/8
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Digital Input
DAC Errors – Offset Error

7/8
6/8
5/8
VOUT / VFS

4/8
3/8 Ideal transfer
characteristic
2/8
1/8 1/2 LSB
offset error
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Digital Input
DAC Errors – Gain Error
offset error must be
7/8 zero to determine
gain error
6/8
1 LSB
5/8 gain error
VOUT / VFS

4/8
3/8 Ideal transfer
characteristic
2/8
1/8
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Digital Input
DAC Errors – Nonlinearity
Errors
Differential Non-Linearity (DNL)
DNL = actual_step – ideal_step 7/8
DNL is calculated for each step 6/8
Ideal transfer
characteristic

If DNL<-1, the DAC is not 5/8

VOUT / VFS
monotonic 4/8

Integral Non-Linearity (INL)

3/8
offset and gain
code 2/8 error must be zero
to determine

INL   DNL
0
1/8
0
linearity errors

INL is calculated for each 0 1 2 3 4 5

Digital Input
6 7

output code
DNL and INL are normal specified
as worst-case values
Digital x[n] z-1 z-1 z-1 z-1

Filters h[0] h[1] h[2] h[3] h[m]

y[n]

Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Filter

-a[1] -a[2] -a[3] -a[m]

x[n] z-1 z-1 z-1 z-1

b[0] b[1] b[2] b[3] b[m]

y[n]

Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) Filter

Reconstruction Filters
Back to our sampled
signal – a sinusoid at
¼FS

How do we make the

DAC output look like
the original input 1/FS
signal?
Magnitude

FS/2 FS 2FS 3FS

Frequency
PWM DAC
Use PWM digital output driver
LPF removes most of AC components

VPWM VOUT

VPWM

VOUT
VAVERAGE

Vout  Vavg  1 an cos( 2ft * n)  bn sin( 2ft * n) 


R2R Ladder DAC
Resistive current divider network
Op amp does current summing
ITOT
RF
VREF
I 2R -
VOUT
I/2
+
I/2 R

2R

I/4
I/4 R

2R

I/8
I/8

2R
FIR Filter
The output y is the sum of the products
of the last m samples x and the filter
coefficients h.

x[n] z-1 z-1 z-1 z-1

h[0] h[1] h[2] h[2] h[m-1]

y[n]

Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Filter

Audio Equalizer
Audio Effects - Echo
Audio Effects - Flanger
The delay B is varied sinusoidally.
Audio Effects - Tremelo
Error in diagram – audio signal comes
in where the sine generator is shown,
modulating sinusoid comes in on upper
port.
Audio Effects –
Frequency Translation
Audio Effects –
Subharmonic Synthesis
Karplus-Strong
Queue is filled with noise to start.
Output is the sum of the two elements at the
head of the queue multiplied by a decay factor.
Output is fed back into the queue.
Vocoder
Uses the frequency spectrum of one signal to
control the frequency response of the other
signal.
 Can also use white noise as the modulated signal.