LSU 10/28/2004 Electronics 7 1

Analog to Digital Converters

Electronics Unit Lecture 7
Representing a continuously varying
physical quantity by a sequence of
discrete numerical values.
03 07 10 14 09 02 00 04
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Conversion Methods
(selected types, there are others)
Ladder Comparison
Successive Approximation
Slope Integration
Flash Comparison
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Ladder Comparison
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Single slope integration
Charge a capacitor at constant
current
Count clock ticks
Stop when the capacitor voltage
matches the input
Cannot achieve high resolution
Capacitor and/or comparator
-
+
IN
C
R
S
Enable
N-bit Output
Q
Oscillator Clk
C
o
u
n
t
e
r

Start
Conversion
Start
Conversion
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time
V
o
l
t
a
g
e

a
c
c
r
o
s
s

t
h
e

c
a
p
a
c
i
t
o
r

Vin
Counting time
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Successive Approximation
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Flash Comparison
If N is the number of bits in the
output word.
Then 2
N
comparators will be
required.
With modern microelectronics
this is quite possible, but will be
expensive.
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Pro and Cons
Slope Integration & Ladder Approximation
Cheap but Slow

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Pro and Cons
Flash Comparison
Fast but Expensive
Slope Integration & Ladder Approximation
Cheap but Slow

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Pro and Cons
Successive Approximation
The Happy Medium ??
Slope Integration & Ladder Approximation
Cheap but Slow
Flash Comparison
Fast but Expensive

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Resolution
Suppose a binary number with N bits is to
represent an analog value ranging from 0 to A

There are 2
N
possible numbers

Resolution = A / 2
N

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Resolution Example
Temperature range of 0 K to 300 K to be linearly
converted to a voltage signal of 0 to 2.5 V, then
digitized with an 8-bit A/D converter

2.5 / 2
8
= 0.0098 V, or about 10 mV per step
300 K / 2
8
= 1.2 K per step
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Resolution Example
Temperature range of 0 K to 300 K to be linearly
converted to a voltage signal of 0 to 2.5 V, then
digitized with a 10-bit A/D converter

2.5 / 2
10
= 0.00244V, or about 2.4 mV per step
300 K / 2
10
= 0.29 K per step
Is the noise present in the system well below 2.4 mV ?
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Quantization Noise
Each conversion has an average uncertainty of one-
half of the step size (A / 2
N
)

This quantization error places an upper limit on the
signal to noise ratio that can be realized.

Maximum (ideal) SNR 6 N + 1.8 decibels (N = # bits)
e.g. 8 bit 49.8 db, 10 bit 61.8 db
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Signal to Noise Ratio
Recovering a signal masked by noise
Some audio examples
In each successive example the noise power is reduced
by a factor of two (3 db reduction), thus increasing the
signal to noise ratio by 3 db each time.
Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4
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Conversion Time
Time required to acquire a sample of the analog
signal and determine the numerical representation.

Sets the upper limit on the sampling frequency.

For the A/D on the BalloonSat board, T
C
32 s,
So the sampling rate cannot exceed about 30,000
samples per second (neglecting program overhead)
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Data Collection Sampling Rate
The Nyquist Rate
A signal must be sampled at a rate at least twice that of the highest
frequency component that must be reproduced.

Example Hi-Fi sound (20-20,000 Hz) is generally sampled
at about 44 kHz.

External temperature during flight need only be sampled
every few seconds at most.


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Activity E7a
Do the HuSAC

a party game for techies...

Human Successive Approximation Converter

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Activity E7b
Data Acquisition Using BalloonSat