INTERFACING

T.VASANTHA VANAN
M.E. CIM 2nd SEM
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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER
DIGITAL TO ANALOG CONVERTER
APPLICATIONS

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TYPES OF DATA
ANALOG
Everything we see and hear is a continuous transmission of

information to our senses. This continuous stream is what defines

analog data.
DIGITAL

Digital information, is in the form of only ones and zeros

e.g. ANALOG: Record player(reads bumps and grooves from a record
as a continuous signal)

DIGITAL: CD player(reads a series of ones and zeros)

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WHY DIGITAL

Digital data can be manipulated easier and preserved better than

analog data

Computers can only handle digital data, which is why most information
today is stored digitally

WHY ANALOG TO DIGITAL

e.g.

if you want to transfer video from old analog video tapes into your

computer so you can edit them. You can use a digital to analog
converter (DAC) to convert the analog information into a digital signal
that can be recognized by your computer.
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ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER

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ANALOG TO DIGITAL RECORDING CHAIN

ADC

Microphone converts acoustic to

electrical energy. Its a transducer.
Continuously varying electrical energy is an
analog of the sound pressure wave.
ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) converts
analog to digital electrical signal.
Digital signal transmits binary numbers.
DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) converts digital signal in
computer to analog for your headphones.
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SAMPLING

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QUANTIZATION

quantization is the process of approximating a continuous range of

values .For example, rounding a real number in the interval [0,100]
to an integer 0,1,2..100

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3-BIT QUANTIZATION
A 3-bit binary (base 2) number has 23 = 8 values.

6
Amplitude

5
4

3
2
1

0
Time measure amp. at each tick of sample clock
A rough approximation
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4-BIT QUANTIZATION
A 4-bit binary number has 24 = 16 values.

14
12
Amplitude

10
8
6
4
2

0
Time measure amp. at each tick of sample clock
A better approximation
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HOW TO CHOOSE no. OF BITS REQUIRED

Video pixel

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RESOLUTION
What the ADC does is to divide the y axis in n possible parts
between the maximum and the minimum values of the original analog
signal, and this n is given by the variable size. If the variable size is
too small, what will happen is that two sampling points close to each
other will have the same digital representation, thus not corresponding
exactly to the original value found on the original analog signal, making
the analog waveform available at the DAC output to not have the best
quality

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INSIDE DAC
DAC is nothing but a series of resistor hooked together to sum the
various binary values

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ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER

Since Analog-to-Digital converters were invented, different

designs were made to fabricate them. The most known designs
are:

Parallel design (Flash ADC).

Digital-to-Analog Converter-based design.
Integrator-based design.
Sigma-Delta design.

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FLASH ADC

Vin vin >vref vin >vref

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PARALLEL DESIGN (FLASH ADC).

It works by comparing the

input voltage of the analog
signal to a reference voltage,
which would be the maximum
value achieved by the analog
signal. For example, if the
reference voltage is of 5 volts,
this means that the peak of
the analog signal would be 5
volts. On an 8-bit ADC when
the input signal reached 5
volts we would find a 255
(11111111) value on the ADC
output, i.e. the maximum
possible value.
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DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER-BASED DESIGN

There are few ways to design an analog-to-digital Converters using
a DAC as part of its circuit. We will present one of them: the ramp
counter.
Vin is the analog input and Dn thru D0 are the digital outputs. The
control line found on the counter turns on the counter when it is low
and stops the counter when it is high.

The basic idea is to

increase the counter until
the value found on the
counter matches the value
of the analog signal. When
this condition is met, the
value on the counter is the
digital equivalent of the
analog signal.

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INTEGRATOR-BASED DESIGN.

There are few ways of designing analog-to-digital converters using an

integrator. We will discuss one of them: the single-slope ADC.

We can see a single-slope ADC in the figure. We can notes that it is very
similar to a ramp counter ADC, as it uses a counter, but instead of using a
DAC, it uses a circuit called integrator, which is basically formed by a
capacitor, a resistor and an operational amplifier. The MOSFET transistor
makes the necessary control circuit.

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SIGMA-DELTA DESIGN.

The sigma-delta ADC also called delta-sigma uses a different

approach. We can divide it into two major blocks: analog modulator, which
takes the analog signal and converts it into a stream of bits, and digital
filter, which converts the serial stream from the modulator into a usable
digital number.

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PIPELINE DESIGN.

Pipeline ADC uses two or more steps. First, a coarse conversion is done. In
a second step, the difference to the input signal is determined with a digital
to analog converter (DAC). This difference is then converted finer, and the
results are combined in a last step. This type of ADC is fast, has a high
resolution and only requires a small die size.

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ADC CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can see that ADCs play a major role in
Computers Communications. The Internet network itself depends on
the process of ADCs.
The most five known designs are the parallel design (flash ADC),
the digital-to-analog converter-based design, the integrator-base
design, the sigma-delta design and the pipeline design.
All of them perform that same job but differ in their efficiency (speed
& space storage).

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DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERSION

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DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERSION

Digital-to-analog conversion is the process of changing one of the

characteristics of an analog signal based on the information in digital
data.

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DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERSION

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FOUR-BIT D/A CONVERTER

One way to achieve D/A conversion is to use a summing amplifier.
This approach is not satisfactory for a large number of bits because
it requires too much precision in the summing resistors. This
problem is overcome in the R-2R network DAC.

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DAC Types
The most common types of electronic DACs are:
Pulse Width Modulator
Binary Weighted DAC
R2R Ladder DAC
Segmented DAC
Hybrid DACs

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PULSE WIDTH MODULATOR

the simplest DAC type.
A stable current (electricity) or voltage is switched into a low pass
analog filter with a duration determined by the digital input code.
This technique is often used for electric motor speed control, and is
now becoming common in high-fidelity audio.

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BINARY WEIGHTED DAC

Contains one resistor or current source for each bit of the DAC
connected to a summing point.
These precise voltages or currents sum to the correct output value.
One of the fastest conversion methods but suffers from poor
accuracy because of the high precision required for each individual
voltage or current.
Such high-precision resistors and current-sources are expensive, so
this type of converter is usually limited to 8-bit resolution or less.
DISADVANTAGE: Number of different resistor values required. (e.g.
8-bit => 8 resistors ranging in value of R to 128R in binary weighted
steps).

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A 4-BIT DAC WITH BINARY WEIGHTED INPUTS

Rf

8R
D0
4R
D1
2R
D2
R
D3

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R2R LADDER DAC

A binary weighted DAC that creates each value with a repeating
structure of 2 resistor values, R and R times two.
This improves DAC precision due to the ease of producing many
equal matched values of resistors or current sources, but lowers
conversion speed due to parasitic capacitance.

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An R/2R ladder DAC

D0

D1

D2

D3
Rf = 2R

2R

2R

2R

2R
Vo

2R

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OVERALL CONVERSION

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APPLICATIONS

INTERNET
Internet network are connected using telephone networks,
which carry analog signals only. For that reason, a modem is
required to convert the digital data in the computers into analog
signals that can travel within the telephone network. Then
reconverted in the destination into its original form (digital data).
This modem is considered to be an ADC as a DAC.

1101...

1101...

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APPLICATIONS

contd..

AUDIO CD
We know that music is actually sound waves (analog). So, to
store these analog data in a CD, we have to first convert them
into digital storable data. Therefore, ADCs are used. In case of
audio CD, a high sampling rate is used (44,100 Hz) to achieve a
good sound resolution. So, when we play the audio CD, an
inverse proceed is done. A DAC is used to reconvert the digital
data stored in the CD back to its original format (analog data).

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REFERENCES
LINKS
http://www.rficdesign.com/types-of-adc
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/585799/3692/Basicsteps-in-analog-to-digital-conversion-An-analog-signal
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electronic/dac.html
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/317
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mechatronics by W.BOLTON

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