Digital to Analogue Converters

By- Kulbhushan Srivastava Reg. No.:-11001068

Abstract Digital to analogue converters are the key devices in providing an interface between the user and the digital device. These are a kind of decoders which interpret the machine language (binary) into the human understandable analogue signals. In this paper are discussed the various methods used to perform these conversions part II discuses the key factor in the whole process that is the sampling frequency, or the base frequency at which the digital data has been recorded and can be reconstituted back into analogue frequency. The next section discusses factor which is to be kept in mind during conversion ie. The resolution of the signal or the voltage step size of the sampled signal, this is chosen according to the sensitivity of the decoding devices used. These are followed by the conversion techniques that are implied in reconstitution of the signal which are namely Amplifier. Furthermore are discussed the various applications of these converters in our daily life and some of the devices which look so common such as our digital televisions, C.D. players and some of the VoIP applications. R-2R Ladder & Weighted Summing

I.

Introduction

In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC or D-to-A) is a device that converts a digital (usually binary) code to an analog signal (current, voltage, or electric charge).[1]

Fig.1 An 8 bit digital to analogue converter. (Image: Cirrus Logic) An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) performs the reverse operation. Signals are easily stored and transmitted in a digital form, but a DAC is needed for the signal to be recognized by human senses or other non-digital systems.

Fig.2- Analogue signal

The Quantization and Simple conversion by Rladder. For the sake of sequential data storage, the input analogue signal is sampled at a particular clock frequency. This frequency is chosen such that it is the minimum required sampling rate. Failing to do so induce a White noise in the reconstituted output analogue signal. Fig.3- Sampled Analogue signal A common use of digital-to-analog converters is the generation of audio signals from digital information in music players. Digital video signals are converted to analog in televisions and cell phones to display colors and shades. Digital-to-analog conversion can degrade a signal, so conversion details are normally chosen so that the errors are negligible. The digital data from a digital source is complex to interpret and understand at the rate at which it is generated, but an equivalent analogue data, which may be in the form of a video, audio or a text or a mixture of all the above is easily interpretable by the humans and some other analogue devices. Here, these converters play their part. In other words, these serve as a bridge between the Machine data and the human perceivable data.

Fig.5 Original note (Left) sampled at high frequency, with white noise(Right) when reconstructed. The factor which decides the minimum required sampling clock rate is called Nyquist frequency. Sampling at this frequency gives the optimum result of the so generated data, saving un-necessary storage space as well as providing best-quality regeneration using minimum hardware for noise reduction. The inputted analogue data is actually a physical data such as the voltage difference from a heat sensor, pressure sensor, luminosity sensor. Difference in potentials as in orientation sensors, magnetic field variations as in the GPS location sensors, number of interrupts per second as in a tachometer, concentration of certain chemical in the air as in case of an E-nose. There are millions of sensors all around us sensing changes around us and also another couple of millions of a/d-d/a converters all around us. II. Nyquist frequency The Nyquist frequency, named after the SwedishAmerican engineer Harry Nyquist or the Nyquist Shannon sampling theorem, is half the sampling frequency of a discrete signal processing system. It is sometimes known as the folding frequency of a sampling system.[1][3]

Fig 4

Digital Coded Analogue Signal

Digital data may be simple as well as complex depending on the type of encryption used when converting the analogue signal to its digital form. These vary from a wide range to a few standard ones.

Fig.6 Figure showing the Folding system in the sampling mechanism. Nyquist frequency just larger than the signal bandwidth is sufficient to allow perfect reconstruction of the signal from the samples. However, this reconstruction requires an ideal filter that passes some frequencies unchanged while suppressing all others completely (commonly called a brick-wall filter). In practice, perfect reconstruction is unattainable. Fig. 7 An 8-level ADC coding scheme.

Resolution can also be defined electrically, and expressed in volts. The minimum change in voltage required to guarantee a change in the output code level is called the least significant bit (LSB) voltage. The resolution Q of the ADC is equal to the LSB voltage. The voltage resolution of an ADC is equal to its overall voltage measurement range divided by the number of discrete voltage intervals:

IV.

Factors that are to be kept in mind while designing converters

where N is the number of voltage intervals and EFSR is the full scale voltage range. EFSR is given by

A. Resolution The resolution of the converter indicates the number of discrete values it can produce over the range of analog values. The values are usually stored electronically in binary form, so the resolution is usually expressed in bits. In consequence, the number of discrete values available, or "levels", is a power of two. For example, an ADC with a resolution of 8 bits can encode an analog input to one in 256 different levels, since 28 = 256. The values can represent the ranges from 0 to 255 (i.e. unsigned integer) or from 128 to 127 (i.e. signed integer), depending on the application.[4] where VRefHi and VRefLow are the upper and lower extremes, respectively, of the voltages that can be coded. Normally, the number of voltage intervals is given by

where M is the ADC's resolution in bits.That is, one voltage interval is assigned per code level.[5]

V.

Conversion Techniques for Conversion of Digital data into Analogue signal

When data is in binary form, the 0's and 1's may be of several forms such as the TTL form where the logic zero may be a value up to 0.8 volts and the 1 may be a voltage from 2 to 5 volts. The data can be converted to clean digital form using gates which are designed to be on or off depending on the value of the incoming signal. Data in clean binary digital form can be converted to an analog form by using a summing amplifier. For example, a simple 4-bit D/A converter can be made with a four-input summing amplifier. More practical is the R-2R Network DAC.

Fig.9 Diagram of 8bit summing amplifier B. R-2R Ladder DAC The summing amplifier with the R-2R ladder of resistances shown produces the output

A. Four-Bit D/A Converter One way to achieve D/A conversion is to use a summing amplifier. Fig.10 Diagram of 4bit R-2R Ladder

where the D's take the value 0 or 1. The digital inputs could be TTL voltages which close the switches on a logical 1 and leave it grounded for a logical 0. This is illustrated for 4 bits, but can be extended to any number with just the resistance values R and 2R.[2] C. R-2R Ladder DAC Details Fig.8 Diagram of 4 bit 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.[3]

Fig.11 DAC DETAILED Diagram VI. Applications of D/A Converters

A. Audio Most modern audio signals are stored in digital form (for example MP3s and CDs) and in order to be heard through speakers they must be converted into an analog signal. DACs are therefore found in CD players, digital music players, and PC sound cards.

Fig.13 A C.D. Player(Example of D/A Converter) B. Video Video signals from a digital source, such as a computer, must be converted to analog form if they are to be displayed on an analog monitor. As of 2007, analog inputs were more commonly used than digital, but this changed as flat panel displays with DVI and/or HDMI connections became more widespread. A video DAC is, however, incorporated in any digital video player with analog outputs.

Fig.12 USB Speaker Specialist standalone DACs can also be found in high-end hi-fi systems. These normally take the digital output of a compatible CD player or dedicated transport (which is basically a CD player with no internal DAC) and convert the signal into an analog line-level output that can then be fed into an amplifier to drive speakers. Similar digital-to-analog converters can be found in digital speakers such as USB speakers, and in sound cards. In VoIP (Voice over IP) applications, the source must first be digitized for transmission, so it undergoes conversion via an Analog-to-Digital Converter, and is then reconstructed into analog using a DAC on the receiving party's end.

Fig.14 HDMI Logo The DAC is usually integrated with some memory (RAM), which contains conversion tables for gamma correction, contrast and brightness, to make a device called a RAMDAC.

Fig.15 RAMDAC chip A device that is distantly related to the DAC is the digitally controlled potentiometer, used to control an analog signal digitally.

VII.

Conclusion

The digital to analogue converters are very important in providing a suitable interface to the user for understanding the processed data output of the machine. We see and use hundreds of such converters every time even this display for example is the nearest thing u can take into account. Refrences 1. Kester, Walt, The Data Conversion Handbook, ISBN 0-7506-7841-0 2. S. Norsworthy, Richard Schreier, Gabor C. Temes, Delta-Sigma Data Converters. ISBN 0-7803-1045-4. 3. Mingliang Liu, Demystifying SwitchedCapacitor Circuits. ISBN 0-7506-7907-7. 4. Behzad Razavi, Principles of Data Conversion System Design. ISBN 0-78031093-4.