Monday, January 03, 2005

Digital Silly Scope - Analog research

Well, I've been looking at Analog to Digital Converters for my Oscilloscope project (freshest on my mind). Ran across 3 candidates:

TI ADS5500, 125 MSPS 14 bit ADC

National Semiconductor ADC 08200, 200MSPS 8 bit ADC

Analog Devices AD9430, 170MSPS 12 Bit ADC

All three are great, having examples on how to hook up the parts with high bandwidth op amps (their own of course) for stable operation and signal conditioning. Now, since I plan on having multiple boards for the Silly Scope, both are viable for their unique benefits. I'll probably start with the National ADC because it's a simpler package and more extensive notes (barring schematics for demo boards from Analog). However, I don't want the expense of a 4 plane board (when I get there), so maybe I can bend the rules for a 2 plane design? We'll see.

Speaking of analog, I realize more and more I need to hit my analog design books and hammer out more understanding of R/F and analog in general. Digital design frankly is easy (except FPGA optimization), everything always hangs on the real world analog design.

Since this is a VERY low cost operation for me, I can obviously get free samples of all of the above :) Some of the devices are very expensive(Analog, $88), some are fairly cheap (TI, $4), so production would affect these, but I'm looking for speed and resolution for my oscilloscope.

I know I really should buy an oscilloscope before trying to build one...

Anyone have good sources (web and textbook) on RF(airwaves and high speed PCB) design? (Yes, I expect to be told 4+ layers are REQUIRED).

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