AN929| Application Note
Maxim/Dallas > App Notes > A/D and D/A CONVERSION/SAMPLING CIRCUITS GENERAL ENGINEERING TOPICS HIGH-SPEED SIGNAL PROCESSING MEASUREMENT CIRCUITS MISCELLANEOUS CIRCUITS Keywords: analog to digital converter, analog digital, ADCs, A to D, A/D, converters, ADC, data collection, automating, automated data collection
Jan 11, 2002
APPLICATION NOTE 929
Automating ADC Data Collection
This article describes an automated data collection system for analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). It discusses the advantages of automating data collection as well as a detailed description of the hardware and software. It goes on to explain the operation of the system and give some data examples.
Introduction
In order to characterize data converters more efficiently and with better repeatability, a laboratory test setup can be automated. There are three key advantages:
q
Since the software configures the test equipment, the same instrument settings are used each time a part is characterized. When the software captures data, it stores it in a file, automatically eliminating errors due to incorrect data entry. When taking data manually, all of the data must be written by hand and then manually entered into a file or spreadsheet. These steps are tedious and potential sources of error. Since the PC is driving the measurement and data collection process, data is gathered much faster than can be accomplished manually. Thousands of data points can be acquired in minutes. Manually it could take several days to gather the same amount of data. Once the data is in the designated file, it can be saved as a text file so that it can easily be evaluated or plotted using software programs such as Gnuplot or Excel.
q
q
Since most lab instruments have the general purpose interface bus (GPIB) interface, practically any manual lab measurement can be automated. Background on GPIB Originally developed by Hewlett Packard as HP-IB, GPIB is a high-speed communication interface which allows interconnection and control of programmable instruments. A controller card, which often resides in a PC, controls a wide variety of test instruments such as logic analyzers, signal and data generators, digital voltmeters, and power supplies. GPIB was standardized by the IEEE and is now known by the three names GPIB, HP-IB, and IEEE-488 bus. Further information regarding GPIB can be found on the world wide web at http://www.ni.com (National Instruments) or http://www.hit.bme.hu/people/papay/edu/GPIB/tutor.htm.
Advantages Of An Automated Setup
One advantage of using an automated test setup is that it speeds up the task of characterizing parts. Ideally, the software should be written and debugged in advance, so that when parts are available, valuable time is not spent writing and debugging software code. For our test setup, Visual C++ was selected as the programming language. With a functional automated test setup, some of the more difficult data converter plots such as integral non-
AN929 Application Note maxim Download PDF
Add this permalink to your bookmarks for future download of AN929 ApplicationNote
Permalink: http://application.emcelettronica.com/maxim/AN929
