CONVERTERS

ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS (ADC’s) & DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTERS (DAC’s)

INTRODUCTION

Analog Quantity – It is a quantity that varies smoothly and continuously over a continuous range of
values e.g temperature, sound, light, speed, pressure etc.

Digital Quantity – Is a series of pulses in discrete levels or values.

Most systems require digital systems to control or monitor physical variables. The signal therefore needs
processing to convert the analog signals into equivalent digital signals to be easily processed.

An ADC converts the analog signal to digital and after it has been processed, a digital to analog converter
will be used to convert them back to analog signal. The process is summarized with a block as shown
below;

Digital Transdu
ADC DAC
Analog input Transducer System cer

The transducer converts the analog input into electrical signal; these are then converted by the ADC into
digital signals. The digital signals can then be processed and its o/p through a DAC is converted to analog
signal then the last transducer to convert it to the original audio.

ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS (ADC’s)

Definition: ADC’s convert analog voltage to digital form suitable for processing by a digital system.

These require more circuitry compared to DAC’s and the choice of the system depends on:

i. Speed of operation
ii. Accuracy
iii. Stability
Types of Analog-to-Digital Converters

1) Counter or Ramp ADC

2) Tracking ADC
3) Flash ADC
4) Dual slope/Integrating ADC
5) Successive ADC
1) Counter type ADC/ Ramp Converter

It’s the simplest ADC using a binary counter, comparator, AND gate, latches, DAC and a control circuit.

It’s also called a Digital Ramp Circuit because the waveform at the output is a step-by-step ramp like a
staircase.

The analog signal is applied to the non-inverting terminal of the OP-AMP comparator while the output of
the DAC is fed to the inverting terminal as shown below;

When input signal is greater than input from DAC the o/p of the amp is high and if the i/p from DAC is
greater than i/p signal the o/p is low.

Consider the circuit reset i.e the CLEAR signal is applied. The output at this state is zero and the output
of DAC is zero.

If analog signal is larger than DAC input, the AND gate is Enabled and the CLK steps up the counter to 1
and as long as analog signal is greater than DAC, the CLK signal will continuously step up the counter and
the counter advances through the binary states.

If output of DAC exceeds the analog signal, the AND gate is Disabled and the CLK is inhibited from
stepping up the counter. The output is the recorded by the display to represent the digital equivalent of
the analog input signal. Since an analog signal varies with time, the counter needs to be reset after every
sample of waveform.

Limitations

i. The conversion time depends on the magnitude of analogues input i.e the larger the input, the
more the number of clock pulses that must pass to reach proper count and therefore the
conversion time is larger.
ii. It’s quite slow as the counter resets itself after each conversion time.

Example

An 8-bit Ramp ADC uses a 100kHz CLK. Calculate the max conversion and its resolution.

Solution

1
Resolution = n where n= number of bits
2 −1

NB: Resolution is the smallest voltage change that occurs when the input changes.

1
Therefore resolution = =3.906 × 10-3
28

Conversion time = max count × time

Max count = 2n = 28 = 256

1 1
Time (t) = = = 10 × 10-6sec
f 100× 103

Conversion time = 256 × 10 × 10-6

= 2.56ms

2) Tracking ADC

It’s an improvement of counter type ADC.

It uses an up/down counter and its faster. Instead of resetting after each sample, it tracks the analog i/p.

Here the total number of CLK pulses required to perform conversion is proportional to change the
analog inputs between the counts rather than to its magnitude. Its therefore called tracking converter
because the counts keeps up with changing of the analog inputs.

When input analog signal is greater than DAC signal, the comparator o/p is HIGH and results in up count.
When the value of value of DAC signal equals analog signal the o/p of comparator LOW and the counter
is enabled in count-down mode thus decreases by one count. The counter tracks the signal input.

If the analog i/p is constant, the o/p of ADC oscillates about the constant analog i/p. The time conversion
of tracking type ADC is the time interval between the starting of the conversion and the time the
comparator o/p a LOW.

Conversion time tcmax = (2N - 1) clock cycles

= (2 N - 1) × time for 1 CLK cycle

t cmax
Average conversion time =
2

The ADC must perform at a rate equal to at least twice the frequency of the highest i/p component.

Example

Determine the max conversion time that an ADC can have if it’s used to convert signals in the range of
1 kHz to 50 kHz.

Solution

Highest i/p freq = 50kHz

Conversion rate = (2× 50kHz) = (100 × 10 3) conversions/sec

1 -6
Max allowable conversion time = 3 = 10 × 10 sec
100× 10
 3) FLASH ADC

It’s also called simultaneous/parallel ADC.

It employs parallel differential comparators that compare reference voltage with an analog i/p voltage.

It’s the fastest ADC for conversion time is less. The disadvantage is that it requires a number of
comparators.

Comparators are 2N – 1 in number.

Resistors are 2n and a priority encoder. E.g for a 3-bit flash ADC it will require 2 3 – 1= 7 comparators

23 = 8 resistors and a Reference voltage is connected to a voltage divider that divides into 2n−1 equal to
increment levels.

For any given analogue i/p, one comparator and all those below it have a HIGH o/p. These are
connected to a priority encoder that produces a digital o/p corresponding to i/p having the highest
priority.

4) Dual-Slope ADC/Integrating ADC

Reference voltage and i/p analogue voltage are sequentially connected to an integrator using a switch.
These voltages are of opposite polarity. The i/p voltage is integrated for a fixed i/p sample time and the
integrated value is charged at a fixed rate and this time is measured by a counter.

The logic control gives two commands to counter