Teledyne e2v EV10AS940 10-bit broadband data converter

Teledyne e2v has previewed its EV10AS940 10-bit broadband data converter, which forms part of the company’s push into software-defined microwave technologies. The single-channel sampler will be of use to microwave radio link engineers, making it possible to conceive of simple radio designs where frequency planning is entirely abstracted to the digital domain.

Conventional radio systems are still based on the heterodyne principle largely owing to existing component bandwidth limitations. Heterodyning is the process of mixing two signal frequencies in a non-linear mixer. For receivers, the lower frequency heterodyne signal lands within the baseband reception range — invariably defined by the input bandwidth of an A/D converter.

By moving to high-bandwidth, direct conversion devices, it becomes possible to conceive of simplified, software-defined receivers with frequency agility. This is especially helpful when managing the considerable parallelism demanded of beam-steered applications.

Frequency planning, signal demodulation, filtering and front-end design will all benefit from direct sampling. Moreover, with a raft of integrated digital assist features, the product enhances receiver operation. Four independent numerical controlled oscillators (NCOs) enable agile frequency hopping, while a programmable digital down converter (DDC) provides a variety of decimation intervals (from 1 to 1024).

The device connects via licence-free ESIstream serial links to FPGA-based signal processing. Additionally, an easy-to-use, multi-channel synchronisation facility provides synchronous sampling across a plurality of devices — useful in phase-sensitive, beam-steered systems.

By migrating to single-ended (SE) design rules for the clock and signal lines, frequency-dependent baluns can be eliminated. These components add both cost and weight whilst band limiting frequency selection, as baluns negatively impact upon dynamic performance and simultaneously prevent multi-band operation.