At a Glance
High-speed, digital-to-analog converter (DAC) prototype for arbitrary signal generation, using cascaded 4:1 analog multiplexing (AMUX). The design offers a cost-efficient solution for high speed signal generation in the lab with real-time potential.
Technical Background
This high-speed digital-to-analog converter (DAC) prototype uses our patent-pending cascaded analog multiplexing technology and allows multipying the output bandwidth of any DAC. In this prototype, the outputs of four 10 GS/s, FPGA-driven DACs are interleaved in two stages. However, significant higher speed DACs can be interleaved with the cascaded AMUX approach. The multiplying of the sample rate and analog bandwidht is enabled by custom-designed 2:1 analog multiplexers in SiGe technology. The integrated FPGA-platform, configured as an AWG, provides 32 kS of memory per channel with offline DSP. By adding real-time DSP, the system can be expanded to process and output a real-time datastream. The concept serves as a cost-efficient platform for high-speed analog signal generation and real-time.
Features
- Patent-pending cascaded SiGe analog multiplexing
- Flexibly multiplies the sample rate of multiple DACs
- Cost-efficient solution
- FPGA-driven inputs
- Real-time potential
Applications
- Arbitrary Waveform Generation (AWG)
- Electrical and optical high-speed measurement experiments
- Evaluation of analog DAC interleaving techniques
- Future: Real-time signal transmission experiments
