Converter Speeds Data Acquisition Cards

A fast new analog-to-digital converter (ADC) could help advance the state-of-the-art in signal processing boards.

The new 16-bit ADC, known as the AD9467, is said to offer a 25 percent higher sampling rate, while operating on 35 percent less power than predecessors. Analog Devices Inc., maker of the new device, is targeting its 250-mega-samples-per-sec speed at defense and aerospace electronics, test and measurement systems, satellite communications and radar.
"Right now, this is the highest speed, publicly known ADC on the market," says Jon Hall, strategic marketing and applications manager for Analog Devices. "In a lot of markets, we know that people have been asking for more bits and greater speed."       

Mercury Computer Systems is employing the speedy ADC in a new digital receiver that it says provides "faster time to information." Known as the Echotek DCM-V5-VXS, the receiver is aimed at defense and aerospace systems, as well as medical imaging technology.

Mercury is using eight of the new ADCs on the digital receiver's FPGA mezzanine card. Up to now, Mercury engineers say that ADCs have sometimes acted as a bottleneck in such applications, preventing data acquisition cards from reaching higher speeds. But by employing the new 16-bit device, instead of a 12- or 14-bit ADC, Mercury says its new cards can operate at a higher bandwidth with greater fidelity.

"This is the first time we've been able to handle this much bandwidth and still get the desired resolution," says Lorne Graves, engineering manager for Mercury Computer Systems.

Similarly, National Instruments is employing the new ADC on an upcoming FPGA-based data acquisition card for test and measurement applications.

Analog Devices attributes the new ADC's higher performance on the company's use of 0.18-µm linewidth silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technology. Predecessors typically were fabricated using conventional CMOS technology, they say.

"Your ability to acquire a target and understand it is going to be made easier by this technology," Hall says.