May 1999
Rev 1.0.0
N
CLC-CAPT-PCASM
Data Capture Board User’s Guide
Section I. Introduction
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Capturing Data from ADC
Evaluation Boards
III. Capturing Data from the DRCS
Evaluation Boards
IV. Data Analysis using Matlab
Script Files
The CLC3790093 Data Capture Board enables simple evaluation
of National Semiconductor’s High Speed Analog to Digital Con-
verters (ADCs) and the Diversity Receiver Chip Set (DRCS). The
Data Capture Board interfaces the outputs of these devices to the
standard serial port available on the back of most Personal
Computers (PCs). We have provided PC software to control the
data capture function and Matlab® scripts for data analysis.
A block diagram of the evaluation test bed is shown below.
The Data Capture Board contains a field-programmable gate
array (FPGA) that controls its operation. An EPROM configures
the FPGA after power is applied. The serial interface is provided
by a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter), an
oscillator, and a level translator IC. The captured data is stored in
either three 32K x 8 static RAMs (organized into 24-bit words) or
in a FIFO containing 32K 18-bit words. LEDs provide a visual
indication of activity. DIP switches and a jumper configure several
capture functions.
Section II. Capturing Data from ADC
Evaluation Boards
Getting Started
To use the Data Capture board to capture data from a National
Semiconductor Analog to Digital converter, you will need the
following hardware, software, and documentation.
National Semiconductor
High-Speed Converter
CLC5956
Evaluation Board
Evaluation Test Bed
CLC5958
Evaluation Board
Data
Capture
Board
Digital Receiver
ChipSet (DRCS)
Evaluation Board
© 1999 National Semiconductor Corporation
Printed in the U.S.A.
complement number can be converted to offset binary by
inverting the MSB. This is the first step in the Matlab
routine for FFT analysis.
FIFO
18-bits
32k depth
UART
RDY2
WCLK
CLC5956 Data
Clock
Analog Input
Ain- >> Ain
Ain- > Ain
Condition
Offset Binary Number Two's Complement ASCII Value Stored
- Full Scale
- Mid Scale
+ Mid Scale
+ Full Scale
0000 0000 0000
0111 1111 1111
1000 0000 0000
1111 1111 1111
1000 0000 0000
1111 1111 1111
0000 0000 0000
1111 1111 1111
2048
4095
0
J9
9-pin
Serial Cable
Connector
Data
12-18
Bits
Ain > Ain-
FPGA
Ain >> Ain-
CLC5958 Data
Analog Input
Ain- >> Ain
Ain- > Ain
2047
Serialized
Data Stream
Condition
Offset Binary Number Two's Complement ASCII Value Stored
FPGA Performs:
State Machine
Signal Format Conversion
Data Routing
- Full Scale
- Mid Scale
+ Mid Scale
+ Full Scale
00 0000 0000 0000
01 0111 1111 1111
10 0000 0000 0000
11 1111 1111 1111
10 0000 0000 0000 8192
11 1111 1111 1111 16383
24
Ain > Ain-
Ain >> Ain-
00 0000 0000 0000
0
01 1111 1111 1111 8191
SRAM
24-bits
32k depth
J1
Eurocard
Connector
Note: Primary data path shown.
Control lines not shown
Histogram Mode
In the second mode of operation, the “Histogram” mode,
the data capture board operates as a hardware histo-
grammer. The board does not collect a contiguous record
from the ADC; instead, it compiles statistical information
by counting the number of times that the ADC
outputs each code. The most significant 15 bits of the
converter define 32K histogram bins. The MSB of the
data is inverted before being stored (all data is treated as
offset binary format). ADC data is aligned to the least sig-
nificant bit, and unused higher bits are set to 0s. Each bin
is cleared initially. The ADC output code is used as the
address for the SRAM on the board, and as each code is
read by the Data Capture board, the data at that location
in the SRAM is read, incremented and written back to the
SRAM. This counting requires multiple clock cycles, so
the data is not counted in real time. In fact, 11 samples of
data are missed for each sample that is counted. The his-
togram capture terminates when a bin reaches the count
specified by DIP switches 4 and 5.The 32K histogram bin
counts are then returned via the serial port. If the input
signal to the ADC is a pure sinusoid, then the histogram
information can be compared to the theoretical
probability density of a sinusoid and the linearity of the
ADC can be calculated. The supplied Matlab script
DNL_INL uses this method. Please refer to the IEEE
Standard for Digitizing Waveform Recorders (IEEE Std
1057-1994) for more information about this technique.
Data Capture Board Block Diagram
DIP Switches
Five of the eight DIP switches are used to configure
several capture functions as follows.
DIP switch 1: This DIP switch specifies whether a
Diversity Receiver Evaluation Board or an
ADC Evaluation Board is attached to the Data
Capture Board.
ON → ADC Evaluation Board is attached.
Captured data is aligned to the least significant
bit with unused higher bits set to 0s.
DIP switches 2 and 3: When DIP switch 1 is ON to
indicate that an ADC Evaluation Board is attached,
DIP switches 2 and 3 specify the width of the ADC
data so it can be aligned to the least significant bit
and unused higher bits can be set to 0s.
Switch:
2
3
Number of Bits in ADC
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
ON
18
16
14
12
DIP switches 4 and 5: These DIP switches specify the
maximum histogram bin count. The histogram
capture terminates when any bin reaches the count
specified by these switches.
Hardware Configuration
Jumpers
The data capture board has 3 jumpers that must be con-
figured before use. The first jumper, VCORE, sets the
core voltage used by the FPGA.This jumper is always set
to 5V. (A voltage regulator on the board reduces the sup-
plied +5V to +3.3V for the FPGA I/O and other
components on the board.) The second jumper, WCLK,
selects the clock source for the FIFO. When capturing
data from an ADC evaluation board, WCLK should
always be set to RDY2. This selects the DR (Data
Ready) clock line from the ADC evaluation board pin
20B. The third jumper block, J2, is unused.
Switch:
4
5
Maximum Count
16384
8192
4096
2048
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
ON
A maximum count of 16384 corresponds to approxi-
mately 2.5 million total samples for a 12-Bit ADC. The
capture is very fast (on the order of 1 second for a 52
MSPS clock rate) so there is not much advantage in set-
ting the switches for a lower maximum count. The other
settings are more useful for the DRCS evaluations
because the effective clock rate can become very low
with certain output formats and decimation ratios.
3
SMA Connectors
When you run capture.exe, you will see the following
The output clock SMA connector provides a signal that
can be used to phase lock a signal source. The
frequency is that of the input clock signal divided by 2.
For example, with an attached CLC5958 ADC evaluation
board at 52MSPS the clock output signal will be a 26MHz
square wave. The second SMA connector is
currently unused.
window pop up onto your PC:
This is the data capture control panel. It is small to
conserve monitor area for other programs. The main
function of the panel is to initiate data capture. Before we
capture data we must configure the computer and the
board. By clicking on the control panel with the RIGHT
mouse button (right click), we bring up the following
configuration menu:
Serial Port
The serial port is configured at 115,200 baud with one
stop bit, no parity, and 8-bits per character. Although the
DSR, CTS, and RTS control signals are connected, they
are not used. XON/XOFF flow control is supported. The
flow of returned data pauses after an XOFF character
(DC3, ctrl-S, hexadecimal 13) has been received. The
flow of returned data resumes after an XON character
(DC1, ctrl-Q, hexadecimal 11) has been received. The
Data Capture Board initializes as if an XON character
had been received.
Power Up the System
Once the WCLK jumper and the DIP switches have
been set, (for example, for the CLC5956 we have set
WCLK at RDY2 and DIP switches 1,2,3,4,5 as
ON,ON,ON,OFF,OFF) connect the evaluation board to
the data capture board, apply power, clock, and signal to
the boards, and connect the serial cable to the PC. Some
PCs will need to be rebooted at this point, but it may not
be necessary with your PC. In the software configuration
section, next, we will check the communication between
the PC and the data capture board.
The first thing to configure is the COM port on the
computer, so move the mouse to “Configure I/O” and
click with the LEFT mouse button. This will bring up the
following menu:
Light Emitting Diode (LED) Status Monitors
3 of the 6 LEDs are used to provide status indications.
LED 1: This LED is connected to an address line of the
static RAM ICs. While the static RAM is being
written or read, it blinks. After the Data Capture
Board is powered up and the FPGA is initialized, it is
on to indicate that the board is ready. After all the
SRAM data has been output, it is off.
Select the COM port that you have attached to the data
capture board, and press “OK”. The computer will then
send a command to the data capture board. If the data
capture board responds and the COM port interface is
operating correctly, the “Configure I/O” menu will disap-
pear, and the Data Capture control panel will return. If
there is a problem with the COM port interface, you will
get the following message:
LED 2: This LED is on when captured data is available
to be output to the serial port. After all the data has
been output, it is off.
LED 6: This LED is connected to the clock signal
selected by DIP switch 1. When the clock is
toggling, it will be on at less than full intensity.
So, at this point in your setup, you should have LED 1 on
at full intensity and LED 6 on at reduced intensity.You are
now ready to configure the software for data capture.
Software Configuration
Run the program “capture.exe”. It is located in the direc-
tory that you chose during the CD-ROM installation. The
default directory is “c:\nsc\”. You can also use the start
menu: start → programs → nsc → capture.
4
Verify the connections and, if necessary, try the other
COM port. (Note that you must have a clock applied to
the ADC Evaluation board during this communication
verification stage. Check to make sure that either an
external clock or the TTL oscillator is installed, and that
LED6 is on at reduced intensity.) Once you get a proper
exit from this step, you are ready to configure the capture
board. Right click on the capture control panel, then left
click on “Configure Capture.” You will see the following
screen:
“Default” and then on “OK”. If you do not have a
C:\temp directory, please make one. The reason for this
is that the Matlab script files for data analysis look auto-
matically for the file C:\temp\data.dat. If you wish to
store the data elsewhere, you will need to modify the
Matlab m-files to look for your data file in a different loca-
tion. Obviously, if you are using your own software for
data analysis this is not a concern.
Capture Data!
We are finally ready to capture data from the ADC. As a
final check, you can move the mouse until it is on top of
the progress bar (the big bar on the data capture control
panel that now reads (0%). You should see a little yellow
box appear that confirms your capture settings.
Now, simply left-click on the “Start” button on the capture
control panel to start the process.You will see LED 2 light
up on the board, and the bar at the top of the capture
control panel will show the progress of the data transfer.
At 52MSPS, the 32768 samples are collected in only 630
microseconds; the rest of the time is the serial port trans-
fer. Typical times for this transfer are on the order of 10 to
15 seconds. To analyze the data using the Matlab Mfiles
that we have provided, please start Matlab at this time. To
include the provided script files in your Matlab path, type
the following command at the Matlab command prompt:
To configure the capture board for direct capture of a con-
tiguous 32k point record of ADC output codes, click on
the selections shown above. Left click on “Capture
Debug” and select “Upper 18 Bits.” The names of these
selections may seem rather cryptic when you are simply
capturing ADC data. The label names are derived from
functions in the DRCS and CLC5902, so they might
seem out of context for ADC capture uses. Don’t worry
about the label names, just make sure you have selected
the modes as shown above. Then click on “OK.”
>> path(path,’c:\nsc\mfiles’)
Alternatively, you can change directories at the Matlab
prompt until this is the current directory. From the Matlab
command prompt, type “analysis_menu”. This will bring
up the following menu:
One final configuration remains. You need to tell the
program where to store your data. Right click on the
capture control panel, then left click on “Change Data
File.”You will see the following menu:
By left clicking on the little box to the right of the text entry
window, you can select any disk, directory, and file name
that suits you. However, we recommend that you start
with the default file name and location shown. Click on
5
To look at the data that you have just captured, left click
on the “Plot_Data” button. If you have collected data with
a 12-bit ADC at 52MSPS and a -2dBFS sinewave input at
5MHz, you will see two’s complement data that looks like this:
Select “Histogram Debug”, as shown above, and click on
“OK”. When the data capture control panel returns, you
can verify your capture settings by positioning the mouse
over the progress bar.You will see the following display:
Next, left click on the 12B_FFT button, and you will see
the following FFT plot and performance summary. (Note
that if you are testing a 14-bit ADC you should set SW1
accordingly and click on the 14B_FFT button instead.)
When you press Start now, the SRAM will be cleared and
then the board will count the number of times each code
is output. When any count reaches the number that you
set with DIP switches 4 and 5, the counting will stop and
the data will be transferred. At 52 MSPS and a maximum
count of 16384, the counting takes about 1 second. You
will see LED1 flash as data is written to and read from the
SRAM. LED2 will again light for about 10-15 seconds as
the data is transferred to the PC and stored in the file that
you have selected. To use the included m-files to analyze
the histogram data and extract the DNL and INL of the
ADC, start Matlab and run “analysis_menu”. If you still
have the Matlab analysis menu visible you can again click
on “Plot_Data” to see the histogram information:
For more information on the Matlab routines, please refer
to section IV of this manual or the “analysis.txt” file in the
Mfiles directory.
Configuring for Histogram Capture
(DNL and INL Analysis)
To configure the board for histogram capture, right click
on the capture control panel, then left click on “Configure
Capture.”You will see the capture configuration menu:
6
In this example, we have captured data from a 12-Bit
ADC. Remember that the data that we are plotting is the
bin count information. The ADC output codes that were
exercised ranged from code 236 to code 3865. The maxi-
mum count was set to 16384 (with DIP switches 4 and 5
OFF) and for this particular data record the maximum
count was reached at the ADC output code of 3864. To
analyze the converter’s linearity, you can left click on the
“DNL_INL” button, and you will see the following
analysis window:
Getting Started
To use the Data Capture board to capture data from
National’s DRCS Evaluation Board, you will need the fol-
lowing hardware, software, and documentation. Several
analysis tools are provided in the form of Matlab scripts.
It will prove helpful if the user has some familiarity with
the CLC5902 data sheet and the Diversity Receiver Eval-
uation Board User Manual document.
Hardware
1. CLC730093 Data Capture Board.
(CLC-CAPT-PCASM)
2. CLC730090 DRCS Evaluation Board.
(CLC-DRCS-PCASM)
3. DC Power Supply - The DRCS Evaluation and
Capture Board combination require +5V at >1A.
4. An IBM-Compatible Personal Computer running
Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT with a
serial port capable of 115,200 baud.
5. Serial data cable to connect the data capture board
to the PC.
6. Low noise, filtered, IF Signal source for analog input
to DRCS.
7. OPTIONAL - Low jitter clock source (10 - 16dBm
sinewave) if DRCS crystal oscillator is removed.
Software
1. “Capture.exe” - Contained in the provided CDROM.
For more information about this analysis technique,
please refer to Section IV of this document, the com-
ments in the DNL_INL script file, or the IEEE Standard for
Digitizing Waveform Recorders (IEEE Std 1057-1994).
2. Data storage space on PC hard drive (default path &
name = “c:\temp\data.dat”).
3. Matlab (version 5.1 or higher) to run analysis routines.
Documentation
The following applicable documents can be found on the
provided CDROM, with the most current versions avail-
able on our website at http:// www.national.com:
Section III. Capturing Data from the
Diversity Receiver Chipset (DRCS)
Evaluation Board
1. CLC5526 - Data sheet for the Digitally controlled
Variable Gain Amplifier (DVGA).
BPF
FILTERED
I.F. SOURCE
2. CLC5956 - Data sheet for the 12-bit, 65MSPS, IF
sampled ADC.
OPTIONAL
CLOCK SOURCE
3. CLC5902 - Data sheet for the Dual Digital Tuner/
AGC (DDC/AGC).
+5V
VCC
(2A)
4. Diversity Receiver ChipSet Evaluation Board User’s
Manual (for CLC-DRCS-PCASM).
VCC
10-16dBm
GND
Data
Capture
Board
DRCS
Evaluation
Board
General Description and Program Options
Serial I/O
Data from the Diversity Receiver ChipSet (DRCS)
Evaluation Board can be captured from either of its two
serial outputs, its parallel outputs, or its debug outputs.
The serial in-phase and quadrature-phase data can
also be captured simultaneously for quadrature data
analyses. The Data Capture Board always returns 32,768
To PC Serial
COMM PORT #1
To PC Serial
COMM PORT #2
Diversity Receiver Chipset Evaluation Setup
7
24-bit words via the serial port as 96K bytes. Each word
is interpreted as a 24-bit two’s complement integer and
stored as 32K ASCII words in a user defined file. Each
value is terminated with a carriage return (hexadecimal
0D). When a Diversity Receiver Evaluation Board is
attached to the Data Capture Board, data narrower than
24 bits is aligned to the most significant bit with unused
lower bits set to 0s. Serial data is always 24-bits wide.
Because of the various DRCS data output formats, care
must be exercised to ensure that configuration conflicts
do not occur between the Data Capture board and the
DRCS board. Such conflicts usually lead to unpredictable
data formats. The default DRCS settings, “I/Q_Packed,
Mux_Mode”, are compatible with the Data Capture
Board’s 24-bit serial and 16-bit parallel formats.
Using the DATA CAPTURE Control Panel
The Data Capture Program, “capture.exe”, must be
copied into a directory on the user’s PC. The setup/install
program on the CDROM automatically places this
program in a default directory (c:\nsc\). The program
generates a user *.ini file within this same directory.
The file is used to store the user options and is updated
each time the user changes the options and runs the
program. When the Data Capture Program is started, a
graphical user interface (GUI) Control Panel is placed on
the PC desktop.
The “CLK” SMA connector provides a buffered output of
the DRCS Serial Clock (SCLK) divided by 2. The
CLC5902 “RATE” register can be used to further divide
this clock. This clock output is intended for phase locking
a signal source to the DRCS XTAL oscillator. Because of
the FPGA speed limitations, DRCS Serial Clock “RATE”
settings <2 are not recommended. The default DRCS
settings and XTAL oscillator yield a 13MHz output from
this SMA jack.
The left mouse button can be used to drag the control
panel to the desired position on the desktop. The Data
Capture control panel should not be placed on top of the
Windows task bar, otherwise the software may behave
erratically. A left click on the? button will open an informa-
tional text file. The program configuration variables must
be setup prior to running the program using the “Start”
button. Clicking the right mouse button within the con-
trol panel brings up the user configuration options menu.
The left mouse button is again used to select the desired
menu option.
Serial data from the CLC5902 (DDC/AGC) can be
configured for “I/Q_Packed, Mux_Mode” in the majority
of evaluations (refer to the CLC5902 data sheet or the
DRCS Evaluation Board User Manual). For proper opera-
tion, a decimation of at least 192 in the DDC is required
to complete the transfer of the whole 96-bit word (24-bits
each of CHA I & Q phase and CHB I & Q phase). The
Data Capture board de-serializes the DRCS data stream,
registers the selected channel and phase, stores the data
in SRAM, then reads and formats the SRAM data to a
24-bit word for transmission to the PC via its serial
communications port.
The following discusses the function of the various menu
options:
Parallel and Debug port data can be written directly to the
18-bit by 32K FIFO or to the 24-bit by 32K SRAM.
Because the FIFO has its own address counter, it is
capable of contiguous block capture up to 75MSPS and
is the recommended means of data capture for Fourier
Analysis of high speed data. The SRAM address and
write is controlled by the FPGA, which requires about 6
clock strobes per write cycle resulting in data decimation.
The SRAM is useful for displaying time records of data or
collecting contiguous blocks of slower data that have
been decimated by the CLC5902 DDC. The SRAM is
the memory element used for the board’s hardwired
histogram data generation.
The “Exit” button terminates the Data Capture Program.
The “About” button opens a window that displays the
version of the Data Capture Program as well as the
firmware revision of the FPGA on the Data Capture
Board. Clicking the left mouse button on the “SysInfo”
button in the About window replaces it with the System
Information window that displays some details about your
PC. Clicking the left mouse button on the “OK” button in
the System Information window closes it and returns you
to the About window. Clicking the left mouse button on
the “Visit our web page” text will open National Semi-
conductor’s web page using your internet browser.
Clicking the left mouse button on the “OK” button in the
“About” window will close it.
Capture Board Hardware Configuration Options for
DRCS data capture
Place the WCLK (FIFO write clock) jumper in the “PIN
120” position, the VCORE should be in the “5V” position
and the eight SW1 switches in their “OFF” position.
The “Auto Hide” and “Always on Top” selections
enable and disable these functions. A check mark to the
left of each selection indicates when it is enabled.
8
The “Configure I/O” button opens the user port option
menu window. Clicking the left mouse button selects the
desired port (the default Windows address and IRQ is
assumed). Clicking the “OK” button sends an identifica-
tion command out the selected port and listens for the
Capture board to echo back the command. This function
requires that DC power and data clock is present. If the
hardware is functional and the proper PC port connected,
the Configure I/O window will then close and return back
to the user Control Panel. Capture Board LED#6 will be lit
if the data clock is present.
The “Configure Capture” button invokes the user dialog
window for the remainder of the configuration options.
After selecting the desired options, a left mouse click on
“OK” stores the configuration variables and returns to
the Control Panel. Positioning the mouse pointer over the
Progress Bar inside the Control Panel pops up a text bub-
ble which displays the configuration variables used when
the Capture Program is started. Next is a discussion of
the Mode functions and the related sub-functions:
MODES
There are four primary modes in which to run the data
capture system, each with its own associated options:
1. Capture mode configures the Capture Board for
data reception from the DRCS evaluation board.
Both serial and the parallel output ports can be used
as the source data path.
a) The 24-Bits option captures serial DRCS data
FROM either of the two serial data ports. The
Capture 1st Bit option should be selected for this
mode of data capture. With CLC5902 DDC in
“packed” and “mux_mode”, the AOUT data
source contains both phases of both DDC channels.
The two Channel buttons select the desired DDC
channel to be stored in the SRAM. The four Phase
buttons select either I or Q phase or the ordering of
alternating I/Q phases. In this latter case, the 32K
RAM space is shared. Therefore, only 16K points of
each phase are collected. If the BOUT data source
is selected, the CLC5902 DDC must be instructed
accordingly (i.e. “packed” and “mux_mode” off). With
the DDC in its default output format, the BOUT
serial port is disabled.
If the incorrect serial port is selected or if the hardware is
dysfunctional (i.e. missing power or clock) the program
will return an error-warning window.
Click the “OK” button to clear the warning and then try
the other PC serial port in the “I/O Configuration”
window or correct the hardware problem.
b) The Upper 16-Bits and Lower 16-Bits options
enable the CLC5902 DDC’s parallel outputs. In this
configuration the DDC parallel output mux is
controlled by the FPGA through the 64 pin Euro
connector (be sure that the DRCS board SW1
“POUT” switches are OFF/OPEN). The user
selects Channel and Phase and the FPGA instructs
the DDC which channel, phase, and which half of
the 32-bit output word to send out its parallel data
bus. This configuration uses the FIFO for temporary
data storage.
The “Change Data File” button enables a dialog window
where the user can direct the location of the captured
data file. The desired file name and path can be typed
into the box. Clicking the left mouse on the button on the
right side of the file name box opens a standard browser
window to search for an appropriate file name. The
“Default” button restores the default directory and file
name. The attached Matlab script analysis routines (*.m
files) assume that the data is located at this location;
however, the user can edit the routines to load from the
appropriate location. Clicking the “OK” button updates
the Capture program’s *.ini file and returns to the Capture
Control Panel.
2. Histogram mode returns the Capture Board to the
24-bit serial data mode. As before, with the
CLC5902 DDC in “packed” and “mux_mode”, the
AOUT data source contains both phases of both
DDC channels. A DDC change is required to enable
the BOUT. The Capture 1st Bit option should be
selected as before. In the Histogram configuration,
the program Start button first sets every SRAM
location value to zero. The hardware then samples
the data, reads the value at that memory location,
increments the value, and writes back the updated
value. The process continues until one of the
memory values reach the target value set by SW1
9
#4 & #5 as indicated in the Histogram Max Target
table. Due to a high data resolution and relatively
slow data rate, a relatively long period of time is
required for generating histogram data from the
DRCS with high decimation values in the DDC.
Under some circumstances, the serial PC interface
will time out. The program detects this condition and
queries the user to continue. Click “Yes” to continue
and wait for the Progress Bar to run to completion.
Be patient, it could take several minutes depending
on the input amplitude and DDC decimation value
and Histogram Target Value. The last mode
description, Debug Histogram, provides further
description of the output file generated by the hard-
wired histogram generator.
gram data of the DRCS output generated by the
Capture Board at an input frequency of 150MHz and
16dBm in amplitude using all the default DRCS set-
tings. The data source was the DDC serial output
(Capture Histogram mode was used where
Fsample is 270KHz) and therefore took several
minutes to collect. In this scenario the 24-bit data
source resolution is truncated to the 15-bits (32K) of
available SRAM. The histogram peak target was set
to 16K which required over 16 million data points be
processed for the input level of -2dB below full scale.
The number of data points is proportional to the Max
Target and the amplitude range of the data (the X-
axis). The “Plot Data” menu function of the analysis
tools was used to generate the actual Matlab plot figure.
Histogram Target Table
Histogram
SW1; #4 SW1; #5 Target Value
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
16K
8K
4K
2K
3. Capture Debug mode configures the Capture
Board to collect data from the DRCS evaluation
board’s 20-bit parallel debug data bus. Because the
FIFO memory is limited to 18 bits, the user is given
the option to collect the full data width in the SRAM
by selecting the 20 Bits menu button. As previously
mentioned, parallel data which runs at the full clock
speed (i.e. Mixer Out at Debug port) gets deci-
mated by 6 due to the fact that the FPGA requires
multiple clock strobes to address and write data into
the SRAM. Choosing the Upper 18 Bits option will
use the high speed FIFO for the memory element
and collect a contiguous 32K block of data. The
Debug data port provides users access to nodes
internal to the CLC5902 DDC. Refer to the DRCS
Evaluation Board User Manual and CLC5902 data
sheet for more detailed information.
DRCS Evaluation Setup Sanity Check
The following discussion is to confirm the DRCS
evaluation setup. The example uses a Fourier analysis of
a simple, single tone, sinusoidal IF input to the DRCS. It
is assumed that Setup.exe on the evaluation kit’s
CDROM has installed the necessary files in the user’s
PC and the DRCS and Data Capture hardware is config-
ured as shown in the diagram at the front of Section III. It
is also assumed that Matlab (version 5.1 or higher) is
available. Reconfiguration of the DRCS through its Con-
trol Panel software is not required for these two tests. The
DRCS default values contained within the micro-control-
ler with SW2:1-8 = OFF (on DRCS board) will configure
the CLC5902 with the proper values. If the power has
been applied while in another state or if the user has
RESET the micro-controller with a different switch set-
ting, then set the SW2 switches to OFF and press the
RESET button on the DRCS Evaluation board.
4. Histogram Debug mode configures the Capture
Board to generate a histogram file using the parallel
data as the source. The hardware requires multiple
clock strobes to increment each SRAM value. Even
though the data used is not a contiguous block, the
probability density information is retained. The
SRAM depth (32K) is used to store the data bin
values; therefore, the histogram generator is limited
to 15-bits of resolution (there are only 32,767 bins).
The values of all 32K bins will be read out of the
SRAM and sent out to the users PC regardless of
the resolution of the data source. The DRCS Debug
data will be displayed at the 15-bit resolution limit
(this is also the case for the DRCS 24-bit Serial Out
data) and the histogram will be centered about
16,384 assuming there is no intentional DC offset.
The following figure displays the sine wave histo-
** Apply an IF input signal to the AIN1 jack on the
DRCS Evaluation board at 150MHz and 0dBm. The
DDC mixer is set to -5.97MHz which brings the
aliased (Fclk ADC = 52MHz; 3rd alias = 156MHz)
signal down to +30KHz. The DDC then filters and
decimates the data and sends it out the serial port
(AOUT) in the “packed”, “muxed_mode” format.
10
** From the Windows Start Programs menu, launch
the Capture program (it’s inside the C:\nsc folder).
Right click inside the Control Panel and select
Configure I/O and click the appropriate PC COM
port button. Next, right click inside the Control Panel
and select Configure Capture. Select the following
options: Mode = Capture; Bits =24; Channel = A;
From = AOUT; 1st Bit = Capture 1st Bit; Phase =
In Phase Only. Click “OK” and then click the Start
button in the Control Panel to start the data capture.
The progress bar should conclude in about 10 seconds.
** Launch Matlab. Use the Matlab path browser to
include the analysis Mfiles. The installed default
path is: “c:\nsc\mfiles”. Add this to the Matlab paths,
save the directory file and exit the path browser. At
the Matlab command line enter “analysis_menu”. A
GUI will appear. Left click on the DRCS_Serial but-
ton to perform an FFT on the captured data.
The FFT plot above and the analysis results highlight
several setup issues. The poor SINAD (and correspond-
ing ENOB) is due to phase jitter (spec’d as SSB Phase
Noise) of the IF signal source (an HP8656 was used
here). A better choice of signal synthesizer is the
HP8644B, which yields a SINAD of about 60dB under the
same conditions. The main portion of the noise power is
contained in the carrier’s immediate sidebands (±5KHz).
Another point of interest is that there are several spectral
lines about -75dBFS and 25KHz on either side of the
fundamental. These have been traced to the ground loop
created by the PC serial interface. Both serial interface
cables were connected while this data was being
collected. Removing the cable to the DRCS will reduce
the amplitude of these spurs. Some of the ground loop
remains because of the required Capture Board’s serial
interface to the PC.
The menu disappears while the analysis routine is
running. The process takes 4 - 5 seconds on a 133MHz
PC and plots the results when finished.
Section IV. Data Analysis Tools
The Matlab scripts contained on the Evaluation Kit
CDROM provide a convenient toolset for evaluation of
National’s Diversity Receiver ChipSet (DRCS) and high
speed ADCs like the CLC595x family. There are 4 FFT
routines and 1 Sine Histogram routine which can be
called from a user interface menu, “analysis_menu”. Set
the Matlab path and working directory to that of the
“Mfiles” provided on the Evaluation Kit CDROM. Run
“analysis_menu” from the Matlab command window
to open a graphical user interface. Each of the called FFT
routines has its appropriate variables set prior to the data
analysis. These variables are explained in the adjacent
text and can be easily edited to adjust for a particular
application from Matlab’s script editor. There are also
comments within the routines that highlight various
analysis blocks.
The FFT should report an input power of about -18dBFS.
32768 Point FFT Analysis
-20
Pinput (dBFS) = -18.1087
-40
Output SINAD = 51.7058
-60
-80
Output SFDR = 56.0663
THD (dBFS) = -100.7444
∫ En floor = -69.448
-100
-120
-140
-160
ENOB = 11.302
2
4
6
8
10
12
x 104
Frequency
11
** DRCS_Serial “DRCS_ser_fft.m” is the script
intended for analysis of the DRCS 24-bit serial out-
put data. Fsample is set to a default of 52e6/192
which is the GSM standard output rate of
270.833KS/s. The “search’ option is enabled;
therefore, excluding the DC bins, the peak FFT bin
is assumed to be the input fundamental. A default 4-
term data window is used.
** 12-bit FFT “b12_FFT.m” is the script intended for
data analysis in conjunction with the CLC5956
Evaluation Boards.
** DNL_INL “dnl_inl.m” - is the script intended for data
analysis of the histogram data file generated by the
Data Capture Board. The data file has a fixed 2^15
length (i.e. the number of histogram bins). SW1 on
the Capture Board is set to LSB justify the ADC data
within the 2^15 bins. 12-18 bit histograms are
supported. This Matlab script automatically scales
to the data source. In addition to the graphic plots,
the routine gives the number of samples, input
amplitude (dBFS of ADC), and data DC offset (in
LSBs). See the Data Capture Board User Manual
for more info.
** DRCS_Debug “DRCS_par_fft.m” is the script
intended for analysis of the DRCS 16-20 bit parallel
debug data. The hardware setting will determine the
actual Fsample variable needed. The data is always
placed within a 24-bit word with MSB justification.
The default Fsample is set to the assumed clock
frequency of 52MHz with no decimation. If a debug
port is selected which has decimated data, the
Fsample variable will require an appropriate adjust-
ment. Carefully edit and save the new value into the
script file. The original file can be recovered from the
CDROM.
** Plot_Data this script is contained within
“analysis_menu.m”. It simply clears the figure, loads
the data file from the default location, and plots the
new data. No data manipulation occurs. If the user
wishes to view offset binary formatted data which
has been normalized to ±1, he should first run the
appropriate FFT analysis, then clear the plot figure
(use “clf“at Matlab command line) and plot the
variable “u” (use “plot(u,’.’)” at Matlab command line).
** 14-bit FFT “b14_FFT.m” is the script intended for
data analysis in conjunction with the CLC5958 Eval-
uation Board. All the FFT routines can be run with a
rectangular window by setting the variable to “0”.
Setting the “Dither” variable excludes a lower portion
of the spectrum from the FFT analysis and is
intended to be used in conjunction with a base-band
dither signal being present at the ADC analog input.
12
CLC-CAPT-PCASM Evaluation Board - Layer 1
CLC-CAPT-PCASM Evaluation Board - Layer 2
CLC-CAPT-PCASM Evaluation Board - Layer 3
CLC-CAPT-PCASM Evaluation Board - Layer 4
13
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