Platform Accelerates DAQ Designs

For speeding up the design of gigahertz-speed communications and data-acquisition (DAQ) systems, the company's integrated development platform teams its ADC08D1500 3-Gsample/s a/d converter with a Virtex-4 FPGA from Xilinx. It is also available with other members of the ADC08 converter family. Described as ready to use out of the box, the platform, consisting of a board within a plastic enclosure, requires a power source and USB connection in order to collect and store data from any input signal. Functional blocks include the a/d converter and FPGA, LVDS interface, analog input networks using baluns and differential amplifiers, system clocking via a PLL and VCO, power supply design, and temperature-monitoring circuitry. All of the blocks are reusable. The FPGA leaves several gates free that are programmable for proprietary firmware development and an expansion header is available for connection to the FPGA I/Os. With the ADC08D1500, price for the platform is $3,800.

NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CORP., Santa Clara, CA. (800) 272-9959.
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Key Components

1. The ADC08D500, ADC08D1000 and ADC08D1500 are dual-channel ADCs that simultaneously digitize two input signalsto 8-bit resolution at sampling rates of 500 MSPS, 1 GSPS and 1.5 GSPS, respectively, while consuming just 1.0W to 1.8W from a 1.9V nominal supply. In dual-edge sampling (DES) mode, the ADC08D1500 samples a single input at 3 GSPS by interleaving the two on-chip converters.

2. The ADC081000 and ADC081500 are single versions of the dual converters.

3. Virtex-4 FPGAs are manufactured using a triple-oxide 90-nm CMOS technology with 11-layer metal interconnect. The Virtex-4 family consists of 17 devices and three domain-optimized platforms: Virtex-4 LX FPGAs optimized for logic-intensive designs; Virtex-4 SX FPGAs optimized for high-performance signal processing; and Virtex-4 FX FPGAs optimized for high-speed serial connectivity and embedded processing. For more information on the Virtex-4 product family, visit www.xilinx.com/virtex4.

Time-Saving Talk

"We are accelerating our customers' time-to-market with a development platform that integrates one of the market's most popular FPGAs, the industry's best-performing ADC and a fully featured test environment," said Rick Zarr, National Semiconductor's worldwide program manager for Partnership Marketing. "Now, using our development platform, any designer with a single external 12V power supply and a PC can test and evaluate these complex products in minutes."