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EVALUATING THE AD9135/AD9136 DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER

Preface

This user guide describes both the hardware and software setup needed to acquire data capture from AD9135-FMC-EBZ/AD9136-FMC-EBZ evaluation board to characterize AD9135/AD9136 11-/16-bit 2.8Gsps dual JESD204B signal processing RF Digital to Analog Converter.

The AD9135-FMC-EBZ/AD9136-FMC-EBZ is an FMC mezzanine card and connects to an ADS7-V2 or ADS8-V1 data pattern generator system. The ADS7-V2/ADS8-V1 automatically formats the data and sends it to the AD9135/AD9136 FMC card via its JESD204B lanes. +12V, +3.3V, and VADJ power supply rails are provided by the ADS7-V2/ADS8-V1 system via the FMC connector P1. A clock distribution chip AD9516 is included on this EVB as a clock fan-out and frequency divider for the DACCLK, JESD204B SYSREF signals, and a GBTCLK clock used by the ADS7-V2/ADS8-V1. There is also an FMC standard I2C bus that is used by the ADS7-V2/ADS8-V1 to identify the AD9135/AD9136 FMC card. This I2C interface is implemented in software in the AD9135/AD9136 FMC card PIC processor (XU1). All ADS7-V2/ADS8-V1 to/from AD9135/AD9136 FMC card interface signals are connected via the FMC connector P1.

Typical Setup

Figure 1a. AD9135-FMC-EBZ with ADS7-V2EBZ Setup

Figure 1b. AD9136-FMC-EBZ with ADS7-V2EBZ Setup

Tip: Click on any picture in this guide to open an enlarged version.

Software Needed

Analysis | Control | Evaluation (ACE) Software
DPG Lite (Recommended; Installed with ACE) or DPG Downloader
ACE Plugin for Specific Device: AD9135, AD9136

Known Issue: ACE may fail to detect HS-DAC boards, details here.

Hardware Needed

AD9135-FMC-EBZ/AD9136-FMC-EBZ Evaluation Board which comes with:
- USB-A to USB-Mini Cable
ADS7-V2EBZ Evaluation Kit which includes:
- 12V 60W AC/DC Power Supply
- Power Cord
- USB-A to USB-B Cable
PC with ACE and DPG Lite Software Applications
Low Phase Noise High-Frequency Continuous Wave Generator
Signal/Spectrum Analyzer and/or Wide Bandwidth Oscilloscope
(2) SMA Cables

Quick Start Guide

Attach AD9136/AD9135-FMC-EBZ onto the FMC connector of ADS7-V2 or ADS8-V1 controller board. Connect the evaluation board to PC via USB, the continuous waveform generator output to J1, the DAC output at J17 to a signal/spectrum analyzer, and, if desired, the other DAC output at J5 to an oscilloscope. Connect ADS7-V2/ADS8-V1 to PC via USB and to a 12V 60W AC/DC power supply, then switch the board ON using S1 beside the connector for 12V supply. Refer to Typical Setup for pictures of actual evaluation setup.
Set the frequency of the continuous waveform generator output to 2.0 GHz and the output level to +3 dBm. Enable the output.
Start DPG Lite or DPG Downloader. A panel named after the detected controller board should appear at the bottom of the DPG window. The device on the evaluation board and the data interface should also be automatically detected by the software and shown at Evaluation Board and Port Configuration, respectively. <insert figures>
Open ACE. The board will automatically be recognized by the software. Otherwise, install the plugin for AD9135/AD9136 evaluation board by following the steps in this page: Quickstart - ACE Quickstart and Plug-in Installation.
In ACE, apply the configuration wizard settings shown in Figure <>. JESD204B PLL should lock and the indicator should turn green.
In DPG Lite or DPG Downloader, configure two single tone generated waveforms. From the Add Generator Waveforms pulldown menu, select Single Tone. Do this two times then configure the panels as follows:
- Data Rate = 2 GHz, Amplitude = -1dBFS, Unsigned Data is unchecked for both panels.
- Desired Frequency= 112 MHz in one panel while Desired Frequency = 221 MHz in the other.
- If using AD9135, set DAC Resolution to 11 bits. Otherwise, leave as is (16 bits).
In the ADS7-V2 or ADS8-V1 panel in the DPG GUI, configure Data Playback by selecting tone2 for DAC0 and tone1 for DAC1. Set JESD Mode to Mode 8, Links to Dual, and Subclass to 1.
Press the download arrow then the play button. Serial Line Rate should appear as 10 Gbps and Sync Status should have two check marks. Refer to FFT plot of the DAC0 output in Figure <> and the oscilloscope capture of DAC1 output in Figure <>.

Getting Started

The PC software comes on the included Evaluation Board CD, but may also be downloaded from the DPG Web site at http://www.analog.com/dpg and the ACE website at https://wiki.analog.com/resources/tools-software/ace. The installation will include the DPG Downloader software as well as all the necessary AD9136/AD9135 files including schematic, board layout, datasheet, AD9136/AD9135 SPI, and other files. The ACE installation will include the necessary evaluation software, which is preferred over the DPGDownloader GUI. The following set-up describes how to use either ACE or the legacy SPI GUI to generate an output.

Schematic and board layout files can also be found here

Initial Set-Up

1. Install the DPG Downloader and ACE or the AD9136/AD9135 SPI software and support files on your PC. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard and use the default (recommended) installation settings.
2. Use a USB cable to connect the EVB to your PC and connect the lab equipment to the EVB.
3. Connect the DGP3 unit to your PC and turn on the unit.

Single-Tone Test

These settings configure the AD9136/AD9135 to output a sine wave using the DPG3 and allow the user to view the single-tone performance at the DAC output, under the condition: Fdata = 1.6GHz, 1X interpolation, 4-carrier WCDMA signal with center frequency = 100MHz.

Configure DPG Vector Software

1. To begin, turn on the external +5V supply.

2. Open DPG Downloader if you have not done so. (Start > All Programs > Analog Devices > DPG > DPGDownloader). Ensure that the program detects the AD9136/AD9135, as indicated in the “Evaluation Board” drop-down list, and select it. Select “QBF 2×4 85G 425M” from the “Port Configuration” drop-down list and “Mode 8” from the “JESD Mode” drop-down list.

3. Click on “Add Generated Waveform”, and then “Wireless Infrastructure”. A WIFR panel will be added to the vector list. Enter the Data Rate, in this case 1.6GHz and the desired frequency, 100MHz. Enter the digital amplitude. In this case we use 0dBFS. Select “2's Complement” from the Number Format drop-down list. Input the center frequency of “100MHz” at the bottom of the panel, choose “WCDMA” from the Standard drop-down menu and increase the No. of Carriers to “4” - then hit the “Add Carriers” button.

4. Select the WIFR vector (I) in the “DAC0” drop down menu and the WIFR vector (Q) in the “DAC1”. At this point, the DPG Downloader panel should look like Figure 3.

Figure 3. DPG Downloader Panel

Configuring SPI using ACE

1. Configure the hardware according to the hardware set-up instructions given in the Hardware Setup section above. Set the frequency of the DAC clock signal generator to 1.6GHz, and the output level to 3dBm. The spectrum analyzer can be configured with Start Frequency = 1 MHz, Stop Frequency = 800 MHz, and Resolution Bandwidth of 30 kHz, and Trace Detector to Average (Log/RMS/V). Choose Input Attenuation to be 8dB. This can be adjusted later if indications are that the analyzer is causing degradations.

2. Open ACE (Start > All Programs > Analog Devices > ACE > ACE). The icon indicates the ACE software. If the board is connected properly, the screen should look similar to Figure 4. Double click on this board.

Figure 4. Detected AD9135 in ACE

Ensure that the button is green in the subsystem image under the “System” tab, as shown in Figure 5. If not, click it, select the AD9136/5, and click Acquire. Double click on the subsystem image to reach the board block diagram.

Figure 5. AD9135 system

Next to the board block diagram, click “Modify” under “Initial Configuration Summary.”

Figure 6. AD9135 board block diagram. The JESD PLL should not be locked yet

Select “Dual Link” from the pull-down menu next to Links, and set the JESD Mode to 8. Check the Subclass box and set interpolation to 1. The FDAC frequency should be set to 1.6 GHz. The settings should match Figure 6. Select “Apply.”

Figure 7. Initial configuration settings for the AD9135

Double click on the dark blue AD9135 chip block in the board block diagram. The chip block diagram should appear, as shown in Figure 8. The JESD PLL should now be locked on both the board and chip block diagrams. Other parameters can be changed on both block diagrams, but do not need to be for this test. For more information about changing parameters in ACE, see the ACE Software Features section.

Figure 8. AD9135 chip block diagram

3. On the DPGDownloader panel, seen in Figure 3, the Serial Line Rate in the should read 8Gbps.

Click Download () and Play () in the DPG Downloader screen.

The current on the 5V supply should read about 1430mA. If you do not see the output, gently push the board toward the DPG3. This ensures that the board is firmly connected to the DPG3. The four registers codeGrpSync, FrameSync, GoodCheckSum and Initial LaneSync should all read 0F indicating the lanes are working correctly.

4. The output spectrum of the DAC should look like Figure 9 below.

Figure 9. AD9136/AD9135-EBZ Eval Board DAC output Spectrum

Configuring SPI using the legacy SPI Application

1. Open the AD9136/AD9135 SPI application (Start > All Programs > Analog Devices > AD9136/AD9135 > AD9136/AD9135 SPI). The screen should look similar to Figure 10.

Figure 10. Entry Screen of the AD9136/AD9135 SPI software

2. Configure the hardware according to the hardware set-up instructions given in the Hardware Setup section above. Set the frequency of the DAC clock signal generator to 1.6GHz, and the output level to 3dBm. The spectrum analyzer can be configured with Start Frequency = 1 MHz, Stop Frequency = 800 MHz, and Resolution Bandwidth of 30 kHz, and Trace Detector to Average (Log/RMS/V). Choose Input Attenuation to be 8dB. This can be adjusted later if indications are that the analyzer is causing degradations.

3. Follow the sequence below to configure the AD9136/AD9135 SPI registers.

a. The Links should be set to dual link. The JESD Mode is set to 8, Subclass 1 box checked, Interpolation set to 1, and FDAC set to 1.6GHz. Click “Commit” button to initialize the AD9136/AD9135. The JESD204B PLL should be locked indicated with bright green JESD204B PLL readback LED.

b. At this point the Serial Line Rate in the DPG3 software panel should read 8Gbps.

Figure 11. Configured panel of the AD9136/AD9135 SPI software

d. Click Download () and Play () in the DPG Downloader screen.

e. The current on the 5V supply should read about 1430mA. If you do not see the output, gently push the board toward the DPG3. This ensures that the board is firmly connected to the DPG3. The four registers codeGrpSync, FrameSync, GoodCheckSum and Initial LaneSync should all read 0F indicating the lanes are working correctly.

4. The output spectrum of the DAC should look like Figure 12 below.

Figure 12. AD9136/AD9135-EBZ Eval Board DAC output Spectrum

ACE Software Features

The ACE software is organized to allow the user to evaluate and control the AD9122A evaluation board. The “Initial Configuration” wizard, which is only available for certain boards, controls the DAC and PLL setups. Block diagram views of the board and chip contain elements that can be used to vary parameters like ref current and data format. These parameters can be changed using check boxes, drop down menus, and input boxes. Some parameters do not have settings shown in the diagram. Double click on the parameter to view the available settings, seen with the NCO settings below.

NCO settings for the AD9122

In addition, some parameters can be enabled or disabled. This feature is evident by the color of the block parameter. For example, if the block parameter is dark blue, the parameter is enabled. If it is light grey, it is disabled. To enable or disable a parameter, click on it.

Enabled parameter

Disabled parameter

More direct changes to registers and bit fields can be made in the memory map, which is linked from the chip block diagram through the “Proceed to Memory Map” button. In this view, names, addresses, and data can be manually altered by the user.

Bench Set-Up

ACE also contains the Macro Tool, which can be used to record register reads and writes. This is executed in the memory map view or with the initialization wizard. To use, check the “Record Sub-Commands” checkbox and press the record button. Changes in the memory map, which are bolded until they are applied to the part, are recorded as UI commands by the macro tool once the changes are made. Changed register write commands for the controls are also recorded. Hit “Apply Changes” to execute the commands and make changes in the memory map. To stop recording, click the “Stop Recording” button. A macro tool page with the command steps will be created. The macro can be saved using the “Save Macro” button so that it may be loaded for future use.

Macro tool in ACE. The Stop Recording, Record, and Save Macro commands are located at the top of the macro tool.

The raw macro file will be saved using ACE syntax, which is not easily readable. To remedy this, the ACE software download includes the Macro to Hex Conversion Tool. The user can choose to include or exclude register write, reads, and/or comments in the conversion. The file pathways for the source and save paths should be the same, except that one should be an .acemacro file and the other should be a .txt file. The “Convert” button converts and opens the converted text file, which is easier to read. The conversion tool can also convert back to an .acemacro file if desired.

Conversion set-up for macro to hex

Converted text file

For more information about ACE and its features, visit https://wiki.analog.com/resources/tools-software/ace.

Single-Tone Demonstration

Single Tone Demo Lab Bench Configuration Procedure:

These settings configure the AD9136/AD9135 to output a 112Mhz -1dbFS sine wave on J5 from DAC1 and a 221Mhz sine wave on J17 from DAC 0 using the ADS7.

Configure the hardware according to the hardware set-up instructions given in the Hardware Setup section above. Set the frequency of the DAC clock signal generator to 2.0GHz, and the output level to +3dBm. The spectrum analyzer can be configured as shown in Figure 7 with a resolution bandwidth of 100kHz. Choose an Input Attenuation of 24dB.

Figure 3. Initial DPG Downloader Display

Single Tone Demo Hardware and Software Start Up Procedure:

1. Run DPG Downloader. It will say Evaluation Board: AD9136/AD9135 as shown in Figure 3.

2. Open SPIPro for AD9136/AD9135 by selecting AD9144, AD9136 & AD9135 SPI in All Programs/Analog Devices/AD9144. The GUI panel will say AD9136/AD9135-FMC-EBZ in the upper left hand corner.

3. Select dual link, JESD mode 8, Interpolation = 1, FDAC = 2Ghz. Press ‘Configure DAC and Clock’ button. JESD204B PLL lock will turn green.


Figure 4. Fully Configured AD9136 SPIPro Display	Figure 5. Fully Configured AD9135 SPIPro Display

4. In the DPG Downloader Window configure two single tone generated waveforms:

a. Select Single Tone under the Add Generated Waveforms Tab. Set Data Rate: 2Ghz, Desired Frequency: 112Mhz, Amplitude: -1dbFS, Uncheck Unsigned Data

b. If using the AD9135,Set DAC Resolution to 11 bits

c. Select Single Tone under the Add Generated Waveforms Tab. Set Data Rate: 2Ghz, Desired Frequency: 221Mhz, Amplitude: -1dbFS, Uncheck Unsigned Data

d. If using the AD9135,Set DAC Resolution to 11 bits

5. Select JESD Mode: Mode 11 (Mode 8, Dual Link)

6. Populate the data playback selections for each DAC output as shown in Figure 6 or Figure 7.

7. Click Download () and Play (). The spectrum in Figure 8 will appear on all 4 DAC outputs (J17, J4, J5, and J14), Serial Line Rate will be 10.0Gbps.


Figure 6. Fully Configured AD9136 DPG Downloader Display	Figure 7. Fully Configured AD9135 DPG Downloader Display

8. Here’s what you will see on DAC1 on the scope

Figure 8. DAC1 Output Scope Display

9. Here is what you will see at the output of DAC0 on the Spectrum Analyzer

Figure 9. DAC Output Spectrum Analyzer Display

Wiki

Analog Devices Wiki