Hello, I'm interested in any recommendations regarding low-noise ADCs for precision conversion (of millivolt analog signals from load cells), which match the following specifications:
1) Most importantly: the particular ADC should need only easy/very-direct SPI communication, the simpler to program & the fewer unexpected/error cases to handle, the better... Due to limited experience with SPI, and the fact that our R&D is primarily focused on the sensor technology, I ideally want the SPI interfacing to be simple enough, even if it means minimal writing to the ADC to configure register values.
2) 16 or greater bits of precision, so I suppose sigma-delta is common, but I believe there are also some SAR types in this range...
3) 10k or greater samples per second throughput/sampling-rate
Will be interfacing the ADC with a standard microcontroller with SPI capability (likely to be an MSP430 or Atmega328 chip).
I think, so far, based on datasheets, ADS1251 and ADS1259 seem to fit the bill well, but I don't how trouble-free the SPI communication will be in the end.
We have ordered the ADS1256, experimented with it, but its abundance of configurable features has made it troublesome to program successfully, SPI-wise, despite reading some of the example code provided by TI... Would much prefer the ADC part to be as simple, trouble-free, and reliable a part as possible in the design, without any complex features necessary.
Price of the ADC is not of concern as long as it matches above specifications.
Appreciate any ideas.
Cheers,
G
