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ADC12D1800RFRB: Use of the evaluation board as a data acquisition card

Part Number: ADC12D1800RFRB

Hi, 

For a LIDAR application I need to record GHz resolution waveform traces about 100 microseconds long, where I'm expecting 1000 events per second. The API provided for this ADC evaluation board seems to allow this, except I would need to set the data acquisition to external triggering, and neither the API nor the waveVision software have this option. 

Does this option exist? if not, how would I go about adding it? Can it be added at the software level or would I have to reprogram the FPGA as well?

Yoni

  • Hi Yoni

    There are some memory and USB latency parameters of the ADC12D1800RFRB that make it unsuited for the usage you are planning.

    At 1800 MHz clock rate, a 100 microsecond record will be 180k samples long. The ADC12D1800RFRB memory supports a maximum record length of 32k samples.

    The USB control and data transfer interface has latency and data rate that will not be able to support the sustained data rates you need.

    You might want to consider something like the ADC12J1600EVM and TSW14J56EVM. This combination also has USB latency issues that will prevent multiple captures at 1000 events per second rate, but perhaps a single long record would be sufficient for your purposes. The TSW14J56EVM+ADC12J1600EVM can capture a continuous record up to 2G samples at 1600 MSPS. This would allow a continuous >1.25 second record capturing multiple LIDAR pulses. The Timestamp input can be used to input a high speed differential logic signal to correlate with the ADC sample data.

    Best regards,

    Jim B

  • Thank you, this is an excellent option. I'm actually willing to compromise on the number of events per second and the trace length, but the triggering capability is crucial, as I need to correlate the incoming pulses with the firing direction (which I could get from the external trigger channel).
    Can you advise on how to do this?
  • Upon farther reading, there appears to be an external trigger option provided with the TSW14J56EVM software. This leaves only one question: can I interface directly from MATLAB/C/C++? Is there a provided DLL for the software?
  • Yoni,

    There are some automation examples for automating HSDC Pro from Matlab. Please look at the automation examples that are installed with HSDC Pro.
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Texas Instruments\High Speed Data Converter Pro\HSDCPro Automation DLL

    Ken