Flexible laboratory setup for DAC experimentation

TL;DR

This work targets a practical, cost-effective SDM-based DAC platform to enable rapid experimental comparison of DAC architectures, including time-interleaved and multirate approaches, and Dynamic Element Matching to mitigate element mismatch. By detailing both the theoretical SDM/DEM framework and a concrete FPGA-based laboratory prototype, the authors provide a roadmap for evaluating different DEM strategies and TI-SDM configurations. The key contribution is a demonstrator that enables direct, low-cost experimentation and benchmarking of DAC techniques, with implications for high-resolution, wide-bandwidth applications. The system's laboratory benchmark showcases a versatile setup capable of validating linearity, noise shaping, and spectral performance in a real hardware environment.

Abstract

Analog multiplexing appears to be a promising solution for modern transmitters, where speed is the primary limitation. The objective is the development of a low-cost solution to compare different digital to analog (DAC) schemes. In particular, analog multiplexing techniques, high-speed single-DAC, Sigma-delta modulation, Dynamic element matching are considered. The work presents a review of these techniques and shows a prototype of a time interleaved sigma delta modulation based DAC based on a commercially available Field Programmable Gate Array system.

Figures (1)

• Figure 1: Elements of the experimental setup.