ECE 410 Communication Systems

Lab 2: A/Ds, D/As, and Nyquist

Pavel Zaytsev and Chris Stapler

February 23, 2015
Lab Instructor: Dr. Sonek
I.

Purpose:

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In this lab we explored analog-to-digital (A/D) converters and digital-to-analog (D/A) convertors. The first
component of this lab investigates how analog signal digitization affects the original signal. The latter component,
digital-to-analog, primarily focuses on recreating our original signal. The objectives below highlight the major
milestones of this lab.
Objectives:

II.

Constructing the analog-to-digital circuit.

Manipulation of our analog signal
Constructing the digital-to-analog circuit
Connecting the A/D circuit to the D/A circuit
Adding the transimpedance amplifier
Corrupting the signal
Formulas and Pertinent Information:
A. Frequency of oscillation
f 0=1/(2 RC )
1.
(2.1)
2.

(1.1 RC )
f c =1/

(2.2)
a) This is recommend AD0804 clock frequency
calculation.
B. Clock Period:
1.

T =1/ f
(2.3)

2.

( t LSB)/T clock
(2.4)

a) LSB is the Least Significant Bit

C. Nyquist Theorem: If the highest frequency component, in hertz, for a given

analog signal is fmax. Then according to the Nyquist Theorem, the sampling rate must be
at least 2fmax, or twice the highest analog frequency component.
III.

Equipment:

Oscilloscope
Protoboard (contains power supply and basic signal generator)
Signal Generator
Microchips: (1) AD0804 (Analog-to-Digital), (1) DAC0808 (Digital-to-Analog),
(1) 741 Operational Amplifier, (1) 7486 Exclusive-Or Gate
Resistors: (3) 10K ohms, (3) 5.1K ohms
Capacitors: (1) 220 picofarad, (1) 0.1 microfarad
Wires (test leads and hookup wiring)

IV.
Introduction:
1. Analog to Digital Conversion:
Big picture wise, the importance of A/D conversion is monumental in how we interact with our modern
world. By converting from the analog world to the digital world we can begin to use electronics to interface to the
analog world around us.
In relation to this lab, the A/D conversion occurs in the AD0804 microchip. The chip receives an input
voltage and outputs a digital code which ideally represents the original analog signal. There are limitations, such
as Nyquists Theorem (see Pertinent Information), that have to be considered in order to create an accurate
representation of the signal. However, A/D conversion, when done properly, allows us to record, quantify,
recreate, and interact with our world.
2. Digital to Analog Conversion:
After reading about A/D conversion (above) you can intuitively understand what D/A conversion is. D/A
conversion allows the user to take a seemingly meaningless string of 0s and 1s and convert it into a variety of
analog representations such as music, video, or even mechanical motion (robots). This analogization occurs
when the D/A microchip assigns a weight value to the binary code. The combination of these weighted values
produces the analog signal.
3. Wow factor and food for thought:
While the process seems simple, it's important to understand that digital-to-analog conversion (or vice versa) is
actually conversion of usually two states (binary) to a theoretically infinite number of states (analog).
V.

Procedure and Results:

Analog to Digital Circuit

A. Our first task is to construct the analog to digital circuit and observe the output.
The signal generator will provide our analog signal in the form of voltage input. As a fail-safe, to
confirm a functional circuit, we will attach the output to LEDs and be able to visually confirm
proper circuit operation.
B. Relevant chip and circuit data.
1. The AD0804 provides 8 bits of quantization which is 256 levels
of resolution.
2. The chip can be driven by a free-running clock. We constructed
an oscillator to provide the clock itself. See Figure 1 for schematic. In our case, we used a
10k resistor and a 220 picofarad for the oscillator.
a) Using equation (2.2) this would ideally give us a
calculated clock frequency of 413K Hz.

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B. We constructed the A/D circuit (see Figure 1) and connected pins 11-18 to LEDs
on our protoboard. The LED output would give us visual confirmation that the circuit was
functioning properly (or not functioning).
Figure 1: A/D Circuit

C. The circuit was powered with a 2v Peak-to-Peak, 50% symmetry, 1mHz

(adjustable from 1mHz to 100Hz) ramp wave. Once powered, we observed that the LEDs were
correctly counting up meaning that the LED lights visually represented a binary count that was
increasing by +1 for every conversion.
D. Clock frequency and conversion speed:
1. We attached the oscilloscope to pin 4 to measure the clock
frequency. The actual clock frequency is needed in order to gauge the microchips
conversion speed. Our actual frequency 273K Hz was very different from our calculated.
See Table 1.
2. Using the actual clock frequency we were able to determine the
clock period and determine how many clock cycles are necessary for a full conversion
(equation 2.3 and 2.4). A full conversion is how long it takes the least significant bit to
change (+1 in this case). This isn't dependant on actual time but is a reflection of the
speed of the chip.
Table 1: AD0804 Clock Frequency and Conversion Cycles

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Clock Frequency (calculated)

413.2K Hz

Clock Frequency (measured)

273K Hz

Clock Period (calculated)

3.6106 seconds

Conversion cycles needed (calculated)

66.8 cycles

Digital-to-Analog Circuit
A. We are now ready to convert our digital signal back to an analog signal. Ideally
the new analog signal will be indistinguishable from the original input analog signal. The
binary output from the A/D circuit will provide the input to our DAC. Potential problems we may
encounter are aliasing and corruption, however is we monitor the input frequency we should be
able to adjust the frequency input to stay within acceptable parameters.
B. The A/D circuit was now connected to the D/A chip. See Figure 2 for the circuit
diagram.
a. The 8 binary outputs were disconnected from the LEDs and
connected to the DAC0808 from Pins 5-12 (MSB to LSB respectfully).
b. The 741 Operational Amplifier is used as a transimpedance
amplifier which converts current to voltage allowing us to view the DAC output as
voltage.
c. A 4 volt sinusoid was applied to Vsig. (Frequency selected
explained later).
C. DAC Output: Once the oscilloscope showed that we were generating an analog
signal from the D/A microchip we manipulated the frequency in order to find out the microchip
limits when converting (see Table 2). From visual observation and inspection of input versus
output frequencies, we determined we could have accurate conversion up to 400 Hz. After 400 Hz
we noticed apparent aliasing. (See Figures 3 and 4 for example of no aliasing and aliasing).
D. Using a TTL clock signal: In this experiment we disabled the RC clock
components and attempted to use a TTL (0 to 5 volts) clock at pin 4 of the AD0804. We knew that
our RC oscillator provided a 273K Hz clock cycle so our expectation was that a TTL signal of
roughly the same frequency would provide similar output.
a. New Input
i.
A 4 volt amplitude 2k Hz acted as the input to
the AD0804 (pin 6)
ii.
TTL clock input attached to pin 4 of AD0804
b. Results: Almost all of the output sinusoids were unacceptable
either due to gross stepping or clipping of the sinusoid.
i.
See Figures 5-9.

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ii.

Notice in Figures 7-9 we begin to have serious

clipping on the top side of the sinusoid. This most likely reflects an issue with the
transimpedance amplifier and its (voltage/current) limitations.
c. Elaboration on Results: This is the part I failed at. During the lab
the results, specifically why the output failed to make an acceptable sinusoid, seemed to
make sense, however when writing this report I cant seem to make sense of it. (Ive
spent some time online research and cant find anything that really tackles this issue.)
Current speculations are that an RC oscillator provides a much more stable clock than a
TTL input signal. This makes sense because while TTL is digital, the input method is
essentially an analog format. This could easily cause distortion and allow noise which
would affect the clock cycle. (Again this is speculation and I will hopefully remember to
ask about this during the next lab.)
Table 2: Conversion and Aliasing
Signal Frequency
(produced by signal
generator, Hz)

Input Frequency
(measured on
oscilloscope, Hz)

Output Frequency
(measured on
oscilloscope, Hz)

600

599

566

.944

500

500

472

.944

400

400

404

1.01

300

299

398

.997

100

99.7

99.3

.996

*As you can see, past 400 Hz there is a significant change in the ratio. We believe that

Ratio
(Output/Input)

1 0.1 was an acceptable

instrumentation/circuit error but past 400 Hz we began to notice significant changes. We attempted to identify exactly where
between 400-500 Hz that aliasing began to occur but could not pinpoint the exact cutoff frequency.

Figure 2: D/A Circuit (right) Connected to A/D circuit (left) and the Transimpedance Amplifier (bottom)

Figure 3: DAC Output at 100 Hz

Figure 4: DAC Output at 567 Hz

Figure 5: TTL Clock at 100k Hz

Figure 6: TTL Clock at 500K Hz

Figure 7: TTL Clock at 1.5MHz

Figure 8: TTL Clock at 2.5MHz

Figure 9: TTL Clock at 3.5MHz

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Corruption of Bits
A. Here we used an exclusive-or gate (7486 XOR) to corrupt the input to our DAC.
The XOR gate inverts the binary input from the AD converter meaning if the input was a 0 then
the DAC would actually receive a 1.
a. The original RC oscillator was established in the AD circuit.
b. A 2K Hz sinusoid with a 0.5V amplitude was the input signal at
Vsig.
B. We performed this experiment on the LSB (pin 18 on the AD0804) and the MSB
(pin 11 on the AD0804).
a. Pin 18 or pin 11 connected to the XOR input whose output
would connect to the corresponding input gate on the DAC0808 (pin 12 for LSB and pin
5 for the MSB).
b. With a corrupted LSB we were unable to notice any difference,
however the corruption of the MSB lead to drastic changes (see figure 10).
C. When the MSB was corrupted we attempted to find a frequency (ranging from
1mHz to 100K HZ) that was most resistant to corruption however we were unable to locate any
frequency that met this condition.
Figure 10: Corruption of MSB with an XOR Gate

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VI.

Conclusions:
A. A/D conversion, while a powerful tool, depends on adherence to Nyquists
Theorem. If sampling rates occur at lower than 2x the maximum analog frequency (f max) then the
data will be faulty.
B. There should always be verification of theoretical versus actual values for circuit
components. As mentioned earlier we had a discrepancy by a factor of two for our oscillator
frequency.
C. Ideally an ADC followed by a DAC should replicate the exact analog input signal
(input for the AD) however this proved to not be the case for our DAC output. I believe this was
primarily due to the level of resolution available for the AD0804 or DAC0808. Higher levels of
resolution may provide a smoother and more accurate signal.
D. The corruption of bits provided an interesting and noteworthy insight on how
greatly one corrupt bit may or may not impact the signal. While the significance between the LSB
and MSB is obvious (in determining how they affect the signal), Im curious on whether there is a
distinction between how the MSB and LSB is determined. If so, it leads to conclusions that
corruption checking would have a huge impact if one could decide which input to always have a
error check on. Meaning, could a chip check the most important inputs while ignoring the least
important (this is a compromise between accuracy and speed)?
E. At least

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