Efficient, ROM-less DDFS using non-linear interpolation and non-linear DAC
A non-linear interpolation based ROM-less Direct Digital Frequency Synthesisiser (DDFS) is more efficient than previous systems as each current cell in a non-linear DAC is used more effectively. This was achieved by forming an analogue voltage from a small linear DAC addressed by phase bits that are usually discarded. The analogue voltage was connected to a selected current source in a thermometer decoded non-linear DAC to allow non-linear interpolation between the conventional, phase limited output levels. By increasing the number of phase bits the spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) was improved without increasing the size of the non-linear DAC. Modelling and simulation of the non-linear response of the differential switch based current cell revealed suitable parameters. The architecture of 64 current cells used a modified thermometer decoder and three-state switch in each current cell. Simulation and testing of 10 sample circuits demonstrated a robust DDFS with SFDR better than -60 dBc and suitable for use in a wide range of instrumentation systems.
ddfs instrumentation systems direct digital frequency synthesis waveform generation nonlinear dac