High Speed A/D Data Converters
Evaluation Platform

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Description

Intersil offers two options for evaluating high-speed Analog-to-Digital converter products. A complete, turnkey evaluation platform is available, which includes data capture hardware and software to process and display acquired data. This system provides the fastest and easiest path to evaluating an ADC since no additional software coding is required of the user. The second option is an adapter board that facilitates connection of an ADC daughter card to an FMC-based FPGA development board. This solution offers greater flexibility since the user has full access to the FPGA functionality and can therefore perform signal processing operations and/or "hardware in the loop" simulations. No software is provided for this option since there are a wide variety of supported FGPA development boards.

Complete Evaluation Platform

The High-Speed ADC evaluation platform enables rapid testing and performance validation of the entire portfolio of low-power 8 to 16-bit, 40 to 500MSPS high performance Analog-to-Digital converters. There are two components in the hardware portion of this evaluation platform: the daughter card and the motherboard. The ADC is contained on the daughter card, which receives power from the motherboard and contains the analog input circuitry, clock drive and decoupling. Each ADC has a dedicated daughter card design and part number. The KMB001L/C motherboard contains a USB interface, an FPGA and SRAM. The motherboard serves as the interface between the host PC and the ADC daughter card. The FPGA accepts output data from the ADC and buffers it in the SRAMs before passing it to the PC at a lower speed for post-processing. The motherboard interfaces to each of the individual daughter cards with a common connector design. The software component is Intersil Konverter Analyzer, a graphical user interface (GUI) created with MATLAB™. A MATLAB Component Runtime engine is supplied, which executes a compiled version of the source code. Therefore, a stand-alone version of MATLAB is not required to run Intersil Konverter Analyzer. The GUI controls the ADC configuration through the SPI port, reads data from the motherboard and performs post-processing and display of the output data. Data can be viewed in the time or frequency domain, and can be saved for later processing. Critical performance parameters such as SNR, SFDR, harmonic distortion, etc. are calculated and displayed on-screen when viewing in the frequency domain.

FMC Motherboard

The FMC (FPGA Mezzanine Card) standard was developed by a group of embedded system vendors along with Xilinx and Samtec under the auspices of the VITA Standards Organization, and is described in VITA 57. More information on the FMC standard can be found on the VITA web site. Intersil's FMC adapter board (KMB-FMC-EVALZ) primarily serves to adapt the mezzanine connector used on the ADC daughter cards to a standard low-pincount FMC connector. It also provides filtered and regulated supplies for the connected daughter card. Numerous FPGA developments boards adhering to the FMC standard are available from Xilinx and other member companies in the FMC Marketing Alliance. Note that the FMC-based motherboard merely provides a mechanical and electrical connection between an ADC daughter card and a user-supplied FPGA development board. There is no FPGA on the adapter, and no software or FPGA code is provided as part of this solution. Further details and usage guidelines can be found in the FMC Motherboard User's Guide (AN1665).

Schematics and layouts for the evaluation boards are linked to the individual product pages and are available in PDF format.

Ordering Guide

This spreadsheet shows the appropriate evaluation kit part numbers based on the ADC that is to be tested.

Konverter Analyzer Quick-Start: First-Time Installation

• Download the MATLAB Component Runtime installer.
  

• Download the Intersil Konverter Analyzer installer.
  

• Download the Konverter Installation Guide (AN1434) and follow the detailed instructions contained within that document.

After the software is installed, read the Intersil Konverter Analyzer User's Guide (AN1433) for detailed operating instructions.

Konverter Analyzer Software Update

The Intersil Konverter Analyzer GUI can be updated to the latest version as follows:

• Uninstall Konverter: Start Menu → All Programs → Intersil Konverter Analyzer → Uninstall
• Download and run the Intersil Konverter Analyzer installer.
  

If an older version of the MATLAB Component Runtime engine is installed, then the latest version must be installed.