Dave Van Ess is a principal applications engineer with Cypress Semiconductor, San Jose, Calif. He received a BSEE from the University of California at Berkeley. Email address: dwv@cypress.com
7 results found for Dave Van Ess, displaying items 1 - 7
August 28, 2008[Analog/Mixed-Signal Design] Using Delta-Sigma Can Be As Easy As ADC (Part 2)
In my previous column, I took a historical approach to delta-sigma modulation with the single-slope converter (May 8, p. 18, ED Online 18747). Jim Williams of Linear Tech responded, and he sent me a copy of a 1949 article by D.H. Wilkinson on single-slope analogto- digital converters (ADCs). “I’m aware of their obvious weaknesses, but the simplistic elegance of the...
June 6, 2008
[Analog/Mixed-Signal Design] Squeeze 10-Bit Performance From An 8-Bit ADC, Part 2: Triangular Dithering
You don’t want to burden your design with the extra cost of a higher-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC). But because of board-space limitations, adding an external ADC may not be acceptable. Fortunately, you can get 10-bit performance with an 8-bit ADC by implementing triangular dither.
May 8, 2008[Analog/Mixed-Signal Design] Using Delta-Sigma Can Be As Easy As ADC
As an application engineer, I spend a lot of time convincing customers that a delta-sigma modulating analog-to-digital converter (ADC), or DSM, would be the best choice for their particular application. Then they come up with all sorts of excuses for why they prefer a successive-approximation ADC. I’ve come to the conclusion that they prefer successiveapproximation ADCs because they fundamentally don’t understand how a DSM works, perhaps because DSMs involve...
May 5, 2008
[Analog/Mixed-Signal Design] Squeeze 10-Bit Performance From An 8-Bit ADC, Part 1: Additive Dithering
You don’t want to burden your design with the extra cost of a higher-resolution ADC. And because of board-space limitations, adding an external ADC may not be acceptable. Fortunately, you can get 10-bit performance with an 8-bit ADC by averaging multiple samples. This process is called oversampling.
February 28, 2008[Analog/Mixed-Signal Design] Squeeze 10-Bit Performance From An 8-Bit DAC
Few things are more frustrating than a requirement for some feature that exceeds the ability of your present hardware. Say you’re designing a product that has historically required an 8-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Conveniently integrated on the system microcontroller, the DAC has never been a problem until marketing suddenly insists that it is absolutely necessary for the DAC to output 10 bits. Of course, it’s too late to change microcontrollers, and...
June 9, 2005[Ideas For Design] Programmable Analog Current Source Uses Switched Capacitors
Switched-capacitor blocks are easily configured to be integrators. When configured as an integrator, a switch-capacitor block can function as an op amp. Closed-loop stability is achieved by parametrizing the capacitor values and sample frequency, which allow for precise gain-bandwidth control. Adding an external pass transistor and current-setting resistor enables easy construction of a programmable current source. Figure 1 shows...
