Object:

The object of this lab is to learn how an analog to digital converter circuit is implemented and utilized
within mixed signal systems. The ADC0804 analog to digital IC is used for to convert a varying input
voltage to a readout on an 8 bit LED strip that scales relative to the input voltage. The granularity of this
conversion will be varied as well as the input voltage, and the resistive calibration elements, to
determine the effects of these things on the ADC circuit.

Circuit Diagrams:

Figure 1: Schematic of internals of ADC IC

Figure 2: Schematic of external circuity of ADC IC in system

Figure 3: Schematic of full system under test

Plots:

Figure 4: Scope capture of standard operation of UUT (unit under test)

Figure 5: Scope capture of UUT with additional 10KOhm load added to frequency tuning resistor.

Figure 6: LED output during 10Hz input

Figure 7: LED output during .1Hz input

Figure 8: LED ouput during 0.01Hz input

Results:
Vref=2.55 V
Table 1: ADC output voltage by pin

Pin # Voltage (V)

11
0.26
13
0.289
15
0.319
18
0.323

Short
Figure 9: Output on LED strip when input is shorted

Measured

1V

2V

3V

4V

Figure 10: Output on LED strip for uncalibrated 5V ADC IC

Table 2: ADC ICs output voltages by pin

1 Volt input
Pin #
Voltage (V)
11
0.248
12
0.25
13
5.12
14
5.12
15
0.288
16
0.288
17
5.12
18
0.292

=
Vref for 5V tuning: 2.51 V

5
256

= 0.0195 /

5V

Measured

1V

2V

3V

4V

5V

Figure 11: LED display of output for tuned 5V ADC system

Measured

0V

0.1V

0.2V

0.3V

0.4V

0.5V

0.8V

1V

2V

Figure 12: LED display of output for tuned 2V ADC system

Explanation of Results:
Part 1:
The circuit, when power was applied, showed all lights lit as expected.
Part 2:
The voltage was measured on output pins of the ADC IC, and in all cases was found to be below the
threshold needed to turn the light off. The reference voltage was taken and found to be a few millivolts
above the expected value of 2.5V. Although this difference seems negligible, it causes error in the ADC
ICs output as shown in later stages of the experiment. The clock frequency is also measured before and
after a 10K resistor is added in series to the tuning resistor on the circuit, to see its effect on the circuits
sampling rate. The expected effect of this additional 10K resistance is a doubling of the sampling
frequency, although the in practice it did not have quite this effect. The frequency changed by a factor
of 1.36, this is likely due to an incorrect valued resistor at on the board. The ideal circuit features a
sampling frequency of 333khtz, the fact that the standard operating frequency of the circuit under test

is much higher than that (1.26x) this could help explain the unexpected behavior. The effect on
frequency is based on the equivalent resistance, if the in circuit value is different than prescribed this
would cause this issue. The peak to peak values are also lower than ideal in both cases, more so on the
circuit with the additional resistance. The in circuit resistance discrepancy would also cause a
discrepancy in this result, so this difference is expected based on other collected data.

Part 3:
All lights are lit for the situation where the input is shorted, as expected.

Part 4:
The output of the circuit is not the correct output for a correctly calibrated 5V ADC, however, this is as
accepted due to the measured Vref found on the board. The reference is measured to be incorrect, so
the output is similarly incorrect. The voltage is measured for each ouput pin when 1 volt is put in, and
the values are found to be as expected for both logic low and logic high values. The resolution is
calculated as requested.

Part 5:
The circuit is tuned using a second voltage input to Vref and the tuning procedure laid out in the lab
statement. The reference is set to 2.51. This adjustment causes the output to operate as expected for a
5 V reference ADC.

Part 6:
The same tuning procedure is used to set the ADC to a 2V reference (a 1V Vref is used in this case) and
the circuit preforms as expected. The calculated resolution is finer, which is expected for a ADC with a
lower range with the same number of discrete steps.

Part 7:
The circuit is returned to its standard ~5V reference, and varying frequencies of triangle wave are put
into it to see how that effects the system. A 10 Hz wave is used, which causes the LED strip to blink very
quickly on all lights. This is the expected behavior, because it is sweeping the entire input range 10 times
per second. A .1 Hz input is used, and this has a similar effect for the lower power bits, but the higher
power lights seems to hold discrete values for some period of time, and show the illusion of counting .
This is again expected, as it is sweeping the entire cycle quickly still. The 0.01 Hz input allows for clear
counting behavior, and discrete output values on the LED strip.

Conclusion:

This lab demonstrated the input/output characteristics of the ADC system. It highlighted the importance
of a correct reference voltage, the ability to easily tune resolution at the cost of range, and the things
that can cause unexpected variation in circuit performance. In the future, the internal resistors could be
tired more easily to external access points, or be explicitly added by the student, to allow for the setting
and varying of this sampling frequency over the course of the lab. The ADC could also be viewed using a
logic analyzer or a summer, to see the output as a stair step or some other more quantitative output
than an LED strip.