Digital Electronics/Second Class Fourth Subject

Computer Engineering Department

Second Class

Ass. Lecturer Suhad Haddad

2018/2019

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A/D and D/A Conversion

1. Introduction
There are numerous advantages to processing signals using digital systems. And
because of these advantages, digital systems are widely used for control,
communication, computers, instrumentation, etc. In many such applications of
digital systems, the signals are not available in the digital form. Therefore, to
process these analog signals using digital hardware, they have to be converted into
digital form. The process of conversion of analog signal to digital signal is referred
as analog-to-digital conversion. The system that realizes the conversion is referred
to as an analog-to-digital converter or A/D Converter or ADC.
The output of the system may be desired to be of analog form. Therefore, the
output of the digital system is required to be converted back to the analog form.
The process of converting the digital signal to analog form is called digital-to-
analog conversion and the system used for this purpose is referred to as a digital to
analog converter or D/A converter or DAC.

In the present trend of technology, most of the signal processing is based on

digital systems. But the real-world signals are analog in nature. A/D converter
and D/A converter are the bridge between the analog world and digital world.
They find their applications in almost every system of signal processing. An
elementary analog signal-processing system with the use of a digital processor is
illustrated with the block diagram in Figure1.

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Figure 1

2- Comparator:-

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3. Digital-to-Analog Converters (DAC)

The input of a D/A converter is an n-bit binary signal, available in parallel form.
Normally, digital signals are available at the output of latches or registers and the
voltages correspond to logic 0 and logic 1. In general, the logic levels do not have

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precisely fixed voltages. Therefore, these voltages are applied directly to the
converter for digital-to-analog computation, but they are used to operate digitally
controlled switches. The switch is operated to one of the two positions depending
upon the digital signal logic levels (logic 0 or logic 1) which connects precisely
fixed voltages or voltage references V(1) or V(0) to the converter input,
corresponding to logic 1 and logic 0 respectively.
In general, D/A conversion are an important interface process for converting
digital signals to analog (linear) signals. An example is a voice signal that is
digitized for storage, processing, or transmission and must be changed back into an
approximation of the original audio signal in order to drive a speaker.

There are two types of commonly used D/A converters as mentioned below.
1. Weighted-resistor D/A converter, and
2. R-2R ladder D/A converter.

3.1 Weighted-resistor D/A Converter or (binary-weighted resistor DAC)

One method of D/A conversion uses a scaling adder with input resistor values
that represent the binary weights of the digital input code. Although this is not the
most widely used method, it serves to illustrate how a scaling adder can be applied.
Figure (2) shows a four-digit- digital-to-analog converter (DAC) of this type
(called a binary-weighted resistor DAC). The switch symbols represent transistor
switches for applying each of the four binary digits to the inputs. The inverting
input (-) is at virtual ground, and so the output voltage is proportional to the current
through the feedback resistor Rf (sum of input currents).

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The lowest-value resistor R corresponds to the highest weighted binary input (23).
All of the other resistors are multiples of R and correspond to the binary weights
22, 21, and 20.

Figure 2 : a scaling adder as a four-digit digital-to-analog converter (DAC).

Example:-
Determine the output voltage of the DAC in Figure. The sequences of four digit
binary codes represented by the waveforms in Figure (b) are applied to the inputs.
A high level is a binary 1, and a low level is a binary 0. The least significant binary
digit is D0.

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Solution:-
First, determine the current for each of the weighted inputs. Since the inverting
input of the op-amp is at 0 V (virtual ground) and a binary 1 corresponds to a high
level (+5 V), the current through any of the input resistors equals 5 V divided by
the resistance value.

There is almost no current at the inverting op-amp input because of it's extremely
high impedance. Therefore, assume that all of the input current is through Rf. Since
one end of Rf is at 0 V (virtual ground), the drop across Rf equals the output
voltage, which is negative with respect to virtual ground.

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From Figure 3, the first binary input code is 0000, which produces an output
voltage of 0 V. The next input code is 0001 (it stands for decimal 1). For this, the
output voltage is -0.25 V. The next code is 0010, which produces an output voltage
of -0.5V. The next code is 0011, which produces an output voltage of -0.25 V + (-
0.5 V) = -0.75 V. Each successive binary code increases the output voltage by -
0.25V.So, for this particular straight binary sequence on the inputs, the output is a
stair step waveform going from 0 V to -3.75 V in -0.25 V steps, as shown in
Figure below. If the steps are very small, the output approximates a straight line
(linear).

Figure (3)

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3.2 R/2R Ladder D/A Converter

A more common method for D/A conversion is known as the R/2R ladder
method. The R/2R ladder is introduced here for comparison although it does not
use a scaling adder. The R/2R ladder is more commonly used for D/A conversion
than the scaling adder and is shown in Figure 4 for four bits. It overcomes one of
the disadvantages of the binary-weighted-input DAC because it requires only two
resistor values.

Figure 4 An R/2R ladder DAC.

Assume that the D3 input is HIGH (+5 V) and the others are LOW (ground, 0
V). This condition represents the binary number 1000. A circuit analysis will show
that this reduces to the equivalent form shown in Figure 5(a). Essentially no
current goes through the 2R equivalent resistance because the inverting input is at
virtual ground. Thus, all of the current (I = 5 V/2R) through R7 is also through Rf,
and the output voltage is The operational amplifier keeps the inverting input (-)
near zero volts (≈0V) because of negative feedback. Therefore, all current is
through Rf rather than into the inverting input.
Figure 5(b) shows the equivalent circuit when the D2 input is at +5 V and the
others are at ground. This condition represents 0100. If we thevenize looking from

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R8, we get 2.5 V in series with R, as shown. This results in a current through Rf of
I = 2.5 V/2R, which gives an output voltage of -2.5V. Keep in mind that there is
no current into the op-amp inverting input and that there is no current through R7
because it has 0 V across it, due to the virtual ground.
Figure 5(c) shows the equivalent circuit when the D1 input is at +5 V and the
others are at ground. This condition represents 0010. Again thevenizing looking
from R8, you get 1.25 V in series with R as shown. This results in a current
through Rf of I = 1.25 V/2R, which gives an output voltage of-1.25 V.
In part (d) of Figure 4 the equivalent circuit representing the case where D0 is at
+5 V and the other inputs are at ground is shown. This condition represents 0001.
Thevenizing from R8 gives an equivalent of 0.625 V in series with R as shown.
The resulting current through Rf is I = 0.625 V/2R, which gives an output voltage
of-0.625 V.
Notice that each successively lower-weighted input produces an output voltage
that is halved, so that the output voltage is proportional to the binary weight of the
input bits.as shown below:

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Figure (5)

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4. Analog-to-Digital Converters:
An analog-to-digital converter, or A/D converter, is the reverse system of a D/A
converter, which converts an analog signal to its digital form. In an analog-to-
digital converter, the input analog voltage may have any value in a range and it
will produce the digital output of 2N number of discrete values for an N-bit
converter.

4-1 Flash Analog –to – Digital Converter:-

The flash method utilizes comparators that compare reference voltages with the
analog input voltage. When the input voltage exceeds the reference voltage for a
given comparator, a HIGH is generated. In figure below a 3-bit converter that uses
seven comparator circuits, a comparator is not needed for the all-0s condition .A 4-
bit converter of this type requires fifteen comparators. In general, 2 n -1
comparators are required for conversion to an n-bit binary code. The number of
bits used in an ADC is its resolution .the large number of comparators necessary
for a reasonable-sized binary number is one of the disadvantages of the flash ADC.

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Its chief advantage is that it provides a fast conversion time because of a high
throughput, measured in samples per second (sps)

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4.2 Dual-Slope A/D Converter:

A dual-slope A/D converter is one of the most commonly used types of
converter. The schematic diagram of a dual-slope A/D converter is illustrated in
Figure 8. It consists of the following major functional blocks.
1. An integrator.
2. A comparator.
3. A binary counter.
4. A switch driver.

Figure 5

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5. Specification of D/A Converter:

It is very important that the designers as well as the users be aware of the
governing cha
racteristics of D/A converters, as these characteristics play an important role to
determine the stability and accuracy in analog output. The following characteristics
of D/A converters are generally specified by the manufacturers.
1. Resolution.
2. Linearity.
3. Accuracy.

5.1 Resolution
It is defined by the smallest possible change in the output voltage as a
fraction or percentage of the full-scale output range. If an 8-bit D/A converter
are considered for an example, there are 256 possible values of output analog
voltage. Hence the smallest change in the output voltage is 1/255th of full-scale
output range. Therefore, the resolution is calculated as 1/255 or 0.4%. So a general
expression of resolution for an N-bit D/A converter may be defined as below.

Alternatively, resolution is also defined by the number of bits accepted by the D/A
converter. For example, a 12-bit D/A converter have 12-bit resolution.

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5.2 Linearity
In D/A converters, it is desired that equal increments in the numerical
significance of the digital inputs should result in equal increments in the
analog output voltage. However, in practical circuits, due to an error in resistor
values and potential loss at the switches, this type of linear input-output
relationship is never achievable. The term linearity of a converter determines the
measure of precision with which the linear input-output relationship is satisfied.

5.3 Accuracy
The accuracy of a D/A converter is determined by the measure of the
difference between the actual output voltage and the expected output voltage.
It is specified as the percentage of maximum output or the full-scale output
voltage. For example, if a D/A converter is specified as the accuracy of 0.1%, with
full-scale of maximum output voltage of 10 V, the maximum error at output
voltage corresponding to any input combination will be 10 × 0.1/100 V = 10 mV.

5.4 Monotonicity
5.5 Settling time

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