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AD9959 channel output signal amplitude and phase

Category: Software
Product Number: AD9959

Greetings !

3 moths ago, I started developing a driver in #C in order to control manually the AD9959 with a microcontroller, so far, I can output different frequency, phase and amplitude from each channel the problem is that the channel don't have the same amplitude and are not in phase. Also, there amplitude seems to change with the frequency I choose. I am convince this is not normal and can't find the maximum amplitude for each channel in the datasheet. Channel 2 and 3 have the same amplitude and  phase but its not the same the output signal from channel 0 and 1. In my first use I set the first 10 bits of the ACR register to 0x3FF which should corresponds to an amplitude scale factor of 1 for each channel but it turns out the amplitude is not the same for all channel. As for the phase, I write 0 as a phase offset word in the CPOW0 register and the signals are not in phase.

I'm resetting the board with the MASTER_RESET pin  before doing all those operations so I have a hard time finding the problem. Do I need to enable the amplitude multiplier enable bit ACR[12]  or should it must be set to 0 if  I want to control the amplitude, for now I set it to 1 every time. I also would like to know the max output amplitude for each channel because for now it seems to change in function of the frequency .

Thank you for your time.

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  • Updates!

    I've been doing a lot of testing and it seems that the higher I go with the frequency, the more the signals tends to be in phase, I believe that is because, the frequency range in the datasheet is on the order of 1MHz to 500MHz. But what if I require signals in the order of 0KHz to 50Khz, is it doable with this board ? Or if it requires hardware modification, which one would be required ? I'm thinking about replacing my 25MHz crystal clock with a 25Khz one even though I know the datasheet specify using one between 20 and 30 MHz .Also, I believed the mas amplitude is from the range of AVDD+- 0.5V so between 1.3V and 2.3V (if that's the case, I would like confirmation) but as you can see  I'm in the order of mV is there a reason why ?

    thanks again

  • Hi  ,

    I was able to ask around my colleagues who have done AD9959 synchronization in the past and what you are experiencing, as the four channels are not exactly in phase, that is valid and is normal. You still have to set some phase offset to get your desired output frequency in phase. Apologies but the minimum REFCLK frequency is 1MHz. Just to clarify, for you to achieve the output of 25kHz, you have to make use of the higher REFCLK which is the 500MHz. The minimum frequency you could generate is 0.6Hz, 

    All the best,

    Jules

  • Ok got it! What about the fact that I don't see the same amplitude at 25KHz, should If I use 20 as a clock multiplier to achieve 500MHz as a REFCLK will it be better ? End by saying that the minimum REFCLK frequency is 1MHz, you are talking about the external crystal clock I can use ? If I set some phase offset to get the frequency output in phase the thing is that, I realize that I might need to apply it every time there is a change of frequency so could it be better to use a PLL after the output to do the trick ? And lastly what is the best frequency range of operation of the board?

    For now, i'll try to set the multiplier on 20 and see the results. I will keep you posted on this discussion on it.

    Thanks for the reply

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  • Ok got it! What about the fact that I don't see the same amplitude at 25KHz, should If I use 20 as a clock multiplier to achieve 500MHz as a REFCLK will it be better ? End by saying that the minimum REFCLK frequency is 1MHz, you are talking about the external crystal clock I can use ? If I set some phase offset to get the frequency output in phase the thing is that, I realize that I might need to apply it every time there is a change of frequency so could it be better to use a PLL after the output to do the trick ? And lastly what is the best frequency range of operation of the board?

    For now, i'll try to set the multiplier on 20 and see the results. I will keep you posted on this discussion on it.

    Thanks for the reply

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