AD9959 frequency linear sweep down

Hi zyli ,

Can you send me a screenshot of your setting from the evaluation software? Just want to check your values and settings to check if there are errors or I can suggest better solution to achieve the linear sweep that you want. Also what frequencies are you trying to achieve?

Regards,

Jules

Basically, I just want to sweep from 100MHz to 90MHz and that's it, using the linear sweep function. 

Hi zyli ,

I understand you want to sweep from 100MHz to 90MHZ.

 1. In linear sweep mode, S0 is loaded into the Channel Word 0 register (S0 is represented by one of three registers: Register 0x04 is for the frequency type of sweep) and E0 is always loaded into Channel Word 1 (Register 0x0A). If E0 is configured for frequency sweep, the resolution is 32 bits. The profile pins are used to trigger and control the direction of the linear sweep for frequency, phase, and amplitude. All channels can be programmed separately for a linear sweep. In linear sweep mode, Profile Pin P0 is dedicated to Channel 0. Profile Pin P1 is dedicated to Channel 1, and so on.

2. With your CFR address, you activated the following:

[15:8] 0x43 = Enabled Linear Sweep and DAC Full-Scale Current Control

[0:7] 0x80 = Digital Power Down

But I think you are also missing this line : 

The AFP select bits determine the type of linear sweep to be performed. To enable linear sweep mode for a particular channel, the AFP select bits (CFR[23:22]), the modulation level bits (FR1[9:8]), and the linear sweep enable bit (CFR[14]) are programmed. So you need to program 

[23:16] = 80 to enable frequency sweep.

3. Your E0 should be in Channel Word 1 (Register 0x0A) of 90MHZ in hex.

4. In linear sweep, each channel is assigned a rising delta word (RDW, Register 0x08) and a rising sweep ramp rate word (RSRR, Register 0x07). These settings apply when sweeping up toward E0. The falling delta word (FDW, Register 0x09) and falling sweep ramp rate (FSRR, Register 0x07) apply when sweeping down toward S0. 

Just let me know if this helped you. 

All the best,

Jules

Hi, thanks for this information. I forgot to mention that I only need channel 0 at this moment, so I just need p0. The FR1 is also set up correctly because I can ramp the frequency up. I use FR1[9:8] = 00 for a two-level modulation. 

I need to clarify my notion. I mean that my CFR[23:16] = 0x80(hex) = 10000000, so my CFR[23:22] = 10 for frequency sweep. My CFR[15:8] = 0x43=01000011, for full scale linear sweep. My CFR[7:0] = 0x00 and therefore no power-down feature is activated. And my E0, 90MHz, is stored in CW1 (0x0A) and my S0, 100MHz, is stored in CFTW0 (0x04). 

I guess I can simplify my question to the following: can E0 has a lower frequency than S0? And if so, which p0 should it use, and is there anything different from E0 > S0? 

Yes E0 must be greater than S0.

That said, you can accomplish the desired down sweep by taking advantage of the fact that the DDS is a sampled system. Normally, we think of operating only in the 1st Nyquist zone (0 to 1/2 the system sample rate). Therefore, we typically think of the useful range of FTWs as being from FTW = 0 to FTW = 1/2 of the maximum value. However, the DDS will accept FTWs in the 2nd Nyquist zone. That is, FTWs from greater that 1/2 the maximum value up to the maximum value.

When you program a frequency in the 2nd Nyquist zone, you will see its image in the 1st Nyquist zone. Specifically, the 2nd Nyquist zone frequency and 1st Nyquist zone frequency appear as two frequencies "reflected" about the Nyquist frequency (1/2 the system clock sample rate).

For example, let FTW0 represent a frequency in the 1st Nyquist zone and FTW1 represent the corresponding image frequency in the 2nd Nyquist zone. The FTWs relate as follows:

FTW1 = FTWmax - FTW0, and

FTW0 = FTWmax - FTW1

Where FTWmax is the maximum FTW value (that is, all bits = 1).

The clue is the negative sign imposed on the FTW on righthand side of the equations due to the subtraction operation.

This means you can fool the DDS into doing a down sweep in the 1st Nyquist zone by programming an up sweep in the 2nd Nyquist zone. This will satisfy the E0 > S0 requirement, but still allow for a down sweep (in 1st Nyquist zone) by executing an up sweep (in 2nd Nyquist zone).

Ah I see, that's funny and working. Thank you! (though this means I need a low pass filter now)

I have a follow-up question: can I ramp two channels at the same time? Or they can start slightly different but the two sweeps overlap with each other? (Like trigger the p0 and p1 at different times, leaving enough time in the middle for the DDS to communicate?)

Each channel has a dedicated sweep generator and DDS, so you can independently program sweep parameters on a per channel basis. Furthermore, the sweep generators respond independently to their respective Px pin. As such, you should be able to do completely independent sweep operations on a per channel basis.. 

Thank you! I guess I didn't explain myself adequately. I know the linear sweep function can sweep all channels independently from S0 to E0, based on when the Px pin = 1. The question is, can I set up a different S0 and E0 for two different channels? (I can also try to use other methods like RU/RD though I don't understand those yet). 

The answer is, yes.

Note there are four copies of Channel Registers (Table 29) and four copies of Profile Registers (Table 30). That means there are four copes of CFTW0 and CW1 registers, which equate to S0 and E0, respectively.

I see! So I just send two successive commands with different CSR right? 

I see! So I just send two successive commands with different CSR right? 

Yes, you would program the specific channels by setting the corresponding CSR bit for a particular channel. Once they are programmed, you can use to P0-P3 pins to control each channel independently.

Hi, thanks for your help, my problem is solved. Just one more question: can I set the amplitude of the frequency sweep? 

Amplitude is a global control parameter that applies to all channels. That is, the amplitude is programmable, but not on a per-channel basis. Because the ACR is not channel specific, it will only be useful to you if the sweep duration of each channel does not overlap (in time) the sweep duration of any other channel.

Assuming the channel sweeps do not overlap in time, then amplitude control may be implemented as follows...

Manual amplitude control must be enabled via the ACR register: ACR[12:11]=10. The 10-bit amplitude scale is controlled via ACR[9:0]. That is, programming the scale followed by assertion of IO_UPDATE applies the amplitude setting to the output signal level.

Because the scale factor is not channel specific, you would need to pre-program the scale factor between channel sweeps. That is, while one channel is sweeping, program a new scale factor but DO NOT assert IO_UPDATE. Then, upon (or just prior to) triggering the sweep of the next channel, assert IO_UPDATE. That will invoke the pre-programmed scale factor for the new sweep. Repeat for each successive sweep of a channel.