Breakthrough RF A/D

[MrAl]

Hi,

I thought others might be interested in this too from National Semi...

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The industry's first direct RF-sampling ADC directly samples input frequencies beyond 2.7 GHz at up to 3.6 GSPS with excellent dynamic performance. The ADC12Dxx00RF replaces multiple analog components with a single chip, allowing radio designers to increase system capacity and flexibility while reducing board size, weight, and cost and simplifying the design process. A wide range of applications such as 3G/4G wireless basestations, microwave backhaul, military, and wideband software-defined radio (SDR) can now achieve the benefits that RF-sampling provides.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The RF-sampling family of ADCs improves upon the existing 12-bit GSPS ADCs by expanding the frequency range over which National’s superior dynamic range can be realized. The ADC12Dxx00RF delivers excellent noise and linearity performance at RF frequencies beyond the 7th Nyquist zone. These five new ADCs are available in speed grades ranging from dual-channel 500 MSPS to single-channel 3.6 GSPS. They are pin-compatible with the ADC12D1x00 and ADC10D1x00 families, enabling system designers to reuse a single design for multiple speed and resolution combinations.[/FONT]

 

[crutschow]

So we've reached the point in the digital world where you basically hook the antenna to the input of the A/D and go all digital from there.

 

[MrAl]

Hi Carl,

Yeah some of the devices out there these days really are quite incredible. I once designed a 100MSPS oscilloscope and that was fast for the time, but these days that's way too slow.