The EV12DS480 achieves a sampling rate of 8 Gsamples/s and can be used in systems that operate all the way into Ka-band frequencies.
“Teledyne has been developing really broadband data converters for a long time,” said Rentel. “On the D/A side, that means direct launching into some RF band. Original converters developed probably over 20 years ago were in the L-band range. Our new DAC has a sampling rate of up to 8 Gsamples/s, and it also has 8 GHz of analog bandwidth.”
Rentel is quick to point out that the EV12DS480 is still usable beyond 8 GHz. “It rolls off after 8 GHz—but it’s a single pole roll-off and it’s got a sin(x)/x roll-off as well,” he explained. “That allows our customers to actually use it above its 3-dB bandwidth. It’s being used at 10 GHz; some people are considering it at X-band; some people are looking at using it up into Ku- and Ka-band because it still has reasonable power and it really simplifies systems—you have digital bits going in one end and RF out the other.”
According to Rentel, system simplification is a major advantage that the EV12DS480 brings to the table. “The simplified-system aspect of this is that you get rid of analog upconversion stages with the DAC. If you look at a block diagram, the EV12DS480 takes a chunk away from it. This DAC takes away a mixer and a synthesizer that had to drive that mixer and replaces them with their digital equivalents. That happens in a FPGA or some type of processing unit that sits in front of the DAC.”
So what applications are being targeted? “As a business unit, we focus a lot on high-reliability, high-performance, long-life systems,” added Rentel. “Avionics and space applications fall into that category. This product is designed and specified to be used in high-reliability applications like aircraft systems and space. If you want long life and very reliable operation, you need to have high-reliability components. We start by saying that we want these products to work for these high-reliability applications—and then we will certainly move into less stringent areas like instrumentation and some of the communications systems.”
