High-performance DAC improves television viewing experience

The AD9162, a 16-bit, 12-Gsample/s DAC from Analog Devices, sports a whopping 2.5-GHz bandwidth that has plenty of headroom for the 1.794-GHz optional future requirement specified by the cable industry’s DOCSIS 3.1 standard. Cable operators will benefit with the ability to plan next-generation network upgrades and capacity expansion without changing converter designs and, as a bonus, can satisfy consumer demands for higher quality, always-on data, and video streaming. The DAC’s high dynamic range (–82-dBc SFDR at –167-dBm/Hz NSD) allows signals to be synthesized across a wide frequency spectrum from direct-to-RF up to 6 GHz. In wireless applications, this eliminates an IF-to-RF conversion stage and local oscillator generation, reducing base station component count, size, and power consumption.

The AD9162 also supports all wireless communication infrastructure protocols, including WCDMA, LTE, LTE-A, and point-to-point, enabling advanced multiband and multi-standard radio designs. This DAC has an integrated 2x interpolator that enables configurations for lower data rates and converter clocking to reduce overall system power and ease filtering requirements. In mix-mode operation, the DAC can be configured to reconstruct RF carriers in the second and third Nyquist zones up to 7.5 GHz while maintaining high dynamic range.

This DAC will also lead us into the 5G era that needs to provide adaptive beamforming that will be required to overcome the propagation challenges for access systems. Beamforming will need to adapt to 5G customers and their environment to deliver the payload. It is looking like hybrid MIMO systems will be used in the microwave and low millimeter wave bands, while in V bands and E bands — where bandwidth is plentiful — the systems will likely employ only beamforming to reach the required throughput goals. The AD9162 is able to meet all of these challenges.