Analog Devices has introduced the AD9164 D/A converter that brings high resolution radar images for designers of military and commercial radar while reducing solution component count. Additionally, for designers of precision instrumentation equipment, such as smartphone testers, this new device ensures improved accuracy as well as speed of test, contributing to faster market-ready time while significantly decreasing tester complexity and size. Thanks to its DC to 6 GHz frequency coverage, this converter moves the tester market one step closer to a universal wireless test platform.
The AD9164 D/A converter delivers:
- Highest linearity in ADI’s D/A converters portfolio
- 100 to 1,000 times improved spectral purity versus previous generation ADI solutions (20-30 dB better)
- Higher agility with frequency change time now a 100 times shorter than traditional ADI phased locked loop (PLL) systems
- The reduction in solution component count and thus size enables element level digital beamforming advanced radar solutions.
With the same performance specifications as the already released AD9162, the AD9164 D/A converter also includes an on-chip direct digital synthesizer (DDS) that ensures phase-coherent fast frequency hopping of less than 300 ns for up to 32 different frequencies. This makes it well-suited for testing anything from AM broadcast band or Japanese FM band to 5.8 GHz UNII band.
This converter features a 2x interpolator (FIR85), which enables configurability for lower data rates and converter clocking to reduce overall system power and ease filtering requirements. In mix-mode operation, this D/A converter can be configured to reconstruct RF carriers in the 2nd and 3rd Nyquist zones up to 7.5 GHz while maintaining exceptional dynamic range.
The AD9164 also comes with a unique remote evaluation tool, allowing designers to “test-drive” the D/A converter’s performance.
