• This collection of wires that I keep referring to between the tank and the monitoring location can be called a bus or a network. The distinction between these two terms is more semantic than technical, and the two may be…

  • In the design of large and complex digital systems, it is often necessary to have one device communicate digital information to and from other devices. One advantage of digital information is that it tends to be far more resistant to…

  • Perhaps the most important consideration of an ADC is its resolution. Resolution is the number of binary bits output by the converter. Because ADC circuits take in an analog signal, which is continuously variable, and resolve it into one of…

  • One of the more advanced ADC technologies is the so-called delta-sigma, or ΔΣ (using the proper Greek letter notation). In mathematics and physics, the capital Greek letter delta (Δ) represents difference or change, while the capital letter sigma (Σ) represents…

  • So far, we’ve only been able to escape the sheer volume of components in the flash converter by using a DAC as part of our ADC circuitry. However, this is not our only option. It is possible to avoid using…

  • A third variation on the counter-DAC-based converter theme is, in my estimation, the most elegant. Instead of a regular “up” counter driving the DAC, this circuit uses an up/down counter. The counter is continuously clocked, and the up/down control line…

  • One method of addressing the digital ramp ADC’s shortcomings is the so-called successive-approximation ADC. The only change in this design is a very special counter circuit known as a successive-approximation register. Instead of counting up in binary sequence, this register…

  • Also known as the stairstep-ramp, or simply counter A/D converter, this is also fairly easy to understand but unfortunately suffers from several limitations. The basic idea is to connect the output of a free-running binary counter to the input of…

  • Also called the parallel A/D converter, this circuit is the simplest to understand. It is formed of a series of comparators, each one comparing the input signal to a unique reference voltage. The comparator outputs connect to the inputs of…

  • The R/2R DAC circuit is an alternative to the binary-weighted-input (R/2nR) DAC which uses fewer unique resistor values.  R/2R DAC vs. R/2nR DAC A disadvantage of the former DAC design was its requirement of several different precise input resistor values:…

  • What Is a R/2nR DAC Circuit? The R/2nR DAC circuit, otherwise known as the binary-weighted-input DAC, is a variation on the inverting summing op-amp circuit. (Note that “summing” circuits are sometimes also referred to as “summer” circuits.) If you recall, the…

  • Connecting digital circuitry to sensor devices is simple if the sensor devices are inherently digital themselves. Switches, relays, and encoders are easily interfaced with gate circuits due to the on/off nature of their signals. However, when analog devices are involved,…

  • If the output of a shift register is fed back to the input. a ring counter results. The data pattern contained within the shift register will recirculate as long as clock pulses are applied. For example, the data pattern will…

  • The purpose of the parallel-in/ parallel-out shift register is to take in parallel data, shift it, then output it as shown below. A universal shift register is a do-everything device in addition to the parallel-in/ parallel-out function. Above we apply…

  • A serial-in, parallel-out shift register is similar to the serial-in, serial-out shift register in that it shifts data into internal storage elements and shifts data out at the serial-out, data-out, pin. It is different in that it makes all the…

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