Texas Instruments to perform LTE demo of 1.5GHz CMOS DAC for 3G/4G basestations at Mobile World Congress

At MWC, TI will demo their LTE TSW30SH84EVM transmitter solution, with the new 1.5GHz DAC34SH84

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next week, Texas Instruments (TI) will demonstrate a new 16bit/1.5Gsample/second (GSPS), 4-channel Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), the DAC34SH84. Chuck Sanna, Marketing Manager for High Speed Products at TI, says that the DAC34SH84 is 50% faster, and uses 50% less power than any other 16-bit DAC alternative, dissipating 362 mW/channel at 1.5 GSPS. TI is targeting the DAC at applications in 3G, LTE, GSM and WiMAX wireless base stations and repeaters, microwave point-to-point radio, Software Defined Radio (SDR), and waveform generation systems.

Sanna says that by packaging the DAC34SH84 in a Ball-Grid Array (BGA) package, TI was able to provide a 32b-wide input data bus, that supports data rates up to 750 MSPS.This provides supports 600-MHz of complex RF bandwidth, according to Sanna. The company is manufacturing the DAC in one of TI's internal CMOS processes, but Sanna could not provide details on the process node

Features of the DAC34SH84

• Multi-DAC synchronization
• Selectable 2×, 4×, 8×, 16× interpolation filter
• Stop-band attenuation >90 dBc
• Flexible, on-chip mixing 
• Two independent fine mixers with 32-bit Numerically-Controlled Oscillators (NCO)
• Power-Saving Coarse Mixers: ±n × fS/8
• High-Performance, Low-Jitter Clock-Multiplying PLL
• Digital I and Q Correction - Gain, Phase and Offset
• Digital Inverse Sinc Filters
• 32-Bit DDR Flexible LVDS Input Data Bus
• 8-Sample Input FIFO
• Supports Data Rates up to 750 MSPS signals
• Data Pattern Checker
• Parity Check
• Temperature Sensor
• Differential Scalable Output: 10 mA to 30 mA
• 196-Ball, 12-mm × 12-mm BGA

Evaluation Boards

TI is releasing the DAC34SH84 along with the TSW30SH84EVM a complete RF signal chain evaluation module. The evaluation module adds TI's  TRF3705 IQ modulator and LMK04800 ultra-low jitter clock cleaner with Dual Loop Phase Locked Loops (PLLs) to form a complete transmitter evaluation card.TI will be demonstrating operation of the TSW30SH84EV, for generating 20MHz channel bandwidth LTE signals, at MWC next week.  

To enable high-bandwidth pattern generation for testing the DAC34SH84, or for use as a high-speed Analog-to-Digital Converter capture card, TI is also releasing the TSW1400EVM. The TSW1400EVM enables testing of 16-bit ADCs and DACs, and includes 1GB of memory, that enables 512Msample depth of data capture. 

For simple pattern capture, TI is releasing the TSW1405EVM evaluation card, which comes without memory but supports a 64k sample depth with the ability to collect data on up to eight channels concurrently. The TSW1405EVM integrates a Lattice Semiconductor ECP3 FPGA on-board, to enable interfacing to many of TI’s Low-Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) output ADCs.

As a complement to the TSW1405EV, for pattern generation testing of DACs, TI is releasing the  TSW1406EVM evaluation card. The TSW1406EVM also works with a software package that TI provides with a Graphical User Interface (GUI), which is compatible with the entire TSW1400 family. A demo is included with the software for generating a 20MHz LTE carrier.As part of their MWC demo, TI will run the DAC in a loop-back to the ADC12D1800RF RF sampling ADC, which TI picked up with their acquisition of National Semiconductor. Each of the EVM evaluation cards contain USB interfaces for testing with a PC.

Price and Availability

The TSW30SH84EVM is available now for a suggested retail price of US$499. TI is currently providing sample quantities of the DAC34SH84, and is planning to have production quantities Q2 of 2012, with a suggested retail price of US$78 for 1,000 units.


The TSW1400EVM is also available now, for a suggested retail price of US$649. The TSW1405EVM and TSW1406EVM will be available in March 2012, for a suggested retail price of US$99.