SIGNALCORE SC5520A Hardware Manual

Hardware Manual SC5520A & SC5521A UHFS 160 MHz to 40 GHz CW Signal Source Rev 1.1 www.signalcore.com ...

1 General Information .............................................................................................................................. 4 Warranty ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Copyright & Trademarks ................................................................................................................ 4 International Materials Declarations ............................................................................................. 5 CE European Union EMC Declaration .. ...

SignalCore, Inc. 2 Default Startup Mode .................................................................................................................. 14 4 Hardware Registers ............................................................................................................................. 15 Configuration Registers ............................................................................................................... 15 Register 0x01 INITIALIZE (1 Byte)......................................................................................... 16 Register 0x02 SET_SYS_ACTIVE (1 Byte) ..... ...

Register 0x22 GET_DEVICE_STATUS (1 Byte, 8 Bytes) ......................................................... 27 Register 0x23 GET_DEVICE_INFO (1 Byte, 8 Bytes) ............................................................. 30 Register 0x24 GET_LIST_BUFFER (3 Bytes, 8 Bytes) ............................................................ 30 Register 0x25 FETCH_DAC_VALUE (1 Byte, 8 Bytes) ........................................................... 31 Register 0x26 SERIAL_OUT_BUFFER ................................ ...

SignalCore, Inc. 4 1 General Information Warranty This product is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of three years from the date of shipment. SignalCore will, at its option, repair or replace equipment that proves to be defective during the warranty period. This warranty includes parts and labor. Before any equipment will be accepted for warranty repair or replacement, a Return Material Authorization (RMA) number must be obtained from a SignalCore customer service representative and clearly marked on the outside of the return package. SignalCore will pay all shipping costs r ...

of SignalCore, Incorporated. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. International Materials Declarations SignalCore, Incorporated uses a fully RoHS compliant manufacturing process for our products. Therefore, SignalCore hereby declares that its products do not contain restricted materials as defined by European Union directive 2002/95/EC (EU RoHS) in any amounts higher than limits stated in the directive. This statement assumes rel ...

SignalCore, Inc. 6 ERRORS, SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS, MALFUNCTIONS OR FAILURES OF ELECTRONIC MONITORING OR CONTROL DEVICES, TRANSIENT FAILURES OF ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS (HARDWARE AND/OR SOFTWARE), UNANTICIPATED USES OR MISUSES, OR ERRORS ON THE PART OF THE USER OR APPLICATIONS DESIGNER (ADVERSE FACTORS SUCH AS THESE ARE HEREAFTER COLLECTIVELY TERMED “SYSTEM FAILURES”). ANY APPLICATION WHERE A SYSTEM FAILURE WOULD CREATE A RISK OF HARM TO PROPERTY OR PERSONS (INCLUDING THE RISK OF BODILY INJURY AND DEATH) SHOULD NOT BE SOLELY RELIANT UPON ANY ONE COMPONENT DUE TO THE RISK OF SYSTEM FAILURE. ...

system configuration into which the device is integrated is unique, detailed cooling options cannot be provided. A cooling plan is sufficient when the SC5520A and SC5521A on-board temperature sensors indicate a rise of no more than 20°C above ambient temperature under normal operating conditions. Front Interface Indicators and Connectors The SC5520A is a PXIe-based RF signal source with all RF connectors located on the front face of the module. Its control I/O is via the back PXIe interface connectors. ...

SignalCore, Inc. 8 The SC5521A is a serial controlled core module, whose RF and I/O connectors are located at the front face as shown in Error! Reference source not found.. Front face interfaces and indicators are explained below. Signal Connections All signal connections (ports) on the device are female SMA-type. Exercise caution when fastening cables to the signal connections. Over-tightening any connection can cause permanent damage to the device. The condition of your system signal connections can significantly affect measurement accuracy and repeatability. Improperly mated connections or dirty, damaged, ...

LED Color Description Green The device is functioning properly in the state that it is programmed for Orange Channel powered down or port is disabled Red Indicates that one or more local oscillators are not functioning correctly Off No supply or supply error Table 2. Active LED Indicator (User Programmable) LED Color Description Green Device is open Red Supply fault due to possible overvoltage Off Device is closed (off) Communication and Supply Connection Figure 1. Power and Digital IO Connector Power and communication to the modules is provided through a rectangular connector from Sa ...

SignalCore, Inc. 10 PIN # SPI Function RS-232 Function 14 Device Reset_B 18 Pulse switch control 22 Used Input 21 Trigger in 20 Trigger out 19 RF1 PLL Status 12, 13, 17 Do not connect 2, 4, 6, 8 +Supply (+12V typ, max +16V) 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 15, 23, 29 GND 9, 10 Not internally connected Mini-USB Connection The SC5521A uses a mini-USB Type B connector for USB communication with the device using the standard USB 2.0 protocol (full speed) found on most host computers. The pinout of this connector, viewed from the front, is shown in the following table. Table 4. Pinout of the SC5521A USB communication connector. P ...

3 Theory and Operation The UHFS module is an instrument-grade, high performance synthesizer with easy to program register- level control. It functions as a standard synthesized CW source with the added capability of a sweep/list mode that makes it ideal for applications ranging from automated test systems to telecommunication equipment to scientific research labs. Being small and modular, it is the ideal solution for system integration applications that require a high performance RF source. In addition, it could be used as a general-purpose lab source. Figure 2 shows the block diagram of the device, and the follow ...

SignalCore, Inc. 12 Reference Mode The internal reference of the UHFS is a 10 MHz OCXO. When the device needs to be locked to an external reference of 10 MHz it can be programmed to lock externally, see 4.1.23. Before the device attempts to lock to an external source it will first examine to see if an external signal is detected, and it will only continue with the locking process if it successfully detects it. Otherwise, it will continue to use the internal OCXO. The device also puts out its internal reference at 10 MHz or 100 MHz. Computational Time Level settings for the level DAC and step attenuator comp ...

the frequency points are incrementally stepped with a constant step size either in a linearly increasing or linearly decreasing fashion. List Function The list function requires that the frequency points are read in from a list provided by the user. The user will need to load the frequency points into the list buffer via the LIST_BUFFER_WRITE register, or have the device read the frequency points into it from the EEPROM. Sweep Direction The sweep can be chosen to start at the beginning of a list and incrementally step to the end of the list or vice versa. Sweep Waveform The list of frequency points may be swept ...

SignalCore, Inc. 14 trigger the device to perform the sweep/list function defined in the LIST_MODE_CONFIG register. The device may also be triggered via pin 21, the hardware trigger pin (TRIGIN). Hardware triggering occurs on a high to low transition state of this pin. Note, hardware triggering is currently not available for the SC5520A. Hardware Trigger Modes The device may be triggered to start a sweep or list then uses the next trigger to stop it. In triggered start/stop mode, alternating triggers will start and stop the sweep/list. In this mode, start triggering will always return the frequency point to ...

Configuration Registers These are write-only registers to configure the device. The registers vary in length to reduce redundant data and improve the communication speed, especially for SPI and RS232 interfaces. Furthermore, it is vitally important that the length of data written to a register is exact because failure to do so will cause the interfaces to misinterpret the incoming data, leaving the device in a stalled state. The total number of bytes is the sum of the register address (1 Byte) and its corresponding data bytes. For example, to set the RF frequency value, eight bytes must be writ ...

SignalCore, Inc. 16 Register Name Register Address Serial Range Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 [55:32] Zero AUTO_LEVEL_DISABLE 0x14 [7:0] Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Mode UNUSED 0x15 [7:0] Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open RF_STANDBY 0x16 [7:0] Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Mode REFERENCE_MODE 0x17 [7:0] Open Open Open Open Open Open Ref Out Select Lock Enable REFERENCE_DAC_SETTING 0x18 [7:0] DAC Word [7:0] [15:8] Open Open DAC Word [13:8] [23:16] Zeros ALC_DAC_VALUE 0x19 [7:0] DAC Word [7:0] [15:8] Open Open DAC Word [13:8] [23:16] Zeros RESERVED 0x1A [39:0] STORE_DEFAULT_S ...

This register configures the PLL loop gain of the local oscillator synthesizers. It also enables or disables faster tuning of the YIG based oscillator of LO1. Bit Type Name Width Description [0] WO Lock Mode 1 0 = harmonic offset mode 1 = fracN PLL offset mode [1] WO Loop Gain 1 0 = Normal loop gain for better close in phase noise. 1 = Low loop gain for better far out phase noise and spur suppression. [2] WO Disable spur suppression 1 Only applies in harmonic offset mode, see bit [0]. 0 = The device automatically switches to fracN offset mode to avoid potentially large spurs due to ...

SignalCore, Inc. 18 Register 0x04 RF_MODE (1 Byte) This register controls the single fixed tone mode and sweep / list mode. Bit Type Name Width Description [0] WO RF Mode 1 0 = Single fixed tone mode. This mode must be set to change the frequency value via register 0x1A. 1 = Sweep / list mode. In this mode, writing to register 0x10 will be unresponsive. This register must be called first for sweep / list triggering to function. [7:1] WO Unused 7 Set all bits to zero. Register 0x05 LIST_MODE_CONFIG (1 Byte) This register controls the list mode configurations. Bit Type Name Width Description [0] WO SSS Mode 1 ...

used to start and stop a sweep/list cycle. It does not work for step-on-trigger mode. 1 = Hardware trigger. A high-to-low transition on the TRIGIN pin will trigger the device. It can be used for both start/stop or step-on-trigger functions. [4] WO Step on Trigger 1 0 = Start/Stop behavior. The sweep starts and continues to step through the list for the number of cycles set, dwelling at each step frequency for a period set by the LIST_DWELL_TIME register. The sweep/list will end on a consecutive trigger. ...