1300 Henley Court Pullman, WA 99163 509.334.6306 www.digilentinc.com Analog Discovery Technical Reference Manual Revised March 18, 2015 This manual applies to the Analog Discovery rev. C Overview The Digilent Analog Discovery, developed in conjunction with Analog Devices Inc., is a multi-function instrument that can measure, record, and generate analog and digital signals. The small, portable and low-cost Analog Discovery was created so that engineering students could work with analog and digital circuits anytime, anywhere - right from their PC. The Analog Discovery s analog and digital inputs and outputs connect to a circuit using simple wire probes. Inputs and outputs are controlled using Digilent s free PC-based WaveForms software that can configure the Analog Discovery to work as any one of several traditional instruments. Features include: Two-channel oscilloscope (1M, 25V, differential, 14 bit, 100Msample/sec, 5MHz bandwidth) Two-channel arbitrary function generator (22, 5V, 14 bit, 100Msample/sec, 5MHz bandwidth) Stereo audio amplifier to drive external headphones or speakers with replicated AWG signals 16-channel digital logic analyzer (3.3V CMOS, 100Msample/sec)* 16-channel pattern generator (3.3V CMOS, 100Msample/sec)* 16-channel virtual digital I/O including buttons, switches and LEDs good for logic trainer applications* Two input/output digital trigger signals for linking multiple instruments (3.3V CMOS) Two power supplies (+5V at 50mA, -5V at 50mA) Single channel voltmeter (AC, DC, 25V) Network analyzer Bode, Nyquist, Nichols Figure 1. The Analog Discovery. transfer diagrams of a circuit. Range: 1Hz to 10MHz Spectrum Analyzer - power spectrum and spectral measurements (noise floor, SFDR, SNR, THD, etc.) Digital Bus Analyzers (SPI, I2C, UART, Parallel) The Analog Discovery was designed for students in typical university-based circuit and electronics classes. Its features and specifications, including operating from USB power, a small and portable form factor, and the ability to be used by students in a variety of environments at low cost, are based directly on inputs from many professors Copyright Digilent, Inc. All rights reserved. DOC : 502-244-C Page 1 of 39 Other product and company names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners. Analog Discovery Technical Reference Manual at many universities. Meeting all of the requirements proved challenging, and resulted in some new and innovative circuits. This document is a reference for the Analog Discovery s electrical functions and operations. This reference also provides a description of the hardware s features and limitations. It is not intended to provide enough information to enable complete duplication of the Analog Discovery, or to allow users to design custom configurations for programmable parts in the design. 1 Architectural Overview and Block Diagram Analog Discovery s high-level block diagram is presented in Fig. 2 below. The core of the Analog Discovery is the Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA (specifically, the XC6SLX16-1L device). The WaveForms software automatically programs Discovery s FPGA at start-up with a configuration file designed to implement a multi-function test and measurement instrument. Once programmed, the FPGA communicates with the PC-based Waveforms software via a USB2.0 connection. The Waveforms software works with the FPGA to control all the functional blocks of the Analog Discovery, including setting parameters, acquiring data, and transferring and storing data. Analog Inputs Analog Outputs Osc Clock generator (Scope) (AWG) Input divider Buffer Driver SC1 Audio Left I/V and gain selection Out AWG1 Scope reference and ADC DAC AWG ref and offset offset Input divider Out AWG2 and gain selection SC2 Buffer Driver I/V Audio Right FPGA Internal Osc power D0D15 Prog Data Calibration Digital I/O Memory USB ctrl T0T1 PC USB Power Supplies and Control V+, V- Figure 1. Analog discovery hardware block diagram. Signals in the Analog Input block, also called the Scope, useS indexes to indicate they are related to the scope block. Signals in the Analog Output block, also called AWG, useAW indexes signals in the Digital block use a D index all the instruments offered by Discovery and WaveForms use the circuits in these three blocks. Signal and equations also use certain naming conventions. Analog voltages are prefixed with a (for Voltage), and suffixes Copyright Digilent, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 39 Other product and company names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.