REV. A

AD7716

–10–

relationship between input bandwidth and settling is given in

Table I. Because of this settling time, most sigma delta ADCs

are unsuitable for high speed multiplexing, where channels are

switched and converted sequentially at high rates, as switching

between channels can cause a step change in the input.

How-

ever, the AD7716 is a sigma-delta solution to multichannel ap-

plications, since it can process four channels simultaneously. In

addition, it is easy to cascade several devices in order to increase

the number of channels being processed.

Figure 6. Frequency Response of AD7716 Filter

Figure 6 shows the filter frequency response for a cutoff fre-

quency of 73 Hz. This is a (sinx/x)

that provides greater than 100 dB rejection at the notch fre-

quencies. The relationship between the programmed cutoff

The settling time to a full-scale step input is four times the out-

put data period. Programming a different cutoff frequency via

FC0–FC2 does not alter the profile of the filter response, it sim-

ply changes the frequency of the notches.

In Figure 6, the first notch is at 278 Hz. This is also the output

data rate. Settling time to a full-scale step input is 10.8 ms.

The digital filter can be defined by the following equations.

H ( z )

=

1

N

×













3

H ( f )

=

sin

πf / f

πf / f

3

where N = Ratio of Modulator Sampling Frequency to Output

Rate

and

Post Filtering

In the AD7716, the on-chip modulator provides the digital filter

with samples at a rate of 570 kHz. The filter decimates these

samples to provide data at an output rate which corresponds to

the programmed first notch frequency of the filter.

If the user wants to reduce the output noise from the device for

bandwidths less than 36.5 Hz, then it is possible to employ extra

filtering after the AD7716. This extra digital filtering is called

post filtering. If a straight averaging filter is used, for example, a

reduction in bandwidth by a factor of 2 results in

√2 reduction

in the rms noise. This additional filtering will also result in a

longer settling time.

Antialias Considerations

The digital filter does not provide any rejection at integer mul-

tiples of the modulator sampling frequency (n

570 kHz,

where n = 1, 2, 3, . . .). This means that there are frequency

bands,

±f

to FC2) where noise passes unattenuated to the output. How-

ever, due to the AD7716’s high oversampling ratio, these bands

occupy only a small fraction of the spectrum and most broad-

band noise is filtered.

In spectral analysis applications, it is important to note that at-

tenuation at half the output update rate is 16 dB. Extra front-

end filtering or post filtering may be required to keep aliases in

this frequency band at an acceptable level.

USING THE AD7716

SYSTEM DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

The AD7716 operates differently from successive approxima-

tion ADCs or other integrating ADCs. Since it samples the sig-

nal continuously, like a tracking ADC, there is no need for a

start convert command. The output register is updated at a rate

dependent on the programmed cutoff frequency, and the output

can be read at any time.

Input Signal Conditioning

The input range for the AD7716 is

±V

± 10%. Other input ranges can be accommodated by input sig-

nal conditioning. This may take the form of gain to increase a

smaller signal range, or passive attenuation to reduce a larger in-

put voltage range.

–240

1668

73

0

0

–180

–220

–200

–120

–160

–140

–100

–80

–60

–20

–40

1390

1112

834

556

278

FREQUENCY – Hz