In order to overcome the shortcomings of long manufacturing times for conventional oscillators, programmable oscillators were introduced in the early 1990s. A conventional oscillator of any frequency generates any frequency through a programmable phase-locked loop (PLL), frequency division, output accumulation and output buffering.
Easybom has collected a number of information about the programmable oscillator, which help the engineers make full use of the programmable oscillators and enjoy the advantage of instant delivery time.
The following content is the ways to make the most of the programmable oscillator provided by Easybom.
1. Minimize jitter
Programmable oscillators can match fixed-frequency devices in almost every category and every technical specification, but jitter (phase noise) is an exception. Part of the jitter of programmable devices comes from the programming process, or more specifically, from the programming algorithm.
When multiplication is used in the algorithm, the jitter value suddenly increases significantly. This is mainly because the jitter is multiplied by the coefficient used when the programming algorithm sets a specific frequency. In order to obtain the required output frequency, both multiplication and division are usually used in the algorithm, but the division does not increase the jitter. By minimizing the multiplication coefficient of the programming algorithm, the phase noise from the programmable device can be very close to the traditional fixed-frequency device, which is mainly the jitter generated by the crystal and oscillator circuit.
SaRonix has standardized a similar programming process to ensure that each product of the programmable oscillator has stable and consistent performance-this is also of great significance. SaRonix adopts an automatic design process to ensure that the same programming algorithm is used for all components with the same output frequency.
Thanks to such technological advancements, programmable oscillator elements can now be used on almost every circuit-even in some circuits of communication equipment, such as XDSL modems. Although the oscillator may affect a communication link that is sensitive to jitter, there may also be a DSP chip driven by the oscillator on the same circuit board, which is completely unaffected by jitter.
Develop the most advantageous strategy
Due to their short development cycle, these programmable oscillators can keep up with the schedule to ensure that the design plan is completed on time. Despite this flexibility, fixed-frequency devices are still relatively cheap under high-volume conditions. On the other hand, in the production of prototypes, programmable devices are cheaper than fixed-frequency devices.
Therefore, the shrewd strategy is to use programmable devices in the design to verify the circuit when manufacturing the prototype, while also using the programmable oscillator as a production backup component. With the completion of the design evaluation, specific fixed-frequency devices can be mass-produced for mass use.
With programmable devices, a highly effective insurance strategy can be realized to solve the problem of the shortage of key components in production. The short development cycle of programmable oscillators allows the production department to purchase replacement parts before mass ordering of commonly used fixed-frequency components, so there is no need to pay additional costs, as long as the production deadline is approaching quickly to replenish standard parts.
The programmable oscillators can be used as much as possible and operate reliably and constantly if the ways provided by Easybom are implemented as mentioned above.
