[time-nuts] femtosecond jitter anyone?

Magnus Danielson magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org
Thu Apr 9 00:22:26 UTC 2009


Bruce Griffiths skrev:
> Chris
> 
> Chris Mack / N1SKY wrote:
>>>> This is a good idea for testing..
>>>>       
>>> Applying jitter frequencies for jitter tolerance testing is standard
>>> stuff and needs to be done. Jitter tolerance curves match up with MTIE
>>> tolerance curves very neatly.
>>>
>>>     
>> Of course, here is the weird part... It's not SONET; but it is a chip  
>> that can be used for SONET...  This is for a very specific form of  
>> audio clocking (not audiophile, nor consumer) for a mastering  
>> engineering application.  Common input clock frequencies: 44.1kHz to  
>> 96kHz or also a 10MHz rubidium.
>>
>> The DSP PLL is this chip (I am still learning the intricacies of this  
>> chip):
>>
>> https://www.silabs.com/Support%20Documents/TechnicalDocs/Si5326.pdf
>>
>> The system clock (to drive the DSP and the DSP's DCO) is essentially  
>> a jitter reference, pins XA and XB (differential, single ended  
>> capable); Jitter is transferred nearly 1:1 from XA,XB to CLK_OUT.   
>> This is the 38.88 MHz reference from Vectron with some skirting  
>> issues to be filtered before connected to the XA and XB pins.
>>
>> The input (on CLK_IN pins) is the source clock to be cleaned (e.g.,  
>> 44.1kHz to 96kHz or 10MHz Rb).
>>
>> The output (on CLK_OUT pins)  is 11 MHz to 25MHz for 256x  
>> oversampling master clock for ADCs and DACs
>>
>> 24-bit accuracy for 40kHz (88.2kHz to 96kHz sample rate encompassing  
>> a 45/55 anti-alias filter) shows the need for sub picosecond timing  
>> aperture uncertainty.
>>
>>   
> These ADCs probably have internal jitter way above a few femtosec.
> 
>> Of course 24-bit in the real world is hard to achieve (even the new  
>> "32-bit" converters have a problem with it) with issues internal to  
>> the sampling mechanisms in a DAC / ADC, but with some out-of-band  
>> dither and thermal management, coupled with low jitter sampling  
>> clock, there may be an additional bit or so to be obtained.  This is  
>> all part of the experiment....
>>
>>   
>>>> I have Howard Johnson's book for
>>>>       
>>   
>>>> I think a normal LC tank would be more suitable for that task.
>>>>       
>>> It's a good introductional level book for digital signals, but isn't
>>> very applicable to waveshaping or clock characterisation and testing
>>>     
>> Yes, HJ's books leaves me wanting a little more... seems like an  
>> analogue / RF book for digital folks.
>>
>> I am looking for sharp Q to get rid of any skirt around the 38,88MHz  
>> of the Vectron OCXO.
>>
>>   
> Unless you are prepared to place the crystals in an oven with the
> temperature regulated tightly and carefully tune the filter periodically
> then using a crystal filter (or any passive filter with a sufficiently
> narrow bandwidth to cleanup the skirts) will not be particularly useful.
> It would be much easier to use a low bandwidth analog PLL with a low
> noise VCXO to cleanup the 38.88MHz signal.

Consider using a low noise oscillator at a higher frequency and divide 
down. A high quality reference such as a 19,44 MHz OCXO should be the 
real reference, again readilly available. The typical frequency 
relationship is a handy 8 or 16 which allows for low noise divisions if 
needed. For those frequencies, SAW devices may be more suitable.

>> Temperature can be obtained from cooling componentry already in situ,  
>> such that a known temperature is established.
>>
>>   
> 
> probably not much use unless one arranges to use this to tune the
> crystal filter, even then thermal gradients, thermal transients and
> aging will make this problematic.

Sound nasty.

Cheers,
Magnus



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