[time-nuts] GPS-disciplining an ordinary VCXO?

SAIDJACK at aol.com SAIDJACK at aol.com
Mon Sep 29 15:12:24 EDT 2014


Hi Mark,
 
yes, the PLL is there to remove any tempco of the system and all error  
sources etc, so you don't have to individually quantify the errors. That is the 
 nice thing about loops. You only need a good model if you have to work in  
holdover without GPS disciplining.
 
You will need a phase detector with nanosecond resolution preferably, but  
even 10ns resolution works just fine considering most GPS have sawtooth 
errors  larger than that. Take a look at the PID wiki to get some idea of how to 
program  the loop and assure sufficient phase-margin for stability, and how 
to  heuristically calibrate the loop constants. After that theory goes out 
the door  and it is time for experimentation because every system will be 
different, even  if you use the exact same type of parts.
 
I still think you should discipline a nice OCXO, then phase lock the  
Crystek part to that OCXO rather than trying to discipline the VCXO directly. It  
won't add too much complexity to the board.
 
Good luck,
bye,
Said
 
 
In a message dated 9/29/2014 11:42:18 Pacific Daylight Time,  
haunma at keteu.org writes:

Hi  Said,

Didn't want to tie up the list any more with this, but wanted to  say thanks
for your help.  If I were a real electronics guy designing  this for a real
product, we'd probably be considering one of your  parts!  Instead I'm a
theory guy with mostly  research/algorithms/software experience, so yes, 
this
is totally a one-off  for me.  Just a learning experience.



Anyway, back to the  PFD, I wasn't sure how I would get numbers out of it to
stuff into a  filter, but if it is running ~ 10^6 times faster than the
filter output,  maybe it is enough to filter the 1-bit directly.

BTW, wouldn't the  control loop null out any DAC temperature coefficient in
the same way that  it tracks the tempco of the VCXO?  I suppose the issue is
that the DAC  tempco, multiplied by the VCXO control gain, could dwarf the
uncontrolled  VCXO tempco?  The VCXO gain is about 25 ppm/V and its main
tempco is ~  300 ppb/C, equivalent to a DAC tempco of 12 mV/C, which is
pretty awful for  a DAC.

(The CVHD-950, by the way, does not specify a tempco on the data  sheet
or provide a graph; these numbers are from the Abracon  ABLNO-V-xxx.)

Thanks again,

Mark


SAIDJACK at aol.com  [SAIDJACK at aol.com] wrote:
> Hi Mark,
>  
> that really  is up to you and your skill-set. I don't use FPGA's in 
products 
>   anymore because they are not field-serviceable generally, expensive, 
>  usually  require some sort of recurrent registration of the compiler, 
the  ones I 
> like  have external program storage so are not easily  protected against 
> theft, and are  not needed if you have a good  Microcontroller and a 
handful of 
> discrete gates. I  do use PLD's  from time to time to do simple dividers 
etc.
>  
> But  integrating everything into an FPGA for a one-off if you are versed 
at   
> programming them and know how to do IIR and FIR filters etc is a  
completely 
>  different story.
>  
> Lastly,  there is no need to generate a DC signal with a 1-bit DAC  
>  (sigma-delta, PWM etc) for a one-off design since there are very good  
and  low-cost 
> 12 bit or 16 bit DAC's available. I would use two  cheap 12 bit DAC's  
(SPI 
> or better I2C) cascaded to give me 20+  bits equivalent DAC resolution.  
Don't 
> forget that the DAC  reference is just as important as the DAC, maybe 
even  
> more so  for applications that will see larger temp variations.
>  
>  As I said before we have discussed this subject on numerous occasions   
over 
> the last decade in very great detail, you may want to search and  read  
> through the archives - there is great detail on all of the  above.
>  
> Nowadays you can get a great 10MHz OCXO on Ebay  for $10, buy a  
> PLD/FPGA/Micro eval board for less than $30, and  add a DAC and some 
low-pass  filtering 
> and voltage reference for  probably less than $10. So you can do a  
> complete, high-end  double-oven GPSDO for around $50.. Adding the Crystek 
VCXO  onto 
>  an Analog Devices PLL eval board would give you the desired  
high-frequency,  
> low phase noise output.
>  
>  bye,
> Said
>  
>  
> In a message dated  9/29/2014 10:36:14 Pacific Daylight Time,  
> haunma at keteu.org  writes:
> 
> Said,  would you suggest implementing the  dividers and PFD in the FPGA, 
> along
> with  the digital  filtering?  Or feeding the FPGA with some version of  
the
>  PFD output?  I am trying to avoid an extra A/D step here, but I   have no
> experience with it.  Post-filter, I am satisfied that a  simple  one-bit 
D/A
> with passive filtering will get me to 16 bits  resolution for  the VCXO
> control, enough for ppb  resolution.
> 
> Thanks for the data  point on the vcxo  thermal sensitivity; it's very  
> useful!
> 
>  Regards,
> 
> Mark
> 
> Said Jackson  [saidjack at aol.com]  wrote:
> > Stephane, you will need to  replace the analog low-pass filter  that 
> follows
> >  the phase comparator with a digital low pass filter to  get 0.1Hz or  
lower
> > loop bandwidth.  This is what a GPSDO   does.  A simple PID loop is what
> > accomplishes this   typically.
> [...]
> > On the thermal sensitivity of that  Crystek vcxo:  it is slow enough for
> > even a loop with 0.1Hz  BW to compensate for it  easily if you shield 
the
> > crystal  from  airflow.
> 



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