[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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