Digital Frequency Synthesis Demystified (PDF)

publication of Digital Frequency Synthesis Demystified, a new book/software package that focuses on the latest techniques in digital frequency synthesis, including direct digital synthesis (DDS) and fractional-N PLLs.

Written by Bar-Giora Goldberg, a noted expert in the frequency synthesis field, the book covers synthesis parameters and techniques, system analysis, DDS architecture, PLL synthesis, compression algorithms, and the latest IC synthesizers. Goldberg said, "I'm not aware of any other text that addresses the latest design issues in this exciting and fast-paced technology."

Frequency synthesis is used in cellular telephony, military radios, CB radios, consumer electronics, and other applications too numerous to mention. Recent advances in direct digital synthesis and PLLs have made digital approaches extremely popular, and designers need to access the most current information possible.

LLH's president Carol Lewis describes the book and CD-ROM in this way: "Designers involved in the latest wave of devices making use of DDS will particularly appreciate this text. In addition to the excellent tutorial information in the book, the accompanying CD-ROM contains a variety of software tools and accessories to help designers understand and make use of the latest techniques in this exciting field."
--Nuts & Volts magazine, December 1999

"Frequency synthesis is no longer a novelty but ubiquitous in today's electronic equipment. Every radio design uses synthesized signals for generation and control. The purpose of this book is to present a comprehensive review of digital techniques used in modern frequency synthesis design. The text is aimed specifically at practical designers and utilizes many intuitive explanations and design examples. It assumes the reader has some understanding of frequency synthesis.

The basic elements of the three major frequency synthesis techniques are presented in Chapter 1 as part of a brief review of frequency synthesis techniques. Chapter 2 presents a short survey of basic synthesizer system design parameters and analyses common to all frequency synthesizers. The various requirements and their effects on the design and numerous operations pertinent to frequency synthesis are described. Chapter 3 covers measurement techniques for determining parameters such as phase noise, switching speed and phase transients.

Chapter 4 describes general direct digital synthesis (DDS) technology as well as how it has evolved and improved during the last 10 years. Chapter 5 describes phase-locked loop (PLL) synthesizers with a concentration on digital techniques and progress in the overall architecture and PLL circuitry, particularly fractional-N concepts and architecture. Chapter 6 focuses on accumulators and describes the two main types: binary and decimal. Chapter 7 discusses the lookup table and sine read-only-memory (ROM) compression. A variety of ROM compression algorithms are presented along with standard equations to generate the ideal sine digital waveform. Digital-to-analog converters are covered in Chapter 8. A short review of reference generators is presented in Chapter 9 along with a description of frequency synthesizers commonly used in various applications. The final chapter presents the original article published almost 30 years ago by Tieney, Rader and Gold that started the DDS technological evolution. The attached CD-ROM contains software files and a PDF version of the book as well as a tutorial on digital signal synthesis.

--Microwave Journal, February 2000