1221 Mw Mikroe Waveform 4 Click Promo 61c26b00d758b

Low-Cost Signal Generator Aids Rapid System Development

Dec. 22, 2021

Based on ADI's AD9106, quad-channel, 12-bit, 180-MS/s waveform generator, this small peripheral development board can help shave time off of design projects.

David Maliniak

Related To: Microwaves & RF

The Overview

The Waveform 4 Click, among the latest in MikroElektronika’s Click family of peripheral development boards, operates as a signal generator for high-speed, high-dynamic-range, multichannel complex waveforms.

Who Needs It & Why?

The device generates signals required in applications such as ultrasound transducer excitation, medical instrumentation, portable instrumentation, signal generators, and arbitrary waveform generators. MikroElektronika’s Click boards, which are based on its 16-pin mikroBUS standard for development-board sockets, enable design engineers to change peripherals easily and quickly, thereby saving development time.

Under the Hood

Waveform 4 Click features Analog Devices' AD9106, a quad-channel, 12-bit, 180-MS/s waveform generator that integrates on-chip SRAM and direct digital synthesis (DDS) for complex waveform generation. The DDS facilitates a master-clock sinewave generator at speeds of up to 180 MHz with a 24-bit tuning word, allowing 10.8 Hz/LSB frequency resolution. The AD9106 has a single frequency output and independent programmable phase-shift outputs for each of the four integrated DACs. In addition, the integrated SRAM data can include directly generated stored waveforms, which can be accessed using the serial peripheral interface, amplitude-modulation patterns applied to DDS outputs, or DDS frequency tuning words.

Waveform 4 Click is supported by a mikroSDK-compliant library, which includes functions that simplify software development. This Click board comes as a fully tested product, ready to be used on a system equipped with the mikroBUS socket.

For more information about MIKROE’s full range of over 1000 Click peripheral boards, visit the product webpage. Nominally $109, the board is currently offered at $87.20.

About the Author

David Maliniak | Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF

I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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About me:

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.