Fiso sampling system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A high-speed sampling system comprising:
- a transmission line for transmitting a signal;
means for coupling an input signal to said transmission line;
a plurality of sampling gates coupled, respectively, to like plurality substantially equispaced points on said transmission line with each of said sampling gates adapted to receive an enabling pulse;
a like plurality of storage means coupled to corresponding sampling gates, with each sampling gate for transferring the amplitude of the input signal at the point on said transmission line coupled to the sampling gate to the storage means coupled to the sampling gate when the sampling gate receives an enabling pulse;
means for generating an ordered like plurality of equispaced timing signals with each timing signal associated with a given one of said sampling gates;
means for generating an ordered like plurality of phase signals with each one of said phase signals associated with a given one of said timing signals and displaced from its associated signal by an adjustable phase delay interval;
adaptive means to adjust the displacement of each of said phase signals from its associated timing signal to compensate for propagation delay and for non-controllable hardware and temperature induced delays; and
a like plurality of enabling pulse generators, each enabling pulse generator coupled to a corresponding one of said sampling gates, adapted to receive the timing signal and phase signal associated with the corresponding sampling gate, and including a pair of step recovery diodes, characterized by a transition time between a high-impedance state and a low-impedance state of about 75 picoseconds, with each step recovery diode having a first terminal coupled to a common node, with each enabling pulse generator for generating an enabling pulse displaced from the timing signal associated with the corresponding sampling gate by the adjustable phase delay defined by the displacement between the timing signal and phase signal associated with the corresponding sampling gate with the rise time of the leading edge and fall time of the trailing edge of said enabling pulse being about 75 picoseconds to provide the precise timing required to sample signals at Gigahertz sampling rates.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fast-in, slow-out sampling system that operates at a very high sampling frequency at high accuracy. The system includes a parallel processing sampling structure controlled by a precision pulse generation system.
-
Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A high-speed sampling system comprising:
-
a transmission line for transmitting a signal; means for coupling an input signal to said transmission line; a plurality of sampling gates coupled, respectively, to like plurality substantially equispaced points on said transmission line with each of said sampling gates adapted to receive an enabling pulse; a like plurality of storage means coupled to corresponding sampling gates, with each sampling gate for transferring the amplitude of the input signal at the point on said transmission line coupled to the sampling gate to the storage means coupled to the sampling gate when the sampling gate receives an enabling pulse; means for generating an ordered like plurality of equispaced timing signals with each timing signal associated with a given one of said sampling gates; means for generating an ordered like plurality of phase signals with each one of said phase signals associated with a given one of said timing signals and displaced from its associated signal by an adjustable phase delay interval; adaptive means to adjust the displacement of each of said phase signals from its associated timing signal to compensate for propagation delay and for non-controllable hardware and temperature induced delays; and a like plurality of enabling pulse generators, each enabling pulse generator coupled to a corresponding one of said sampling gates, adapted to receive the timing signal and phase signal associated with the corresponding sampling gate, and including a pair of step recovery diodes, characterized by a transition time between a high-impedance state and a low-impedance state of about 75 picoseconds, with each step recovery diode having a first terminal coupled to a common node, with each enabling pulse generator for generating an enabling pulse displaced from the timing signal associated with the corresponding sampling gate by the adjustable phase delay defined by the displacement between the timing signal and phase signal associated with the corresponding sampling gate with the rise time of the leading edge and fall time of the trailing edge of said enabling pulse being about 75 picoseconds to provide the precise timing required to sample signals at Gigahertz sampling rates. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A high-frequency sampling system comprising:
-
a transmission line, with terminal impedance matched to the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, for receiving an input signal at an input terminal; N sampling terminals coupled to said transmission line, with said N terminals being substantially equally distributed along said transmission line and separated by a distance D, with said N terminals being sequentially numbered from 1 to N, and with the first sampling terminal being nearest to the input terminal of the transmission line; N sampling gates, with said N gates being sequentially numbered from 1 to N for identification and with each sampling gate coupled to the sampling terminal identified by the same number, said sampling gates for sampling the input signal when activated by a sampling pulse; N sampling gate output buffers, with said N buffers numbered from 1 to N for identification and with each buffer coupled to the sampling gate identified by the same number, said buffers for holding the value of sampled input signal for the period between sampling pulses and for providing an output signal at a buffer output port, with magnitude of the output signal substantially equal to the magnitude of the sampled input signal; a system clock for generating a clock input signal, Q, having frequency fC and period TC ; N sampling gate drivers, with said N drivers being sequentially numbered from 1 to N for identification, and with each driver coupled to the sampling gate identified by the same number, with said drivers for receiving said clock input signal and a phase control signal and for generating said sampling pulse at time tS, where tS =tI +tP, where tI is the time that the clock input signal is received at the ith driver, and tP is a variable phase delay having a magnitude determined by the phase control signal; clock signal delay means for delaying the receipt of the clock input signal at the kth driver, k=1 to N, by (k-1)tD is a fixed time delay equal to TC /N, with said clock signal delay means for clocking the sampling gates to achieve an overall sampling rate of NfC ; means for generating N phase control signals, said N phase control signals numbered from 1 to N for identification, and for directing the mth control signal to the mth driver, m=1 to N, and for controlling the magnitude of each phase control signal to vary the magnitude of tP in each driver to compensate for input signal propagation delay and variations in the dynamic characteristics of the sampling gates; and N DEMUXs, with said N DEMUXs numbered from 1 to N for identification, and with the input of each DEMUX coupled to the output of a buffer identified by the same number, each DEMUX having N outputs for outputting N succeeding buffer outputs occurring over a time period of NTC and with the output data rate of said DEMUXs equal to 1/N fC. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
Specification