Design and implementation of a data acquisition and transmission system based on configurable hardware

Abstract

The aim of this project is to find a practical solution for high speed data transfers rate systems. The goal of the project is to design and develop a functional prototype able to acquire data from an analogue source and prepare it to be sent through a high speed serial data link. The system is designed to be modular. In order to acquire a signal a high acquisition rate ADC with enough bits per sample is used. The output of the ADC is the input of the transmission module. The whole system is designed to be connected to a receiver capable to decode the information. As a consequence, both the transmitter and the receiver should run complementary protocols. The main advantage of the high-speed serial communications is the small number of wires. This kind of systems will be able to implement a full duplex communication by means of two differential pairs, (one pair for the transmitter and the other for the receiver). There are several technologies to develop serial communication. The most common methods and the critical decisions are going to be explained in detail in the following sections.