High Speed Arbitrary Waveform Generator

Abstract

A high-speed arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) that utilizes multiple digital-to-analog converters (D/A converters) and overcomes bandwidth limitations of individual D/A converters to produce high-speed waveforms.

1 . An apparatus for generating a signal with contiguous content, comprising;
 a plurality of digital-to-analog converters, each having a bandwidth and each producing a D/A output signal;   at least one upconverter, the at least one upconverter receiving a D/A output signal and producing an upconverted signal; and   a combining element that receives and combines at least one D/A output signal and at least one upconverted signal and produces a final output signal;   whereby the final output signal includes spectral content occupying a substantially contiguous frequency band whose width is greater than the bandwidth of any one of the plurality of digital-to-analog converters.   
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the final signal output is a substantially accurate analog representation of a desired digital signal. 
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the final output signal spans a frequency range substantially similar to that of the desired digital signal. 
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more band-pass filters for filtering a desired digital signal into a plurality of sub-bands, each sub band corresponding to one of the plurality of digital-to-analog converters. 
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the desired digital signal is supplied by a user. 
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the desired digital signal is selected from one or more predetermined signals. 
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a local oscillator, the upconverter utilizing at least a signal generated by the local oscillator for producing the upconverted signal. 
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the local oscillator is synchronized to a sample clock of the plurality of digital-to-analog converters. 
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a digital signal processing element for processing a signal prior to conversion by the plurality of digital-to-analog converters. 
   
   
       10 - 20 . (canceled) 
   
   
       21 . An apparatus for generating signals comprising:
 a plurality of digital-to-analog converters, each having a bandwidth and each producing a D/A output signal;   at least two upconverters, each upconverter receiving a D/A output signal from one of the plurality of digital-to-analog converters and producing an upconverted signal at a different translated frequencies; and   a combining element that receives and combines the at least two upconverted signals at different translated frequencies and produces a final output signal;   whereby the final output signal comprises a synchronized signal, and includes spectral content occupying a substantially contiguous frequency band whose width is greater than the bandwidth of any one of the plurality of digital-to-analog converters.   
   
   
       22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the final output signal is a substantially accurate analog representation of a portion of a desired digital signal. 
   
   
       23 . The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the final output signal spans a frequency range substantially similar to that of a designated portion of the desired digital signal. 
   
   
       24 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , further comprising one or more band-pass filters for filtering a desired digital signal into a plurality of sub-bands, each sub band corresponding to one of the at least one upconverters. 
   
   
       25 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the desired digital signal is supplied by a user. 
   
   
       26 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the desired digital signal is selected from one or more predetermined signals. 
   
   
       27 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , further comprising a local oscillator, the at least two upconverters utilizing at least a signal generated by the local oscillator for producing the upconverted signals. 
   
   
       28 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the local oscillator is synchronized to a sample clock of the plurality of digital-to-analog converters. 
   
   
       29 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , further comprising a digital signal processing element for processing a signal prior to conversion by the plurality of digital-to-analog converters. 
   
   
       30 . The apparatus of  claim 29 , wherein the digital signal processing element further comprises:
 a plurality of band-pass filters for extracting a plurality of frequency portions of a waveform; and   a mixing element for mixing a local oscillator with one or more of the extracted portions of the waveform to generate a lower frequency version of each of the one or more of the extracted portions of the waveform.   
   
   
       31 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the digital signal processing element further comprises a plurality of low-pass filters for separating the lower frequency versions of the extracted portions of the waveform from the one or more of the extracted portions of the waveform. 
   
   
       32 . The apparatus of  claim 31  wherein the digital signal processing element further comprises a plurality of summing elements for summing each of the lower frequency versions of the extracted portions of the waveform with a reference tone phase synchronized with the local oscillator to fix the phase relationship between the one or more extracted portions of the waveform. 
   
   
       33 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the frequency content of the upconverted signals substantially overlap. 
   
   
       34 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the resultant sum of the frequency content of the upconverted signals results in a waveform occupying a substantially contiguous bandwidth.