Quick Start
6
SLAU671A – October 2016 – Revised March 2017
Copyright © 2016–2017, Texas Instruments Incorporated
DAC38RF8xEVM
Figure 3. DAC38RF83 EVM Setup for External Clock Mode
1. Connect a 5-V power supply to connector J21 (+5V_IN).
2. Connect a USB cable to the USB connector (J16).
3. Provide a 16-dBm, 6144-MHz, external DAC sampling clock to the clock balun input at J1.
4. Connect a spectrum analyzer to the DAC output SMA connector:
•
For DAC38RF83: Connect spectrum analyzer to J6 (DAC A output) or J2 (DAC B output).
•
For DAC38RF80: Connect a spectrum analyzer to J7 (DAC A output) or J2 (DAC B output).
2.1.3
DAC38RF8x Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Follow these steps to use the DAC38RF8x GUI:
1. Start the DAC38RF8xEVM GUI, then navigate to the quick start page as shown in
.
2. Verify that the green
USB Status
indicator on the top right corner is lit. If it is not lit, click the
Reconnect FTDI?
button and check the
USB Status
indicator again.
3. From the
Quick Start
tab, in the
SELECT DEVICE
drop down menu, choose from the list of available
devices. The device list is automatically populated based on the type of EVM connected.
4. On the
Quick Start
tab, toggle the
DAC RESETB Pin
button and then click on the
Load Default
button. The software automatically configures the DAC to its default state.
5. Enter the desired DAC clock frequency (6144 MHz in this example) and specify the desired number of
DACs (Dual DAC), number of IQ pairs (1 IQ pair), number of lanes (4 lanes), and interpolation (16x) as
shown in
6. Note the messages displayed for information about the SerDes rate, maximum allowed sample rate for
the selected mode, and the HSDC Pro ini file to select (see the section on
for more
information). If the DAC clock frequency entered is not supported for the selected mode, the DAC clock
frequency box blinks.
