[time-nuts] Comparing PPS from 2 GPS units
Bob Camp
lists at rtty.us
Mon Dec 17 20:04:30 UTC 2012
Hi
I believe you will find that NPO's are your best bet by far for short delays.
The R's and C's on a simple semi are going to have some pretty major tempco's. If they go with a fancy process they can change that. Normally to keep things cheap they use the simple process.
Bob
On Dec 17, 2012, at 2:55 PM, David <davidwhess at gmail.com> wrote:
> You would not want to do this for long delays obviously. A digital
> counter with the delay used as a vernier would be more appropriate
> there. That gets complicated fast if the input is asynchronous.
>
> Analog first order compensation of the temperature coefficient is
> straightforward using the same techniques that are used for voltage to
> frequency converters. Unfortunately, polystyrene capacitors are no
> longer produced. Digital calibration might be easier to design and
> would be a good idea for verification of performance anyway.
>
> I wonder what the temperature coefficient is of the Maxim's
> programmable delay lines. I do not see it in their datasheets. The
> On semiconductor one I checked is greater than 1000ppm/C but its
> maximum delay is 12.5 nanoseconds.
>
> On Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:04:54 -0500, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> With R-C delay generators, temperature coefficient is likely to be an issue. NPO will get you to 30 ppm/C. Most resistors will be up in the 50 or so ppm / C range. On top of that you have the contributions of what ever strays might be running around.
>>
>> If you are trying to set up say a 1 us delay, you will get ~ 50 ps per degree C in your delay. That's a lot .....
>>
>> Bob
>>
>> On Dec 17, 2012, at 1:56 PM, David <davidwhess at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:19:43 -0800, Hal Murray
>>> <hmurray at megapathdsl.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> A fifth solution is to use a pulse delay generator like a DG535. I use this
>>>>> to create high-resolution early/late 1PPS sync pulses. They show up on eBay,
>>>>> but aren't cheap. For bargains, watch for older model programmable pulse
>>>>> delay generators by BNC (Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation).
>>>>
>>>> Thanks. Those are more $$$ than I'm interested in right now, but might be a
>>>> useful tool sometime in the future.
>>>>
>>>> Another approach is to use a scope: trigger on one PPS and adjust the delay
>>>> (which might be negative) and sweep speed so you can see the other PPS
>>>> signal. Maybe I'll play with this to see what sort of results I can get.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Lastly, there are cute little delay boxes (www.ebay.com/itm/150962422699)
>>>>> that might work. Not sure how stable they are at the ns level. But it would
>>>>> be fun to measure. If someone opens one of these please tell us if it's a
>>>>> coil of wire, some kind of LRC filter delay, or if they use those Dallas
>>>>> delay chips. Which is another solution for you -- google or eBay search for:
>>>>> silicon delay line.
>>>>
>>>> You can make a reasonable delay line by using the lumped circuit
>>>> approximation for the L and C for the appropriate impedance transmission
>>>> line. I assume that's what's in the delay boxes. I should try that
>>>> sometime. Thanks for the reminder.
>>>>
>>>> The delay chips I've looked at before used gate delays. I think they were
>>>> Motorola rather than Dallas. I just poked at a few Maxim data sheets. I
>>>> didn't find out how they implemented the delays.
>>>>
>>>> I think some of the clock recovery chips tune delays by tweaking the
>>>> threshold voltage.
>>>
>>> I have been testing just using adjustable RC delays into a logic gate
>>> to generate pretrigger pulses for sampling oscilloscopes. Accuracy
>>> depends on a complete reset of the capacitor and tracking between the
>>> RC charge voltage and gate threshold voltage. Worst cast jitter for
>>> TTL has been in the 100s of picoseconds range because of supply
>>> voltage sensitivity. Different families of TTL and CMOS logic all
>>> performed about the same.
>>>
>>> Here is the jitter measurement that came from the RC logic gate delay
>>> test:
>>>
>>> http://www.banishedsouls.org/c2df3757f1/PG506/PDJ%20lolcat.jpg
>>>
>>> Much better is to use a differential comparator or differential input
>>> ECL which solves the threshold variation errors and a fast (it really
>>> isn't all that fast) ramp generator with a precision reset. The
>>> differential input allows the ramp rate and threshold voltage to be
>>> linked allowing ratiometric operation to reject power supply or
>>> reference voltage variation and noise.
>>>
>>> My next pretrigger generator is going the differential comparator or
>>> differential ECL route with a fast ramp and precision reset. I expect
>>> jitter to be significantly better than 10s of picoseconds for delays
>>> up to about 100 nanoseconds. If I get down to 10 picoseconds of
>>> jitter, I will be happy since I have no real way to measure much below
>>> that.
>>>
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>>
>>
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