Design and implement a R-2R ladder DAC

(EC 681)
A Mini Project Report Submitted
By-
Group No:2
Section:A
Design Domain:Digital Electronics

Name: SRINJAN ADHIKARY

Registration No: 181300110345 of 2018-19
Roll No:13000318035
Name: SOHAN DE
Registration No: 181300110334 of 2018-19
Roll No: 13000318046
Name: SOHAM MUNSHI
Registration No: 181300110332 of 2018-19
Roll No: 13000318048
Name: SHIRSENDU BIKAS ACHARYYA
Registration No: 181300110326 of 2018-19
Roll No:13000318054
Name: SHAMINDRA SEN
Registration No: 181300110324 of 2018-19
Roll No:13000318056

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

TECHNO MAIN SALT LAKE

EM 4/1 Salt Lake City, Sector – V
Kolkata – 700091
 CONTENTS

S.N. SUB TOPICS PAGE NO.

1. Title 2

2. Aim/Objective 2

3. Literature Survey 3-4

4. Methodology 5-7

5. Resource Utilization 8

6. Implementation 9-11

7. Critical Issues 12

8. Applications 13

9. Conclusion 14

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 TITLE

Design and implement a R-2R ladder DAC(Digital)

OBJECTIVE: To design and implement a R-2R ladder DAC(Digital) using

NI-Multisim software

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 LITERATURE SURVEY

Connecting digital circuitry to sensor devices is simple if the sensor devices are inherently digital
themselves. Switches, relays, and encoders are easily interfaced with gate circuits due to the
on/off nature of their signals. However, when analog devices are involved, interfacing becomes
much more complex. What is needed is a way to electronically translate analog signals into
digital (binary) quantities, and vice versa. In a communication system, digital transmission is
faster and convenient but the digital signals should be converted back to analog signals at the
receiving terminal. This paper focuses on the digital to analog converter, implementing the R-2R
ladder circuit designs.

DACs can be used in applications such as it can be found in the processing of computer data by a
modem into audio-frequency tones that is transmitted over the use of telephone lines. DAC is
common in music players, throughout its use for the generation of audio signals from the digital
information. While for the use of TVs and cellular phones, the digital video signals are converted
into analog to display colors and shades. In VoIP applications, the source is first digitized for the
transmission through an ADC and is reconstructed back using DAC at its receiving end.

❖ R-2R Ladder Resistor:

An alternative to the binary weighted input DAC is the R-2R Ladder, which uses fewer unique
resistor values thus does not require precision resistors. A disadvantage of the former DAC
design was its requirement of several different precise input resistor values: one unique value per
binary input bit. Its advantage compared to the binary weighted is it only has two values of
resistors, thus the actual values used is relatively less important if it is extremely large values.
The staircase voltage result is more likely to be monotonic as the effect of the MSB resistor is
not many times greater than that for LSB resistor.

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Some Important terms:-

● RESOLUTION- Smallest change which occurs in output due to change in input. The
output when all bits are 0 but LSB is 1 represents the resolution of DAC.

%RESOLUTION= (Step size/Full scale voltage)*100 = (100/Number of steps to

reach Full scale voltage) = (1 / 2^n - 1)*100
(Here the Full scale voltage is the output level voltage corresponding to a given Full scale
input combination and n is the number of bits.)

● WAYS TO INCREASE RESOLUTION OF THE LADDER CIRCUIT-

➢ Reduce the noise associated with the system
➢ Reduce the number of bits (n) in the circuit
➢ Increase in output voltage of the opamp circuit(Vout)

● MONOTONICITY- Monotonicity is a property of certain types of digital-to-analog

converter ( DAC ) circuits. In a monotonic DAC, the analog output always increases or
remains constant as the digital input increases. If the analog output decreases at any point
during the input sequence, a DAC is said to be non-monotonic.

● ACCURACY- Accuracy is maximum deviation between actual convertor output and

ideal convertor output. Accuracy is measured by - Linear Error
%Error = (Theoretical value - Practical value)/(Theoretical value)*100

● EFFICIENCY - The efficiency, η of the circuit is the proportion of all the energy
dissipated in the circuit that is dissipated in the load. Efficiency is measured simply by
dividing the output power in watts by the input power in watts and is expressed as a
percentage.

● OFFSET VOLTAGE - The input offset voltage is defined as the voltage that must be
applied between the two input terminals of the op amp to obtain zero volts at the output.
Ideally the output of the op amp should be at zero volts when the inputs are grounded. In
reality the input terminals are at slightly different dc potentials.

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 METHODOLOGY

1. The ladder arrangement consists of two resistors i.e. a base resistor R and a 2R resistor
which is twice the value of the base resistor. This feature helps to maintain a precise
output analog signal without using a wide range of resistor values.
2. The circuit is simplified to obtain the voltage contribution of each bit. It can be
accomplished using Thevenin’s theorem.
3. The governing equations for the R-2R ladder DAC are-

4. Thevenin’s theorem is a technique through which we can obtain an equivalent circuit of the
concerned resistance network. A Thevenin circuit consists of a Thevenin resistance and a
Thevenin voltage that can be replaced in the circuit and work the same as the original
resistance.

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5. Below is the equivalent circuit of the original after simplifying the first stage. The Thevenin
equivalent of the first stage is connected in series to the rest of the circuit.

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 6. The resistances were selected after the following calculation-

NOTE: For calculation purposes here we have considered Vref = 12V and R=200 Ohm.But
during practical circuit simulation the considered values have been deferred in accordance
with hardware availability and to meet the saturation specifications of the opAmp (IC741).
However all the underlying principles of operations and calculations remain the same.

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 RESOURCE UTILIZATION

HARDWARE COMPONENTS USED -

❖ Two kinds of resistors of R and 2R magnitude
❖ An operational amplifier
❖ A power source(5V-18V)

SOFTWARE USED FOR SIMULATION-

❖ National Instruments Multisim Software(IC 741)

HARDWARE DESCRIPTION SYMBOL SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION SYMBOL

1.Two Only two values of resistance National NI Multisim is an

resistors of R are used in R-2R ladder DAC Instruments electronic schematic
and 2R one which is the base Multisim capture and
magnitude value “R” and the other Software (IC simulation program
which has twice the value, 741) which is part of a
“2R” of the first resistor no suite of circuit design
matter how many bits are programs.
used to make up the ladder
network.

2.Operational An operational amplifier is an ADVANTAGES OF

Amplifier integrated circuit that can NI MULTISIM-
amplify weak electric signals. 1.Suitable for
An operational amplifier has low-end users.
two input pins and one output 2.NI provides
pin. Its basic role is to practical accurate
amplify and output the values of simulated
voltage difference between devices at particular
the two input pins. ambient conditions.
3.Bulk quantity
materials available

3.Power A power supply in the range

Supply of 5V to 18V is applied to the
R-2R ladder DAC circuit .

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 IMPLEMENTATION

SIMULATION CIRCUIT DIAGRAM :

OBSERVATION TABLE:

Input Bit Theoretical Output Practical Output % Error

Combination Voltages [T] Voltages [P]
(V) (V) [{(T-P)/T}*100%]

00000001 -13.02m -13.00m 0.154%

01010101 -1.107 -1.11 0.271%

10101010 -2.213 -2.21 0.135%

11111111 -3.3203 -3.32 0.009%

● Average Percentage Error = [0.154+0.271+0.135+0.009]/4

= 0.142%
● % Resolution= 0.39%

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SIMULATION OUTPUTS:

1) Input Combination: 00000001

2) Input Combination: 01010101

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3) Input Combination: 10101010

4) Input Combination: 11111111

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 CRITICAL ISSUES

1. Here, in the circuit, we are using an inverting opAmp whose gain is given by

Gain = -Rf/Rin

So, in order to make sure that we get a gain >1, we have to consider Rf>Rin in all
cases

Instead, we could use a non inverting amplifier, whose gain is given by

Gain = (1+Rf/Rin)

So the gain would be always greater than 1, irrespective of the values of Rf and Rin.

2. The saturation voltage of our circuit is 15V.

Vref is in the range of 5V - 18V

Increasing Vref will increase Vout but beyond 18V supply, Vout will get saturated to
(15V+10%)

Thus the opamp will saturate if the input voltage is increased too much or the gain is
increased too much

So we should carefully select these values

3. The multisim platform used to simulate the R-2R ladder has some limitations

- It has a fixed time limit i.e the platform can be used for a limited time only

- It has limited number of components

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 APPLICATION

DACs are used in many digital signal processing applications and many more applications.
Some of the important applications are discussed below.

● Audio Amplifier - DACs are used to produce DC voltage gain with Microcontroller
commands. Often, the DAC will be incorporated into an entire audio codec which
includes signal processing features.

● Video Encoder - The video encoder system will process a video signal and send
digital signals to a variety of DACs to produce analog video signals of various
formats, along with optimizing of output levels. As with audio codecs, these ICs may
have integrated DACs.

● Digital Potentiometer - Almost all digital potentiometers are based on the string
DAC architecture. With some reorganization of the resistor/switch array, and the
addition of an I2C compatible interface, a fully digital potentiometer can be
implemented.

● Calibration - The DAC provides dynamic calibration for gain and voltage offset for
accuracy in test and measurement systems

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 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we were able to design a digital to analog converter using R-2R ladder circuit with
opAmp IC741 in inverting configuration. A DAC using R-2R Ladder was designed and
implemented having only two different values of resistors, thus having an advantage based on the
number of components unlike the binary weighted resistors DAC wherein different resistor
values are used hence having difficulty in attaining the needed output required. In addition to
that, circuits were monotonic. Nevertheless,circuits were properly designed, fabricated, tested
and compared in this project and in conclusion, the R-2R Ladder circuit is considered as an
efficient DAC circuit having a lower percentage error and converts faster having easier resistor
values.

We were also able to attend extremely low percentage error and were able to design and simulate
the entire circuit using the NI MULTISIM software tool which provided an easy and efficient
methodology.

Our design can mainly serve the purpose of a DAC in a digital transmitter and provide for an
smooth and efficient system with minimal error available at a very low cost.

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