Activate the clock frequency - but how?
ProductOctober 25, 2010
Alice Moss
Military Embedded Systems
Chris A. Ciufo
General Micro Systems, Inc.
Designing a system is difficult, and finding the optimum clock frequency remains a matter of trial and error. Solving this likely served as impetus for Pentek, Inc. when it developed its Model 7191 Multifrequency Programmable Clock Synthesizer.
Designing a system is difficult, and finding the optimum clock frequency remains a matter of trial and error. Solving this likely served as impetus for Pentek, Inc. when it developed its Model 7191 Multifrequency Programmable Clock Synthesizer. Incarnated as a PMC module, the user-configurable clock synthesizer renders a high-precision clock source for designers who are developing applications containing D/As and A/Ds. The module also additionally provides custom frequency generation for multichannel DA/AD systems, for example communications and radar applications. And forget about those frequency synthesizers, which are supplanted by the PMC module, eliminating bulk and cost.
Putting it all together: Model 7191 utilizes low-noise VCXOs to generate frequencies; next, a Texas Instruments clock synchronizer shores up common-frequency reference source synchronization. (Of course, the clock synchronizer aims to cut the jitter.) Thus, Model 7191 revs up four configurable VCXO frequencies, along with a quad of divided versions (x2, x4, x8, and x16) pertaining to each oscillator. Five frequencies of these 20 choices can be routed to any of eight buffered 50-ohm outputs. Supporting VxWorks, Windows, or Linux, the PMC module is available on “simple carriers” for VPX (VITA 46), VME, CompactPCI, PCI Express, and PCI.
