Tag Archives: DAC


XMega DAC

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In embedded systems, oftentimes it is needed to generate analog outputs from a microcontroller. Examples of such include, generating audio tones, voice, music, smooth continuous waveforms, function generators, voltage reference generators, etc. Traditionally in such cases the most common techniques applied are based on Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), resistor networks and external Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) chips like MCP4921. The aforementioned techniques have different individual limitations and moreover require external hardware interfacing, adding complexities and extra cost to projects.  XMega micros are equipped with 12 bit fast DACs apart from PWM blocks and again it proves itself to be a very versatile family of microcontrollers. In this post we will have a look into this block.

DAC Internal Block Diagram

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STM32 Digital-to-Analogue Converter (DAC)

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After having played with Analogue-to-Digital Converter (ADC) of STM32 micros, the obvious next internal hardware block to deal with is the Digital-to-Analogue Converter (DAC). As the name suggests this block has just the complementary function of ADC. It converts digital binary values to analogue voltage outputs. The DAC block has several uses including audio generation, waveform generation, etc. Typically in most 8-bit micros, this block is unavailable and its need is somewhat loosely met with Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) block. This is partly because of their relatively less hardware resources and operating speeds. All STM32 micros also have PWM blocks but large capacity STM32s have DAC blocks too. The STM32 DAC block is not very complex and has similarity with the ADC block in terms of operating principle. The simplified block diagram below shows the major components of the STM32 DAC block.

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