72 MicroBlaze Development Kit Spartan-3E 1600 Edition User Guide
www.xilinx.com UG257 (v1.1) December 5, 2007
Chapter 9: Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) R
master. The response from the DAC can be ignored although it is a useful to confirm
correct communication.
The FPGA first sends eight dummy or “don’t care” bits, followed by a 4-bit command. The
most commonly used command with the board is COMMAND[3:0] = “0011”, which
immediately updates the selected DAC output with the specified data value. Following the
command, the FPGA selects one or all the DAC output channels via a 4-bit address field.
Following the address field, the FPGA sends a 12-bit unsigned data value that the DAC
converts to an analog value on the selected output(s). Finally, four additional dummy or
don’t care bits pad the 32-bit command word.
Specifying the DAC Output Voltage
As shown in Figure 9-2, each DAC output level is the analog equivalent of a 12-bit
unsigned digital value, D[11:0], written by the FPGA to the DAC via the SPI interface.
The voltage on a specific output is generally described in Equation 9-1. The reference
voltage, VREFERENCE, is different between the four DAC outputs. Channels A and B use a
3.3V reference voltage and Channels C and D use a 2.5V reference. The reference voltages
themselves have a r5% tolerance, so there will be slight corresponding variances in the
output voltage.
Equation 9-1

DAC Outputs A and B

Equation 9-2 provides the output voltage equation for DAC outputs A and B. The
reference voltage associated with DAC outputs A and B is 3.3Vr5%.
Equation 9-2
Figure 9-4: SPI Communications Protocol to LTC2624 DAC
031
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9 10 11876543210
ADDRESS
a
3
a
2
a
1
a
0
a
3
a
2
a
1
a
0
c
3
c
2
c
1
c
0
0000
0001
0010
0011
All
DAC A
DAC B
DAC C
DAC D
1111
SPI_MOSI
SPI_SCK
DAC_CS
SPI_MISO
12-bit Unsigned
DATA COMMAND
Dont Care
UG257_09_04_060606
msblsb
Dont Care
Slave: LTC2624 DAC
Master Spartan-3E FPGA
VOUT
D11:0>@
4096
---------------------VREFERENCE
u=
VOUTA
D11:0>@
4096
---------------------3.3V5%ru=