“This project will go trough the process of acquiring an input signal through the Zmod ADC and re-creating the signal through the Zmod DAC.
Introduction
Oh, the world of digital processing has moved fast this decade! when it comes to high speed digital signal processing, engineers no longer have the simple choice of a digital signal processor. Engineers and hobbyists alike must consider the relatively young and modern SoC (System on Chip). Especially when it comes to very high speed signal processing applications such as RF, the SoC must have an edge over a classical signal processor. Especially the case for the Zynq-7000 SoC which contains a relatively large FPGA (Programmable Logic) and dual (or single according to the chip) core A9 ARM processors (Processing System).
An even more amazing prospective is the combination of such a chip with high speed hardware and interfacing! This would be the Eclypse Z7 board from Digilent, which consists of two Zmod ports which run the high speed open-source SYZYGY standard from Opal Kelly. Together with their Zmod Expansion boards containing a high speed ADC and a DAC (separate boards).
The Project
So what we will be doing in this project is to combine the Zynq-7000 chip with the high speed ADC and DAC. Interestingly, this will be done using a hierarchical design which uses both the programmable logic and the processing system of the Zynq-7020. The below figure illustrates the loop of our design.”