Suggestion: Analog Daughter Card

[ZenoArrow]

Hi,

Reading through and thinking about the daughter cards that could be made for the Parallella, I thought maybe it might make sense to have a daughter card with multiple applications. This proposal is for a generic 'Analog Daughter Card', the idea being to make a card that is useful in a number of analog-based fields, whilst still keeping the cost reasonable.

Currently I'm thinking of a card that combines an ADC, a DAC, a couple of audio jacks for input/output, one or more DSPs, and something configurable (either a microcontroller or a small FPGA) for the glue logic.

What will such a configuration enable? For a start you'd have a nice platform for audio production, ADC helping with sound input, DAC helping with sound output, and the DSPs giving you some decent flexibility in sound synthesis and manipulation. It would also help with SDR, as ADC and DAC are both requirements for SDR and the DSPs can help with initial signal processing (for example, could have a DSP routine that helps filter out noise in the incoming signal). Another potential application is as an engineering tool, could run things like an oscilloscope using the ADC+DSP, and a frequency generator using the DAC+DSP.

In all three of those fields there will be more high-end specialised solutions, the goal with this daughter board is just to enable you to play with these applications at a competitive price. I'm open to suggestions on how to keep the costs down. For example, what company offers the best value DSPs? I know TI is a big player in this field. In terms of the glue logic chip, perhaps something from XMOS? And what are some decent ADCs and DACs available to us today?

Looking forward to your feedback, positive or negative.

[9600]

[ZenoArrow]