Choose Your Averaging Method With Care When Acquiring Multiple Analog Channels Page 1 of 9
Design Tools
Choose Your Averaging Method
With Care When Acquiring
Multiple Analog Channels
Tue, 10/10/2017 - 3:26pm by Kendall Castor-Perry, Cypress
Semiconductor
The proliferation of sensors and sources in electronic systems is
driving equipment designers to acquire ever greater numbers of
analog signal channels into their system MCU or sensor-fusion
coprocessor. This is particularly true in the burgeoning small
form-factor IoT space.
Signal averaging is a commonly-used
technique in such data acquisition DEEPER INSIGHTS
systems. It can enhance the usable
resolution of numerical results and
suppress several forms of noise.
While a simple form of filtering, its
overall effectiveness depends on the Critical Techniques
way averaging is implemented. This for High-Speed A/D
article contrasts two averaging
Converters in Real-
techniques, one conventional
(sequential averaging) and one more
Time Systems
recently introduced (interleaved
averaging).
Many contemporary mixed-signal MCUs and systems-on-chip
incorporate averaging directly into their analog-to-digital
converters’ hardware. This can significantly reduce the amount of
processing required by the MCU. This in turn simplifies coding and
reduces how long the processor must operate in a high-power
mode.
Whilst analog input multiplexers allowing the connection of
several signals to the device are quite common, the hardware
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Choose Your Averaging Method With Care When Acquiring Multiple Analog Channels Page 2 of 9
averaging function in the majority of mixed-signal MCUs is carried
out only on one signal channel at a time. When the averaging
process is finished, an interrupt typically causes the firmware to
select another analog input for conversion. In some devices, for
instance the PSoC 4 family of programmable systems-on-chip
processors from Cypress Semiconductor that has a 1 Msps 12-bit
ADC, channel sequencing is built into the converter hardware.
This allows a complete sweep of averaged channels to be
completed with no processor intervention at all.
This well-established model of averaging multiple conversions of a
single channel’s signal before moving on to the next channel is
called sequential averaging. The method has some limitations,
chiefly to do with the slowing down of the available sample rate in
a multichannel environment, not only for averaged channels but
also for channels in the sequence that do not require averaging.
Recently, a new approach has become available that strengthens
the arsenal of tools available to data acquisition system designers.
The technique is called interleaved averaging, and it offers
benefits both in systems where high frequencies are present in
the signals to be sampled and when fast-sampled non-averaged
channels are needed.
The distinction between sequential averaging and interleaved
averaging is readily explained with some diagrams, in this case
representing an eight-channel configuration. The raw ADC sample
rate is set to 800 ksps, and sixteen of the 12-bit samples for each
channel will be averaged together. This will result in a 16-bit
output word, though the SNR contribution of the 12-bit sample
quantization will limit the SNR to the equivalent of a 14-bit
converter (on the assumption that the quantization noise
contributions from each individual sample are uncorrelated).
Because there are eight channels, and each channel is sampled
sixteen times to get a final result, the ADC needs to carry out 128
conversions to produce each set of results. This process takes 160
us, and result sets are available at a rate of 6250 per second.
The proliferation of sensors and sources in electronic systems is
driving equipment designers to acquire ever greater numbers of
analog signal channels into their system MCU or sensor-fusion
coprocessor. This is particularly true in the burgeoning small
form-factor IoT space.
Signal averaging is a commonly-used technique in such data
acquisition systems. It can enhance the usable resolution of
https://www.pddnet.com/article/2017/10/choose-your-averaging-method-care-when-acqui... 10/18/2017
Choose Your Averaging Method With Care When Acquiring Multiple Analog Channels Page 3 of 9
numerical results and suppress several forms of noise. While a
simple form of filtering, its overall effectiveness depends on the
way averaging is implemented. This article contrasts two
averaging techniques, one conventional (sequential averaging)
and one more recently introduced (interleaved averaging).
Many contemporary mixed-signal MCUs and systems-on-chip
incorporate averaging directly into their analog-to-digital
converters’ hardware. This can significantly reduce the amount of
processing required by the MCU. This in turn simplifies coding and
reduces how long the processor must operate in a high-power
mode.
Whilst analog input multiplexers allowing the connection of
several signals to the device are quite common, the hardware
averaging function in the majority of mixed-signal MCUs is carried
out only on one signal channel at a time. When the averaging
process is finished, an interrupt typically causes the firmware to
select another analog input for conversion. In some devices, for
instance the PSoC 4 family of programmable systems-on-chip
processors from Cypress Semiconductor that has a 1 Msps 12-bit
ADC, channel sequencing is built into the converter hardware.
This allows a complete sweep of averaged channels to be
completed with no processor intervention at all.
This well-established model of averaging multiple conversions of a
single channel’s signal before moving on to the next channel is
called sequential averaging. The method has some limitations,
chiefly to do with the slowing down of the available sample rate in
a multichannel environment, not only for averaged channels but
also for channels in the sequence that do not require averaging.
Recently, a new approach has become available that strengthens
the arsenal of tools available to data acquisition system designers.
The technique is called interleaved averaging, and it offers
benefits both in systems where high frequencies are present in
the signals to be sampled and when fast-sampled non-averaged
channels are needed.
The distinction between sequential averaging and interleaved
averaging is readily explained with some diagrams, in this case
representing an eight-channel configuration. The raw ADC sample
rate is set to 800 ksps, and sixteen of the 12-bit samples for each
channel will be averaged together. This will result in a 16-bit
output word, though the SNR contribution of the 12-bit sample
quantization will limit the SNR to the equivalent of a 14-bit
https://www.pddnet.com/article/2017/10/choose-your-averaging-method-care-when-acqui... 10/18/2017
Choose Your Averaging Method With Care When Acquiring Multiple Analog Channels Page 4 of 9
converter (on the assumption that the quantization noise
contributions from each individual sample are uncorrelated).
Because there are eight channels, and each channel is sampled
sixteen times to get a final result, the ADC needs to carry out 128
conversions to produce each set of results. This process takes 160
us, and result sets are available at a rate of 6250 per second.
This example also assumes that each channel has its own result
register, as is the case for the PSoC 4 being used in this example.
This is not the case for some mixed-signal MCUs, which have only
one result register that must therefore be read out between
channel changes.
Shown in figure 1, the behaviour of the standard sequential
averaging solution in pseudocode form is as follows:
• flush the accumulation registers
• select channel 1
• take 16 samples at 1.25 us intervals, accumulate them in
channel 1’s register, total time 20 us
• select channel 2
• take 16 samples at 1.25 us intervals, accumulate them in
channel 2’s register, total time 20us
• and so on until all eight channels are done
• transfer the eight results with interrupt or DMA
Figure 1: Sequential averaging
Each input is sampled in bursts of 16 conversions. The bursts for
a given channel are 160 us apart, so effectively each channel is
being sampled at 6250 samples per second. The sampling
aperture – the length of time over which a channel is being
sampled – is 20 us. This aperture introduces a lowpass filtering
effect, but the bandwidth is quite high, with nulls in the frequency
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Choose Your Averaging Method With Care When Acquiring Multiple Analog Channels Page 5 of 9
response at multiples of (1/20 us), i.e. 50 kHz. This filtering is of
no significant use in preventing aliasing. Any frequency
components in the input signal close to multiples of 6250 Hz will
be aliased down to near DC, possibly creating significant
measurement noise. That could only be mitigated by pre-filtering
each channel with its own analog antialiasing filter.
Also, there’s a time offset between each channel, equal to 20 us.
If cross-channel math functions need to be calculated (for
instance, correlations or power calculations), this time difference
will result in significant errors.
If you wanted to have unaveraged channels in such a sequence,
the rate at which those channels can be sampled is dominated by
the need to sequentially execute the averages of the other
channels. So, despite having an ADC than can sample at 800
ksps, your unaveraged channel can only be sampled far less
frequently. Ideally, you’d like to share that 800 ksps rate over
your eight channels, get 100 ksps per channel, and keep the
averaging.
Interleaved averaging – the solution to this conundrum – works
differently (see Figure 2). The sequencer steps around the input
channels as before, this time taking just one sample of each
channel. After the channels have been stepped through N times,
the output of all the accumulation registers can be read out.
Figure 2: Interleaved averaging
The interleaved averaging sequence in pseudocode is as follows:
• set a hardware loopcounter to 0
• flush the accumulation registers
• repeat
• loopcounter += 1
• select channel [loopcounter]
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Choose Your Averaging Method With Care When Acquiring Multiple Analog Channels Page 6 of 9
• take a sample, accumulate it in channel [loopcounter]’s
register, total time 1.25 us
• until loopcounter > = 8
• transfer the eight results with interrupt or DMA
The signal characteristics of this version of the averaging process
are quite different. Now there are no bursts of conversions;
instead, each average is built from sixteen conversions spread
uniformly over that 160 us once-round time and separated by 10
us. In other words, the per-channel sample rate is 100 ksps – the
theoretical maximum when an 800 ksps ADC is shared across
eight channels. The equivalent sampling aperture for this process
is now the full 160 us, and this results in system frequency
response nulls right at multiples of the final sample rate. The
benefit of this is that no high frequency noise in the input signal
can alias down to exactly DC. This makes for significantly more
stable measurements, in turn greatly relaxing analog filtering
requirements.
There is still a time offset between the channels, but now it has
been reduced to 1.25 us. This is a far smaller fraction of the 160
us overall sample period, leading to far lower cross-channel
calculation errors.
In this example, using interleaved averaging, this converter
subsystem delivers samples of eight channels at an equivalent
~ 14 bit SNR, at a 6.25 ksps rate, with good alias protection and
very low interchannel time delay.
Interleaved averaging capabilities are being rolled out in new
programmable system-on-chip devices from Cypress
Semiconductor. Examples include the recently launched Cortex
M4-based PSoC 6 and the PSoC Analog Coprocessor, which is an
analog-focused member of Cypress’s PSoC 4 family. The hardware
in this device’s ADC (fully configurable through the PSoC Creator
Scan_ ADC component) also allows any channel in the sequence to
be converted without averaging. In the example given earlier, this
means that results from such channels continue to be available at
a 100 ksps rate without affecting the timings of the averaged
channels.
The ability to sample multiple channels at high resolution and high
sample rate significantly expands the envelope of possibilities for
cost-effective yet high performance analog signal capture using
modern mixed-signal programmable systems-on-chip. When you
need to convert multiple analog channels that may require
averaging, bear in mind the signal processing effects of the
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Choose Your Averaging Method With Care When Acquiring Multiple Analog Channels Page 7 of 9
various averaging modes available in the devices you’re
considering.
About the Author
For nearly four decades, Kendall Castor-Perry has been chasing
signals through electronic systems, wringing out the information
they are hiding. He’s a world-class authority on filters and
precision analog circuit engineering and a tireless champion of the
needs of the customer. He has been widely published and
syndicated, especially when sharing his extensive filtering
knowledge as “The Filter Wizard.” He has a BA in Physics from
Oxford and an MBA in MBA stuff from London Business School.
Kendall is currently Senior MTS Architect in Cypress
Semiconductor’s Programmable Systems Division, pushing on the
performance:power:price boundaries constraining tomorrow’s
critical sensor-processing systems.
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REL A TED REA DS
O versampling ADCs
V ersus Comparators
And Track ing L oop-
b ased Design
Architectures F or RDCs
DN 6 . 2 2 x Series O f
L X I Digitiz ers
I ncreased Sensitivity
O ption Added To
Digitiz er P roduct
Series
I mprove U ltrasound
I mage Clarity W ith
The Right ADC
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