26
ACE9030
Fractional-N mode
When selected this mode is permanently active and by
interpolating channels between comparison frequency steps
allows a higher comparison frequency to give both a faster
channel change time and a lower comparison sideband level.
The higher comparison frequency also allows a higher loop
bandwidth which can reduce phase noise in the locked sys-
tem. It is not difficult to get the Fractional-N loop compensation
correct to minimise sidebands at the fractional frequency as
Fig. 24 Main Synthesiser - Normal Mode
Main Synthesiser
-
Normal Mode
In Normal mode the Main synthesiser is similar to the
Auxiliary synthesiser with the addition of control for an external
prescaler, see figure 24.
The 12-bit counter first counts down for N1 cycles, with
MODMP set HIGH, then counts up for N2 cycles, with MODMP
set LOW, and finally gives an output pulse (every N1 + N2
cycles) to the phase comparator and repeats the whole
sequence. The use of an up/down counter allows the control
of a two modulus prescaler without needing a separate
counter for that purpose. To give time for the function
sequencing a minimum limit of 3 is put on N1 and a pro-
grammed value of 0 for N2 will be treated as 256 and so is not
normally used. Choices of values for N1 and N2 are described
in the later sections “Two Modulus Prescaler Control” and
“Programming Example for Both Synthesisers”.
The phase detector operates with the same arrangement
of overlapping up and down pulses as the Auxiliary phase
detector to again avoid any dead band, the charge pump
current is also set by the same resistor on pin RSMA but for the
Main charge pumps the current is also controlled by the bus.
In the bias circuit the current I
through the external resistor
on pin RSMA is divided by 32 to give a reference current Ibo
( Ibo = I
x
1
/
) and this current is then multiplied by the
value CN from the control bus to give the normal charge pump
current Iprop(0). The pin RSMA again does not need any
decoupling and to avoid all possibilities of oscillation the
external capacitance should be less than 5 pF.
CN can be changed for different channels, to track the
division ratio set by N1 and N2, to maintain the same PLL loop
gain over the operating band but in most cellular systems the
total band is narrow compared to the frequencies and a fixed
CN is adequate. Other synthesiser control parameters do not
need changing and could be loaded at power-on and then left
unaltered.
Main Synthesiser - Normal Mode withSpeed-up
During Speed-up the drive to the loop filter is increased to
change channels faster. There will be a slight degradation of
sideband performance during the change but this does not
affect the final system performance. Speed-up lasts for the
duration of the LATCHC pulse that loads an A or A2 word from
the bus and as soon as the pulse ends the currents return to
normal to give clean synthesis. The normal charge pump
current is increased by a factor (2
L+1
) to give 2, 4, 8, or 16 times
Iprop(0), as defined in Normal Mode, and is then referred to as
Iprop(1), as in figure 26. A second charge pump is enabled to
drive the capacitor Ci in the loop filter directly, and as this is
always larger than capacitor Cp this extra output is set to
Iprop(1) x K. The factors L and K are used to control speed-up
and are loaded at power-up and can be left at fixed values.
Speed-up is always enabled by LATCHC when an A or A2
word is loaded. When speed-up is not required the LATCHC
pulse should be short and the parameters L and K set to their
minimum to give an insignificant effect.
Main Synthesiser - Fractional-N Mode
Fractional-N mode is the same as Normal mode with the
addition of the Fractional-N system, shown in figure 25.
In Fractional-N mode the modulus of the prescaler is
changed in a cyclic manner to interpolate channels between
the comparison frequency steps. Depending on the state of
the FMOD bit loaded in Word D the pattern can be 5
(FMOD = 0) or 8 (FMOD = 1) cycles long, giving the choice of
1
/
’s or
1
/
’s of the comparison frequency and the fractional
numerator is set by NF in Word A or A2. The accumulator
repeatedly adds NF to its own value and generates an
overflow whenever this value exceeds the count modulo
number. This overflow output to the Modulus Control logic will
force one cycle to change from MODMP HIGH to MODMP
LOW to in turn set the prescaler to the higher ratio for one cycle
the ACE9030 fractions are only
1
/
’s or
1
/
’s. For further details
see the later section “Detailed Operation of Fractional-N
Mode”.
Fractional-N Mode with Speed-up
This gives the ultimate loop performance from the
ACE9030 but care is needed when designing the loop filter
and when choosing the values of the control parameters.
N1 & N2
FROM BUS
PHASE
DETECTOR
DOWN
UP
φ
φ
12 BIT DOWN/UP
COUNTER
RESET
CHARGE
PUMP
PDP
MAIN COMPARISON
FREQUENCY (FROM
REFERENCE DIVIDER)
FIM
FIMB
MODMP
MODMN
MODULUS CONTROL