To: | [email protected] |
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Subject: | Re: LF: Re: VLF Stability and soundcard locking |
From: | Markus Vester <[email protected]> |
Date: | Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:56:19 -0500 |
In-reply-to: | <[email protected]> |
References: | <[email protected]><003201cbde72$606d6090$0401a8c0@xphd97xgq27nyf><[email protected]><[email protected]><6F4ACB3DA2BB4E338E9278EEDE300D20@JimPC> <[email protected]> <[email protected]> |
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Typo, should read "within a few tenths of a ppm"
Sri, Markus
-----Ursprüngliche Mitteilung-----
Von: Markus Vester <[email protected]> An: [email protected] Verschickt: Do., 10. Mrz. 2011, 11:52 Thema: Re: LF: Re: VLF Stability and soundcard locking Hi Andy, Jim,
I am actually using a little USB plugin soundcard ("3D Sound" for 2.60 Euro) for my VLF grabber at 48 ks/s. Locking to GQD shows that samplerate has remained fairly stable within a few tens of a ppm over the weeks.
One interesting thing I noticed is that the samplerate seems to be controlled by the PC rather than the soundcard's onboard 12 MHz crystal. When I plug a second soundcard of the same brand into the same PC, I get exactly the same samplerate offset. The very same soundcard in a different PC gives a different offset. It looks as if the samplerate of these devices would be controlled by the USB master clock. Best 73,
Markus (DF6NM)
-----Ursprüngliche Mitteilung-----
Von: Andy Talbot <[email protected]> An: [email protected] Verschickt: Do., 10. Mrz. 2011, 9:13 Thema: Re: LF: Re: VLF Stability and soundcard locking That is very much what I feared would happen.
USB interfaces run based on a clock of 6MHz, which is unfortunately an exact sub-multiple of the codec reference. So the difference between the clock in the transmitter (the codec) and the receiver (the PC) will cause a regular slippage.
Now, soundcards communicate on USB using Isochronous mode which sacrifices data accuracy in favor of guaranteed timing of data delivery. Other USB modes perform error checking and repeat failed packets, or are simple Human Interfaces (HID) like keyboards and mice which have low occasional data rate and no checking.
When you plug other devices into the bus, the negotiaion going on takes up some overhead and you'll lose more data blocks.
So, we are forced to accept data glitches and resulting sampling rate errors in USB soundcards.
The only way to overcome this, is to force the USB to use another protocol, which means not using a plug-and-play soundcard chip / headphone dongle, or whatever. This means a dedicated A/D converter, glue logic - which is probably going to have to be FPGA based, a PIC or like probably won't be able to hack-it - and a proper fully corrected USB link.
Such interfaces already exist and are in the mainstearm of amateur radio. They are Direct Sampling SDRs. The SDR-IQ has a sampling rate defined only by its on board 66.6666MHz clock (which can come from a locked reference) and sends error corrected packets to the host. Other radios use Ethernet instead of USB for a faster transfer rate.
That's life. Mind you, when I get round to it, still going to get that chip operational with a locked reference 12MHz and accurately measure its sampling rate. If it is not exactly 48kHz then we know the USB channel has to be at fault.
One thing that PCM2900 codec chip is useful for - its the only soundcard I know of that DOESN'T allow you to change the recording level. Voltage in is related to digits out - exactly. So that makes it of inestimably more use in soundcard based test equipment as you don't have to keep making a level calibration check every other measurement. As far as I recall, it is even calibrated by design, so a 1VRMS sine (2.82V pk-pk) is full scale.
Andy
On 10 March 2011 01:28, James Moritz <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Andy, LF Group, |
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