North

W5HN
Texas

NTMS
Microwave
Society

An Arduino Controlled
35 MHz to 4.4 GHz
Signal Generator

Greg McIntire, AA5C

[email protected]

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Project Objectives NTMS

Microwave
Society

• Experiment with ADF4351 eval boards to

determine suitability for
– Local oscillators
• Lock to station 10 MHz reference
• Direct or multiplied for the higher bands
– e.g., 752 MHz, 1152 MHz, 2160 MHz, 3312 MHz, 5616 MHz
(2808 x 2), 10224 MHz (3408 x 3)
– Beacons
• Use the Arduino Uno to control the ADF4351
• Try the LCD Keypad Shield on the Arduino Uno

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ADF4351 NTMS
Microwave
Society

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ADF4351 Features NTMS

Microwave
Society

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ADF4351 NTMS
Microwave
Society

• VCO runs from 2.2 to 4.4 GHz

– Programmable RF Output divider: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64
– Gets range down to 34.375 MHz
• Output frequency programmable to 10 KHz resolution
• Up to to 250 MHz reference input
• Differential RF output
– Terminate opposite polarity if using single-ended
– Two pairs of outputs
• Output power can be set to one of four levels
– 4 dBm, -1 dBm, +2 dBm, +5 dBm
• Need to program 6 32-bit registers to use

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Phase Noise Performance Texas

NTMS
Microwave
Society

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Phase Noise Performance (2) NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Data Sheet Spur Performance Texas

NTMS
Microwave
Society

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Chinese ADF4351 Eval Board NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Chinese ADF4351 Eval Board NTMS

Microwave
Society

• Can be found for $25-$30 including shipping on eBay

• 5-9 VDC input power via 1.1 mm barrel power plug
• Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and lock signals brought
out to a 10-pin header on the board
• On-board 25 MHz crystal reference feeds the ADF4351
and a SMA connector
– Remove 0 Ohm resistor R5 to use external reference
• Two LEDs
– Power
– Lock
• 3.3V Logic Signals (Caution: requires level shifters when
interfacing to the Arduino Uno!)

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Interface Between the Aruino Uno Texas

NTMS

and the ADF3451 Eval Board Microwave

Society

Arduino Arduino Level Shift

ADF4351 Signal Function Pin* Direction Required

ADF Data MOSI 11 To ADF4351 Yes

ADF Clock SCK 13 To ADF4351 Yes

ADF LE Select 3 To ADF4351 Yes

Lock
Muxout Detect 2 From ADF4351 No

+5VDC

GND
Interface via the LCD Button Shield and Interface Board
*Per F1CJN software

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Arduino LCD Button Shield NTMS

Microwave
Society

• Plugs directly
into the
Arduino Uno
• ~$7.50 for
two from
China
including
shipping

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Arduino Uno Board Texas

NTMS
Microwave
Society

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Atmel ATMega328P NTMS

Microwave
Society

• High Performance, Low Power Atmel® AVR® 8-Bit

Microcontroller Family
• Advanced RISC Architecture
– 131 Powerful Instructions – Most Single Clock Cycle
Execution
– 32 x 8 General Purpose Working Registers
– Fully Static Operation
– Up to 20 MIPS Throughput at 20MHz
– On-chip 2-cycle Multiplier

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ATMega328P Memory NTMS

Microwave
Society

• 32KBytes of In-System Self-Programmable Flash

program memory
• 1KBytes EEPROM
• 2KBytes Internal SRAM
• Write/Erase Cycles: 10,000 Flash/100,000 EEPROM
• Data retention: 20 years at 85C/100 years at 25 C
• Optional Boot Code Section with Independent Lock Bits
– In-System Programming by On-chip Boot Program
– True Read-While-Write Operation
• Programming Lock for Software Security

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ATMega328P Peripheral Features NTMS

Microwave
Society

– Two 8-bit Timer/Counters with Separate Prescaler and Compare

Mode
– One 16-bit Timer/Counter with Separate Prescaler, Compare
Mode, and Capture Mode
– Real Time Counter with Separate Oscillator
– Six PWM Channels
– 8-channel 10-bit ADC in TQFP and QFN/MLF package
– Temperature Measurement
– 6-channel 10-bit ADC in PDIP Package
– Temperature Measurement
– Programmable Serial USART
– Master/Slave SPI Serial Interface
– Byte-oriented 2-wire Serial Interface (Philips I2C compatible)
– Programmable Watchdog Timer with Separate On-chip
Oscillator
– On-chip Analog Comparator
– Interrupt and Wake-up on Pin Change
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Software Development for the Texas

NTMS

Arduino Microwave
Society

• Open source Integrated Development

Environment (IDE)
– https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
• Programming language is like C++
• Many subroutines for hardware available
– LCD Display, Keypad, SPI bus, ……
• Long list of examples included with IDE
• Lots of open source code
• E.g., Arduino Uno makes a nice beacon keyer

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F1CJN Software NTMS

Microwave
Society

• Alain Fort, F1CJN wrote software for controlling

the ADF4351
• Code compiles and loads on the Arduino Uno
and available at
– http://f6kbf.free.fr/html/ADF4351%20and%20Arduino_
Fr_Gb.htm (thanks to WW2R and W5LUA)

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SW Human Interface NTMS

Microwave
Society

• Left, Right, Up,

and Down
buttons to
move between
fields
• Frequency
Selectable in
10 kHz steps
• Select 10 MHz
or 25 MHz
reference
• Store up to 20
frequencies in
EEPROM

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Very Preliminary Test Results NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Measured Output Power* NTMS

Microwave
Society

1
Output Power (dBm)

0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
-1
Output Power vs
-2 Frequency
-3

-4

-5

-6
Frequency (MHz)

*Single ended with other polarity terminated

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Spectrum: 432.280 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Phase Noise: 432.380 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Spectrum: 1152 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

Spur are
multiples
of on-
board 25
MHz
reference

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Phase Noise: 1152 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Spectrum: 3408 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Phase Noise: 3408 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Spectrum: 3456 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Phase Noise: 3456 MHz NTMS

Microwave
Society

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Plans Texas

NTMS
Microwave

• Connect to station 10 MHz reference and test Society

– Verified that ADF4351 locks to external 10 MHz reference

• Reverse engineer how the ADF4351 is being set up with F1CJN code
• Experiment with ADF4351 settings
– Data sheet notes controls to optimize performance for a single frequency
or narrow bandwidth
– Try low spur vs. low phase noise modes
– Look for “sweet spots”
• Try a balun on the output
• Look at how the Orion version performs
– Purported to be cleaner output due to better PCB layout than Chinese
boards
– Different interface
• Research means of retaining load with power removed

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Initial Conclusions NTMS

Microwave
Society

• On-board 25 MHz reference useful for testing

but likely noisier than a good 10 MHz reference
– Mine measured low by 366 Hz
– Output spectrum with 10 MHz reference yet to be
measured
• Amplification needed to bring signal up to
nominal mixer input level of +7 dBm

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Initial Conclusions NTMS

Microwave
Society

• Overall, these ADF4351 eval boards look like a good

starting point for microwave LOs and Beacons
– Use filters, multipliers, and amplifiers as needed to
get spectrum and power level needed
– Wide frequency range
– Inexpensive

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