Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Re: Low cost hardware option

[Moeller]

On 14.01.2011 22:28, Charly Lima wrote:
> What about using an ASIC instead of the FPGA for the DDC, for example AD6652
> from Analog Devices, and connect that directly to the USB 3.0 Controller? 
> Might
> be cheaper?
> <http://www.analog.com/en/digital-to-analog-converters/digital-updown-converters/ad6652/products/product.html>

DDC is a routine task and can be done in ASIC, that's right.
However, i doubt that the ASIC can be attached directly to
USB controllers, because you have to handle the data bus,
control bus, controlling the frequency synthesizer.
I think in any case you need a FPGA as glue logic.
If the DDC is done in ASIC, the FPGA can be very small and cheap.

> You can always put a USB 3.0 Card in a PCI Slot if your Computer if it does 
> not
> already have USB 3.0. It s not expensive. 

USB 3 offers higher bandwidths than GiE, but GiE can be switched and
allows large distances. So I would prefer GiE if the bandwidth is sufficient.
For higher bandwidths, 10GbE would be an option for future developments.