A distributed test system for pipelined ADCs

The paper presents a distributed test system for pipelined ADCs including a model-based characterization process. A set of modular Virtual Instruments has been developed in Java to execute the system functions in order to be remotely manageable through a common Internet browser. The system features include (i) a module able in modeling an ADC through the specialization of a simplified behavioral model; (ii) a module executing the dynamic testing of the device; (iii) a scalable database providing the data sharing among more remote users; and (iv) some interface modules to programmable instrumentation. The paper also presents the results of the first validation of the system, carried out on an actual pipelined ADC.