SIGNALCORE nanoSynth SC800 EDK User manual

Rev. 1.1
Information furnished by SignalCore is believed to be accurate and
reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed by SignalCore for its
use, nor for any infringements of patents or other rights of third
parties that may result from its use. Specifications are subject to
change without notice. No license is granted by implication or
otherwise under any patent or patent rights of SignalCore. The word
“SignalCore”, its logo, and the words “preserving signal integrity” are
registered trademarks of SignalCore Incorporated.
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
SC800 Evaluation Development Kit
User Guide

Rev. 1.1
Information furnished by SignalCore is believed to be accurate and
reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed by SignalCore for its
use, nor for any infringements of patents or other rights of third
parties that may result from its use. Specifications are subject to
change without notice. No license is granted by implication or
otherwise under any patent or patent rights of SignalCore. The word
“SignalCore”, its logo, and the words “preserving signal integrity” are
registered trademarks of SignalCore Incorporated.
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]

Rev 1.1 | Page 3 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide
Contents
SC800 nanoSynth® Evaluation Development Kit ................................................................................................. 4
Evaluation Development Kit Description............................................................................................................. 4
Verifying the Contents of Your Shipment............................................................................................................ 5
Control Software and Device Driver..................................................................................................................... 6
Installing the USB Driver ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Using the Soft Front Panel................................................................................................................................... 13
The Control Window....................................................................................................................................... 14
The Config Sweep/List Window ..................................................................................................................... 15
The List Entry Window................................................................................................................................... 16
Schematics ............................................................................................................................................................ 17
Revision Notes...................................................................................................................................................... 20

Rev 1.1 | Page 4 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide
SC800 nanoSynth® Evaluation Development Kit
Thank you for your purchase of the SignalCore SC800 nanoSynth®6 GHz signal source evaluation
development kit (EDK). This EDK user guide will describe how to setup the evaluation board,
install the driver, and install and operate the SC800 using the control software.
Evaluation Development Kit Description
Figure 1. SC800 evaluation development kit.
Label
Description
A
SC800 nanoSynth.
B
Reference input SMA connector. Typical input power is 7 dBm. Max input power is
10 dBm. Input frequency is either 100 MHz or 200 MHz.
C
RF output SMA connector.
D
+12V supply connector, 2.5 mm jack.
E
Mini-B type USB connector for USB communication to the SC800 device .
F
SPI communication header pins. The SRDY pin can be used to monitor the status of
the SPI interface. Refer to the SPI interface section in the product datasheet to learn
how to properly communicate with the device through this interface.
Errata: The label on the PCB has SDO and SDI swapped.

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G
External control header pins: SMODE, LCK STATUS, TRIG2 (TRIG IN), and TRIG1
(TRIG OUT). Use the supplied jumpers to shunt each pin to ground as required. See
the product datasheet for more information about each signal pin.
H
These are dual function pins. The JTAG functionality can be ignored for normal
operation. See the product datasheet for information about each signal pin.
I
100 MHz VCXO. This VCXO is enable by shunting jumper header J7. If the shunt is
removed, the VCXO is turned off, and the path to the SC800 reference input is
switched to the on-board SMA connection (B).
J
+5.5V supply switcher. Regulated to +5V, +4V, and +3.3V. The SC800 only runs off
the +4V supply. The other rails are used to power the VCXO and the digital circuitry.
K
-5.5V supply switcher. Regulated to -5V. Used only by the output driver amplifier
(L).
L
RF buffer amplifier. This amplifier boosts the output power to +20 dBm (typical).
M
Reset button. Press the reset button to ensure the device properly operates.
N
USB in-system programming button.
Verifying the Contents of Your Shipment
The contents of the product package should include the following items:
1. One SC800 EDK board
2. One 12V power supply wall adapter
3. One USB cable
4. One SC800 EDK Getting Started Guide document
Inspect the shipping carton for visible damage. If the carton is damaged please notify the carrier and
SignalCore immediately.
The SC800 EDK ships in antistatic packaging to prevent damage from electrostatic discharge (ESD).
The device should always be stored inside an antistatic bag when it is not in use as ESD can cause
damage to the electronic components on the board. Properly ground yourself and use ESD good
practices when handling the product at all times.
Open the shipping carton and remove all contents. If the contents show visible damage and/or are
missing, please contact SignalCore immediately.
ESD
CAUTION

Rev 1.1 | Page 6 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide
Control Software and Device Driver
The SC800 EDK comes with a USB flash drive that contains everything needed to install, control,
and program the SC800. Insert the USB drive into the host computer and launch "SC800 EDK
Installer.exe". This top-level menu-based window allows for independent installations of the SC800
software set and the National Instruments LabVIEW Run-Time Engine needed to operate the
SC800 Soft Front Panel application. The run-time engine installation can be skipped if LabVIEW
2010 or later is already installed on the host computer. The SC800 software installation files are also
available online at www.signalcore.com. Navigate to the SC800 product page; a link to the control
and device driver software can be found under the "Library" tab. There are two executables listed -
SC800 Setup32.exe and SC800 Setup64.exe. Choose the right one for your operating system, then
download and launch the setup file. Whether you use the USB drive for setup or download the files
online, running the setup executable will only install the control and development software to your
computer and does not install the device driver. The driver must be installed manually by following
the instructions in the next section.
Installing the USB Driver
The following driver installations steps apply to Windows 7TM. These steps are also sufficient to
guide the device driver installation for Window XPTM.
1. Power on the device and connect it the host PC. Window 7 will attempt to install the
driver, but will fail because the driver has not been loaded. Click the arrow pointer
at the lower right corner of the screen and the following screen should appear:

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2. Click on the button, and in the search input box type “mmc devmgmt.msc” as
shown below, then press [ENTER].
3. This will bring up the "Device Manager" screen as shown below. Right click on “SC800X
nanoSynth” and select “Update Driver Software”.

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4. The "Update Driver Software" screen will appear. Select "Browse my computer for driver
software."
5. Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer", then click [Next] to
continue.

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6. Select “Show All Devices” and click [Next] to continue.
7. On the following 2 screens, click [Have Disk…]

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8. On the next screen browse to or type in the directory location where the sc800.inf file
resides. If you used the default install location for the Setup32 or Setup64 executable,
the INF file will be located under C:\Program Files\SignalCore\SC800. Select the
appropriate directory and click [OK].

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9. The host PC will pick up the information provided by the sc800.inf file and should show
that it has found a driver for the device as shown below. If the wrong directory was
chosen for the location of the sc800.inf file, the device will not show up in the list. In
that case, you will need to click [Have Disk…] again and select the correct directory. If
the device driver shows up correctly in the list, click [Next] to continue.
10. You will see the following warning that the driver is not digitally signed and Windows
cannot verify the publisher of the driver. The SC800 device drivers are not digitally
signed. However, SignalCore takes proper precautions and all device drivers are
thoroughly tested. Select "Install this software driver anyway" to start the installation.

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11. The installation should proceed to completion at this point. The following screen should
appear upon successful driver installation:
12. You may now go back to your "Device Manager" window to verify that the device has
been successfully installed. The SC800 will appear under the “SignalCore USB Devices”
class with the name “SC800 nanoSynth RF Source”.

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Using the Soft Front Panel
The Soft Front Panel (SFP) for the SC800 (SC800_SoftFrontPanel.exe) can be launched from the
START->Programs->SC800 menu once the control software and the driver have been installed. This
executable uses the software API functions exclusively; there are no other proprietary functions
used in its development. The main panel and all underlying functions used to create the SFP are
written in LabVIEW and are available in VI form in the LabVIEW API directory. The LabVIEW
API is simply a wrapper of the sc800.dll. The startup screen of the SFP is shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2. Soft Front Panel main window.
The sc800_SearchDevices dialog will appear showing you the device ID. If there is more than one
device, click on the dropdown menu arrow to reveal all of the devices that are available and select
the desired one. Click [OK] to close the device selection dialog.

Rev 1.1 | Page 14 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide
Figure 3. Choosing a configuration screen.
Once a device has been selected and the device session successfully opens, the status of the device,
the device information, and its current configuration are read and displayed on the main panel
window. The device information and status are shown under the "Control" tab, while the list mode
configuration parameters are shown under the "Config Sweep/List" tab. A dropdown menu in the
upper left corner of the panel is used to select one of three possible configuration tabs: Control,
Config Sweep/List, and List Entry as shown in Figure 3.
The Control Window
The Control tab (Figure 4) shows the static device information and dynamic status information.
The status of the device is read every time the configuration of the device changes. Normally,
the status is not retrieved at a constant interval unless Fetch Status is selected. The status is then
fetched at a regular time interval set by the Interval (sec) input. It is not recommended to query
the status when List/Sweep mode is ON and triggered. Every time the device status is queried it
consumes CPU time from the onboard MCU, and this may interrupt the timing of the device
sweep. If the PLL lock status of the device is the only parameter of interest, it can alternatively
be monitored through the LCK STATUS pin.
RF Mode: Select either Single Tone or List/Sweep mode. In Single Tone mode, the SC800
frequency is set through software and RF Frequency input is enabled. If List/Sweep mode is
selected, the RF Frequency input is disabled and grayed out. If List/Sweep mode is enabled, the
[Trigger Start/Stop] button can be used to soft trigger the sweep or list behavior as set up in the
Config Sweep/List window.

Rev 1.1 | Page 15 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide
Figure 4. The Control tab window.
The Config Sweep/List Window
The sweep or list parameters are configured in this window as shown in Figure 5. Most of the
parameters on this window are implicit except perhaps for the [Load Config] and [Set As
Default] buttons. When all sweep or list (see the List Entry window) parameters are entered,
they are loaded to the device by clicking on the [Load-Config] button. Ensure that the list/sweep
cycle is completed and/or stopped before up loading new parameters. The [Set As Default]
button will store all these parameters to the device EEPROM and set them as the default power-
up or reset state. Refer to the SC800 datasheet for more details on list mode configuration.
When the Trigger Source selection is set to "Hardware", the trigger behavior is determined by
the HW Trigger Mode. Pin TRIG 2 on header J3 is the hardware trigger pin used to start and
stop a list/sweep cycle or to step the list on every trigger pulse. When the device is set to step on
each hardware trigger, taking it out of step mode before a cycle is completed requires a software
trigger or by changing the RF mode to Single Tone.
If Trigger Out State is enabled, the device will send a trigger pulse out every step or every cycle,
determined by the Trigger Out Behavior. The high-to-low transition of the pulse indicates that
the device has completed its configuration for that frequency. It is not an indication that the
frequency has settled. Trigger output is monitored through pin TRIG 1 on header J3.

Rev 1.1 | Page 16 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide
Figure 5. The Configure Sweep/List tab window.
The List Entry Window
The SC800 can store and execute an arbitrary list of 2048 frequency points. The list frequencies
can be entered and loaded to the list buffer by clicking the [Download to Buffer] button. The
[Save Buffer to EEPROM] button will save all the values currently in the list buffer to the
EEPROM inside the SC800. Values stored in the EEPROM can be written to the list buffer by
clicking [Read EEPROM to Buffer]. Note - list mode gets its values from the buffer (stored in
RAM), so moving data from EEPROM to the list buffer is required to properly operate the
device in this mode.
Figure 6. The List Entry tab window.

Rev 1.0 | Page 17 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide Schematic
Schematics

Rev 1.0 | Page 18 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide Schematic

Rev 1.0 | Page 19 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide Schematic

Rev 1. | Page 20 of 20 SC800 EDK User Guide
© 2014-2019 SignalCore Inc. All rights
reserved. Trademarks and registered
trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
www.signalcore.com
Revision Notes
Rev 1.0
Original document
Rev 1.1
Address Removed