OTA-Based Triangular-to-Sine and Sine-to-Triangular Waveform Converters Anucha Kaewpoonsuk1, Sutthinon Khunkong1, Apinai Rerkratn2, Wandee Petchmaneelumka2, and Naratorn Kanjanapart2 1 2 Department of Physics, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok 65000, Thailand Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Chalongkrung Rd, Ladkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, Thailand Abstract An alternative technique for realizing both triangular-to-sine waveform converter and its inverse transfer function based on operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), are presented in this paper. The proposed waveform converting action is exploited from the hyperbolic tangent characteristic of bipolar junction transistor-based (BJT-based) OTA. The proposed schemes provide the simple configulation and employ only OTAs as the active elements. PSPICE simulation and experimental results are given to confirm the theoretical analysis. Keywords - OTA, Triangular-to-sine waveform converter, Sine-to-triangular waveform converter 1 Introduction Triangular-to-sine waveform converter and its inverse transfer function, which is sine-to-triangular waveform converter, are important circuit building blocks in electronic signal processing. Three fundamental approaches for determining both waveform converters are based on the diode-network [1], the differential pair-network [2], and the translinear circuit [3]. It has been demonstrated that the OTA, which is implemented by bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), can be used to implement a sine-totriangular waveform converter [4-5]. However, that circuit requires four OTAs for conversion waveform signal. If the number of OTAs can be minimized, the approach will provide the economical attraction. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to propose a new topology both triangular-to-sine and sine-totriangular waveform converters based on OTAs. Moreover, the circuits provide a simple configuration and require only OTA as active element. 2 The circuit schematic diagram and the symbol of BJT-based OTA is shown in Fig. 1, where Vin, Iout and IB denote the input voltage, output current, and the bias current of OTA, respectively. Transistors Q1-Q2 function the differential pair. All current mirrors (CMi), where i = 1, 2 and 3, is assigned to unity current gain, the relation between the Vin and the Iout can be stated as I out I B tanh(Vin / 2VT ) (1) Vin 2VT tanh 1 ( I out / I B ) (2) where VT is the thermal voltage. (4) Vin ( 2VT I B R ) sin 1 (mI o / I B ) or (5) I o ( I B / m) sin(Vin /(2VT I B R)) CM1 CM3 Iout Vin Circuit Description Q1 Q2 IB CM2 (a) Circuit schematic diagram. (b) Symbol The realization of proposed triangular-to-sine waveform converter utilizing hyperbolic tangent behavior of OTA is shown in Fig. 2. Thus, the relation between the input signal Vin and the current signal Io can be express as Vin I o R 2VT tanh 1 ( I o / I B ) Based on the power series expansion principles and using suitable conditions such as (IBR / 2VT) = 1.3, and the magnitude (m) of the current Io is set to m = 0.975IB, Eq. (3) can be approximated as (3) Fig. 1. BJT-based OTA. Then the output voltage signal Vout can be written as Vout R ( I B / m) sin(Vin /(2VT I B R)) (6) Clearly, the proposed circuit can exhibit as a triangular-to-sine waveform converter. Fig. 3 shows the proposed sine-to-triangular waveform converter, which consists of a resistor R and two BJT-based OTAs. OTA1 and resistor R function as a triangular-to-sine waveform converter. The OTA2 is used as a feedback of the proposed circuit. Hence the relationship of the input signal Vin and the output signal Vout can be approximated by Vout (2VT I B R) sin 1 (mVin / I B R) (7) From Eq. (7), if Vin is the sinusoidal waveform then we get the output signal Vout as a triangular waveform. 3 PSPICE Simulation Results To demonstrate the circuit performances of the proposed triangular-to-sine and sine-to-triangular waveform converters, the schemes in Figs. 2~3 were simulated using PSPICE analog simulation program. The simulation results were carried out using the commercial OTA model. The circuit parameters R = 1kΩ, IB = IB1 = 67uA and IB2 = 500uA were chosen. The supply voltages of all circuits were set to ±15V. Figs. 5~6 show simulation results of the proposed circuits in Figs. 2~3. From Fig. 5, the input voltage Vin is 1kHz triangular signal with 380mVp-p. From Fig.6, the input voltage Vin is 1kHz sinusoidal waveform with 150mVp-p. It is evident that the simulation results of the proposed circuits are in close agreement with the expected values. Fig. 2. Proposed triangular-to-sine waveform converter. Fig. 5. Simulated results of proposed triangular-to-sine waveform converter. Fig. 3. Proposed sine-to-triangular waveform converter. From triangular-to-sine and sine-to-triangular waveform converters as shown in Figs. 2~3, the alternative schemes for out-of-phase waveform results can be shown in Fig. 4. (a) Triangular-to-sine Fig. 6. Simulated results of proposed sine-to-triangular waveform converter. (b) Sine-to-triangular Fig. 4. Alternative converters for out-of-phase waveform results. The schemes in Fig. 4 was simulated using PSPICE analog simulation program. The simulation results were carried out using the commercial OTA model. The circuit parameters R1 = 10kΩ, R2 = 10kΩ IB1 = 67uA and IB2 = 500uA were chosen. The supply voltages of all circuits were set to ±15V. Figs.7~8 show simulation results of the proposed circuits in Fig. 4. From Fig. 7, the input voltage Vin is 1kHz triangular waveform with 380mVp-p. From Fig. 8, the input voltage Vin is 1kHz sinusoidal waveform with 150mVp-p. Vin (mV) Vin, Vout (mV) 200 0 Vin Vout Vout (expected) -200 Vout (mV) Error (%FS) 4 0 -4 -90 0 Phase (degree) 90 Fig. 10. Simulated error of proposed sine-to-triangular waveform converter. Fig. 7. Simulated results of out-of-phase triangular-to-sine waveform converter. 4 Experimental Results Vout (mV) Vin (mV) The proposed triangular-to-sine and sine-to-triangular waveform converters in Figs. 2~3 were experimental implemented using commercial available OTA CA3280 and 1% tolerance resistor. The circuit parameters R = 1kΩ, IB = IB1 = 200uA and IB2 = 100uA were chosen. The supply voltages of all circuits were set to ±15V. Figs.11~12 show experimental results of the proposed circuits in Figs. 2~3, respectively. From Fig. 11, the input voltage Vin is 1kHz triangular with 400mVp-p. From Fig.12, the input voltage Vin is 1kHz sinusoidal with 400mVp-p. Fig. 8. Simulation results of out-of-phase sine-to-triangular waveform converter. 200 100 Fig. 11. Experimental results of proposed triangular-to-sine waveform converter. 0 100 50 0 2.5 5 Frequency (kHz) 7.5 10 Fig. 9. Simulated frequency spectrum of proposed triangular-to-sine waveform converter. Fig. 9 shows simulated frequency spectrum of the proposed triangular-to-sine waveform converter in Fig. 2. Fig. 10 shows simulated error of proposed sine-to-triangular waveform converter in Fig. 3. The maximum error is about 3 percentages. From the simulated results in Figs. 5~10, it is evident that the proposed converters performance are agreed with the expected values. Fig. 12. Experimental results of proposed sine-to-triangular waveform converter. The proposed triangular-to-sine and sine-to-triangular waveform converters in Fig. 4(a) ~ 4(b) were experimental implemented using commercial available OTA CA3280 and 1% tolerance resistor. The circuit parameters R1 = 10kΩ, R2 = 10kΩ, IB1 = 67uA and IB2 = 500uA were chosen. The supply voltages of all circuits were set to ±15V. Figs.13~14 show experimental results of the proposed circuits in Figs. 4(a) ~ 4(b), respectively. From Fig.13, the input voltage Vin is 1kHz triangular waveform 400mVp-p. From Fig.14, the input voltage Vin is kHz sinusoidal signal 400mVp-p. It is clearly seen that the experimental results of the proposed circuits are in close agreement with the expected values. Fig. 13. Experimental results of out-of-phase triangular-to-sine waveform converter. Fig. 14. Experimental results of out-of-phase sine-to-triangular waveform converter. 5 Conclusion In this paper, triangular-to-sine and sine-to-triangular waveform converters has been described. The proposed circuits provide simple configuration, good performance and low cost. Simulation and experimental results verifying the performance of the proposed circuit are agreed with the expected values. References [1] James F. Cox, “Fundamentals of Linear Electronics: Integrated and Discrete”, Delmar, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. USA, pp. 525-526, 2002. [2] R. G. Meyer, W. M. C. Sansen, S. Lui and S. Peeters, “The Differential Pair as a Triangle-Sine WaveConverter,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, SC-11, pp:418-420, June 1976. [3] B. Gilbert, “A Monolithic Mycrosystem for Analog Synthesis of Trigonometric Functions and Their Inverses,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, SC-17, No.6, pp:1179-1191, December 1982. [4] Vanchai Riewruja and Anucha Kaewpoonsuk, “OTA-based sine-totriangular wave converter”, Circuits, Systems and Signal Processing, December 2006, Volume 25, Issue 6, pp 753-765 [5] Carlos A. dos Reis Filho, Murilo Pilon Pessatti and Jolo Paulo Cerquinho Cajueiro, “Analog Triangular-to-Sine Converter Using Lateral-pnp Transistors in CMOS Process”, ICECS 2002 The 9th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, pp. 253-256, 2002. .