Shop OBEX P1 Docs P2 Docs Learn Events
PLL wobble testing using HD VGA — Parallax Forums

PLL wobble testing using HD VGA

During testing these past couple of months we've noticed some 'pll wobbles' affecting HD VGA screens. The wobbles can be brought on by excessive PLL divisors and/or elevated temperature (approx low to mid 50 C's surface temperature, higher than P2-Eval board can naturally get to with its own self heating).

In this thread we'll try and get some numbers together. Also if anyone has ideas for some kind of automated detection when the wobbles occur, that would help. I can't spot it on the PLL current drawn through V2831 unfortunately, and only just on the DMM in frequency mode, and then only visually

The photo below has a shutter time around 1/30 sec which probably means it has two stacked frames. I'll try and get a shot with 1/60 sec to match the vertical refresh. The test pattern is a black and white grid, single white lines are 32 pixels apart in X direction and 20 pixels apart in Y direction.
If a pixel deviates + / - 7 pixels in the X direction, I believe that translates to + / - 50 nsec

We're also using a PLL divisor of 14 to hit 138.57 MHz (1920x1080 60fps with reduced blanking 1), things are generally better and divisors of 2 or 3

I need to do some more work on hsync to make sure there's not something else going on, however we have done testing with a pin exporting clock_freq/1000 and it does show the wobble simultaneously with the video wobble.

Pnut_v32i test code also attached
«1

Comments

  • Rayman wrote: »
    Didn't we decide to just not divide 20 MHz by a big number?
    Seems like was fine when divided by 2.

    Is 10 MHz not enough granularity?

    Yeah, while this testing was with /14 because it makes things easier to bring on & photograph. I've certainly seen similar with /3. I haven't tried /2 yet
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    edited 2019-01-17 01:44
    Tubular wrote: »
    The test pattern is a black and white grid, single white lines are 32 pixels apart in X direction and 20 pixels apart in Y direction.
    If a pixel deviates + / - 7 pixels in the X direction, I believe that translates to + / - 50 nsec
    So that's a single-pixel wide in X, test ? What is the diagonal line showing ?

    Is that a zoomed portion of the screen ? - there seems to be some ringing effects, in the vertical axis
    Tubular wrote: »
    The photo below has a shutter time around 1/30 sec which probably means it has two stacked frames.
    Could that be 3 stacked frames ? I can see 3 ringing overlayed there.

    The jitter I was seeing at 160MHz, using my 4046 phase detector, at /64, was less than a full XTAL cycle, but was more than 1 SysCLK
    I had to go to /64 to get an amplified jitter, enough for my 100Msps scope to grab.

    That image seems to span ~7 pixels, so is closer to +/- 3.5 pixels, which is similar to my /64 jitter, but you use /14 where I would see less.

    Given the possible frame sync aspect here, I wonder if some of this is also showing the Monitor PLL struggling with P2 signals ?
    Is the HSync present during vertical flyback ?
    I wonder if the P2 gets noiser, does the monitor lose the ability to follow ?


    Tubular wrote: »
    Also if anyone has ideas for some kind of automated detection when the wobbles occur, that would help.

    Based on those jitter plots posted earlier, (reciprocal counter) I suggested using a Smart Pin mode, Capture SysCLKS over X-Xtal Cycles (good for Sysclks comfortably above 40MHz)
    That needs just XO mapped to an adjacent Smart pin, and maybe a higher CL can compensate for the skew in loading that results ?
    This will not have the nice background slope of the earlier plots, which showed the Xtal temperature, but it will catch residual averages of > 1 SysCLK.
    X-Xtal cycles can be varied to find the best sensitivity - too small X will not have enough accumulated error, and too large X will average to zero.

    Does anyone have a good enough spectrum analyzer to get a close-in capture of a smart pin toggling ?

    Addit: If you set that X in the smart-pin mode Capture SysCLKS for X-Whole Cycles, to a line-time (~ 300 Xtal Cycles ?) you should capture the same as a single-frame image does, to 1 pixel LSB.
    If that is less than the screen disturbance, you have Monitor PLL effects adding to P2 PLL effects.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    Here are some captures, of a P2 scoped with a HC4046 phase comparing XTAL with a SysCLK/8 == 20MHz. Ideal, is a flat line of one of 8 possible phases.

    First 2 are same settings, and sweeping (warming) thru some 'hot spot', then settling to a more stable zone.
    That does seem to indicate a couple of preferred frequencies in play.

    Second 2 show /8 and /16 PFD relative differences - higher PFD divide is worse.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    Has anyone tried injecting a clean 20MHz into XI, directly, overcoming the crystal? That would be a way to cut the pie in half, initially. See what jitter results from that arrangement.
  • Yes, P2D2 had a 12 MHz TXCO on it and showed the same kind of behaviour.

    I agree it'd be good to nail this better, though
  • The crystal oscillator is not the limiting factor. Some of the spurs on the crystal output and XDIV=1 might be due to my equipment. The USRP1 has a 64MSPS 12 bit ADC. It appears to be clocked from a crystal oscillator with no PLLs in between.
    1886 x 1491 - 167K
    1886 x 1491 - 168K
    1886 x 1491 - 170K
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    The crystal oscillator is not the limiting factor. Some of the spurs on the crystal output and XDIV=1 might be due to my equipment. The USRP1 has a 64MSPS 12 bit ADC. It appears to be clocked from a crystal oscillator with no PLLs in between.

    Nice plots. Did you try connection to a pin giving 10MHz to avoid loading XO, for spectrum plots of Crystal only (no PLL), and Crystal with PLL running (maybe PFD /1 and PFD/64).

    What are the PLL settings for the last plot ?
  • Do we have a way to determine if the VCO is losing lock? I have some experience with VCOs in two way radio, and when they marginally lose lock, you see the output start to crawl around in frequency a generate a lot of phase noise.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    ke4pjw wrote: »
    Do we have a way to determine if the VCO is losing lock? I have some experience with VCOs in two way radio, and when they marginally lose lock, you see the output start to crawl around in frequency a generate a lot of phase noise.

    My scope captures and counter suggest it is not totally losing frequency lock, in the long term averages sense.
    Comparing Xtal XO with a 20MHz out, from SysCLK/8, still shows an eye.

    The phase-lock operation, has more wobble than would be ideal, and there are some cases where that also changes within a temperature zone. (better either side)
  • ke4pjw wrote: »
    Do we have a way to determine if the VCO is losing lock? I have some experience with VCOs in two way radio, and when they marginally lose lock, you see the output start to crawl around in frequency a generate a lot of phase noise.

    We could connect the crystal oscillator to an input pin. The smart pin can measure frequency. Or sample it with the streamer and do an FFT or other analysis.


    Notes: I'm using pin 16 for the clock output, with its LDO selected. I use a 10x scope probe to transfer the signal from P2ES board to USRP. The moderate amplitude peak in the middle of the graph is from the USRP1, not the Propeller. I think it's a result of rounding in the digital down converter. Adding or subtracting 1/2 LSB might make it go away.

    I don't have a VGA setup, but it might be fun to try VGA with RCFAST.
    1886 x 1491 - 173K
    1886 x 1491 - 168K
    1886 x 1491 - 172K
  • Interestingly the RCfast graph looks just like some simulations I did of auto-correlation of pink noise, although that's
    a time-domain phenomenon.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    Notes: I'm using pin 16 for the clock output, with its LDO selected.

    I wonder where that 10.113MHz comes from ? It's not half RCFAST ?
    Is that -96dB correct, as the peak seems to only hit -40dB ?
    I don't have a VGA setup, but it might be fun to try VGA with RCFAST.
    I think Chip has said RCFAST cannot drive the PLL, but maybe RCFAST is near enough to drive a good portion of a 25MHz VGA scan ?.

  • jmg wrote: »
    The crystal oscillator is not the limiting factor. Some of the spurs on the crystal output and XDIV=1 might be due to my equipment. The USRP1 has a 64MSPS 12 bit ADC. It appears to be clocked from a crystal oscillator with no PLLs in between.

    Nice plots. Did you try connection to a pin giving 10MHz to avoid loading XO, for spectrum plots of Crystal only (no PLL), and Crystal with PLL running (maybe PFD /1 and PFD/64).

    What are the PLL settings for the last plot ?
    Divide by 14, multiply by 97.


    Plot 1, dv=1, mlt=8, pdv=1, VCO freq = 160M
    Plot 2, dv=1, mlt=16, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M
    Looks like the 320MHz vco is a little bit better. Shouldn't be a problem, the documentation says 100-400MHz. From what I've seen to minimize jitter, use only d
    iv=1 or 2.

    Plot 3, dv=4, mlt=64, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M spurs .5M, should be 5M?
    Plot 4, dv=9, mlt=144, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M spurs 1.111M, 2.222M present as expected
    Plot 5, dv=10, mlt=160, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M spurs 2M, ok, this is expected
    There is some weirdness going on with dividers 3-9.
    1886 x 1491 - 170K
    1886 x 1491 - 168K
    1886 x 1491 - 175K
    1886 x 1491 - 175K
    1886 x 1491 - 176K
  • jmg wrote: »
    Notes: I'm using pin 16 for the clock output, with its LDO selected.

    I wonder where that 10.113MHz comes from ? It's not half RCFAST ?
    Is that -96dB correct, as the peak seems to only hit -40dB ?
    I don't have a VGA setup, but it might be fun to try VGA with RCFAST.
    I think Chip has said RCFAST cannot drive the PLL, but maybe RCFAST is near enough to drive a good portion of a 25MHz VGA scan ?.
    The 10.113 is from the software defined radio. Ignore it.

    RCFAST should be able to do VGA at about 56 Hz. :smile:
  • In a moment I'll see if we can get things wobbling at div=2. All my testing has been div=3 or above. It'd be great if it works.

    Plugging 640x480 60Hz into the Vesa CVT generator shows a dot clock of 23.75 MHz (normal), 23.5 MHz (reduced blanking v1, and about the value RCFAST generates), 21.363 MHz (reduced blanking v2).

    We should totally try that and see whether the monitors object
  • Here is some testing I performed using a communications service monitor.

    https://www.facebook.com/terrytrapp/videos/10219225276769691/?comment_id=10219225378332230&notif_id=1547787822021783&notif_t=video_comment

    Ken posted some comments. Seems Chip has this well in hand :)
  • Even though the IQ modulator is broken, monochrome TV should be just fine.

    If VGA is too fast for RCFAST, TV won't be.

  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    Plot 1, dv=1, mlt=8, pdv=1, VCO freq = 160M
    Plot 2, dv=1, mlt=16, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M
    Looks like the 320MHz vco is a little bit better. Shouldn't be a problem, the documentation says 100-400MHz. From what I've seen to minimize jitter, use only d
    iv=1 or 2.

    Plot 3, dv=4, mlt=64, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M spurs .5M, should be 5M?
    ...
    320 is slightly better, the noise skirts are closer in, but there is quite a shape-change from /1 to /3 - the broad skirts go away, and the narrow peaks replace them.
    How accurate is the X axis - those peaks are not quite 0.5MHz, if that is calibrated ?

    There are some peaks very close to the main Fo, on plot 3 but they look to be ~ 100kHz

    Can you plot /2 *32 for a midway check between these two ?

  • SaucySolitonSaucySoliton Posts: 481
    edited 2019-01-18 06:46
    jmg wrote: »
    Plot 1, dv=1, mlt=8, pdv=1, VCO freq = 160M
    Plot 2, dv=1, mlt=16, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M
    Looks like the 320MHz vco is a little bit better. Shouldn't be a problem, the documentation says 100-400MHz. From what I've seen to minimize jitter, use only d
    iv=1 or 2.

    Plot 3, dv=4, mlt=64, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M spurs .5M, should be 5M?
    ...
    320 is slightly better, the noise skirts are closer in, but there is quite a shape-change from /1 to /3 - the broad skirts go away, and the narrow peaks replace them.
    How accurate is the X axis - those peaks are not quite 0.5MHz, if that is calibrated ?

    There are some peaks very close to the main Fo, on plot 3 but they look to be ~ 100kHz

    Can you plot /2 *32 for a midway check between these two ?
    The absolute and relative frequencies on the x axis scale should be as accurate as the crystal oscillator.

    Plot 1, dv=2, mlt=32, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M
    Plot 2, dv=2, mlt=32, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M
    Plot 3, dv=4, mlt=64, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M spur only
    Plot 4, dv=5, mlt=80, pdv=2, VCO freq = 320M spur only

    Good catch! It was less than 500k. The numbers shown are just the location of the cursor, I did a sloppy job positioning it and didn't notice because it wasn't in the screenshot.

    The ~500kHz spur at /4 is temperature dependent. Blowing on the board made it go above 500k. It's also present at /5. If the temperature allows it to be almost exactly 500k it does seem to "lock on" and shows a cleaner spike.

    1886 x 1491 - 176K
    1886 x 1491 - 175K
    1886 x 1491 - 174K
    1886 x 1491 - 175K
  • ke4pjw wrote: »
    Here is some testing I performed using a communications service monitor.

    https://www.facebook.com/terrytrapp/videos/10219225276769691/?comment_id=10219225378332230&notif_id=1547787822021783&notif_t=video_comment

    Ken posted some comments. Seems Chip has this well in hand :)

    Interesting results Terry.
    I'm curious if you repeated the same test using Cordic Crickets.
    It differs in it's video driver and doesn't generate video lines on the fly like Invaders does.
    Does it show jitter like Invaders with the same div/mult values?
  • BTW I have experienced temperature related jitter on both P2D2 and P2-ES boards.
    Still doing further tests regarding that with Tubular.

  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    edited 2019-01-18 10:02
    ...
    Good catch! It was less than 500k. The numbers shown are just the location of the cursor, I did a sloppy job positioning it and didn't notice because it wasn't in the screenshot.

    The ~500kHz spur at /4 is temperature dependent. Blowing on the board made it go above 500k. It's also present at /5. If the temperature allows it to be almost exactly 500k it does seem to "lock on" and shows a cleaner spike.
    Hmm, wow, a moving spur is certainly interesting and revealing.
    That rather suggests an unstable linear amplifier (in the PFD) could be oscillating, and Chip does change the bias/gain with the divider value chosen, so that will vary the stability points.
    I had made my 4046 filter rather more low pass than 500kHz, as I was not expecting that type of issue, I'll try and move the cutoff higher, and see what is revealed.


  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    Good catch! It was less than 500k. The numbers shown are just the location of the cursor, I did a sloppy job positioning it and didn't notice because it wasn't in the screenshot.

    The ~500kHz spur at /4 is temperature dependent. Blowing on the board made it go above 500k. It's also present at /5. If the temperature allows it to be almost exactly 500k it does seem to "lock on" and shows a cleaner spike.
    Just to eliminate other possible sources, can you sniff around the board when the PLL is running, to see if anything at all external to P2 is running at the lazy ~500kHz check regulators etc
    eg the LDOs oscillate at 245kHz with a scope probe load, and no output load (the jumper connects the 4u7 CAP to the regulator, with no jumper there is no load)
    They do not connect to P2 when doing this, (and P2D2 does not have them) but you never know...
  • I was looking at DAC output and noticed some spurs at about 7kHz either side of the test tone, which proved to be
    sensitive to cold-spray, and wobble a bit on entering the DAC mode on loading the test. Spectrum of the tone plus
    side bands, and of the spur itself in isolation appended.

    OSCMODE $010C3F04 with setclk in spin2, pwm random dither (%0000_0000_000_10100_00000000_01_00010_0),
    updating at 10MHz using pipelined cordic sinewave. Pin 48 used. Spin cog still running using pausems(10) which would mean 100Hz spurs if anything from that.

    SSA_190119045833.png
    SSA_190119051712.png
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    Mark_T wrote: »
    I was looking at DAC output and noticed some spurs at about 7kHz either side of the test tone, which proved to be
    sensitive to cold-spray, and wobble a bit on entering the DAC mode on loading the test.

    That scales to ~ 700kHz offsets relative to 20MHz, so is in the similar ballpark to the other test spectrum. done on a different P2 ?

  • No, its a fixed 7kHz, whatever the signal frequency, here's the same thing with a 2.304MHz tone:
    SSA_190119045336.png,
    its present at baseband too, it just intermodulates with any signal on the pin.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    Mark_T wrote: »
    I was looking at DAC output and noticed some spurs at about 7kHz either side of the test tone, which proved to be
    sensitive to cold-spray, and wobble a bit on entering the DAC mode on loading the test. ..
    ...No, its a fixed 7kHz, whatever the signal frequency, here's the same thing with a 2.304MHz tone:
    its present at baseband too, it just intermodulates with any signal on the pin.

    Where does that wandering 7kHz come from ? - is it on the supply rails ?
  • I'll have another bash at it soon, but definitely seems to be Prop2 temperature related (although the
    good thermal bond to the PCB means the cool-spray will have affected nearby components).
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    I expanded the 4046 bandwidth up to 700Khz and hoped to see the 500kHz effect of the plot above...

    Below are the captures - there is a definite 30kHz ringing, of time-varying amplitude, (no sign of 500kHz) and the chip warming up does shift (reduce) the amplitude of the ringing.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    jmg wrote: »
    I expanded the 4046 bandwidth up to 700Khz and hoped to see the 500kHz effect of the plot above...

    Below are the captures - there is a definite 30kHz ringing, of time-varying amplitude, (no sign of 500kHz) and the chip warming up does shift (reduce) the amplitude of the ringing.

    Jmg, I think this is great news!

    This means that the second-order RC filter on the VCO bias needs more resistance on the second resistor. I was suspecting something like this was happening. Simulations should confirm this.
Sign In or Register to comment.