Can PWM be used to drive a galvo amp?

[shobley]

I was debating with a friend how to create a simple PIC based DAC for a laser show. He seemed to think that PWM was the way to get variable voltage out of a PIC - this sounded a bit scary to me, what do you think?

What's the preferred way of getting analog from a PIC - a DAC chip, or is there something simpler?

Steve

[The_Doctor]

PWM could work if it's fast enough. I don't know how fast PIC's go, but get as fast as you can, and don't try to get it in the feedback loop, let the scan driver do the work of following the signal accurately as usual. You might get timing errors with a PIC unless you can buffer the signal and maybe use a separate clock to control the stream. Even so, if the direct-PIC-out average is good you only need to filter (integrate) the output, and the faster the chip, the easier it is to filter the output to get a fast responsive analog signal.

A DAC could be the extra buffer and clock I mentioned above, in effect, if it's a serial DAC. The actual data sent isn't a PWM signal but the effect is very similar. So if you try direct from PIC and find too much jitter, go with serial DAC.

EDIT:
One way to spot jitter is in the (unblanked) ILDA test pattern, watch for the loop out of the inner circle before it reaches the stuff it draws above that circle, that bight will jump erratically if there is jitter in the signal.

[carmangary]

Although different than what you are suggesting, check out this to see how this guy made a controller:

http://elm-chan.org/works/vlp/report_e.html

[The_Doctor]

Not that different. He went with the preferred microcontroller and serial DAC. I guess the simple PWM out and integrate trick is worth a go, it's probably cheap to try it, but if you need critical sync of multiple channels it might not be so cool.

Edit: Actually I think that Atmel is a parallel device, not serial. Also interesting, it's 8 bit yet he's using a 12 bit DAC. I didn't look closer though.

[dave]

Edit: Actually I think that Atmel is a parallel device, not serial.

yep, his code bit bangs the serial dac.

[mixedgas]

for low frequency effects, fine, you put a low pass filter after the PWM port, that way the galvos see basic waveforms,not the pwm pulses.
when you want to vary the point rate, your gonna suffer with pwm. Also you need to carefully design the low pass filter, and the code
so that the PWM rate is like 10-20 times the rate you want to create points at, so for DC and static beam effects its easy, for graphcs, its gonna get tricky.

if you need a fast dac with a low IO count, try this

TLV5618A

serial input, dual outputs, updates both outputs at same time,

if you want to burn parallel io lines and pic up dacs for red and green levels, do a MAX 506, 4 dacs,8 bits, single supply, and you can use the 5V supply line as the reference voltage.All dacs update at the same time, which is important for avoiding jaggies in your images.

Steve

[chad]

I concur with mixed. Just use a dac. In the couple of bucks it will save you you will spend much more time pulling your hair out trying to get things working the way you want them. Dacs are easy to deal with. And mixed gav you a couple of great examples.

Chad

[Angelillolaser]

I was debating with a friend how to create a simple PIC based DAC for a laser show. He seemed to think that PWM was the way to get variable voltage out of a PIC - this sounded a bit scary to me, what do you think?

What's the preferred way of getting analog from a PIC - a DAC chip, or is there something simpler?

Steve

I use Pic microcontroller using pwm to make aerial effects, using small stepper motors, I omited the filter because dc signals, the same galvo motors work like a low-pass filter without dc problems, I make points , squares and other geometrical and aerials effects.