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Solution: Why A Common Ground Point For Analogue/digital?

1) In mixed analog/digital systems, it is important to have a common ground point to serve as a reference for measurements, as current flowing through wiring can cause voltage drops and shift the ground level. 2) The best approach is to have separate ground systems that connect at a single point - with measurement grounds, power grounds, and digital grounds each terminating at this single reference point. 3) By having individual traces converge at a single reference point and minimizing current flow through the reference ground, this point becomes a stable, rock-solid measurement reference for the entire system.

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kapil singh
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23 views1 page

Solution: Why A Common Ground Point For Analogue/digital?

1) In mixed analog/digital systems, it is important to have a common ground point to serve as a reference for measurements, as current flowing through wiring can cause voltage drops and shift the ground level. 2) The best approach is to have separate ground systems that connect at a single point - with measurement grounds, power grounds, and digital grounds each terminating at this single reference point. 3) By having individual traces converge at a single reference point and minimizing current flow through the reference ground, this point becomes a stable, rock-solid measurement reference for the entire system.

Uploaded by

kapil singh
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Why a common ground point for analogue/digital?

Solution :Current flowing through wiring will develop voltage drops that shift the
supposed "ground" reference to something other than the desired ZERO point. The
problem is not just an analog versus digital problem. It can rear its ugly head in
almost ANY analog circuit, and can even in all-digital circuit. It is, however,
particularly prevalent in mixed analog/digital systems. Ground wires serve two
different functions. Sometimes they are used to carry currents. At other times you
want the ground to serve as a rock-solid reference point for making precision
measurements. This is especially true in A/D circuits with more than 8 bits of
desired resolution. The best way to handle the ground problem is to have different
ground systems that connect at only one point. The precision analog REFERENCE
ground should always be designed so that an absolute minimum of current actually
flows through it. In practice this is accomplished by having all reference ground
connections terminating at a SINGLE POINT. Firstly, all MEASUREMENT
ground connections should use individual traces that converge at a single
REFERENCE POINT. The idea is to not allow any current flow through one
reference trace to affect any other reference trace. What you want to avoid is
having one long trace that snakes all over the board, with many different ground
connections being made at different points along this trace. The currents will add
up, causing different voltages to appear along the trace.

Secondly, all GROUND POWER supplied to the analog section should use another
ground system. This ground system should have a single connection to the
REFERENCE ground point. Thirdly, a COMMON ground connection to any
major DIGITAL GROUND system should also be made to the single
REFERENCE ground point. If properly constructed, the REFERENCE ground
point becomes a nice rocksolid point from which measurements can be made. It
will be COMMON to all other system grounds, but this common connection
should NOT itself experience any current flow. Or at least the current flow should
be absolutely minimal. In extremely noisy systems the analog section may be
floated or isolated from other sections. In this case data is communicated from one
section to another via opto-isolators, transformers, or using other isolation
techniques. Complete isolation is also desired in medical systems where even small
currents can do great damage to a patient. The tendency when laying out a printed
circuit board is to just run a ground trace around the board and have all kinds of
things attach themselves to this running ground. But if you desire precision
measurements one must have a precision reference POINT to which ALL
measurements are referenced.

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