A 14-bit 40-MSa/s pipeline ADC for inertial navigation of low-altitude aircraft

Jiang Zhihan, Ma Yang, Xu Yihong, Wen Xianshan, Fu Renjie, Li Peishuo, Wu Lianbo

Integrated Circuits and Embedded Systems ›› 2026, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (10) : 45-57.

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Integrated Circuits and Embedded Systems ›› 2026, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (10) : 45-57. DOI: 10.20193/j.ices2097-4191.2026.0071
Special Issue on Air-space Intelligent Connectivity: Innovative Research on Integrated Circuits and Airborne Systems for the Low-altitude Economy

A 14-bit 40-MSa/s pipeline ADC for inertial navigation of low-altitude aircraft

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Abstract

Low-altitude aircraft operating under highly dynamic flight conditions and strong interference environments impose stringent requirements on the accuracy and reliability of inertial navigation systems (INSs) and their core sensing units. When a fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is selected as the core sensing unit of the inertial navigation system, the internal signal processing chain of the gyroscope requires the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to provide high speed, wide dynamic range, miniaturization, and robust environmental resilience. To replace the imported ADC chip AD9245 commonly employed in fiber optic gyroscopes, this paper presents a 14-bit, 40 MSa/s pipelined analog-to-digital converter to satisfy the aforementioned system-level application requirements. Compared with the AD9245, this proposed design: (1) prioritizes high robustness under complex environments as its primary design objective to satisfy the application requirements of FOGs; (2) decouples the differential input swing and the common-mode level into two independently adjustable parameters, accommodating various front-end drivers and improving ADC versatility in FOG systems; and (3) implements a full-link analog-domain programmable trimming scheme covering the bias currents of all pipeline stages, the sample-and-hold (S/H) and front-end amplifier, clock delay, non-overlapping timing, on-chip LDO, and reference voltage, enhancing adaptability to different optical paths and algorithms..Fabricated and verified in a 130 nm CMOS process, the measured results demonstrate that at a 40 MSa/s sampling rate with a 10 MHz input signal, the ADC achieves a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 65.91 dB, a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 78.87 dBc, an effective number of bits (ENOB) of 10.66 bits, with a total power consumption of 369 mW. The proposed ADC provides a domestic solution for the closed-loop modulation system of fiber optic gyroscopes, offering highly reliable data conversion for inertial navigation in low-altitude aircraft.

Key words

low-altitude economy / inertial navigation of low-altitude aircraft / pipelined analog-to-digital converter / low-drift bandgap reference / duty-cycle- stabilization circuit / reliability design

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Jiang Zhihan , Ma Yang , Xu Yihong , et al . A 14-bit 40-MSa/s pipeline ADC for inertial navigation of low-altitude aircraft[J]. Integrated Circuits and Embedded Systems. 2026, 26(10): 45-57 https://doi.org/10.20193/j.ices2097-4191.2026.0071

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