Proton-induced single event upset characterization of a 1 Giga-sample per second analog to digital converter

Some high-speed space-borne data acquisition and dissemination systems require conversion of an analog data signal into a digital signal for on-board digital processing. The NASA Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) is one such instrument. It uses the Signal Processing Technologies SPT7760 to convert an analog signal from the laser altimeter. The analog data is converted by the SPT7760 at 1 Giga-sample per second (Gsps). These types of data handling applications can typically withstand a relatively high bit error ratio (BER). In this paper, we describe the a novel approach for proton-induced single event upset characterization of the SPT760. Data is given for operating sample rates from 125 Msps to 1 Gsps.