32-Tap Digital Up/Down Control Potentiometer

The CAT5128 is a single digitally programmable potentiometer (DPP™) designed as an electronic replacement for mechanical potentiometers and trim pots. Ideal for automated adjustments on high volume production lines, they are also well suited for applications where equipment requiring periodic adjustment is either difficult to access or located in a hazardous or remote environment.

The CAT5128 contains a 32-tap series resistor array connected between two terminals A and B. An up/down counter and decoder that are controlled by two input pins, determines which tap is connected to the wiper, W. Wiper-control of the CAT5128 is accomplished with two input control pins, UP and DOWN. A high-to-low transition on the UP input increments the wiper position and a high-to-low transition on the DOWN input decrements the wiper position. The tap position is not stored in memory. The wiper is always set to the mid point, tap 15 at power up.

The digitally programmable potentiometer can be used as a three-terminal resistive divider or as a two-terminal variable resistor. DPPs bring variability and programmability to a wide variety of applications including control, parameter adjustments, and signal processing.