Testing and optimizing ADC performance: a probabilistic approach

摘要

A novel approach to the topic of analog-to-digital converter (ADC)characterization is proposed. The key idea is to describe the behaviourof the device via a suitable conditional probability function, estimatedthrough a modified version of the popular histogram test. Anytraditional figure of merit for ADCs can be accurately evaluated fromthe proposed probabilistic characterization. Besides, this allows one tooptimize the ADC overall performance, determining the best allocation ofthe output reconstruction levels. The parameters of the modifiedhistogram test are determined as a function of the desired accuracy.Finally, computer simulations illustrate the performance of the method