Effect of ADC quantization errors on some periodic signal measurements

Abstract

Effect of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) quantization errors on some periodic signal measurements, namely the dc component and the amplitudes and phases of harmonically related sinusoids, are investigated. These parameters are determined via the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm, which is used for manipulating the quantized samples in a data-acquisition system. Mean values and variances of the measured parameters are derived. Then, upper bounds on measurement errors for any confidence limits and worst-case errors are obtained. Finally, the reduction of measurement errors is briefly discussed.