POLITECNICA SALESIANA UNIVERSITY

Group:
Mauricio Álvarez
Mercedes Cevallos
Byron Contreras
Hernán Duy
Fernando Guerrero
Mishell Torres
Valeria Urgilés
Topic:
Quantization Noise
INTRODUCTION
An ADC converter has a sampling circuit and a timer inside.
The sampling circuit is the one in charge of discretizing in time while
the quantifier discretizes in amplitude.
The quantizer is a circuit that converts an input voltage into a digital
output value.
QUANTIZING NOISE
The difference between the input and output of a quantizer is called
the quantizing error. In figure, we demostrate the process of mapping
the input sequence 𝑥 𝑡 to the quantized output sequence 𝑥ො 𝑡 .
MODEL OF QUIANTIZING NOISE
The quantized output sequence 𝑥ො 𝑡 forming by adding to each 𝑥 𝑡 an
error sequence 𝑒 𝑡 .
This error sequence is modeled in the Figure and forms the equation:
𝑥ො 𝑡 = 𝑥 𝑡 + 𝑒 𝑡
Or,
𝑒 𝑡 = 𝑥ො 𝑡 − 𝑥 𝑡
• The green curve is a scaled version of Vin without any quantization.
• The red curve is the ADC output.
• ∆ is the step size of the converter.
• The quantization error is zero at
the points where the output signal
intersects with the input signal.
• There is an error because the
output signal is greater than the
input.
• The quantization error takes the
form of a sawtooth, that is, by
subtracting the output signal with
the input signal, the sawtooth
signal is obtained.
The number of levels 𝑁 is tipically a power of 2 of the form:

𝑁 = 2𝑏

Where 𝑏 is the number of bits used in the conversion process

In an uniform quantizer, the step sizes are equal and equally spaced.
Normally, this range is defined as ±𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 such as ±1𝑉 or ±5𝑉. Thus,
the size of a quantization step is:
2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑞=
2𝑏
For example, for a 10-bit converter operating over the ±1𝑉, the
quantization step is:
2 1𝑉
𝑞 = 10
2
𝑞 = 1,9531 𝑚𝑉
QUANTIZATION RESULTS

• In most cases, quantization

results in nothing more than the
addition of a specific amount of
random noise to the signal.

• Quantization error is uniformly

distributed, so, the quantization
error is similary to a probability
distribution function (pdf).
The quantizer variance (which represents the quantizer noise or error power) for the zero-
mean error is: 𝑞
2
𝜎2 = න 𝑒 2 𝑝 𝑒 𝑑𝑒
𝑞
−
2
1
Where 𝑝 𝑒 = is the probability density function (pdf) of the quantization error 𝑒.
𝑞
𝑞/2
2 2
1
𝜎 = න 𝑒 ∙ 𝑑𝑒
−
𝑞 𝑞
2𝑞
1 2
𝜎 = න 𝑒 2 𝑑𝑒
2
𝑞 −𝑞
2 2
2
𝑞
𝜎 =
12 𝑞
𝜎=
12
NOISE-TO-SIGNAL POWER RATIO (NSR)
NSR is the relation between the quantizer noise or error power and the input
signal power.
𝜎𝑞2
𝑁𝑆𝑅 = 2
𝜎𝑥
Where, 𝜎𝑞2 is the quantizer noise or error power and is equal to:
2
1
𝜎𝑞 = ∙ 𝑞2
12 2
2
1 2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝜎𝑞 = ∙
12 2𝑏
2
1 −𝑏 2
𝜎𝑞 = ∙ 2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 ∙ 2
12
2
1
𝜎𝑞 = ∙ 2−2𝑏 ∙ 2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 2
12
And, the input signal power is found:
∞
𝜎𝑥2 = න 𝑥 2 𝑝 𝑥 𝑑𝑥
−∞
1
For an uniform probability density function, 𝑝 𝑥 =
2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
2 2
1
𝜎𝑥 = න 𝑥 ∙ 𝑑𝑥
−𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
1
𝜎𝑥2 = න 𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥
2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 −𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
2
1
𝜎𝑥 = 2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 2
12
 1
∙ 2−2𝑏 ∙ 2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 2
𝑁𝑆𝑅 = 12
1
2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 2
−2𝑏
12
𝑁𝑆𝑅 = 2
Now, converting the NSR to decibels, we have:
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = 10 log 2−2𝑏
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = 10 −2𝑏 log 2
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = −20𝑏 ∙ log 2
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = −6,0206𝑏
Where 𝑏 represents the number of bits.
The NSR for any uniform quantizer not operating in saturation is of the
form:
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = −6,02𝑏 + 𝐶
Where the term 𝐶 depends on the signal probability density function
(pdf).
EJEMPLO 1
Consider a 16-bit, 1MHz ADC with ±1𝑉 range.
Calculate:
• The size of a quantization step.
• Power noise.
• NSR in dB
EJEMPLO 1
• The size of a quantization step.

2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑞=
2𝑏

2(1𝑉)
𝑞 = 16
2

𝑞 = 30,5175 𝜇𝑉
EJEMPLO 1
• Quantization noise.
𝑞
𝜎=
12

30,5175𝑥10−6
𝜎=
12

𝜎 = 8,8096 𝜇𝑉
EJEMPLO 1
• NSR in dB
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = −6,0206𝑏
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = −6,0206 16
𝑁𝑆𝑅𝑑𝐵 = −96,3296 𝑑𝐵