AnalogsignalprocessingVsDigitalSignalProcessing Inanalogprocessingsystemtheinformationisrepresentedasananalogquantity.ie;something thatvariescontinuouslywithtime.This"something"canbevoltage,currentetc...forexample,the signalthatcomesoutofamicrophoneisanaloginnature.Thevaryingvoltagefromthemicrophone isprocessedusingananalogsignalprocessingsystemknownas"amplifier",andreproduced throughaspeaker. WhereinDigitalSignalProcessingsystem,theinformationisrepresentedindigitalformat. Thesignalsthataretobeprocessedisconvertedintonumericalformbeforeanyprocessing.This conversionisknownassampling.Theinformationcontainedinananalogsignalisfirstconvertedto digitalsampleswhichareequallyspacedintime.Thefigurebelowshowsananalogsignalandits sampledversion.

Eachofthesesamplesareconvertedintoanumericalvalueandstoredinthecomputer'smemory. Processingisthendoneonthesesamples.ThesamplinginaDigitalSignalProcessingsystemis governedbyatheoremknownassamplingtheorem. Samplingtheorem Accordingtosamplingtheorem,ananalogsignalcanbeexactlyreconstructedfromitssamples ifthesamplingrateisatleasttwicethehighestfrequencycomponentpresentinthesignal.This means,ifthesignalcontainsthehighestfrequencycomponentof1KHz,thesamplingratemustbe atleast2KiloSamples/Second.ThissamplingrateisalsoknownasNyquistrate.Whatif samplingtheoremisnotsatisfied..?violationofsamplingtheoremmeans,samplingthesignalata sampleratelessthanNyquistrate.Thisleadstounacceptabledistortioninthesignal.thisdistortion isknownasaliasing.Duetoaliasing,thecomponentspresentintheinputsignalwhosefrequency ishigherNyquistfrequencywillbesampledasasignaloflowerfrequency.Andthisaliased samplesinturncorruptstheoriginalsignalwhichislowerthanNyquistfrequency.Duetothe presenceofaliasing,asignalthatcontainsfrequencycomponentshigherthanNyquistfrequency cannotbereconstructedfromit'ssamples.Theeffectofaliasingisshowninthefigurebelow.

 Thesignalshowninblackcoloristheoriginalsignal.Whilethesignalshowninviolatecoloristhe aliasedsignalbecauseofimpropersampling.Fromthefigureitisobviousthatthealiasedsignal willbepresentinthesampleddataasalowerfrequencysignal.Andthiswillaffecttheoriginal contentatthatfrequency. Itshouldbenotedthattheinformationinbetweentwoconsecutivesamplesislostforever.But stilltheentiresignalcanbereconstructedfromthesamplesaslongasSamplingtheoremis satisfied. Samplingandquantization Samplingcanbeviewedtheoreticallyasmultiplyingtheoriginalsignalwithatrainofpulses withunitamplitude.Thisleavestheoriginalsignalwithinformationatdescretepointswith magnitudeofsignalpresentintheoriginalsignalatthatposition.Thisisillustratedinthefigure below.

ThiscanbeimplementedusinganANDgateasshownbelow.

 Nowsamplesoftheinputsignalistakenatdiscretepoints.Butinordertomanipulatethesignal withamicroprocessorormicrocontroller,thesepulseshastobeconvertedintonumbers.Before thisconversion,thepulsesarequantizedtosomefinitenumberofquantizationlevels.Forexample, ifthequantizationlevelsare0,1,2,3,etc...,apulsewithmagnitudebetween1and2willbe quantizedtoeither1or2.Thisinfactintroducesanoiseinthesampledsignal.Suchnoiseinknown asquantizationnoise.

Quantization(signalprocessing)

Discretesignal

Digitalsignal(afterquantizationhasoccurred) Indigitalsignalprocessing,quantizationistheprocessofapproximatingacontinuousrangeof values(oraverylargesetofpossiblediscretevalues)byarelativelysmallsetofdiscretesymbolsor integervalues.Morespecifically,asignalcanbemultidimensionalandquantizationneednotbe appliedtoalldimensions.Discretesignals(acommonmathematicalmodel)neednotbequantized, whichcanbeapointofconfusion. Acommonuseofquantizationisintheconversionofadiscretesignal(asampledcontinuous signal)intoadigitalsignalbyquantizing.Bothofthesesteps(samplingandquantizing)are performedinanalogtodigitalconverterswiththequantizationlevelspecifiedinbits.Aspecific examplewouldbecompactdisc(CD)audiowhichissampledat44,100Hzandquantizedwith16 bits(2bytes)whichcanbeoneof65,536(i.e.216)possiblevaluespersample. Inelectronics,adaptivequantizationisaquantizationprocessthatvariesthestepsizebasedonthe changesoftheinputsignal,asameansofefficientcompression.Twoapproachescommonlyused areforwardadaptivequantizationandbackwardadaptivequantization.

Mathematicaldescription
Quantizationisreferredtoasscalarquantization,sinceitoperatesonscalar(asopposedtomulti dimensionalvector)inputdata.Ingeneral,ascalarquantizationoperatorcanberepresentedas wherenganintegerresult

thatissometimesreferredtoasthequantizationindex,

f(x)andg(i)arearbitraryrealvaluedfunctions.

Theintegervaluedquantizationindexiistherepresentationthatistypicallystoredortransmitted, andthenthefinalinterpretationisconstructedusingg(i)whenthedataislaterinterpreted. Incomputeraudioandmostotherapplications,amethodknownasuniformquantizationisthemost common.Therearetwocommonvariationsofuniformquantization,calledmidriseandmidtread uniformquantizers. Ifxisarealvaluednumberbetween1and1,amidriseuniformquantizationoperatorthatusesM bitsofprecisiontorepresenteachquantizationindexcanbeexpressedas

. Inthiscasethef(x)andg(i)operatorsarejustmultiplyingscalefactors(onemultiplierbeingthe inverseoftheother)alongwithanoffseting(i)functiontoplacetherepresentationvalueinthe middleoftheinputregionforeachquantizationindex.Thevalue2(M1)isoftenreferredtoas thequantizationstepsize.Usingthisquantizationlawandassumingthatquantizationnoiseis approximatelyuniformlydistributedoverthequantizationstepsize(anassumptiontypically accurateforrapidlyvaryingxorhighM)andfurtherassumingthattheinputsignalxtobe quantizedisapproximatelyuniformlydistributedovertheentireintervalfrom1to1,thesignalto noiseratio(SNR)ofthequantizationcanbecomputedas

. Fromthisequation,itisoftensaidthattheSNRisapproximately6dBperbit. Formidtreaduniformquantization,theoffsetof0.5wouldbeaddedwithinthefloorfunction insteadofoutsideofit. Sometimes,midrisequantizationisusedwithoutaddingtheoffsetof0.5.Thisreducesthesignalto noiseratiobyapproximately6.02dB,butmaybeacceptableforthesakeofsimplicitywhenthestep sizeissmall. Indigitaltelephony,twopopularquantizationschemesarethe'Alaw'(dominantinEurope)and' law'(dominantinNorthAmericaandJapan).Theseschemesmapdiscreteanalogvaluestoan8bit scalethatisnearlylinearforsmallvaluesandthenincreaseslogarithmicallyasamplitudegrows. Becausethehumanear'sperceptionofloudnessisroughlylogarithmic,thisprovidesahighersignal tonoiseratioovertherangeofaudiblesoundintensitiesforagivennumberofbits.

NyquistShannonsamplingtheorem

Fig:Hypotheticalspectrumofabandlimitedsignalasafunctionoffrequency TheNyquistShannonsamplingtheoremisafundamentalresultinthefieldofinformation theory,inparticulartelecommunicationsandsignalprocessing.Samplingistheprocessof convertingasignal(forexample,afunctionofcontinuoustimeorspace)intoanumericsequence(a functionofdiscretetimeorspace).Thetheoremstates:[1] Ifafunctionx(t)containsnofrequencieshigherthanBcps,itiscompletelydetermined bygivingitsordinatesataseriesofpointsspaced1/(2B)secondsapart. Inessencethetheoremshowsthatananalogsignalthathasbeensampledcanbeperfectly reconstructedfromthesamplesifthesamplingrateexceeds2Bsamplespersecond,whereBisthe highestfrequencyintheoriginalsignal.IfasignalcontainsacomponentatexactlyBhertz,then samplesspacedatexactly1/(2B)secondsdonotcompletelydeterminethesignal,Shannon's statementnotwithstanding. Morerecentstatementsofthetheoremaresometimescarefultoexcludetheequalitycondition;that is,theconditionisifx(t)containsnofrequencieshigherthanorequaltoB;thisconditionis equivalenttoShannon'sexceptwhenthefunctionincludesasteadysinusoidalcomponentatexactly frequencyB. Theassumptionsnecessarytoprovethetheoremformamathematicalmodelthatisonlyan idealizationofanyrealworldsituation.Theconclusionthatperfectreconstructionispossibleis mathematicallycorrectforthemodelbutonlyanapproximationforactualsignalsandactual samplingtechniques. Thetheoremalsoleadstoaformulaforreconstructionoftheoriginalsignal.Theconstructiveproof ofthetheoremleadstoanunderstandingofthealiasingthatcanoccurwhenasamplingsystemdoes notsatisfytheconditionsofthetheorem. TheNyquistShannonsamplingtheoremisalsoknowntobeasufficientcondition.Thefieldof Compressedsensingprovidesastrictersamplingconditionwhentheunderlyingsignalisknownto besparse.CompressedsensingspecificallyyieldsasubNyquistsamplingcriterion.

Downsampling
Whenasignalisdownsampled,thesamplingtheoremcanbeinvokedviatheartificeofresampling ahypotheticalcontinuoustimereconstruction.TheNyquistcriterionmuststillbesatisfiedwith respecttothenewlowersamplingfrequencyinordertoavoidaliasing.Tomeettherequirementsof thetheorem,thesignalmustusuallypassthroughalowpassfilterofappropriatecutofffrequency aspartofthedownsamplingoperation.Thislowpassfilter,whichpreventsaliasing,iscalledan antialiasingfilter.

Criticalfrequency

Fig:Afamilyofsinusoidsatthecriticalfrequency,allhavingthesamesamplesequencesofalternating+1
and1.Thatis,theyallarealiasesofeachother,eventhoughtheirfrequencyisnotabovehalfthesample rate.

TheNyquistrateisdefinedastwicethebandwidthofthecontinuoustimesignal.Thesampling frequencymustbestrictlygreaterthantheNyquistrateofthesignaltoachieveunambiguous representationofthesignal.Thisconstraintisequivalenttorequiringthatthesystem'sNyquist frequency(alsoknownascriticalfrequency,andequaltohalfthesamplerate)bestrictlygreater thanthebandwidthofthesignal.Ifthesignalcontainsafrequencycomponentatpreciselythe Nyquistfrequencythenthecorrespondingcomponentofthesamplevaluescannothavesufficient informationtoreconstructtheNyquistfrequencycomponentinthecontinuoustimesignalbecause ofphaseambiguity.Insuchacase,therewouldbeaninfinitenumberofpossibleanddifferent sinusoids(ofvaryingamplitudeandphase)oftheNyquistfrequencycomponentthatare representedbythediscretesamples. Asanexample,considerthisfamilyofsignalsatthecriticalfrequency:

Wherethesamples areineverycasejustalternating1and+1,foranyphase.Thereisnowaytodetermineeitherthe amplitudeorthephaseofthecontinuoustimesinusoidx(t)thatx(nT)wassampledfrom.This ambiguityisthereasonforthestrictinequalityofthesamplingtheorem'scondition.

Analogtodigitalconverter
Ananalogtodigitalconverter(abbreviatedADC,A/DorAtoD)isadevicewhichconverts continuoussignalstodiscretedigitalnumbers.Thereverseoperationisperformedbyadigitalto analogconverter(DAC). Typically,anADCisanelectronicdevicethatconvertsaninputanalogvoltage(orcurrent)toa digitalnumber.However,somenonelectronicoronlypartiallyelectronicdevices,suchasrotary encoders,canalsobeconsideredADCs.Thedigitaloutputmayusedifferentcodingschemes,such asbinary,Graycodeortwo'scomplementbinary.

Concepts
Resolution
Theresolutionoftheconverterindicatesthenumberofdiscretevaluesitcanproduceovertherange ofanalogvalues.Thevaluesareusuallystoredelectronicallyinbinaryform,sotheresolutionis usuallyexpressedinbits.Inconsequence,thenumberofdiscretevaluesavailable,or"levels",is usuallyapoweroftwo.Forexample,anADCwitharesolutionof8bitscanencodeananaloginput toonein256differentlevels,since28=256.Thevaluescanrepresenttherangesfrom0to255(i.e. unsignedinteger)orfrom128to127(i.e.signedinteger),dependingontheapplication. Resolutioncanalsobedefinedelectrically,andexpressedinvolts.Thevoltageresolutionofan ADCisequaltoitsoverallvoltagemeasurementrangedividedbythenumberofdiscreteintervals asintheformula:

Where: Qisresolutioninvoltsperstep(voltsperoutputcode), EFSRisthefullscalevoltagerange=VRefHiVRefLo, MistheADC'sresolutioninbits,and Nisthenumberofintervals,givenbythenumberofavailablelevels(outputcodes),whichis: N=2M Someexamplesmayhelp:

Example1 Fullscale measurementrange=0to10volts 12 ADCresolutionis12bits:2 =4096quantizationlevels(codes)

ADCvoltageresolutionis:(10V0V)/4096codes=10V/4096codes 0.00244volts/code 2.44mV/code

Example2 Fullscale measurementrange=10to+10volts 14 ADCresolutionis14bits:2 =16384quantizationlevels(codes) ADCvoltageresolutionis:(10V(10V))/16384codes=20V/16384codes 0.00122volts/code 1.22mV/code

Example3 Fullscale measurementrange=0to8volts 3 ADCresolutionis3bits:2 =8quantizationlevels(codes) ADCvoltageresolutionis:(8V0V)/8codes=8V/8codes=1volts/code=1000 mV/code

Inpractice,thesmallestoutputcode("0"inanunsignedsystem)representsavoltagerangewhichis 0.5XoftheADCvoltageresolution(Q)(meaninghalfwideoftheADCvoltageQ)whilethe largestoutputcoderepresentsavoltagerangewhichis1.5XoftheADCvoltageresolution (meaning50%widerthantheADCvoltageresolution).TheotherN2codesareallequalinwidth andrepresenttheADCvoltageresolution(Q)calculatedabove.Doingthiscentersthecodeonan inputvoltagethatrepresentstheMthdivisionoftheinputvoltagerange.Forexample,inExample3, withthe3bitADCspanningan8Vrange,eachoftheNdivisionswouldrepresent1V,exceptthe 1st("0"code)whichis0.5Vwide,andthelast("7"code)whichis1.5Vwide.Doingthisthe"1" codespansavoltagerangefrom0.5to1.5V,the"2"codespansavoltagerangefrom1.5to2.5V, etc.Thus,iftheinputsignalisat3/8thsofthefullscalevoltage,thentheADCoutputsthe"3"code, andwilldosoaslongasthevoltagestayswithintherangeof2.5/8thsand3.5/8ths.Thispracticeis called"MidTread"operation.ThistypeofADCcanbemodeledmathematicallyas:

TheexceptiontothisconventionseemstobetheMicrochipPICprocessor,whereallMstepsare equalwidth.Thispracticeiscalled"MidRisewithOffset"operation.

Inpractice,theusefulresolutionofaconverterislimitedbythebestsignaltonoiseratiothatcanbe achievedforadigitizedsignal.AnADCcanresolveasignaltoonlyacertainnumberofbitsof resolution,calledthe"effectivenumberofbits"(ENOB).Oneeffectivebitofresolutionchangesthe signaltonoiseratioofthedigitizedsignalby6dB,iftheresolutionislimitedbytheADC.Ifa preamplifierhasbeenusedpriortoA/Dconversion,thenoiseintroducedbytheamplifiercanbean importantcontributingfactortowardstheoverallSNR.

Responsetype

LinearADCs MostADCsareofatypeknownaslinear,althoughanalogtodigitalconversionisaninherently nonlinearprocess(sincethemappingofacontinuousspacetoadiscretespaceisapiecewise constantandthereforenonlinearoperation).Thetermlinearasusedheremeansthattherangeof theinputvaluesthatmaptoeachoutputvaluehasalinearrelationshipwiththeoutputvalue,i.e.,

thattheoutputvaluekisusedfortherangeofinputvaluesfrom m(k+b) to m(k+1+b), wheremandbareconstants.Herebistypically0or0.5.Whenb=0,theADCisreferredtoas midrise,andwhenb=0.5itisreferredtoasmidtread. NonlinearADCs Iftheprobabilitydensityfunctionofasignalbeingdigitizedisuniform,thenthesignaltonoise ratiorelativetothequantizationnoiseisthebestpossible.Becausethisisoftennotthecase,it's usualtopassthesignalthroughitscumulativedistributionfunction(CDF)beforethequantization. Thisisgoodbecausetheregionsthataremoreimportantgetquantizedwithabetterresolution.In thedequantizationprocess,theinverseCDFisneeded. Thisisthesameprinciplebehindthecompandersusedinsometaperecordersandother communicationsystems,andisrelatedtoentropymaximization.(Neverconfusecompanderswith compressors!) Forexample,avoicesignalhasaLaplaciandistribution.Thismeansthattheregionaroundthe lowestlevels,near0,carriesmoreinformationthantheregionswithhigheramplitudes.Becauseof this,logarithmicADCsareverycommoninvoicecommunicationsystemstoincreasethedynamic rangeoftherepresentablevalueswhileretainingfinegranularfidelityinthelowamplituderegion. AneightbitalaworthelawlogarithmicADCcoversthewidedynamicrangeandhasahigh resolutioninthecriticallowamplituderegion,thatwouldotherwiserequirea12bitlinearADC.

Accuracy
AnADChasseveralsourcesoferrors.Quantizationerrorand(assumingtheADCisintendedtobe linear)nonlinearityisintrinsictoanyanalogtodigitalconversion.Thereisalsoasocalled apertureerrorwhichisduetoaclockjitterandisrevealedwhendigitizingatimevariantsignal (notaconstantvalue). TheseerrorsaremeasuredinaunitcalledtheLSB,whichisanabbreviationforleastsignificantbit. IntheaboveexampleofaneightbitADC,anerrorofoneLSBis1/256ofthefullsignalrange,or about0.4%. Quantizationerror QuantizationerrorisduetothefiniteresolutionoftheADC,andisanunavoidableimperfectionin alltypesofADC.Themagnitudeofthequantizationerroratthesamplinginstantisbetweenzero andhalfofoneLSB. Inthegeneralcase,theoriginalsignalismuchlargerthanoneLSB.Whenthishappens,the quantizationerrorisnotcorrelatedwiththesignal,andhasauniformdistribution.ItsRMSvalueis thestandarddeviationofthisdistribution,givenby ADCexample,thisrepresents0.113%ofthefullsignalrange. .Intheeightbit

Atlowerlevelsthequantizingerrorbecomesdependentoftheinputsignal,resultingindistortion.

Thisdistortioniscreatedaftertheantialiasingfilter,andifthesedistortionsareabove1/2the sampleratetheywillaliasbackintotheaudioband.Inordertomakethequantizingerror independentoftheinputsignal,noisewithanamplitudeof1quantizationstepisaddedtothe signal.Thisslightlyreducessignaltonoiseratio,butcompletelyeliminatesthedistortion.Itis knownasdither. Nonlinearity AllADCssufferfromnonlinearityerrorscausedbytheirphysicalimperfections,resultingintheir outputtodeviatefromalinearfunction(orsomeotherfunction,inthecaseofadeliberatelynon linearADC)oftheirinput.Theseerrorscansometimesbemitigatedbycalibration,orpreventedby testing. Importantparametersforlinearityareintegralnonlinearity(INL)anddifferentialnonlinearity (DNL).Thesenonlinearitiesreducethedynamicrangeofthesignalsthatcanbedigitizedbythe ADC,alsoreducingtheeffectiveresolutionoftheADC.

DigitalRampADC

Conversionfromanalogtodigitalforminherentlyinvolvescomparatoractionwherethevalueofthe analogvoltageatsomepointintimeiscomparedwithsomestandard.Acommonwaytodothatis toapplytheanalogvoltagetooneterminalofacomparatorandtriggerabinarycounterwhich drivesaDAC.TheoutputoftheDACisappliedtotheotherterminalofthecomparator.Sincethe outputoftheDACisincreasingwiththecounter,itwilltriggerthecomparatoratsomepointwhen itsvoltageexceedstheanaloginput.Thetransitionofthecomparatorstopsthebinarycounter, whichatthatpointholdsthedigitalvaluecorrespondingtotheanalogvoltage.

SuccessiveApproximationADC
Illustrationof4bitSACwith1voltstepsize(afterTocci,DigitalSystems).

ThesuccessiveapproximationADCismuch fasterthanthedigitalrampADCbecauseituses digitallogictoconvergeonthevalueclosestto theinputvoltage.AcomparatorandaDACare usedintheprocess.

FlashADC
Illustratedisa3bitflashADCwithresolution1volt(afterTocci).Theresistornetandcomparators provideaninputtothecombinationallogiccircuit,sotheconversiontimeisjustthepropagation delaythroughthenetworkitisnotlimitedbytheclockrateorsomeconvergencesequence.Itis thefastesttypeofADCavailable,butrequiresacomparatorforeachvalueofoutput(63for6bit, 255for8bit,etc.)SuchADCsareavailableinICformupto8bitand10bitflashADCs(1023 comparators)areplanned.Theencoderlogicexecutesatruthtabletoconverttheladderofinputsto thebinarynumberoutput.

Digitaltoanalogconverter
Inelectronics,adigitaltoanalogconverter(DACorDtoA)isadeviceforconvertingadigital (usuallybinary)codetoananalogsignal(current,voltageorelectriccharge). Ananalogtodigitalconverter(ADC)performsthereverseoperation.

Basicidealoperation

Ideallysampledsignal.SignalofatypicalinterpolatingDACoutput ADACconvertsanabstractfiniteprecisionnumber(usuallyafixedpointbinarynumber)intoa concretephysicalquantity(e.g.,avoltageorapressure).Inparticular,DACsareoftenusedto convertfiniteprecisiontimeseriesdatatoacontinuallyvaryingphysicalsignal. AtypicalDACconvertstheabstractnumbersintoaconcretesequenceofimpulsesthatarethen processedbyareconstructionfilterusessomeformofinterpolationtofillindatabetweenthe impulses.OtherDACmethods(e.g.,methodsbasedonDeltasigmamodulation)produceapulse densitymodulatedsignalthatcanthenbefilteredinasimilarwaytoproduceasmoothlyvarying signal. BytheNyquistShannonsamplingtheorem,sampleddatacanbereconstructedperfectlyprovided thatitsbandwidthmeetscertainrequirements(e.g.,abasebandsignalwithbandwidthlessthanthe Nyquistfrequency).However,evenwithanidealreconstructionfilter,digitalsamplingintroduces quantizationerrorthatmakesperfectreconstructionpracticallyimpossible.Increasingthedigital resolution(i.e.,increasingthenumberofbitsusedineachsample)orintroducingsamplingdither canreducethiserror.

Practicaloperation
Insteadofimpulses,usuallythesequenceofnumbersupdatetheanaloguevoltageatuniform samplingintervals. ThesenumbersarewrittentotheDAC,typicallywithaclocksignalthatcauseseachnumbertobe latchedinsequence,atwhichtimetheDACoutputvoltagechangesrapidlyfromthepreviousvalue tothevaluerepresentedbythecurrentlylatchednumber.Theeffectofthisisthattheoutputvoltage isheldintimeatthecurrentvalueuntilthenextinputnumberislatchedresultinginapiecewise constantor'staircase'shapedoutput.Thisisequivalenttoazeroorderholdoperationandhasan effectonthefrequencyresponseofthereconstructedsignal.

Piecewiseconstantsignaltypicalofazeroorder(noninterpolating)DACoutput. ThefactthatpracticalDACsoutputasequenceofpiecewiseconstantvaluesorrectangularpulses wouldcausemultipleharmonicsabovethenyquistfrequency.Thesearetypicallyremovedwitha lowpassfilteractingasareconstructionfilter. However,thisfiltermeansthatthereisaninherenteffectofthezeroorderholdontheeffective frequencyresponseoftheDACresultinginamildrolloffofgainatthehigherfrequencies(oftena 3.9224dBlossattheNyquistfrequency)anddependingonthefilter,phasedistortion.Thishigh frequencyrolloffistheoutputcharacteristicoftheDAC,andisnotaninherentpropertyofthe sampleddata.

Applications
Audio
Mostmodernaudiosignalsarestoredindigitalform(forexampleMP3sandCDs)andinorderto beheardthroughspeakerstheymustbeconvertedintoananalogsignal.DACsarethereforefound inCDplayers,digitalmusicplayers,andPCsoundcards. SpecialiststandaloneDACscanalsobefoundinhighendhifisystems.Thesenormallytakethe digitaloutputofaCDplayer(ordedicatedtransport)andconvertthesignalintoalineleveloutput thatcanthenbefedintoapreamplifierstage. SimilardigitaltoanalogconverterscanbefoundindigitalspeakerssuchasUSBspeakers,andin soundcards.

Video
Videosignalsfromadigitalsource,suchasacomputer,mustbeconvertedtoanalogformifthey aretobedisplayedonananalogmonitor.Asof2007,analoginputsaremorecommonlyusedthan digital,butthismaychangeasflatpaneldisplayswithDVIand/orHDMIconnectionsbecomemore widespread.AvideoDACis,however,incorporatedinanyDigitalVideoPlayerwithanalog outputs.TheDACisusuallyintegratedwithsomememory(RAM),whichcontainsconversion tablesforgammacorrection,contrastandbrightness,tomakeadevicecalledaRAMDAC. AdevicethatisdistantlyrelatedtotheDACisthedigitallycontrolledpotentiometer,usedtocontrol ananalogsignaldigitally.

DACtypes
ThemostcommontypesofelectronicDACsare:

FourBitD/AConverter
OnewaytoachieveD/Aconversionistouseasummingamplifier.

Thisapproachisnotsatisfactoryforalargenumberofbitsbecauseitrequirestoomuch precisioninthesummingresistors.ThisproblemisovercomeintheR2RnetworkDAC.

SummingAmplifier
Thisisanexampleofaninvertingamplifier ofgain=1withmultipleinputs.Morethan twoinputscanbeused,forexampleinan audiomixercircuit.Theinputresistorscan beunequal,givingaweightedsum.

R2RLadderDAC
ThesummingamplifierwiththeR2Rladderof resistancesshownproducestheoutput

wheretheD'stakethevalue0or1.Thedigitalinputs couldbeTTLvoltageswhichclosetheswitchesona logical1andleaveitgroundedforalogical0.Thisis illustratedfor4bits,butcanbeextendedtoanynumber withjusttheresistancevaluesRand2R.

R2RLadderDACDetails

thePulseWidthModulator,thesimplestDACtype.Astablecurrentorvoltageisswitched intoalowpassanalogfilterwithadurationdeterminedbythedigitalinputcode.This techniqueisoftenusedforelectricmotorspeedcontrol,andisnowbecomingcommonin highfidelityaudio. OversamplingDACsorInterpolatingDACssuchastheDeltaSigmaDAC,useapulse densityconversiontechnique.Theoversamplingtechniqueallowsfortheuseofalower resolutionDACinternally.Asimple1bitDACisoftenchosenbecausetheoversampled resultisinherentlylinear.TheDACisdrivenwithapulsedensitymodulatedsignal,created

withtheuseofalowpassfilter,stepnonlinearity(theactual1bitDAC),andnegative feedbackloop,inatechniquecalleddeltasigmamodulation.Thisresultsinaneffective highpassfilteractingonthequantization(signalprocessing)noise,thussteeringthisnoise outofthelowfrequenciesofinterestintothehighfrequenciesoflittleinterest,whichis callednoiseshaping(veryhighfrequenciesbecauseoftheoversampling).Thequantization noiseatthesehighfrequenciesareremovedorgreatlyattenuatedbyuseofananaloglow passfilterattheoutput(sometimesasimpleRClowpasscircuitissufficient).Mostvery highresolutionDACs(greaterthan16bits)areofthistypeduetoitshighlinearityandlow cost.Higheroversamplingratescaneitherrelaxthespecificationsoftheoutputlowpass filterandenablefurthersuppressionofquantizationnoise.Speedsofgreaterthan100 thousandsamplespersecond(forexample,192kHz)andresolutionsof24bitsareattainable withDeltaSigmaDACs.Ashortcomparisonwithpulsewidthmodulationshowsthata1bit DACwithasimplefirstorderintegratorwouldhavetorunat3THz(whichisphysically unrealizable)toachieve24meaningfulbitsofresolution,requiringahigherorderlowpass filterinthenoiseshapingloop.Asingleintegratorisalowpassfilterwithafrequency responseinverselyproportionaltofrequencyandusingonesuchintegratorinthenoise shapingloopisafirstorderdeltasigmamodulator.Multiplehigherordertopologies(suchas MASH)areusedtoachievehigherdegreesofnoiseshapingwithastabletopology. theBinaryWeightedDAC,whichcontainsoneresistororcurrentsourceforeachbitofthe DACconnectedtoasummingpoint.Theseprecisevoltagesorcurrentssumtothecorrect outputvalue.Thisisoneofthefastestconversionmethodsbutsuffersfrompooraccuracy becauseofthehighprecisionrequiredforeachindividualvoltageorcurrent.Suchhigh precisionresistorsandcurrentsourcesareexpensive,sothistypeofconverterisusually limitedto8bitresolutionorless. theR2RladderDAC,whichisabinaryweightedDACthatusesarepeatingcascaded structureofresistorvaluesRand2R.Thisimprovestheprecisionduetotherelativeeaseof producingequalvaluedmatchedresistors(orcurrentsources).However,wideconverters performslowlyduetoincreasinglylargeRCconstantsforeachaddedR2Rlink. theThermometercodedDAC,whichcontainsanequalresistororcurrentsourcesegment foreachpossiblevalueofDACoutput.An8bitthermometerDACwouldhave255 segments,anda16bitthermometerDACwouldhave65,535segments.Thisisperhapsthe fastestandhighestprecisionDACarchitecturebutattheexpenseofhighcost.Conversion speedsof>1billionsamplespersecondhavebeenreachedwiththistypeofDAC. HybridDACs,whichuseacombinationoftheabovetechniquesinasingleconverter.Most DACintegratedcircuitsareofthistypeduetothedifficultyofgettinglowcost,highspeed andhighprecisioninonedevice. theSegmentedDAC,whichcombinesthethermometercodedprincipleforthemost significantbitsandthebinaryweightedprinciplefortheleastsignificantbits.Inthis way,acompromiseisobtainedbetweenprecision(bytheuseofthethermometer codedprinciple)andnumberofresistorsorcurrentsources(bytheuseofthebinary weightedprinciple).Thefullbinaryweighteddesignmeans0%segmentation,the fullthermometercodeddesignmeans100%segmentation.

DACperformance
DACsareatthebeginningoftheanalogsignalchain,whichmakesthemveryimportanttosystem performance.Themostimportantcharacteristicsofthesedevicesare:

Resolution:ThisisthenumberofpossibleoutputlevelstheDACisdesignedtoreproduce. Thisisusuallystatedasthenumberofbitsituses,whichisthebasetwologarithmofthe

numberoflevels.Forinstancea1bitDACisdesignedtoreproduce2(21)levelswhilean8 bitDACisdesignedfor256(28)levels.ResolutionisrelatedtotheEffectiveNumberof Bits(ENOB)whichisameasurementoftheactualresolutionattainedbytheDAC. Maximumsamplingfrequency:Thisisameasurementofthemaximumspeedatwhichthe DACscircuitrycanoperateandstillproducethecorrectoutput.AsstatedintheNyquist Shannonsamplingtheorem,asignalmustbesampledatovertwicethefrequencyofthe desiredsignal.Forinstance,toreproducesignalsinalltheaudiblespectrum,whichincludes frequenciesofupto20kHz,itisnecessarytouseDACsthatoperateatover40kHz.The CDstandardsamplesaudioat44.1kHz,thusDACsofthisfrequencyareoftenused.A commonfrequencyincheapcomputersoundcardsis48kHzmanyworkatonlythis frequency,offeringtheuseofothersampleratesonlythrough(oftenpoor)internal resampling. monotonicity :ThisreferstotheabilityofDACsanalogoutputtoincreasewithanincrease indigitalcodeortheconverse.ThischaracteristicisveryimportantforDACsusedasalow frequencysignalsourceorasadigitallyprogrammabletrimelement. THD +N:Thisisameasurementofthedistortionandnoiseintroducedtothesignalbythe DAC.Itisexpressedasapercentageofthetotalpowerofunwantedharmonicdistortionand noisethataccompanythedesiredsignal.ThisisaveryimportantDACcharacteristicfor dynamicandsmallsignalDACapplications. Dynamicrange :Thisisameasurementofthedifferencebetweenthelargestandsmallest signalstheDACcanreproduceexpressedindecibels.ThisisusuallyrelatedtoDAC resolutionandnoisefloor.

Othermeasurements,suchasPhasedistortionandSamplingPeriodInstability,canalsobevery importantforsomeapplications.