Experimental Verification of the Improvement of Resolution When Applying Perturbation Theory to a Quantizer

It has been proven mathematically that with the application of a triangular perturbation signal quantized characteristics may be perfectly linearized for the ideal case [1], but that certain practical limitations will introduce errors if the signals are processed digitally [2]. In this paper the errors resulting from discrete sampling, imprecise triangular wave amplitude, and finite computer word size are examined experimentally and compared with the bounds established in [2]. In all cases the errors are well within the worst case predicted by the theory indicating that this method of resolution enhancement can be utilized where digital processing is required. The particular application reported here involves improving the resolution of an analog-to-digital converter.