A DIY pipelined analog to digital converter that utilizes compressive sensing

Reading about things is all fine and good, but the best way to understand a concept is to put it into practice. After years of one of us (Shlomo) teaching about analog to digital converters (ADCs) and digital to analog converters (DACs) in general, pipelined ADCs in particular, and discussing, experimenting with, and writing about compressive sensing, the time had come to build a sensor that utilizes all of these technologies.