A/D converter characterization for high-performance signal processing applications

This paper presents a state-of-the-art A/D instrumentation facility and the measurement methods used to investigate the effects of A/D converter noise and linearity in two applications-wide-bandwidth spectral analysis and an airborne surveillance radar. These two application-specific examples are used to illustrate the dependence of system requirements on A/D converter specifications. For example, knowing the A/D converter parameters that influence system performance allows the A/D converter designer to trade linearity for noise. To illustrate these trade-offs, the authors show that the key specification for wide-bandwidth spectral signal analysis is high linearity, whereas for an airborne radar application, the A/D converter should be designed for a high dynamic range (DR)