Posted: 7/27/2009 7:53:52 PM EDT
| in ADC and DAC what is step size refering to? Going through the associates degree and my study foo on digitical/analog conversions is severely weak tonight. |
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Quoted: in ADC and DAC what is step size refering to? Going through the associates degree and my study foo on digitical/analog conversions is severely weak tonight. Well, in converting from analog to digital, the signal goes in steps from 0 to it's peak voltage. Depending on the bitrate and the peak, you can determine how many points (voltages) there are from the negative rail to the positive rail. Then you can divide the span of voltage by the number of points, and get 'step size'. I got my degree in EET years ago, but never really had to learn anything about step size. Of course ADC and DACs weren't really in the curriculum. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
in ADC and DAC what is step size refering to? Going through the associates degree and my study foo on digitical/analog conversions is severely weak tonight. Well, in converting from analog to digital, the signal goes in steps from 0 to it's peak voltage. Depending on the bitrate and the peak, you can determine how many points (voltages) there are from the negative rail to the positive rail. Then you can divide the span of voltage by the number of points, and get 'step size'. I got my degree in EET years ago, but never really had to learn anything about step size. Of course ADC and DACs weren't really in the curriculum. found the online lecture notes and your spot on. Slightly worded differently. If anything other than spot on you were more thorough. 
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It's extremely application-specific. The step sizes in an ADC or DAC in a CD player won't necessarily be the same as in some other equipment. It also depends on the TYPE of DAC. What is it? Ladder? Delta-sigma/single bit? How many bits? Linear or logarithmic response? But, the answer I'd give to that question is, "Step size is the change in input (ADC) voltage required to increment or decrement the the ADC by a single bit , or the output voltage change that is the result when the digital input to a DAC is incremented by a value of one, at the least significant bit. (LSB) CJ |