Development of Innovative Methods for Characterizing, Modeling and Correcting the Non-Ideal Behavior of A/D and D/A Conversion Channels, in Order to Contribute Towards Harmonizing and Upgrading International Standards

The research program aims at improving the performance of appliances based on Analogto-Digital and Digital-to-Analog conversion (ranging from measuring instruments to on-chip ADC and DAC). This will be done by developing methods for the accurate measurement and correction of conversion errors (including, when applicable, errors caused by transducers and signal-conditioning blocks). Another aim of the research is to expand the scope of the theory of measurement uncertainty, including conversion errors in dynamic conditions. This will allow the manufacturers to qualify correctly the non-ideality of a conversion channel in the specifications, and the users to use correctly the given figures to compute the uncertainty introduced by the conversion. The research, developed for the parts of competence by the five coordinated Units, aims also at contributing in real terms towards the improvement and the harmonization of the existing standards, which currently present various discrepancy and obvious deficiencies with respect to the state of the art.