E. Nunzi, P. Carbone, D. Petri
A Risks Assessment and Conformance Testing of Analog–to–Digital Converters

The conformance test to which electronic devices are subjected after the manufacturing process, indicates if the device complies with an a priori given requirement set. On the basis of the test result, the component is considered to be working or not–working. However, because of the measurement uncertainty introduced by the testing bench assessment and by the chosen estimation algorithm, the manufacturer could include in the production process a component which does not respect the given requirements or could reject a working device, thus affecting both testing and productivity costs. In this paper, it is considered the problem of the estimation of spectral parameters of analog–to–digital converters (ADCs). In particular, the risks to which both manufacturers and consumers of ADCs are subjected, are explicitly evaluated.

Bruno Andò, Salvatore Baglio, Vito Caruso, Nicola Pitrone
A PLATFORM FOR MICRO-CONTROLLER CHARACTERIZATION

The characterization of the micro-controllers involves the characterization of its peripheral devices, mainly the ADCs, the PWMs, the timer signals, sometimes the DACs. A testing platform has been realized, with reference to the ST430 micro-controller. It consists of a board and some programmable instruments connected to a PC, on which the implemented software can run. The user can make the choice of the test to be performed, can carry out the chosen test and can analyze and store the results. The static ADC characterization has been taken into account in this work and some results obtained by using this platform are presented.

M. Catelani, E. Campani, M. Del Pistoia, R. Singuaroli, M. Mugnaini, A. Fort
High Reliable DAQ for ADC On Line Testing

This paper describes a general purpose high reliable DAQ for widely used sensor families. The development of a system which allows performing fast multi-channel data acquisition and ACD testing by means of single and two tone tests grants high reliability.

Sachiko Goto, Yoshiharu Azuma, Tetsuhiro Sumimoto, Yoshihiro Takeda, Shigeru Eiho
Estimation of the Digitized Mammographic Breast Density by the Histogram Approach Using the Neural Network

Our aim was to improve the accuracy of classifying x-ray mammographic breast densities. The histogram approach using the neural network was used for the purpose of constructing a flexible system. In this study the phantom of the synthetic breast-equivalent resin material for the process of the A/D conversion of mammograms was employed. The digital values can offset the difference in characteristics between the mammography system, the unit, etc. Furthermore the features of our system use the neural network, and then tune the neural network by the histogram of the digital values and by the radiologists' and expert mammographers' assessment ability. Although there was an observer's bias, our system was able to classify the breast density automatically according to that observer. This is only possible if the observer has been trained to some extent and is capable of maintaining an objective assessment according to the assessment criteria.

Michal Široký, Jan Čermák, Jaroslav Roztočil
SHORT-TERM FREQUENCY STABILITY OF DIGITIZER TESTING SIGNALS

In this paper we will discuss methods that can be readily used for frequency (phase) stability measurements of testing signals. To illustrate the case we will describe the measurements on two function generators for ADC testing, a HP33120A and Agilent 33250A, carried out at the Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics (IREE), Prague.