Most of the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) nowadays are designed for a specific application and embedded in a System-on-Chip (SoC) instead of a stand alone ADC chip for general purpose. In this case, the ADC input signal statistics is known information, while in different systems it can be far different from others. This observation gives opportunities to design ADCs smartly in a system context to achieve the required system performance at minimal complexity, area and power. In this paper, an input signal statistics aware design approach for ADCs for communication systems is discussed and two parallel ADCs architectures based on this approach are proposed for converting multi-carrier signal.

The ability of high performance Radar and Broadband Systems to detect weak targets in presence of strong interferers or clutter is given by their Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR). Although the Signal-to- Noise-Ratio (SNR) necessary for detection may be improved by well-known system processing gains, the dynamic range is ultimately limited by distortion terms caused by nonlinear behaviour of receiver components. The Software Defined Radio (SDR) paradigm assigns the Analog-to-Digital Converter a key role in receiver design. For systems using IF- Subsampling, linearity requirements place a heavy burden on the ADC, as SFDR signifcantly degrades with increasing input frequency. As a consequence, the ADC can only be used at input frequencies fairly below its intrinsic full power bandwidth, restricting the systems IF placement. This contribution discusses the possibility of processing ADC output data in the digital domain to achieve improved linearity. The Volterra series approach of nonlinear systems and its constrained variants are discussed. We will show in detail that for higher input frequencies, dynamic errors cause the harmonic terms to loose their in-phase ability; in higher Nyquist zones a frequency-dependend dynamic phase error has to be considered. Assumptions are backed by an evaluation of coherent data from the LTC2208 (16 Bit, 120 MSPS). A specific correction algorithm incorporating the dynamic phase error will be presented, which yielded 25 dB SFDR improvement in the 7th Nyquist Zone (360-420 MHz). The reproducibility of correction results is considered in some detail.

In this work an architectural investigation is presented concerning the full integration of ADCs in thin-film organic electronics technology on a plastic foil. From a technological point of view and dealing with a limited number of building blocks available, i.e. often only p-type transistors are available and resistors are not, several ADC architectures are discussed and compared for their specifications and limits. From this discussion a few topologies are left over that are considered applicable up to a certain level. Finally a ΔΣ ADC design is presented in this work and the measurement results of this organic ΔΣ ADC integrated on foil are presented.

In this paper a Fuzzy Decision Making (FDM) technique is presented, making use of an original approach to uncertainty analysis, for the qualification of an environmental measurement process and its associated decision system. The proposed FDM technique leads to take a decision about the quality index overcoming of a warning or reference value; it is based on a model, which has statistical bases and offers an operative instrument that, in accordance with the initial conditions, allows to calculate the erroneous decision probability for settling the metrological characteristics of the measurement system. The strength of the proposed approach is to estimate the impact of measurement uncertainty onto the decision-making process, also modelling the vague features of the process itself by fuzzy logic.

Features of qualimetric estimation of Educational and Laboratory Complex «Chemistry» designed and produced at Tomsk Polytechnic University were reported. A simplified qualimetric method for the quality estimation of the product for quality management was chosen. Complicating factors in the estimation of a complex product were shown. Comparison of the quality of the product with analogues existent in the markets of countries of CIS was carried out.