Question

Can measurement noise affect the DAC resolution estimate? Please explain with a simple example.

Answer 1

Before we go to our question first let us understand the terms Accuracy, Precision and Resolution.

Accuracy is the amount of uncertainity in measurement with respect to actual or standard value. This will usually effected by the errors due to gain and offset parameters.

Precision describes the reproducibility of the measurement. For example, measure a steady state signal many times. In this case if the values are close together then it has a high degree of precision or repeatability. The values do not have to be the true values just grouped together. Take the average of the measurements and the difference is between it and the true value is accuracy.

Resolution is the ratio between the maximum signal measured to the smallest part that can be resolved.

Let us take an example as converting a digital signal to analog signal using DAC. While converting the signal if there is any measurement noise the signal properties such as signal strength, amplitude will change.

As we know the resolution is the ratio between the measurements of the signal, the ratio i.e. resolution will change.

So the resolution estimate will be different from the actual resolution effected by measurement noise.