TY - GEN
T1 - BER-optimal analog-to-digital converters for communication links
AU - Lu, Minwei
AU - Shanbhag, Naresh
AU - Singer, Andrew
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - In this paper, we propose BER-optimal analog-to-digital converters (ADC) where quantization levels and thresholds are set non-uniformly to minimize the bit-error rate (BER). This is in contrast to present-day ADCs which act as transparent waveform preservers. Simulations for various communication channels show that the BER-optimal ADC achieves shaping gains that range from 2.5dB for channels with low intersymbol interference (ISI) to more than 30dB for channels with high ISI. Moreover, a 3-bit BER-optimal ADC achieves the same or even lower BER than a 4-bit uniform ADC. For flash converters, this corresponds a power reduction by 2x. Look-up table based equalizers compatible with BER-optimal ADCs are shown to reduce the power up to 47% and the area up to 66% in a 45nm CMOS process. The shaping gain due to BER-optimal ADCs can be exploited to lower peak transmit swings at the transmitter or decrease power consumption of the ADC.
AB - In this paper, we propose BER-optimal analog-to-digital converters (ADC) where quantization levels and thresholds are set non-uniformly to minimize the bit-error rate (BER). This is in contrast to present-day ADCs which act as transparent waveform preservers. Simulations for various communication channels show that the BER-optimal ADC achieves shaping gains that range from 2.5dB for channels with low intersymbol interference (ISI) to more than 30dB for channels with high ISI. Moreover, a 3-bit BER-optimal ADC achieves the same or even lower BER than a 4-bit uniform ADC. For flash converters, this corresponds a power reduction by 2x. Look-up table based equalizers compatible with BER-optimal ADCs are shown to reduce the power up to 47% and the area up to 66% in a 45nm CMOS process. The shaping gain due to BER-optimal ADCs can be exploited to lower peak transmit swings at the transmitter or decrease power consumption of the ADC.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/77955991242
U2 - 10.1109/ISCAS.2010.5537363
DO - 10.1109/ISCAS.2010.5537363
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:77955991242
SN - 9781424453085
T3 - ISCAS 2010 - 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems: Nano-Bio Circuit Fabrics and Systems
SP - 1029
EP - 1032
BT - ISCAS 2010 - 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems
T2 - 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems: Nano-Bio Circuit Fabrics and Systems, ISCAS 2010
Y2 - 30 May 2010 through 2 June 2010
ER -