Noise shaping Riemann: an energy efficient data conversion scheme

Abstract

This paper presents a novel conversion scheme for time signals, especially suited for wireless communication applications. The digital/analog data representation paradigm is discussed and critical aspects are determined. It involves digital information coding, twoway digital/analog conversion and their respective efficiency. The proposed conversion scheme relies on a slight oversampling ratio (OSR), combined with a differentiating coding and a 1 st order noise shaping loop. It achieves a resolution increased by 2.5 effective number of bits per doubling of the OSR. The resulting conversion efficiency combined with a moderate digital coding complexity leads to a substantial improvement of the energy cost of conversion compared to conventional Nyquist rate architectures. The efficiency gain is even higher for converters limited by thermal noise. It can reach a ten fold improvement for OSR around 10, which makes this architecture a good option for the handling of radio frequency signals.