A/D Converters Testing Based on Beat Frequency Method

In this paper we present the capability of the beat frequency method to estimate ADC dynamic performance parameters. This task has been done by means of one of the most important dynamic parameter of an ADC - the effective number of bits (ENOB). An algorithm for estimating the ENOB of an ADC tested using the beat frequency method is proposed. Simulations carried out confirm that the proposed algorithm leads to very accurate results. Also, some experimental results obtained based upon the proposed algorithm are presented.