A level-crossing sampling scheme for A/D conversion

A sampling scheme that is based on multiple level-crossings is presented. This scheme generates samples of the input signal that are nonuniformly spaced in time by recording the time instants at which the signal crosses any of the fixed quantization levels. The nonuniform sample sequence is transformed to uniform samples by polynomial interpolation. The resolution is further increased by employing decimation. Various trade-offs involved in terms of speed, resolution and hardware complexity are discussed.