Floating-point representation of signals for radio astronomical data interchange

This works studies the benefits of using floating-point representation for data interchange formats in radio astronomy applications. The approach is based on assessing two figures of merit widely used in the literature: the quantization efficiency and the dynamic range. Both figures have been computed analytically. The results demonstrate the superiority of floating-point representation over fixed-point. They also suggest that a flexible coding approach would be most beneficial by adapting the coding scheme to the changing needs. In consequence, floating-point formats must become the format of choice for a vast majority of radio astronomical observatories that are increasingly impacted by radio frequency interference.