Statistical analysis of the word error rate measurement in analog-to-digital converters

The word error rate (WER) in an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) is the probability to receive a wrong code for an input, after correction is made for gain offset, and nonlinearity errors, and a specified allowance is made for noise. Typical causes of word errors are metastability and timing jitter of comparators within the ADC [1]. The proposed paper is an evolution of previous work [6] and focuses the attention to the word error rate estimation and to the Annex A of IEEE standard 1241. Other statistical techniques, which can better integrate what is sustained in the standard and in [2], have been proposed. In particular Chi-square and F distributions have been introduced for a more accurate measurement of the word error rate in the case of n successive observations.