Word error rate measurement in analog-to-digital converters: Some statistical considerations about IEEE Std 1241-2000, Annex A

The word error rate (WER) in an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) is the probability of receiving an erroneous code for an input, after correction is made for gain, offset, and linearity 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 aim of this paper is to give a contribution for a new draft of the IEEE Std 1241. Our attention is directed towards the word error rate estimation and to the Annex A of this standard. New statistical techniques which can better integrate what is sustained in the IEEE standard and in [2] have been proposed. In particular, Student and chi-square distributions have been introduced for a more accurate measurement of the word error rate in the case of n successive observations.