Kvantiseringsniveau

Kvantiseringsniveau refers to the discrete values that a continuous signal can take after it has undergone quantization. In digital signal processing, quantization is a process of mapping a continuous range of input values to a finite set of output values. This is a crucial step in analog-to-digital conversion, where an analog signal, which can have an infinite number of possible values, is converted into a digital signal with a finite number of bits, and thus a finite number of discrete levels.

The number of quantization levels is determined by the number of bits used in the digital representation. For example, an 8-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) can represent 2^8 = 256 different quantization levels. Each level represents a specific range of the original analog signal. The difference between the original analog value and the quantized digital value is called quantization error or quantization noise.

A larger number of quantization levels generally leads to a smaller quantization error and a more accurate representation of the original analog signal. However, it also requires more bits to store and process the digital data, increasing storage requirements and processing complexity. The choice of the number of quantization levels is therefore a trade-off between accuracy and efficiency, depending on the specific application requirements. Common examples of quantization levels can be found in audio CDs (16-bit, 65,536 levels) and digital images (8-bit per color channel, 256 levels per channel).