Quantiserar

Quantiserar is a Swedish verb that translates to "quantizes" in English. It describes the process of converting a continuous range of values into a finite number of discrete levels. This is a fundamental concept in digital signal processing and information theory. When a signal is quantized, its continuous waveform is approximated by a series of steps, each representing a specific discrete value.

The act of quantization involves defining a set of quantization levels and a decision rule. For any given input value, the decision rule determines which quantization level it is closest to, and that level is then assigned as the output. The difference between the original continuous value and its quantized representation is called quantization error or quantization noise. The number of quantization levels chosen directly impacts the accuracy of the approximation and the magnitude of the quantization error. More levels generally lead to less error but require more bits to represent each quantized value.

Quantization is a necessary step in converting analog signals into digital signals, as digital systems can only handle discrete values. It is also employed in various compression techniques, where reducing the number of distinct values can lead to smaller data sizes. Applications of quantization can be found in areas such as audio and image digitization, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and data compression algorithms. The term "quantiserar" therefore refers to the practical implementation of this discretization process.