quantisatieniveaus

Quantisatieniveaus, often translated as quantization levels, refer to the discrete values that a continuous signal can take after undergoing a quantization process. In signal processing and digital communications, quantization is a fundamental step where a continuous range of analog values is mapped to a finite set of discrete levels. This is essential for representing analog information in a digital format, as digital systems can only store and process a finite number of distinct values.

The number of quantization levels is directly related to the resolution of the digitized signal. A higher number of quantization levels means finer distinctions between values, resulting in a more accurate representation of the original analog signal and less quantization error. Conversely, a lower number of quantization levels leads to coarser distinctions and a greater amount of quantization error, which can manifest as noise or distortion in the reconstructed signal.

The relationship between the number of quantization levels and the number of bits used to represent them is typically logarithmic. If a signal is quantized into N levels, then log base 2 of N bits are required to uniquely identify each level. For instance, if a signal is quantized into 256 levels, it requires 8 bits (2^8 = 256) to represent each quantized value. The choice of the number of quantization levels is a trade-off between the desired accuracy and the available storage or transmission bandwidth.