Quantization in PCM With Example EngineersTutor
Quantization in PCM With Example EngineersTutor
Two fundamental processes are involved in the generation of a PCM signal: sampling and
quantization. Sampling is time discretization and quantization is amplitude discretization.
In PCM, conversion of analog signal to digital signal is done in two steps
Sampling
Quantization
Quantization is the process of rounding of the sample value to the nearest quantization level. Remember that
number of quantization levels is predefined.
𝑞 = 2𝑛
𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒, 𝑖𝑓 𝑛 = 2, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑞 = 2𝑛 = 22 = 4 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑠
𝑉𝐻 − 𝑉𝐿 𝑉𝐻 − 𝑉𝐿
𝑆= =
𝑞 2𝑛
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where VH = Max. voltage value
VL = Min. voltage value
2. Draw mid lines representing quantization levels
3. Assign binary codes (pre-defined) to each quantization level
4. Calculate quantization error
Quantization Example
Q. A 2-bit PCM modulator is used with a 0-1 V signal. What is the binary digital value that will occur for
the following inputs: 0.4 V, 0.78 V. What is the quantization error for these two samples?
STEPS IN QUANTIZATION
𝑉𝐻 − 𝑉𝐿 𝑉𝐻 − 𝑉𝐿
𝑆= =
𝑞 2𝑛
where VH = Max. voltage value
VL = Min. voltage value
2. Draw mid lines representing quantization levels
3. Assign binary codes (pre-defined) to each quantization level
4. Calculate quantization error
𝑉𝐻 −𝑉𝐿 1−0 1
Step 1: Step size 𝑆 = = = = 0.25
2𝑛 4 4
Quantizing 0.78 V sample: Level 4 is nearest to 0.78 V. So, digital code 11 is transmitted.
Quantization error e = 0.875 -0.78 = 0.095 V
NOTE:
Quantization process introduces a certain amount of error or distortion. This error known as quantization noise
and is minimised by increasing the number of quantization levels. But increasing number of quantization levels
increases number of bits to represents each sample and hence increases bit rate and cost of transmission.