Blind Modulo Analog-to-Digital Conversion of Vector Processes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a blind modulo-ADC architecture capable of adaptively digitizing correlated signals without prior knowledge of their spectral properties, reducing resolution needs in wideband, multi-signal applications.

Contribution

It develops a fully adaptive, blind modulo-ADC system with automatic level adjustment and decoding, overcoming limitations of prior knowledge dependence.

Findings

Successful simulation results demonstrate effective operation.

Adaptive mechanism matches unknown signal characteristics.

Reduces bit resolution requirements for wideband signals.

Abstract

In a growing number of applications, there is a need to digitize a (possibly high) number of correlated signals whose spectral characteristics are challenging for traditional analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Examples, among others, include multiple-input multiple-output systems where the ADCs must acquire at once several signals at a very wide but sparsely and dynamically occupied bandwidth supporting diverse services. In such scenarios, the resolution requirements can be prohibitively high. As an alternative, the recently proposed modulo-ADC architecture can in principle require dramatically fewer bits in the conversion to obtain the target fidelity, but requires that spatiotemporal information be known and explicitly taken into account by the analog and digital processing in the converter, which is frequently impractical. Building on our recent work, we address this limitation and develop a blind version of the architecture that requires no such knowledge in the converter. In particular, it features an automatic modulo-level adjustment and a fully adaptive modulo-decoding mechanism, allowing it to asymptotically match the characteristics of the unknown input signal. Simulation results demonstrate the successful operation of the proposed algorithm.