| Issue |
A&A
Volume 378, Number 2, November I 2001
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 700 - 709 | |
| Section | Numerical methods and codes | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20011226 | |
| Published online | 15 November 2001 | |
The effect of digitisation on the signal-to-noise ratio of a pulsed radio signal
1
Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University, PO Box 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
2
Astronomical Institute "Anton Pannekoek", Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Corresponding author: M. L. A. Kouwenhoven, m.l.a.kouwenhoven@astro.uu.nl
Received:
16
July
2001
Accepted:
29
August
2001
We discuss the effect of digitisation on the signal-to-noise ratio of pulsed radio signals. We describe a general n-bit digitiser and show that a symmetric and equidistant digitiser has two free parameters: the threshold and the output value. We derive the best choice of these values for a 1, 1.5, 2, 4 and 8-bit digitiser and calculate the signal-to-noise ratio after digitisation of an undetected signal and of a detected signal with a Gaussian or a 
-distribution. Measurements made using PuMa, the new digital pulsar machine at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, are presented and are shown to agree with the theoretical response of the digitiser.
Key words: instrumentation: miscellaneous / methods: data analysis / pulsars: general
© ESO, 2001
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