Complex cross correlators with three-level quantization: design tolerances.

It is noted that for cases in which the components behave ideally, digital correlators have been analyzed in considerable detail. Consideration is given here to the effects of the major deviations from ideal behavior that are encountered in practice. Even though attention is restricted to the three-level quantization, the fairly general case of the complex cross correlator is investigated. Among the errors analyzed are quantization threshold errors, quantizer indecision regions, sampler timing skews, quadrature network errors, and numerical errors in algorithms for converting digital measurements to equivalent analog correlations. It is assumed that all the digital operations, including delay, multiplication, summing, and storage, can be implemented without errors. The study is prompted by the requirement for cross-power measurements in Fourier synthesis radio telescopes.