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Noise Averaging and Measurement Resolution (or A Little Noise is a Good Thing)

Published

Author(s)

James E. Potzick

Abstract

When a continuous quantity is measured with a digital instrument or digitized for further processing, a measurement uncertainty component is incurred from quantization of the continuous variable. This uncertainty can be reduced by oversampling and averaging multiple measurements, but only if there is some noise on the measurand. In this article the optimum noise level is determined, and the subsequent improvement in measurement uncertainty calculated.
Citation
Review of Scientific Instruments
Volume
70
Issue
No 4

Keywords

averaging, measurement uncertainty, noise, quantization

Citation

Potzick, J. (1999), Noise Averaging and Measurement Resolution (or A Little Noise is a Good Thing), Review of Scientific Instruments (Accessed October 16, 2025)

Issues

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Created April 1, 1999, Updated February 19, 2017
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