Signal to Quantization Noise Ratio (SQNR)

SQNR, short for signal to quantization noise ratio, is a measure of the quality of the quantization, or digital conversion of an analog signal. Defined as normalized signal power divided by normalized quantization noise power.

1. What is the difference between SNR and SQNR?
2. How is SQNR calculated?
3. What is the value of SQNR for 16 level quantizer?
4. Is higher SQNR better?

What is the difference between SNR and SQNR?

The SQNR reflects the relationship between the maximum nominal signal strength and the quantization error (also known as quantization noise) introduced in the analog-to-digital conversion. The SQNR formula is derived from the general signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) formula: where: is the probability of received bit error.

How is SQNR calculated?

Furthermore, for power, SNR = 20 log (S ÷ N) and for voltage, SNR = 10 log (S ÷ N). Also, the resulting calculation is the SNR in decibels. For example, your measured noise value (N) is 2 microvolts, and your signal (S) is 300 millivolts.

What is the value of SQNR for 16 level quantizer?

Uniform quantization and the 6 dB/bit approximation

=65536 and SQNR = 16×6 = 96 dB.

Is higher SQNR better?

A signal-to-noise ratio over 0 dB indicates that the signal level is greater than the noise level. The higher the ratio, the better the signal quality.