I don't know very well how adc works, so i have a question. Most adc
have a Vref pin that defines Vin range of adc. Vin range of adc is
then divider for 2^n (n=resolution) to obtain LSB. If i resize Vref,
new Vin range (smaller) is divided for 2^n, so LSB has smaller
value.If i have a sensor, why i shoud use amplifier to drive Vin pin
of adc?can i resize Vref as i like (or there is a limit)?
The larger the voltage the lower the noise floor(relative).
A simple extreme case to show how it works: Suppose you scale the signal
with the amplifier to 1/10000mV and set the adc. Do you think it would work?
You think it would be accurate? Surely there is a minimum voltage that the
adc can "work" at?
The same idea exists in communication lines. Suppose you just send your
signal along the line with X volts peak. Any noise on the line will distort
the signal making it impossible(or at least difficult) to distinguish what
is noise and what is the signal. I.e., if the noise floor is Y volts then
when the signal is below Y volts it is impossible to tell the signal from
noise.
But if we first scale up the signal before transmission then we decrease the
effects of the noise on the signal.
Mathematically we might have somethign like s(t) = A*f(t) + e(t)
where e(t) is the noise, A is an amplification factor, and f(t) is the
signal pre transmission.
s(t) is the transmitted signal but before de-amplication,
After we de-amplify on the other side we have
B*s(t) = B*A*f(t) + B*e(t)
in general B = 1/A so the final signal is
f(t) + e(t)/A
So the point being that if we first amplify the signal then transmitt and
then deamplify we end up lowering the noise floor by that amplification
factor.
It's a similar idea with the ADC. The pre-amp increases the signal so any
"noise" by the op amp is reduced. Since we don't have to de-amplify because
it is digital after that and we can just scale it mathematically without any
loss.
Note that in reality it's not quite analogous because noise is usually
"external" in communications lines while for ADC's it is a propery of the
design and non-ideal components used.
The main point is that by "scaling" the signal first you reduce the effects
of any "noise" or errors because they are not scaled. In some sense the ADC
has an easier time to distinguish the signal over the noise because you've
made the signal larger.
A very simple analogy is a magnifying glass. In some sense your eyes when
reading a ruler is like an ADC. If the notches are too close then any
"error"(blur, say) can easily throw off the results. But if you first
magnify then read it is much easier because the "error" doesn't scale.
(although this is not to say that the magnifying glass doesn't introduce
it's own error)
