Large-Amplitude Dithering Mitigates Glitches in Digital-to-Analogue Converters

Glitches introduce impulse-like disturbances which are not be readily attenuated by low-pass filtering. This article presents a model that describes the behaviour of glitches, and a method for mitigation based on a large-amplitude dither signal. Analytical and experimental results demonstrate that a dither signal with sufficient amplitude can mitigate the effect of glitches, when used in conjunction with a low-pass filter. The dither signal in conjunction with low-pass filtering essentially converts a glitch from a high-frequency to low-frequency disturbance.