Companding: A Technique for Non-Uniform Quantization in Digital Signal Processing

Companding is a digital signal processing technique that enables non-uniform quantization, crucially enhancing dynamic range management in audio and telecommunication systems. The two most prevalent implementations are A-law and μ-law companding, which employ piecewise logarithmic functions to compress wide-ranging input signals into reduced bit-depth representations.

These companding algorithms achieve significant compression ratios by allocating more quantization levels to lower-amplitude signals while reducing resolution for higher amplitudes. For example, the provided MATLAB implementation demonstrates how 14-bit linear PCM codes are compressed into 8-bit companded codes using segmented encoding functions. Key algorithmic steps involve: 1) Normalizing input signals, 2) Applying segment-specific logarithmic compression curves, and 3) Quantizing the compressed values using lookup tables.

For detailed code documentation including MATLAB function specifications (compand() function parameters, quantization table generation, and reconstruction algorithms), please contact our technical team via email. We provide comprehensive implementation guides with signal-to-noise ratio analysis and compression performance metrics.