1. Issues

1.1 Presentation of the study

Digital data, which are simply numbers, benefit from the advantages of computer technology: powerful processing, easy storage, long shelf life, reliable transmission... It is for these advantages that a growing number of signals are being digitized, i.e. converted into a sequence of numbers. Very early on, text was digitized with the ASCII code, and computer screen windows were digitized with dot coordinates and grayscale... Recent technological fields to have succumbed to the lure of the digital include sound and image.

But this explosion in the number of digital signals is turning certain advantages into problems. For example, processing power needs to be increased, storage capacities extended, and transmission rates amplified....