An analytical expression is derived for the signal-to-noise ratio due
to the clipping of the amplitude of a DMT signal to a predetermined le
vel. Using this expression, it is shown that a significant reduction i
n the number of bits (between 2 and 3 bits) of the A/D-D/A convertor c
an be obtained by clipping, while keeping the same signal-to-noise rat
io as when clipping is not applied. These results indicate that clippi
ng can be applied to DMT-based ADSL transceivers without system perfor
mance degradation and with the important advantage of reducing its VLS
I implementation complexity.