Fixed-point implementation of multi-dimensional delta-operator formulated discrete-time systems: difficulties in convergence

The convergence properties of linearly stable multi-dimensional systems are investigated for the case of delta-operator implementations in fixed-point format. It is shown that zero-convergence is almost never achieved, if the sampling time is small. Using a one-dimensional analysis, it is demonstrated that zero-convergence cannot be guaranteed along the axis of the first hyper-quadrant for a first hyper-quadrant causal system. This limits the use of delta-operators for solving partial differential equations in discrete time with fixed-point arithmetic.<>