Combiner

Device for combining, in a plurality of cycles, a plurality of digital communication channels, each being transmitted via communication lines having a first bit width, comprising a cascade arrangement of a plurality of apparatuses, each including:

• a multiplexer for multiplexing the plurality of digital communication channels into a multiplexed digital signal,
• a first register for storing intermediate results,
• an adder for adding samples of the digital communication channels and intermediate results stored in the first register,
• wherein one of the inputs of the adder is connected to the multiplexer via a first connection line having the first bit width, the output of the adder is connected to the input of the first register via a second connection line having a second bit width larger than the first bit width, and the output of the first register is connected to the other input of the adder via a third connection line having the second bit width,
• wherein, in a number of cycles corresponding to the number of digital communication channels, one combined output sample is generated by successively adding in each one cycle one sample of one of the communication channels to a previously obtained intermediate result stored in the first register, and
• wherein the output bit width of an apparatus of a particular stage of the cascade arrangement is determined by
• ┐lg2(ni(2wi−1))
• with
• ni=number of input signals of the apparatus of a particular stage,
• wi=bit width of input signals.