Is called Nyquist sampling theory:
From Wikipedia:
The Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem is
a fundamental tenet in the field of information theory, in particular telecommunications.
The
theorem states that, when converting from an analog signal to digital (or
otherwise sampling a signal at discrete intervals), the sampling frequency must be greater than twice the highest frequency
of the input signal in order to be able to reconstruct the original perfectly
from the sampled version.
If the
sampling frequency is less than this limit, then frequencies in the original
signal that are above half the sampling rate will be "aliased"
and will appear in the resulting signal as lower frequencies. Therefore, an
analog low-pass filter is typically applied before sampling
to ensure that no components with frequencies greater than half the sample
frequency remain. This is called an "anti-aliasing
filter".
The
theorem also applies when reducing the sampling frequency of an existing
digital signal.
The
theorem was first formulated by Harry
Nyquist in 1928 ("Certain topics in telegraph transmission
theory"), but was only formally proved by Claude
E. Shannon in 1949 ("Communication in the presence of noise").
Mathematically, the theorem is formulated as a statement about the Fourier
transformation.
If a
function s(x) has a Fourier
transform F[s(x)] = S(f) = 0
for |f| > W, then it is completely determined by
giving the value of the function at a series of points spaced 1/(2W) apart. The values sn = s(n/(2W)) are called the
samples of s(x).
The minimum sample frequency that allows reconstruction of the original signal,
that is 2W samples per unit
distance, is known as the Nyquist
frequency, (or Nyquist rate). The time inbetween samples is called the Nyquist
interval.
If S(f) = 0 for |f| > W, then s(x) can be recovered from its samples
by the Nyquist-Shannon Interpolation
Formula.
A
well-known consequence of the sampling theorem is that a signal cannot be both bandlimited
and time-limited. To see why, assume that such a signal exists, and sample it
faster than the Nyquist frequency. These finitely many time-domain coefficients
should define the entire signal. Equivalently, the entire spectrum of the
bandlimited signal should be expressible in terms of the finitely many
time-domain coefficients obtained from sampling the signal. Mathematically this
is equivalent to requiring that a (trigonometric) polynomial can have
infinitely many zeros since the bandlimited signal must be zero on an interval
beyond a critical frequency which has infinitely many points. However, it is
well-known that polynomials do not have more zeros than their orders due to the
fundamental theorem of algebra. This
contradiction shows that our original assumption that a time-limited and
bandlimited signal exists is incorrect.
[edit]
Undersampling
It has to
be noted that even if the concept of "twice the highest frequency"; is
the more commonly used idea, it is not absolute. In fact the theorem stands for
"twice the bandwidth",
which is totally different. Bandwidth is related with the range between the
first frequency and the last frequency that represent the signal. Bandwidth and
highest frequency are identical only in baseband
signals, that is, those that go very nearly down to DC.
This concept led to what is called undersampling,
that is very used in software-defined radio.
Imagine
that you want to sample all the FM commercial radio stations that broadcast in
a given area. They broadcast in channels that span from 88 MHz to 108 MHz,
giving a signal with bandwidth of 20 MHz. In the baseband interpretation of the
theorem, this would require a sampling frequency more than 216 MHz. In fact,
doing undersampling
one only require to sample at more than 40 MHz, as long as you pass the antenna
signal by a bandpass filter that only keep the 88-108 MHz range. Sampling at 44
MHz the frequency 100 MHz will be reflected as a 12 MHz digital frequency.
In
certain problems, the frequencies of interest are not an interval of
frequencies, but perhaps some more interesting set F of frequencies. Again, the sampling
frequency must be proportional to the size of F. For instance, certain domain decomposition methods fail to
converge for the 0th frequency (the constant mode) and some medium frequencies.
Then the set of interesting frequencies would be something like 10Hz to 100Hz,
and 110Hz to 200Hz. In this case, one would need to sample at 360Hz, not 400Hz,
to correctly capture these signals.
[edit]
References
- H. Nyquist, "Certain topics in telegraph
transmission theory," Trans. AIEE, vol. 47, pp. 617-644, Apr. 1928.
- C. E. Shannon, "Communication in the presence
of noise," Proc. Institute of Radio Engineers, vol. 37, no.1, pp.
10-21, Jan. 1949.
__________________________________________________________________
Steven Chang-Lin Yu
MEngSc of Telecommunications
ICQ#: 66369374
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From:
erikc [mailto:firewevr@airmail.net]
Sent: Monday, 31 May 2004 9:18 AM
To: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] ADC
problem!
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Johnson"
To: <AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2004 14:53
Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] ADC problem!
> The sampling frequency must be several times
the frequency
you
> want to sample, otherwise, you will see a
seemingly random
> sample, or a harmonic of the original
frequency. You can
> decide how many points will adequately
describe the
> 40Hz sine wave for your project, multiply by
40 and
> use that for the sample frequency. If I were
doing it,
> I would use a prime number as the number of
samples,
> that way you're guaranteed not to lock onto a
> multiple/harmonic of the frequency you're
sampling.
> (The things we learn from Nature :-) Locusts,
in
> this case.)
>
> Regards,
> JJ
What would be the lowest reasonable prime for
this? And why
are prime number sampling rates so great, anyway?
Erikc - firewevr@airmail.net
///
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"The Truth against the World."
--
Bardic Motto
/// In theory, there is no difference between
theory and
practice, in practice there is.
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