Sample Rate and Discrete Frequency

Discover how sampling a signal leads to a new set of frequencies.

An ADC samples a continuous-time signal to produce discrete-time samples. From the viewpoint of a digital signal processor, this signal is represented in computer memory as a series of numbers. Unless the sample rate fsf_s is known, there’s little that can be done.

Determining the frequency

With the available information about fsf_s, we can discover the frequency by first computing the period. For example, the figure below shows a discrete-time sinusoid with a period of 2020 samples. In terms of real time in seconds, this period depends on fsf_s.

Get hands-on with 1400+ tech skills courses.