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Revision as of 12:18, 19 January 2023 by Bob K (talk | contribs) (signal → signal or filter bandwidth)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Frequency divided by a characteristic frequencyIn digital signal processing (DSP), a normalized frequency is a quantity that is equal to the ratio of a frequency and a characteristic frequency of a system.
A typical choice of characteristic frequency is the sampling rate (fs) that is used to create the digital signal from a continuous one. The normalized quantity, f′ = f / fs, has the unit cycle per sample regardless of whether the original signal is a function of time or space. For example, when f is expressed in Hz (cycles per second), fs is expressed in samples per second. This allows us to present concepts that are universal to all sample rates in a way that is independent of the sample rate. Such a concept is a digital filter design whose bandwidth is specified not in hertz, but as a percentage of the sample rate of the data passing through it. The resultant set of filter coefficients provides that bandwidth ratio for any sample-rate.
Some programs (such as MATLAB toolboxes) that design filters with real-valued coefficients prefer the Nyquist frequency (fs/2) as the characteristic frequency, which changes the numeric range that represents frequencies of interest from cycle/sample to half-cycle/sample.
Angular frequency, denoted by ω and with the unit radians per second, can be similarly normalized. When ω is normalized with reference to the sampling rate as ω′ = ω / fs, the normalized Nyquist angular frequency is π radians/sample.
The following table shows examples of normalized frequencies for a 1 kHz signal (or filter bandwidth), a sampling rate fs = 44100 samples/second (often denoted by 44.1 kHz), and 3 normalization options.
| Quantity | Numeric range | Computation | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| f / fs | 1000 cycles/second / 44100 samples/second | 0.02268 cycle/sample | |
| f / (fs/2) = 2f / fs | 2000 half-cycles/second / 44100 samples/second | 0.04535 half-cycle/sample | |
| ω / fs | (1000 cycles/second × 2π radians/cycle) / 44100 samples/second | 0.14250 radian/sample |
See also
Citations
- Carlson, Gordon E. (1992). Signal and Linear System Analysis. Boston, MA: ©Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 469, 490. ISBN 8170232384.