Bandwidth(signalprocessing)

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Bandwidthisthedifferencebetweentheupperand
lowerfrequenciesinacontinuoussetoffrequencies.It
istypicallymeasuredinhertz,andmaysometimesrefer
topassbandbandwidth,sometimestobaseband
bandwidth,dependingoncontext.Passband
bandwidthisthedifferencebetweentheupperand
lowercutofffrequenciesof,forexample,abandpass
filter,acommunicationchannel,orasignalspectrum.
Inthecaseofalowpassfilterorbasebandsignal,the
bandwidthisequaltoitsuppercutofffrequency.

Bandwidthinhertzisacentralconceptinmanyfields,
Basebandbandwidth.Herethebandwidthequals
includingelectronics,informationtheory,digital
theupperfrequency.
communications,radiocommunications,signal
processing,andspectroscopyandisoneofthe
determinantsofthecapacityofagivencommunicationchannel.

Akeycharacteristicofbandwidthisthatanybandofagivenwidthcancarrythesameamountof
information,regardlessofwherethatbandislocatedinthefrequencyspectrum.[note1]Forexample,a3kHz
bandcancarryatelephoneconversationwhetherthatbandisatbaseband(asinaPOTStelephoneline)or
modulatedtosomehigherfrequency.

Contents

1 Overview

2 xdBbandwidth

3 Antennasystems

4 Photonics

5 Seealso

6 Notes

7 References

Overview
Bandwidthisakeyconceptinmanytelecommunicationsapplications.Inradiocommunications,for
example,bandwidthisthefrequencyrangeoccupiedbyamodulatedcarriersignal.AnFMradioreceiver's
tunerspansalimitedrangeoffrequencies.Agovernmentagency(suchastheFederalCommunications
CommissionintheUnitedStates)mayapportiontheregionallyavailablebandwidthtobroadcastlicense
holderssothattheirsignalsdonotmutuallyinterfere.Eachtransmitterownsasliceofbandwidth.

Fordifferentapplicationstherearedifferentprecisedefinitions,whicharenecessarilydifferentforsignals
thanforsystems.Onedefinitionofbandwidth,forasystem,couldbetherangeoffrequenciesoverwhich
thesystemproducesaspecifiedlevelofperformance.Alessstrictandmorepracticallyusefuldefinition
willrefertothefrequenciesbeyondwhichfrequencyresponseissmall.Smallcouldmeanlessthan3dB
belowthemaximumvalue,ormorerarely10dBbelow,oritcouldmeanbelowacertainabsolutevalue.As
withanydefinitionofthewidthofafunction,manydefinitionsaresuitablefordifferentpurposes.

Bandwidthtypicallyreferstobasebandbandwidthinthecontextof,forexample,thesamplingtheoremand
Nyquistsamplingrate,whileitreferstopassbandbandwidthinthecontextofNyquistsymbolrateor
ShannonHartleychannelcapacityforcommunicationsystems.

xdBbandwidth
Insomecontexts,thesignalbandwidthinhertzrefersto
thefrequencyrangeinwhichthesignal'sspectral
density(inW/HzorV2/Hz)isnonzerooraboveasmall
thresholdvalue.Thatdefinitionisusedincalculations
ofthelowestsamplingratethatwillsatisfythe
samplingtheorem.Thethresholdvalueisoftendefined
relativetothemaximumvalue,andismostcommonly
the3dBpoint,thatisthepointwherethespectral
densityishalfitsmaximumvalue(orthespectral
amplitude,inVorV/Hz,is70.7%ofitsmaximum).[1]

Thewordbandwidthappliestosignalsasdescribed Agraphofabandpassfilter'sgainmagnitude,
above,butitcouldalsoapplytosystems,forexample illustratingtheconceptof3dBbandwidthata
filtersorcommunicationchannels.Tosaythatasystem gainof0.707.Thefrequencyaxisofthissymbolic
hasacertainbandwidthmeansthatthesystemcan diagramcanbelinearorlogarithmicallyscaled.
processsignalsofthatbandwidth,orthatthesystem
reducesthebandwidthofawhitenoiseinputtothat
bandwidth.

The3dBbandwidthofanelectronicfilterorcommunicationchannelisthepartofthesystem'sfrequency
responsethatlieswithin3dBoftheresponseatitspeak,whichinthepassbandfiltercaseistypicallyator
nearitscenterfrequency,andinthelowpassfilterisnear0hertz.Ifthemaximumgainis0dB,the3dB
bandwidthisthefrequencyrangewherethegainismorethan3dB,ortheattenuationislessthan3dB.
Thisisalsotherangeoffrequencieswheretheamplitudegainisabove70.7%ofthemaximumamplitude
gain,andthepowergainisabovehalfthemaximumpowergain.Thissame"halfpowergain"conventionis
alsousedinspectralwidth,andmoregenerallyforextentoffunctionsasfullwidthathalfmaximum
(FWHM).
Inelectronicfilterdesign,afilterspecificationmayrequirethatwithinthefilterpassband,thegainis
nominally0dBasmallnumberofdB,forexamplewithinthe1dBinterval.Inthestopband(s),the
requiredattenuationindBisaboveacertainlevel,forexample>100dB.Inatransitionbandthegainisnot
specified.Inthiscase,thefilterbandwidthcorrespondstothepassbandwidth,whichinthisexampleisthe
1dBbandwidth.Ifthefiltershowsamplituderipplewithinthepassband,thexdBpointreferstothepoint
wherethegainisxdBbelowthenominalpassbandgainratherthanxdBbelowthemaximumgain.

Acommonlyusedquantityisfractionalbandwidth.Thisisthebandwidthofadevicedividedbyitscenter
frequency.E.g.,apassbandfilterthathasabandwidthof2MHzwithcenterfrequency10MHzwillhavea
fractionalbandwidthof2/10,or20%.

Incommunicationsystems,incalculationsoftheShannonHartleychannelcapacity,bandwidthrefersto
the3dBbandwidth.Incalculationsofthemaximumsymbolrate,theNyquistsamplingrate,andmaximum
bitrateaccordingtotheHartleyformula,thebandwidthreferstothefrequencyrangewithinwhichthegain
isnonzero,orthegainindBisbelowaverylargevalue.

Thefactthatinequivalentbasebandmodelsofcommunicationsystems,thesignalspectrumconsistsof
bothnegativeandpositivefrequencies,canleadtoconfusionaboutbandwidth,sincetheyaresometimes
referredtoonlybythepositivehalf,andonewilloccasionallyseeexpressionssuchas ,where
isthetotalbandwidth(i.e.themaximumpassbandbandwidthofthecarriermodulatedRFsignalandthe
minimumpassbandbandwidthofthephysicalpassbandchannel),and isthepositivebandwidth(the
basebandbandwidthoftheequivalentchannelmodel).Forinstance,thebasebandmodelofthesignal
wouldrequirealowpassfilterwithcutofffrequencyofatleast tostayintact,andthephysicalpassband
channelwouldrequireapassbandfilterofatleast tostayintact.

Insignalprocessingandcontroltheorythebandwidthisthefrequencyatwhichtheclosedloopsystemgain
drops3dBbelowpeak.

Inbasicelectriccircuittheory,whenstudyingbandpassandbandrejectfilters,thebandwidthrepresents
thedistancebetweenthetwopointsinthefrequencydomainwherethesignalis ofthemaximum

signalamplitude(halfpower).

Antennasystems
Inthefieldofantennas,twodifferentmethodsofexpressingrelativebandwidthareusedfornarrowband
andwidebandantennas.[2]Foreither,asetofcriteriaisestablishedtodefinetheextentsofthebandwidth,
suchasinputimpedance,pattern,orpolarization.

Percentbandwidth,usuallyusedfornarrowbandantennas,isuseddefinedas
.Thetheoreticallimittopercentbandwidthis200%,which

occursfor .

FractionalbandwidthorRatiobandwidth,usuallyusedforwidebandantennas,isdefinedas
andistypicallypresentedintheformof .Fractionalbandwidthisusedforwidebandantennasbecause
ofthecompressionofthepercentbandwidththatoccursmathematicallywithpercentbandwidthsabove
100%,whichcorrespondstoafractionalbandwidthof3:1.

If

then .

Photonics
Inphotonics,thetermbandwidthoccursinavarietyofmeanings:

thebandwidthoftheoutputofsomelightsource,e.g.,anASEsourceoralaserthebandwidthof
ultrashortopticalpulsescanbeparticularlylarge
thewidthofthefrequencyrangethatcanbetransmittedbysomeelement,e.g.anopticalfiber
thegainbandwidthofanopticalamplifier
thewidthoftherangeofsomeotherphenomenon(e.g.,areflection,thephasematchingofa
nonlinearprocess,orsomeresonance)
themaximummodulationfrequency(orrangeofmodulationfrequencies)ofanopticalmodulator
therangeoffrequenciesinwhichsomemeasurementapparatus(e.g.,apowermeter)canoperate
thedatarate(e.g.,inGbit/s)achievedinanopticalcommunicationsystemseebandwidth
(computing).

Arelatedconceptisthespectrallinewidthoftheradiationemittedbyexcitedatoms.

Seealso
Risetime
Bandwidth(Wiktionaryentry)
Bandwidthefficiency
Bandwidthextension
Broadband

Notes
1. Assumingequivalentnoiselevel.

References
1. VanValkenburg,M.E.NetworkAnalysis(3rded.).pp.383384.ISBN0136110959.Retrieved20080622.
2. Stutzman,WarrenL.Theiele,GaryA.(1998).AntennaTheoryandDesign(2nded.).NewYork.ISBN0471
025909.

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Categories: Signalprocessing Telecommunicationtheory Filterfrequencyresponse

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