Sampling above the Nyquist rate but

  • Thread starter Thread starter brendan_foo
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Rate Sampling
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the implications of sampling a signal just above the Nyquist rate, particularly in the context of digital signal processing (DSP) and interpolation techniques. Participants explore theoretical aspects of signal reconstruction and practical challenges encountered in real-time DSP applications.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • Brendan questions whether perfect interpolation can be achieved when sampling just above the Nyquist rate, referencing a specific sequence and a linked image.
  • One participant asserts that theoretically, perfect reconstruction is possible if the sampling rate exceeds twice the highest frequency component, citing the sinc function for interpolation.
  • The same participant notes practical limitations in real-time DSP, such as the inability to sum an infinite number of terms in the sinc function, leading to the necessity of truncating the sinc function and potentially using different windowing techniques.
  • Brendan shares his experience using MATLAB to simulate the convolution of sinc functions, observing convergence to theoretical expectations as the length increases.
  • Another participant provides links to papers on sampling sine and cosine signals, suggesting they may be relevant to the discussion.
  • A later reply questions the practical reasons for not sampling just above the Nyquist frequency, indicating a consideration of real-world implications in DSP systems.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the theoretical foundation of sampling and reconstruction but express differing views on the practical implications and challenges faced in real-time DSP applications. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the optimal sampling strategies in practical systems.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the dependence on ideal conditions for perfect reconstruction, the challenges of implementing infinite summation in finite systems, and the potential impact of windowing techniques on interpolation accuracy.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to individuals involved in digital signal processing, particularly those exploring sampling theory, interpolation methods, and practical implementation challenges in DSP systems.

brendan_foo
Messages
64
Reaction score
0
http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z65/liznbren/stuff/?action=view&current=envelope.jpg"

If I sample at just fractionally above the Nyquist rate, and I obtain a sequence as is shown in the linked image, is it reasonable to expect perfect interpolation (say with a Sinc function ideally) as it is taken over infinite time.

I am using a real-time DSP chip and I get a modulated output, as as evident in the image linked.

Any comments on this sort of sequence would be great. It has a discrete frequency of about 0.9 pi.

Thanks...
Brendan
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Engineering news on Phys.org
the answer is: theoretically yes. that sinusoid shown in your referred figure is (barely) sufficiently sampled. any time a continuous-time signal is sufficiently sampled (that is sampled at a rate that exceeds twice the highest frequency component of the signal), the original continuous-time signal can be reconstructed from the samples by use of the sinc( ) function as

x(t) = \sum_{n=-\infty}^{+\infty} x[n] \ \mathrm{sinc}\left( \frac{t-nT}{T} \right)

where

\mathrm{sinc}(u) \equiv \frac{\sin(\pi u)}{\pi u}

and

F_s = \frac{1}{T} is your sampling frequency.

now the problem you have with your real-time DSP chip is that no matter how fast it is (yet finite in speed), you can't add up an infinite number of terms. so your sinc() function will get truncated somehow. simply cutting it off is applying the rectangular window which is pretty bad, so you will likely use a different window to make the reach of your sinc() function finite. in audio, i have been pretty much satisified with a reach of +/- 16 samples from the interpolated point that you're calculating. but i know there are sample rate conversion chips that have a reach of +/- 32 samples (a summation of 64 terms).

this is a good forum and i wouldn't mind seeing more DSP discussion here, but the real action is at the comp.dsp USENET group. that's where i would take it.
 
Thanks! I guessed this was so, I tried using MATLAB to create such a convolution of sinc( ) functions and as the length got arbitrarily large the results were convergent to the theory.

The practicalities of actual implemented DSP are very interesting indeed it seems.

All of this is for Direct-Digital-Synthesis by means of a wave-lookup table. It serves me well to look at it as the dual of sampling an actual sinusoid and proceeding by such means.

Thanks for the reference to the USENET group!

-Brendan
 


Hello!
May be about sampling sine and cosine signals will help the papers below:

ET 4 CO 198.pmd
www.ieindia.org/pdf/88/88ET104.pdf[/URL]

9 CP PE 8.pmd
[PLAIN]www.ieindia.org/pdf/89/89CP109.pdf[/URL]

Best regards
P Petrov
 
Last edited by a moderator:


Petre said:
Hello!
May be about sampling sine and cosine signals will help the papers below:

ET 4 CO 198.pmd
www.ieindia.org/pdf/88/88ET104.pdf[/URL]

9 CP PE 8.pmd
[PLAIN]www.ieindia.org/pdf/89/89CP109.pdf[/URL]

Best regards
P Petrov[/QUOTE]

At first I was worried that this post was spam, but after skimming the first paper, it seems perfectly appropriate for this thread. Thanks, Petre, and welcome to the PF.

Quiz Question for brendan -- What practical reason comes into play that would drive you in a practical system to not sample just barely above the Nyquist frequency? Very important consideration...
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Similar threads

  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Replies
7
Views
4K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
4K
Replies
2
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
4K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
59K
  • · Replies 0 ·
Replies
0
Views
1K
Replies
17
Views
6K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
3K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K