Bandwidth (signal processing)

Bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies in a continuous set of frequencies. It is typically measured in hertz, and may sometimes refer to passband bandwidth, sometimes to baseband bandwidth, depending on context. Passband bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower cutoff frequencies of, for example, a band-pass filter, a communication channel, or a signal spectrum. In the case of a low-pass filter or baseband signal, the bandwidth is equal to its upper cutoff frequency.

Bandwidth in hertz is a central concept in many fields, including electronics, information theory, digital communications, radio communications, signal processing, and spectroscopy and is one of the determinants of the capacity of a given communication channel.

A key characteristic of bandwidth is that any band of a given width can carry the same amount of information, regardless of where that band is located in the frequency spectrum. For example, a 3 kHz band can carry a telephone conversation whether that band is at baseband (as in a POTS telephone line) or modulated to some higher frequency.

Bandwidth is a key concept in many telephony applications. In radio communications, for example, bandwidth is the frequency range occupied by a modulated carrier signal, whereas in optics it is the width of an individual spectral line or the entire spectral range.

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