The Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem is a fundamental theorem in the field of information theory which has considerable effects on many aspects of modern technology (i.e. measurement equipment, telecommunications, etc).

The sampling theorem states that, when sampling a signal (i.e, converting from analog to digital), the sampling frequency must be greater than twice the bandwidth of the input signal in order to be able to reconstruct the original signal from the sampled version:

F_s > 2B

with B being the bandwidth and F_s being the sampling rate. Please note that the signal bandwidth is not necessarily equal to the highest frequency of the signal (the highest frequency is equal to the bandwidth only for baseband signals)

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After downloading please unpack all files of the zipped packages and start the executable.

This simulation shows the consequences of the sampling theorem. You may select from several predefined signal shapes, sampling them at different frequencies. The digitized signal is displayed in the lower part of the simulation. The sampling frequency can be adjusted by using the scroll bar at the left. The corresponding spectra are displayed in the right windows of the program. For downloading the program click the little floppy disk at right.