AliasingWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

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Insignalprocessingandrelateddisciplines, referstoan effectthatcausesdifferentsignalstobecomeindistinguishable(or ofoneanother)whensampled.Italsoreferstothedistortion orartifactthatresultswhenthesignalreconstructedfromsamplesis differentfromtheoriginalcontinuoussignal.

1Description 2Bandlimitedfunctions 3Bandpasssignals 4Samplingsinusoidalfunctions 4.1Samplefrequency 4.2Complexsignalrepresentation 4.3Folding 5Historicalusage 6Angularaliasing 7Moreexamples 7.1Online"live"example 7.2Directionfinding 8Seealso 9References 10Externallinks

Properlysampledimageofbrick wall.

Whenadigitalimageisviewed,areconstructionalsoknownasan interpolationisperformedbyadisplayorprinterdevice,andby theeyesandthebrain.Iftheresolutionistoolow,thereconstructed imagewilldifferfromtheoriginalimage,andanaliasisseen.An exampleof istheMoirpatternonecanobservein apoorlypixelizedimageofabrickwall.Techniquesthatavoidsuch poorpixelizationsarecalledantialiasing.Aliasingcanbecaused eitherbythesamplingstageorthereconstructionstagethesemay bedistinguishedbycallingsamplingaliasing and [1] reconstructionaliasing

Spatialaliasingintheformofa Moirpattern.

AliasingexampleoftheAletterin

Temporalaliasingisamajorconcerninthesamplingofvideoand TimesNewRoman.Left:aliased audiosignals.Music,forinstance,maycontainhighfrequency image,right: image. componentsthatareinaudibletohumans.Ifapieceofmusicis sampledat32000samplespersecond(sps),anyfrequency componentsabove16000Hz(theNyquistfrequency)willcausealiasingwhenthemusicisreproduced byadigitaltoanalogconverter(DAC).Topreventthat,itiscustomarytoremovecomponentsabovethe Nyquistfrequency(withanantialiasingfilter)priortosampling.ButanyrealisticfilterorDACwillalso affect(attenuate)thecomponentsjustbelowtheNyquistfrequency.Therefore,itisalsocustomaryto

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chooseahigherNyquistfrequencybysamplingfaster(typically44100sps(CD),48000(professional audio),or96000(highdefinitionaudio)). Invideoorcinematography,temporalaliasingresultsfromthelimitedframerate,andcausesthe wagonwheeleffect,wherebyaspokedwheelappearstorotatetooslowlyorevenbackwards.Aliasing haschangeditsapparentfrequencyofrotation.Areversalofdirectioncanbedescribedasanegative frequency.Temporalaliasingfrequenciesinvideoandcinematographyaredeterminedbytheframerate ofthecamera,buttherelativeintensityofthealiasedfrequenciesisdeterminedbytheshuttertiming (exposuretime)ortheuseofatemporalaliasingreductionfilterduringfilming.[2] Likethevideocamera,mostsamplingschemesareperiodicthatistheyhaveacharacteristicsampling frequencyintimeorinspace.Digitalcamerasprovideacertainnumberofsamples(pixels)perdegreeor perradian,orsamplespermminthefocalplaneofthecamera.Audiosignalsaresampled(digitized) withananalogtodigitalconverter,whichproducesaconstantnumberofsamplespersecond.Someof themostdramaticandsubtleexamplesofaliasingoccurwhenthesignalbeingsampledalsohasperiodic content.

Actualsignalshavefinitedurationandtheirfrequencycontent,asdefinedbytheFouriertransform,has noupperbound.Someamountofaliasingalwaysoccurswhensuchfunctionsaresampled.Functions whosefrequencycontentisbounded( )haveinfiniteduration.Ifsampledatahighenough rate,determinedbythe ,theoriginalfunctioncanintheorybeperfectlyreconstructedfrom theinfinitesetofsamples.

Sometimesaliasingisusedintentionallyonsignalswithnolowfrequencycontent,called signals.Undersampling,whichcreateslowfrequencyaliases,canproducethesameresult,withless effort,asfrequencyshiftingthesignaltolowerfrequenciesbeforesamplingatthelowerrate.Some digitalchannelizers[3]exploitaliasinginthiswayforcomputationalefficiency.SeeSampling(signal processing)andNyquistrate(relativetosampling).

Sinusoidsareanimportanttypeofperiodicfunction,becauserealisticsignalsareoftenmodeledasthe summationofmanysinusoidsofdifferentfrequenciesanddifferentamplitudes(withaFourierseriesor transform).Understandingwhataliasingdoestotheindividualsinusoidsisusefulinunderstandingwhat happenstotheirsum. Hereaplotdepictsasetofsampleswhose sampleintervalis1.0,andtwo(ofmany) differentsinusoidsthatcouldhaveproduced thesamples.Thesamplerateinthiscaseis .Forinstance,iftheintervalis1 second,therateis1samplepersecond.Nine cyclesoftheredsinusoidand1cycleofthe

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bluesinusoidspananintervalof10.The respectivesinusoidfrequenciesare = 0.9and =0.1.

Twodifferentsinusoidsthatfitthesamesetofsamples.

Ingeneral,whenasinusoidoffrequency issampledwithfrequency theresultingsamplesare indistinguishablefromthoseofanothersinusoidoffrequency forany integer (with beingtheactualsignalfrequency).Mostreconstructiontechniques producetheminimumofthesefrequencies,soitisoftenimportantthat betheunique minimum.Asufficientconditionforthatis where iscommonlycalledtheNyquist frequencyofasystemthatsamplesatrate . Inourgraphicexample,theNyquistconditionissatisfiediftheoriginalsignalisthebluesinusoid( ).Butif thelowestimagefrequencyis

Areconstructiontechniquethatconstructsthelowestpossiblefrequencyfromthesampleswill reproducethebluesinusoidinsteadoftheredone. Wenotethat isalsoanimagefrequency,butsincethereisnowaytodistinguisha sinusoidoffrequency fromoneoffrequency allaliasescanbedescribedintermsof justpositivefrequencies.

Whenthecondition ismetforthe highestfrequencycomponentoftheoriginal signal,thenitismetforallthefrequency components,aconditionknownastheNyquist criterion.Thatistypicallyapproximatedby filteringtheoriginalsignaltoattenuatehigh frequencycomponentsbeforeitissampled.They stillgeneratelowfrequencyaliases,butatvery lowamplitudelevels,soasnottocausea problem.Afilterchoseninanticipationofa certainsamplefrequencyiscalledanantialiasing filter.Thefilteredsignalcansubsequentlybe reconstructedwithoutsignificantadditional distortion,forexamplebytheWhittakerShannon interpolationformula.

TheNyquistcriterionpresumesthatthefrequency contentofthesignalbeingsampledhasanupper bound.Implicitinthatassumptionisthatthesignal'sdurationhas upperbound.Similarly,the WhittakerShannoninterpolationformularepresentsaninterpolationfilterwithanunrealizable frequencyresponse.Theseassumptionsmakeupamathematicalmodelthatisanidealized approximation,atbest,toanyrealisticsituation.Theconclusion,thatperfectreconstructionispossible,is mathematicallycorrectforthemodel,butonlyanapproximationforrealsamplesofarealsignal.

Aliasinganimatedgifagraphofsignalssampledat differentrates,showinghowthecharacterofsome signalschangesdramaticallywhentherateistoolow.

Complexsignalsaresignalswhosesamplesarecomplexnumbers,andtheconceptofnegativefrequency isnecessaryforsuchsignals.Inthatcase,thefrequenciesofthealiasesaregivenbyjust

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Therefore,as increasesfrom from upto0.

to

theimageclosestto0moves

Realvaluedsinusoidshavethesame negativefrequencyaliasesas complexones.Theabsolutevalue operator, is introducedbecausethereisalwaysan equivalentsinusoidwithapositive frequency.Therefore,as increases from0to s/2,theimageat frequency image(1)movesfrom s to s/2.Similarly,as increasesfrom s/2to s, image(1)continues decreasingfrom s/2to0.

Theblackdotsarealiasesofeachother.Thesolidredlineisanexample ofadjustingamplitudevsfrequency.Thedashedredlinesarethe correspondingpathsofthealiases.

Agraphofamplitudevsfrequency forasinglesinusoidatfrequency0.6 sandsomeofitsaliasesat0.4 s,1.4 s,and1.6 swouldlooklike the4blackdotsintheadjacentfigure.Theredlinesdepictthepaths(loci)ofthe4dotsifwewereto adjustthefrequencyandamplitudeofthesinusoidalongthesolidredsegment(between s/2and s).No matterwhatfunctionwechoosetochangetheamplitudevsfrequency,thegraphwillexhibitsymmetry between0and s.Thissymmetryiscommonlyreferredtoas ,andanothernamefor s/2(the Nyquistfrequency)is .Foldingismostoftenobservedinpracticewhenviewingthe frequencyspectrumofrealvalued,sampledsignals.

Historicallytheterm evolvedfromradioengineeringbecauseoftheactionofsuperheterodyne receivers.Whenthereceivershiftsmultiplesignalsdowntolowerfrequencies,fromRFtoIFby heterodyning,anunwantedsignal,fromanRFfrequencyequallyfarfromthelocaloscillator(LO) frequencyasthedesiredsignal,butonthewrongsideoftheLO,canendupatthesameIFfrequencyas thewantedone.Ifitisstrongenoughitcaninterferewithreceptionofthedesiredsignal.Thisunwanted signalisknownasan or ofthedesiredsignal.

Aliasingoccurswhenevertheuseofdiscreteelementstocaptureorproduceacontinuoussignalcauses frequencyambiguity. Spatialaliasing,particularofangularfrequency,canoccurwhenreproducingalightfield[4]orsound fieldwithdiscreteelements,asin3Ddisplaysorwavefieldsynthesisofsound. Thisaliasingisvisibleinimagessuchasposterswithlenticularprinting:iftheyhavelowangular resolution,thenasonemovespastthem,sayfromlefttoright,the2Dimagedoesnotinitiallychange(so itappearstomoveleft),thenasonemovestothenextangularimage,theimagesuddenlychanges(soit jumpsright)andthefrequencyandamplitudeofthissidetosidemovementcorrespondstotheangular resolutionoftheimage(and,forfrequency,thespeedoftheviewer'slateralmovement),whichisthe angularaliasingofthe4Dlightfield.
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Thelackofparallaxonviewermovementin2Dimagesandin3Dfilmproducedbystereoscopicglasses (in3Dfilmstheeffectiscalled"yawing",astheimageappearstorotateonitsaxis)cansimilarlybeseen aslossofangularresolution,allangularfrequenciesbeingaliasedto0(constant).

Thequalitativeeffectsofaliasingcanbeheardinthefollowingaudiodemonstration.Sixsawtoothwaves areplayedinsuccession,withthefirsttwosawtoothshavingafundamentalfrequencyof440Hz(A4), thesecondtwohavingfundamentalfrequencyof880Hz(A5),andthefinaltwoat1760Hz(A6).The sawtoothsalternatebetweenbandlimited(nonaliased)sawtoothsandaliasedsawtoothsandthesampling rateis22.05kHz.Thebandlimitedsawtoothsaresynthesizedfromthesawtoothwaveform'sFourier seriessuchthatnoharmonicsabovetheNyquistfrequencyarepresent. Thealiasingdistortioninthelowerfrequenciesisincreasinglyobviouswithhigherfundamental frequencies,andwhilethebandlimitedsawtoothisstillclearat1760Hz,thealiasedsawtoothisdegraded andharshwithabuzzingaudibleatfrequencieslowerthanthefundamental.

Aformofspatialaliasingcanalsooccurinantennaarraysormicrophonearraysusedtoestimatethe directionofarrivalofawavesignal,asingeophysicalexplorationbyseismicwaves.Wavesmustbe sampledatmorethantwopointsperwavelength,orthewavearrivaldirectionbecomesambiguous.

Jaggies Kellfactor Sincfilter Sincfunction Stroboscopiceffect Wagonwheeleffect

1.

Mitchell,DonP.Netravali,ArunN.(August1988)."Reconstructionfiltersincomputergraphics" (http://www.mentallandscape.com/Papers_siggraph88.pdf). .ACMSIGGRAPHInternationalConference onComputerGraphicsandInteractiveTechniques(http://portal.acm.org/toc.cfm?id=54852& type=proceeding&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE,ACM&CFID=30538218&CFTOKEN=95411512). pp.221228.doi:10.1145/54852.378514(http://dx.doi.org/10.1145%2F54852.378514). ISBN0897912756.http://www.mentallandscape.com/Papers_siggraph88.pdf. 2. Tessive,LLC(2010)."TimeFilterTechnicalExplanation"(http://www.tessive.com/home/timefilter faq1/timefiltertechnicalexplanation) 3. harris,fredericj.(Aug2006). .UpperSaddle River,NJ:PrenticeHallPTR.ISBN0131465112. 4. The(New)StanfordLightFieldArchive(http://lightfield.stanford.edu/lfs.html)

FrequencyAliasingDemonstration(http://burtonmackenzie.com/2006/07/icantdrive55.html)

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byBurtonMacKenZieusingstopframeanimationandaclock. YourCalculatorisWrongVideo(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfR6GVFFSc)from YouTube,includessomeinformationaboutaliasingtowardtheend. Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aliasing&oldid=459640925" Categories: Digitalsignalprocessing Signalprocessing Thispagewaslastmodifiedon8November2011at15:29. TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditional termsmayapply.SeeTermsofusefordetails. WikipediaisaregisteredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofit organization.

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