Duty cycle
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In telecommunication and electronics, the term duty cycle has the following meanings:
- In a periodic phenomenon, the ratio of the duration of the phenomenon in a given period to the period.
- duty cycle <math> D = \frac{\tau}{T} \ </math>
where
- D is the so-called duty cycle;
- <math>\tau</math> is the duration that the function is non-zero;
- <math>\Tau</math> is the period of the function.
For example, in an ideal pulse train (one having rectangular pulses), the duty cycle is the pulse duration divided by the pulse period. For a pulse train in which the pulse duration is 1 μs and the pulse period is 4 μs, the duty cycle is 0.25. The duty cycle of a square wave is 0.5, or 50%.
For another example, for a piece of electrical equipment, like an electric motor, the period for which it may be operated without deleterious effects, such as from overheating.
- The ratio of (a) the sum of all pulse durations during a specified period of continuous operation to (b) the total specified period of operation.
- In a continuously variable slope delta (CVSD) modulation converter, the mean proportion of binary "1" digits at the converter output in which each "1" indicates a run of a specified number of consecutive bits of the same polarity in the digital output signal.
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is used in some music synthesizers to vary the duty-cycle of an oscillator during the performance, which has a subtle effect on the tone colors obtained.
- This article contains material from the Federal Standard 1037C (in support of MIL-STD-188), which, as a work of the United States Government, is in the public domain.
