Analyzing the Sampling-Induced Beat Frequency Effect

This example analyzes the beat frequency effected induced by sampling close to the Nyquist rate.

The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of using both time and frequency-domain analysis when working with sampled data. To make things interesting we sample a sine wave(s) close to the Nyquist frequency. Sampling or the discretization of time is what makes DSP unique as compared to pure analog signal processing. In this paper we investigate the beat effect introduced by sampling and compare it with the conventional beat frequency effect you may have experienced when working with two tone audio signals. It turns out that you can introduce a beating effect when sampling even a single sine tone.