User:Inconspicuum/Physics (A Level)/Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the frequency of a signal. Although original signals have varying frequencies, when these are transmitted, for example, as FM radio waves, they are modulated so that they only use frequencies within a certain range. FM radio modulates the frequency of a wave, so it needs some variation in the frequencies to allow for transmission of multiple frequencies. Since bandwidth is a frequency, it is the number of bits per. second. The bandwidth required to transmit a signal accurately can be calculated by using 1 as the number of bits, giving the formula:

$$B = \frac{1}{t}$$

where B is bandwidth (in Hz), and t is the time taken to transmit 1 bit of data (in s).

The bandwidth of a signal regulates the bit rate of the signal, as, with a higher frequency, more information can be transmitted. This give us the formula (similar to the formula for lossless digital sampling):

b = 2B

where b is the bit rate (in bits per. second), and B is the bandwidth (in Hz).