In signal processing and telecommunication, pulse duration is the interval between the time, during the first transition, that the amplitude of the pulse reaches a specified fraction (level) of its final amplitude, and the time the pulse amplitude drops, on the last transition, to the same level.
The interval between the 50% points of the final amplitude is usually used to determine or define pulse duration, and this is understood to be the case unless otherwise specified. Other fractions of the final amplitude, e.g., 90% or 1/e, may also be used, as may the root mean square (rms) value of the pulse amplitude.
In radar, the pulse duration is the time the radar's transmitter is energized during each cycle.
Famous quotes containing the words pulse and/or duration:
“Give him the darkest inch your shelf allows,
Hide him in lonely garrets, if you will,—
But his hard, human pulse is throbbing still
With the sure strength that fearless truth endows.”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)
“What matters it that man should have a little more knowledge of the universe? If he has it, he gets little higher. Is he not always infinitely removed from the end, and is not the duration of our life equally removed from eternity, even if it lasts ten years longer?”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)