Signal spectrum analysis and period estimation by using delayed signal sampling

The paper describes a signal power spectrum analyzer and a signal period es timator whose bandwidth is not limited by the mean sampling time. The proce dure relies on the evaluation of the input signal autocorrelation function in different delayed time instants, located at either equispaced or random time instants. To do this, a recursive random sampling process in the time domain was used in order to avoid any bandwidth limitation due to the sampl ing strategy in the evaluation of each autocorrelation function. The signal power spectrum as well as its period, provided that an approximate value o f the fundamental frequency is known, can finally be evaluated. Some theore tical background and experimental work are reported in the paper for valida ting the performance of the method.