Frequency Resolution

The frequency resolution of a spectrum-analysis window is determined by its main-lobe width (Chapter 3) in the frequency domain, where a typical main lobe is illustrated in Fig.5.6 (top). For maximum frequency resolution, we desire the narrowest possible main-lobe width, which calls for the rectangular window (§3.1), the transform of which is shown in Fig.3.3. When we cannot be fooled by the large side-lobes of the rectangular window transform (e.g., when the sinusoids under analysis are known to be well separated in frequency), the rectangular window truly is the optimal window for the estimation of frequency, amplitude, and phase of a sinusoid in the presence of stationary noise [230,120,121].

The rectangular window has only one parameter (aside from amplitude)--its length. The next section looks at the effect of an increased window length on our ability to resolve two sinusoids.