A.12  Sinc Function

Our definition of sinc is:

sinc(x) = sin (πx) πx .

Some authors call it Sa (sample function) and others do not include π in the definition. Its first zero occurs when x = 1. Its value sinc(0) = 1 at origin can be determined using L’Hospital rule. The sinc is an energy signal with unitary energy E = 1, which can be determined by its Fourier transform and Parseval’s relation. Its scaled version sinc(tTs) is widely used in sampling theory and has energy E = Ts. As discussed in Example 1.5, sinc((t 5)3) corresponds to expanding sinc(t) by a factor of 3 and then delaying this intermediate result by 5.

The sincs are orthogonal when shifted by integers m,n (e. g., sinc(t 3) and sinc(t+1) are orthogonal) and, consequently, the scaled sincs sinc(tTs) are orthogonal when shifted by multiples of Ts, i. e.

sinc (t mTs Ts ) sinc (t nTs Ts ) dt = Tsδ[m n].
(A.28)