Duty cycle

The duty cycle is the amount of time a signal is on or a system is operated within a given period. The duty cycle can be defined as a percentage or as a ratio.

For instance if a signal is on for 1 second during each period of 4 seconds, the duty cycle of the signal is 1/4 or 25%.

The concept of duty cycle is for instance used in radiocommunications to limit the transmission time. Some devices are allowed to operate only with a duty cycle restriction to give other devices the possibility to access the spectrum.




See also