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Topic: kS/s (kilo-samples per second) acceptable as a unit? (Read 21664 times) previous topic - next topic
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kS/s (kilo-samples per second) acceptable as a unit?

Using Hz (or kHz) as a unit for both sampling rate, bandwidth and audio signals can be confusing.
Sometimes kS/s is used for kilo-samples per second, which I find attractive, but S is officially reserved for Siemens.
Is it acceptable to use kS/s when it's known to be in a digital audio context ?

kS/s (kilo-samples per second) acceptable as a unit?

Reply #1 –
ADC manufacturers commonly use "ksps" and "msps" abbreviations, often capitalized. "Sample" by itself is unitless, so the correct SI unit for sampling rate is 1/s, or Hz. If you want to emphasize that it's a process rate and not a signal frequency, use the former. Notation like "kS/s" is confusing, I'd better avoid it.

kS/s (kilo-samples per second) acceptable as a unit?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: saratoga on
Yes, and in fact this is very widely used in industry.


In Agilent, for instance, they use "Sa/s" instead of "S/s". Maybe someone from their documentation editing team was a physicist

There seem to be two different traditions established: the "S/s" notation is used by measurement equipment manufacturers, but rarely (never?) by chip manufacturers.

kS/s (kilo-samples per second) acceptable as a unit?

Reply #4 –
I don't find Hz to be confusing, because if you have a sampling rate Fs = n Hz then you have a bandwidth of n/2 also in Hz that can contain pure tones from [0, n/2) Hz.
So it is the right unit, but all these things share the same unit so you should always prefix such numbers with what they/you mean.
"I hear it when I see it."