Sampling interval

In digital signal processing a sampling interval is a span of time during which a series of data samples are collected at regular intervals. More broadly, a sampling interval can refer to any specific interval of time during which a set of data points is gathered, regardless of whether or not the data is periodic in nature. Thus a researcher might study the incidence of earthquakes and tsunamis over a particular time period, such as a year or a century. The sampling interval is simply the span of time during which the data is studied, regardless of whether data so gathered represents a set of discrete events having arbitrary timing within the interval, or whether the samples are explicitly bound to specified sub-intervals.