On the Effect of Sampling-Time Jitter

This brief, aimed at practitioners, offers an analysis of the effect of sampling-time jitter, i. e., the error produced by execution-time inaccuracies. We propose reinterpreting jitter-afflicted linear time-invariant systems through equivalent jitter-free analogs. By constructing a perceived system that absorbs the effects of timing perturbations into its dynamics, we find an affine scaling of jitter. We examine both measurement and implementation scenarios, demonstrating that the presence of jitter effectively scales the system matrices. Moreover, we observe that, in the Laplace domain, jitter can be interpreted as a frequency scaling.