Crest factor

The crest factor is an electrical characteristic value of signals, via which the relationship between peak value and effective value of an oscillation is established. It is used in RF technology, power electronics and measurement technology and is used to determine the permissible peak voltage.

The crest factor, also known as the crest factor, is given as the ratio of the peak amplitude (Vss) of a signal to its rms value (Veff). It thus depends on the signal shape and can assume values between 1 and several thousand. The latter are reached with pulsed signals in radar systems.

For a sinusoidal signal, the RMS value is calculated from the ratio of the peak amplitude to the square root of two, which corresponds to 0.707 times the peak amplitude. The crest factor is 1/0.707, or 1.414; i.e., a sinusoidal rms voltage of 10 V has a peak voltage of 14.14 V. A triangular signal has a crest factor of 1.73.