The effect of jittered time-samples on the discrete bispectrum

The effect of timing-error (jitter) on the bispectrum (third-order spectrum) is discussed. Expressions for the bispectrum of jittered sampled data are derived under different models of the jitter process. Under the assumption that the timing errors are independent and identically distributed random variables, these expressions are studied for typical jitter distributions. It is shown that while the unjittered discrete bispectrum is zero in a triangle that is a proper subset of the principal domain triangle, the jittered bispectrum is not. A closed-form expression for the additive bispectrum due to small jitter of any symmetric distribution is presented, and its validity is demonstrated.