Transmission of Information¹

A quantitative measure of “information” is developed which is based on physical as contrasted with psychological considerations. How the rate of transmission of this information over a system is limited by the distortion resulting from storage of energy is discussed from the transient viewpoint. The relation between the transient and steady state viewpoints is reviewed. It is shown that when the storage of energy is used to restrict the steady state transmission to a limited range of frequencies the amount of information that can be transmitted is proportional to the product of the width of the frequency-range by the time it is available. Several illustrations of the application of this principle to practical systems are included. In the case of picture transmission and television the spacial variation of intensity is analyzed by a steady state method analogous to that commonly used for variations with time.