Electric Network Frequency (ENF)
Definition
The instantaneous frequency of the alternating-current mains supply, nominally 50 Hz in most of the world and 60 Hz in North America. It fluctuates continuously around the nominal value in a pattern driven by supply-demand imbalances on the grid.
Related terms
- Camera flicker / optical ENF
- The periodic brightness variation captured in video recorded under mains-powered fluorescent or LED lighting. The lighting modulates at 100 Hz or 120...
- Cross-correlation
- A mathematical sliding-window comparison that measures the similarity between two time series at every possible time offset. In ENF analysis it finds...
- ENF reference database
- A continuously maintained archive of grid frequency measurements recorded at high temporal resolution, used as the ground truth against which a recording's...
- ENF splice detection
- Using breaks or discontinuities in the ENF time series to identify edits, cuts, or inserted segments in a recording. A genuine unedited...
- Geographic grid disambiguation
- The process of determining which national or regional grid a recording's ENF trace came from, since the 50 Hz grids of continental...
Explained in
- Audio Authentication and the Electric Network Frequency MethodThe instantaneous frequency of the alternating-current mains supply, nominally 50 Hz in most of the world and 60 Hz in North America. It fluctuates continuousl...