A chirp is a signal in which the frequency increases or decreases with time. In some sources, the term chirp is used interchangeably with sweep signal. It is commonly applied to sonar, radar, and lase
Spectrogram of an exponential chirp. The exponential rate of change of frequency is shown as a function of time, in this case from nearly 0 up to 8 kHz repeating every second. Also visible in this spectrogram is a frequency fallback to 6 kHz after peaking, likely an artifact of the specific method employed to generate the waveform.