spectrum analyzer or spectral analyzer

is a device used to examine the spectral composition of some electrical, acoustic, or optical waveform. It may also measure the power spectrum.

There are analog and digital spectrum analyzers:

• An analog spectrum analyzer uses either a variable band-pass filter whose mid-frequency is automatically tuned (shifted, swept) through the range of frequencies of which the spectrum is to be measured or a superheterodyne receiver where the local oscillator is swept through a range of frequencies.
• A digital spectrum analyzer computes the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), a mathematical process that transforms a waveform into the components of its frequency spectrum.

Some spectrum analyzers (such as "real-time spectrum analyzers") use a hybrid technique where the incoming signal is first down-converted to a lower frequency using superheterodyne techniques and then analyzed using fast fourier transformation (FFT) techniques.