Define duty cycle in the context of a PWM signal.

Duty cycle is a critical parameter in the context of a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal, as it defines how the signal behaves during its cycle. It is specifically the ratio of the time the signal is in the "on" state to the total time of one signal cycle, typically expressed as a percentage.

For instance, if a PWM signal is "on" for 3 milliseconds and the total period of the signal is 10 milliseconds, the duty cycle would be calculated as (3 ms on time / 10 ms total time) × 100%, resulting in a 30% duty cycle. This indicates that the signal is active 30% of the time within each cycle, and inactive for the remaining 70%.

Understanding the duty cycle is essential for applications like motor control and dimming LED lights, where the amount of power delivered to devices needs to be adjusted precisely. The other options refer to different aspects of signal characteristics: the time in the "off" state represents only part of the cycle, the total time of a signal cycle refers to the entire duration and not the specific ratio needed to describe the duty cycle, and the frequency indicates how often the cycle repeats rather than the proportion of "on" time to the