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# matplotlib.axes.Axes.psd

`Axes.``psd`(x, NFFT=None, Fs=None, Fc=None, detrend=None, window=None, noverlap=None, pad_to=None, sides=None, scale_by_freq=None, return_line=None, *, data=None, **kwargs)

  Plot the power spectral density.

  Call signature:

      psd(x, NFFT=256, Fs=2, Fc=0, detrend=mlab.detrend_none,
          window=mlab.window_hanning, noverlap=0, pad_to=None,
          sides='default', scale_by_freq=None, return_line=None, **kwargs)

  The power spectral density by Welch’s average periodogram method. The vector x is divided into NFFT length segments. Each segment is detrended by function detrend and windowed by function window. noverlap gives the length of the overlap between segments. The of each segment are averaged to compute , with a scaling to correct for power loss due to windowing.

  If len(x) < NFFT, it will be zero padded to NFFT.

  Parameters: | x : 1-D array or sequence Array or sequence containing the data Fs : scalar The sampling frequency (samples per time unit). It is used to calculate the Fourier frequencies, freqs, in cycles per time unit. The default value is 2. window : callable or ndarray A function or a vector of length NFFT. To create window vectors see `window_hanning()`, `window_none()`, `numpy.blackman()`, `numpy.hamming()`, `numpy.bartlett()`, `scipy.signal()`, `scipy.signal.get_window()`, etc. The default is `window_hanning()`. If a function is passed as the argument, it must take a data segment as an argument and return the windowed version of the segment. sides : [ ‘default’ | ‘onesided’ | ‘twosided’ ] Specifies which sides of the spectrum to return. Default gives the default behavior, which returns one-sided for real data and both for complex data. ‘onesided’ forces the return of a one-sided spectrum, while ‘twosided’ forces two-sided. pad_to : integer The number of points to which the data segment is padded when performing the FFT. This can be different from NFFT, which specifies the number of data points used. While not increasing the actual resolution of the spectrum (the minimum distance between resolvable peaks), this can give more points in the plot, allowing for more detail. This corresponds to the n parameter in the call to fft(). The default is None, which sets pad_to equal to NFFT NFFT : integer The number of data points used in each block for the FFT. A power 2 is most efficient. The default value is 256. This should NOT be used to get zero padding, or the scaling of the result will be incorrect. Use pad_to for this instead. detrend : {‘default’, ‘constant’, ‘mean’, ‘linear’, ‘none’} or callable The function applied to each segment before fft-ing, designed to remove the mean or linear trend. Unlike in MATLAB, where the detrend parameter is a vector, in matplotlib is it a function. The `pylab` module defines `detrend_none()`, `detrend_mean()`, and `detrend_linear()`, but you can use a custom function as well. You can also use a string to choose one of the functions. ‘default’, ‘constant’, and ‘mean’ call `detrend_mean()`. ‘linear’ calls `detrend_linear()`. ‘none’ calls `detrend_none()`. scale_by_freq : boolean, optional Specifies whether the resulting density values should be scaled by the scaling frequency, which gives density in units of Hz^-1. This allows for integration over the returned frequency values. The default is True for MATLAB compatibility. noverlap : integer The number of points of overlap between segments. The default value is 0 (no overlap). Fc : integer The center frequency of x (defaults to 0), which offsets the x extents of the plot to reflect the frequency range used when a signal is acquired and then filtered and downsampled to baseband. return_line : bool Whether to include the line object plotted in the returned values. Default is False.
  Returns: | Pxx : 1-D array The values for the power spectrum `P_{xx}` before scaling (real valued) freqs : 1-D array The frequencies corresponding to the elements in Pxx line : a `Line2D` instance The line created by this function. Only returned if return_line is True.
  Other Parameters:
  > | **kwargs : Keyword arguments control the `Line2D` properties:
  > Property | Description
  > --- | ---
  > `agg_filter` | unknown
  > `alpha` | float (0.0 transparent through 1.0 opaque)
  > `animated` | [True | False]
  > `antialiased` or aa | [True | False]
  > `axes` | an `Axes` instance
  > `clip_box` | a `matplotlib.transforms.Bbox` instance
  > `clip_on` | [True | False]
  > `clip_path` | [ (`Path`, `Transform`) | `Patch` | None ]
  > `color` or c | any matplotlib color
  > `contains` | a callable function
  > `dash_capstyle` | [‘butt’ | ‘round’ | ‘projecting’]
  > `dash_joinstyle` | [‘miter’ | ‘round’ | ‘bevel’]
  > `dashes` | sequence of on/off ink in points
  > `drawstyle` | [‘default’ | ‘steps’ | ‘steps-pre’ | ‘steps-mid’ | ‘steps-post’]
  > `figure` | a `matplotlib.figure.Figure` instance
  > `fillstyle` | [‘full’ | ‘left’ | ‘right’ | ‘bottom’ | ‘top’ | ‘none’]
  > `gid` | an id string
  > `label` | string or anything printable with ‘%s’ conversion.
  > `linestyle` or ls | [‘solid’ | ‘dashed’, ‘dashdot’, ‘dotted’ | (offset, on-off-dash-seq) | `'-'` | `'--'` | `'-.'` | `':'` | `'None'` | `' '` | `''`]
  > `linewidth` or lw | float value in points
  > `marker` | `A valid marker style`
  > `markeredgecolor` or mec | any matplotlib color
  > `markeredgewidth` or mew | float value in points
  > `markerfacecolor` or mfc | any matplotlib color
  > `markerfacecoloralt` or mfcalt | any matplotlib color
  > `markersize` or ms | float
  > `markevery` | [None | int | length-2 tuple of int | slice | list/array of int | float | length-2 tuple of float]
  > `path_effects` | unknown
  > `picker` | float distance in points or callable pick function `fn(artist, event)`
  > `pickradius` | float distance in points
  > `rasterized` | [True | False | None]
  > `sketch_params` | unknown
  > `snap` | unknown
  > `solid_capstyle` | [‘butt’ | ‘round’ | ‘projecting’]
  > `solid_joinstyle` | [‘miter’ | ‘round’ | ‘bevel’]
  > `transform` | a `matplotlib.transforms.Transform` instance
  > `url` | a url string
  > `visible` | [True | False]
  > `xdata` | 1D array
  > `ydata` | 1D array
  > `zorder` | any number

  See also

  `specgram()`
    `specgram()` differs in the default overlap; in not returning the mean of the segment periodograms; in returning the times of the segments; and in plotting a colormap instead of a line.
  `magnitude_spectrum()`
    `magnitude_spectrum()` plots the magnitude spectrum.
  `csd()`
    `csd()` plots the spectral density between two signals.
  ``
    In addition to the above described arguments, this function can take a data keyword argument. If such a data argument is given, the following arguments are replaced by data[<arg>]: * All arguments with the following names: ‘x’.

  Notes

  For plotting, the power is plotted as for decibels, though Pxx itself is returned.

  References

  Bendat & Piersol – Random Data: Analysis and Measurement Procedures, John Wiley & Sons (1986)