Characterizing jitter of repetitive patterns

A method and system characterize a random component of the jitter by designating an edge in the repetitive pattern, determining a slope of the designated edge, and acquiring a set of amplitude values at a different occurrences of the designated edge. A frequency domain representation of the set of amplitude values is then obtained, and identified peaks in the frequency domain representation are truncated. An RMS value, or other measure of random variations of the truncated representation is extracted and converted, based on the slope of the designated edge, to a corresponding RMS time jitter that represents the random component of the jitter. A periodic component of the jitter is characterized by determining the peak amplitude deviation of the acquired set of amplitude values, and then determining a periodic amplitude variation based on the RMS value, the peak amplitude deviation and the number of amplitude values in the set of amplitude values. The peak amplitude deviation is then converted, based on the slope of the designated edge, to a corresponding periodic time jitter that represents the periodic component of the jitter.