"LEVELS OF SHOCK: The Taser X26 puts out 2 milliamperes [("average"), or 151mA RMS] at 19 hertz. The gun packs its current into 100-microsecond pulses, so it can capture muscle with lower current than if it had been delivered as a sine wave, as the rest of the chart shows."
Any complex waveform can be reduced to a series of sine waves. And a series of sine waves can be combined to produce any complex waveform. That's about all you need to know about the Fourier transform. This transform isn't just a math trick for representation and analysis; the relationship between the time domain and the frequency domain is perfectly real. These frequency components actually exist and will interact with whatever they meet.
What this means is that if a certain waveform is periodic and repeats at 19 Hz, then the frequency component at 19 Hz is CONTINUOUS 100% DUTY CYCLE at that frequency. Especially if the waveform is offset from zero (as is the X26). Although the waveform may be a pulse of current that lasts only about 100 microseconds, the frequency component at 19 Hz is a perfectly normal sine wave at 19 Hz.
Taser's specifications for the X26 waveform are 19 Hz, 2mA "average" (and 151 mA RMS according to the older specification sheets).
The 19 Hz component is CONTINUOUS 100% DUTY CYCLE during each 5-second cycle.
Keep this (the low frequency and continuous 100% duty cycle) in mind when fitting the taser waveform specifications against the applicable safety standards. Don't be misled about the 100-microseconds when considering the X26 waveform.
The older 1999-era M26 "advanced" waveform was quite different. It was a nicely damped burst of 50 kHz so that it's primary frequency component was quite likely at that frequency. The newer 2003-era X26 waveform is quite different in that the primary component is a DC pulse repeating at 19 Hz which results in a primary frequency at 19 Hz. They're totally different waveforms.
I don't understand why they switched from a low duty cycle (safer) high frequency (safer) waveform with the 1999-era M26, to a continuous duty cycle (more dangerous) low frequency (more dangerous) waveform with the 2003-era X26. Apparently they walked away from a couple of safety factors for a stated 5% increase in their so-called Muscular Disruption Units.
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