Hello,

During my readings in DSP for SDR applications using FPGA, I found an interesting note which is
the upsampling ratio of 4. I found this in two different locations, one at digitizing the IF
signal and one at upsampling before pulse shaping. My question is about the reasons of choosing
the ratio of 4 for these two cases. I am elaborating on them in the text below:

1- For IF sampling at the receiver. Some designs choose to oversample the IF signal by 4 which
means the fs=4IF. Is the main reeason behind this ratio is to allow for efficient
downconverting stage since the DDS will be replaced by simple Mux? 

2- At pulse shaping at the transmission stage, many designs choose to upsample by 4 (and some
choose even 2 but I feel the majority is 4). Is the reason behind the ratio of 4 is to allow
phase and frequency tracking since if we upsample by 2 then we can only track the phase but not
the frequency shifts of the signal at the receiver? Is this true?

I raise this question to DSP and FPGA group experts and I am looking forward for their
opinions.