San Jose State University Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

ME 120 Experimental Methods

Dynamic Signal Analysis

BJ Furman 02NOV02

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Static and Dynamic Signal Components

Static signal

Value does not change appreciably over the time scale of interest
Ex. The average temperature in the room to the nearest C over the next second

Dynamic signal

Value is time dependent

Deterministic can predict ahead of time Periodic ex. sine wave Aperiodic ex. step function Non-deterministic cannot predict ahead of time Ex. Freeway noise signal
BJ Furman SJSU MAE

Static and Dynamic Signal Components, cont.

Mean value is a measure of static or dc component of a signal y y ( t ) dt y
t2

y=

t1

t 2 t1
time

RMS value is a measure of the magnitude of fluctuations about the average of signal
t2

y RMS =

t1

y(t ) dt
2

t 2 t1

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Frequency Analysis of Dynamic Signals

Important to know the frequency content of measured signals

Vibration analysis
Structural resonant frequencies Excitation signal

Noise abatement
T /2

Periodic dynamic signals can be represented by 1 a Fourier series A = y (t )dt T

0 T / 2

y (t ) = A0 + ( An cos(n t ) + Bn sin( n t ))
n =1

An =

2 T /2 2 nt y (t ) cos( )dt T T / 2 T 2 T /2 2 nt )dt Bn = y (t )sin( T T / 2 T

T (=2/) is the period of the signal

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Example
Square Wave
1

-1 T=2/

A0=0 (the mean signal level is zero) An=0 (the signal is odd, y(t)=-y(-t)) Bn=
2 2 cos( n ) 4 = for n odd n n
Fourier Coefficients
1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 N 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Frequency Analysis of Dynamic Signals, cont.

General (not necessarily periodic) dynamic signals can be represented by the Fourier transform

Y( f ) =

y (t )e i 2 f t dt

Amplitude-frequency function is continuous in frequency rather than multiples of the fundamental frequency

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Discrete Fourier Transform

Signals are sampled by data acquisition hardware

Over a finite period of time (not )

t1

t2

Finite number of samples (discrete, not continuous data, usually taken at fixed sampling rate For sampled data, the Fourier transform integral can be approximated by a summation
the Discrete Fourier Transform

Next Page

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

The Discrete Fourier Transform, cont.

Discrete Fourier Transform
Y ( f k ) = y ( nt )e i (2 k f )( n t ) for k=0, 1, 2..., N-1
n =0 N 1

f k = k f f = 1 1 1 fs = = = N N t T sampling period = frequency resolution of the DFT (like the

for the Fourier Series)

f s = sampling frequency N = total number of samples (note the effect on f ) t=time increment between samples

Fast Fourier Transform

A DFT algorithm especially suited for digital computation

BJ Furman SJSU MAE

FFT for a Square Wave Signal

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Things to Mind in Frequency Analysis

Dynamic range of measurement device and Voltage signal amplitude

Clipping
Ex. 0 5 V range setting on A/D

5V

Sampling frequency

Time

Aliasing
The sampling frequency must be at least 2x the highest frequency component contained in the signal to be measured, or else aliasing will occur Aliasing is a folding back of actual frequencies Ex. Aliasing.vi
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Calculation of Aliased Frequencies

Alias frequency rules for signal frequency f and sampling frequency fs:

f < 1/2fs
No aliasing

f > 1/2fs
Aliasing will occur Alias frequency:

f alias = f nf s
where nf s is the closest integer multiple of the sampling frequency

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Aliasing Example
Suppose a signal has frequency components at 25, 70, 160, and 510 Hz and is sampled at 100 Hz. What will the aliased frequencies be?

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SJSU MAE

Low-Pass Filtering to Avoid Aliasing

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/071CE6EC33E4377A8625686600580F22?opendocument

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Frequency Band Limiting

The FFT algorithm implicitly extends the time record of the sampled signal to make it periodic

If the sampled signal doesnt contain an integer multiple of cycles of the underlying periodic signal(s), additional frequency components are introduced in the FFT result
Spectral leakage

http://ni.techonline.com/scripts/tol.exe?CONFIG,ni.txt&SID,11585.19559.20021109&TEMPLATE,pc_main.ops&AREA,8&COURSE,1164

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Frequency Band Limiting, cont.

Windowing

To reduce the effects of spectral leakage (noise in the frequency domain), apply a window to the sampled data before taking the FFT.
A window is a scaling factor applied to each data point that has the result of minimizing the effects of discontinuities in the periodic extension of the sampled waveform Types (not exhaustive) Rectangle Hanning Hamming Flat top

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

Windowing Example

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SJSU MAE

Frequency Resolution
Y ( f k ) = y ( nt )e i (2 k f )( n t ) for k=0, 1, 2..., N-1
n =0 N 1

f k = k f f = 1 1 1 fs = = = N N t T sampling period = frequency resolution of the DFT (like the

for the Fourier Series)

f s = sampling frequency N = total number of samples (note the effect on f ) t=time increment between samples

Increase N to achieve finer frequency resolution

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE

References
Figliola, R. S., Beasley, D. E., Theory and Design for Mechanical Measurements, 3rd ed., J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 2000. National Instruments, The Fundamentals of FFT-Based Signal Analysis and Measurement in LabVIEW and LabWindows, http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/C045A8907513 03A6862568650061EA98?OpenDocument, November 9, 2002. Digital Signal Processing Tutorial, http://www.dsptutor.freeuk.com/aliasing/AliasFrq.htm, November 9, 2002. ME 82 - Mechanical Engineering Measurements, http://www.me.psu.edu/me82/, November 9, 2002.

BJ Furman

SJSU MAE