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HTTP WWW - Stem2.org Je Excel FFT Instructions
HTTP WWW - Stem2.org Je Excel FFT Instructions
School of Engineering
April 2005
Introduction:
Waveforms plotted in Excel generally show the magnitude (Y-axis) versus time (X-axis). (See
Figure 1, Data in Time Domain.) Knowing the period T of the waveform, the frequency can be
calculated.
Figure 2: Data in Frequency Domain
Figure 1: Data in Time Domain
Amplitude vs Frequency
150
frequency=324 Hz
period = 3.08 ms
100
140
324 Hz
50
22.63 ms
25.71 ms
0
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
-50
amplitude
Amplitude (units)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
-100
500
1000
1500
2000
frequency (Hz)
-150
Time (ms)
Sometimes experiments call for the harmonic content of a reproduced waveform. The
harmonic content is a display of the magnitude of the waveform (Y-axis) versus the frequency
(X-axis). This is sometimes called the frequency spectrum and it allows you to visualize a
waveform according to its frequency content (see Figure 2, Data in Frequency Domain). The
following steps will guide you to translate a waveform from the time domain to the frequency
domain using Excel.
2500
=2/1024*IMABS(E2)
48.828125
fs
50000
48.828125
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02 0
Magnitude
Magnitude
390 Hz
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
390 Hz
30000
1000
Magnitude
Magnitude
390 Hz
5000
3000
Frequency
Frequency
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
2000
10000
15000
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
390 Hz
Frequency
500
1000
1500
2000
Frequency
Magnitude
390 Hz
2000
4000
6000
8000
Frequency
4000