EECE 301

Signals & Systems

Prof. Mark Fowler
Note Set #13
C-T Signals: Fourier Transform Properties

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Fourier Transform Properties

These properties are useful for two main things:
1.

They help you apply the table to a wider class of signals

2.

They are often the key to understanding how the FT can be used in a given
application.

So even though these results may at first seem like just boring math they are
important tools that let signal processing engineers understand how to build
things like cell phones, radars, mp3 processing, etc.
Here we will only cover the most important properties.
See the available table for the complete list of properties!
In this note set we simply learn these most-important properties in the next note
set well see how to use them.

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1. Linearity (Supremely Important)

If

x(t ) X ( ) &

Gets used virtually all the time!!

y (t ) Y ( )

then ax (t ) by (t ) aX ( ) bY ( )
Another way to write this property:

Fax (t ) by (t ) aFx (t ) bFy (t )

To see why: F ax (t ) by (t )

jt

ax
(
t
)

by
(
t
)
e
dt

By standard
Property of
Integral of sum
of functions

a x(t )e

j t

Use Defn
of FT

dt b y (t )e jt dt

X ( )

Y ( )

By Defn of
FT
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2. Time Shift (Really Important!)

If

x (t ) X ( ) then

Used often to understand practical

issues that arise in audio,
communications, radar, etc.

x (t c ) X ( )e jc

Note: If c > 0 then x(t c) is a delay of x(t)

So what does this mean??
jc
X ( )
First it does nothing to the magnitude of the FT: X ( )e

That means that a shift doesnt change how much we need of each of
the sinusoids we build with
jc
} X ( ) e jc
Second it does change the phase of the FT: { X ( )e

X ( ) c
Line of slope c
Phase shift increases linearly
as the frequency increases

Shift of Time Signal

This gets added

to original phase

Linear Phase Shift of Frequency Components

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3. Time Scaling (Important)

Q: If x(t ) X ( ) , then x ( at ) ??? for
A: x(at )

a0

1
X
a a

If the time signal is

Time Scaled by a

Then The FT is
Freq. Scaled by 1/a

An interesting duality!!!

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To explore this FT propertyfirst, what does x(at) look like?

x(t )
Original
Signal

t
1

3 4

x(2t )

7
|a| > 1 squishes horizontally

Time-Scaled
w/ a = 2

3.5
1

Time-Scaled
w/ a = 1/2

1
x t
2

|a| < 1 stretches horizontally

t
1

7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14

|a| > 1 makes it wiggle faster need more high frequencies

|a| < 1 makes it wiggle slower need less high frequencies

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x(at )

When |a| > 1 |1/a| < 1

1
X
a a

Time Signal is Squished

x(t )

FT is Stretched Horizontally
and Reduced Vertically

Original Signal & Its FT

A

.5A

1
X
2 2

Squished Signal & Its FT

x(2t )

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1
x(at ) X
a a

When |a| < 1 |1/a| > 1

Time Signal is Stretched

x(t )

FT is Squished Horizontally
and Increased Vertically

Original Signal & Its FT

A

t
1
x t
2

Stretched Signal & Its FT

2A

2X 2

Rough Rule of Thumb we can extract from this property:

Duration Bandwidth
Duration Bandwidth
Very Short Signals tend to take up Wide Bandwidth

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4. Time Reversal (Special case of time scaling: a = 1)

x(t ) X ( )
double conjugate
Note: X ( )

x(t )e

j ( ) t

dt x(t )e jt dt

x(t )e jt dt

= No Change

Conjugate changes to j

= x(t) if x(t) is real

x (t )e jt dt X ( )

So if x(t) is real, then we get the special case:

Recall: conjugation
doesnt change abs.
value but negates the
angle

X ( ) X ( )

x ( t ) X ( )

X ( ) X ( )
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Essential for understanding

practical issues that arise in
communications, radar, etc.

5. Modulation Property Super important!!!

There are two forms of the modulation property

1. Complex Exponential Modulation simpler mathematics, doesnt
directly describe real-world cases
2. Real Sinusoid Modulation mathematics a bit more complicated,
directly describes real-world cases
Eulers formula connects the two so you often can use the Complex
Exponential form to analyze real-world cases
Complex Exponential Modulation Property:

x(t )e j0t X ( 0 )

Multiply signal by a
complex sinusoid

Shift the FT
in frequency

F{x (t )e jot } X o

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Real Sinusoid Modulation

Based on Euler, Linearity property, & the Complex Exp. Modulation Property

Eulers Formula

1
j0t
j0t
Fx (t ) cos(0t ) F x (t )e x (t )e

1
F x (t )e j0t F x (t )e j0t
2

Linearity of FT

Comp. Exp. Mod.

1
X ( o ) X ( o )
2
The Result:

x (t ) cos(0t )

1
X ( 0 ) X ( 0 )
2
Shift Down

Related Result:

x (t ) sin(0t )
Exercise:

Shift Up

j
X ( 0 ) X ( 0 )
2

x (t ) cos(0t 0 ) ??

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Visualizing the Result

x (t ) cos(0t )

1
X ( 0 ) X ( 0 )
2
Shift up

X ( )

Shift down

Shift Down

Shift Up
Fx (t ) cos(0t )

Interesting This tells us how to move a signals spectrum up to higher

frequencies without changing the shape of the spectrum!!!
What is that good for??? Well only high frequencies will radiate from an
antenna and propagate as electromagnetic waves and then induce a signal in a
receiving antenna.

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6. Convolution Property (The Most Important FT Property!!!)

y (t ) x ( )h(t )d

Y ( ) X ( ) H ( )

We will not yet discuss the Convolution aspect of this now but we
will talk about it in depth later.
In the next Note Set we will explore the real-world use of the right side
of this result!
7. Parsevals Theorem (Recall Parsevals Theorem for FS!)

1
x(t ) dt
2

Energy computed in time domain

2

x(t ) dt
= energy at time t

X ( ) d
2

Energy computed in frequency domain

d
X ( )
2
2

= energy at freq.
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X ( ) x(t )e jt dt

8. Duality:

X ( )

x (t )
1
x(t )
2

X ( )e jt d

Both FT & IFT are pretty much the same machine:

c f ( )e j d

So if there is a time-to-frequency property we would expect a

virtually similar frequency-to-time property
Illustration: Delay Property:

Modulation Property:
Other Dual Properties:

x(t c) X ( )e jc
x(t )e

j 0 t

X ( 0 )

(Multiply by tn) vs. (Diff. in time domain)

(Convolution) vs. (Mult. of signals)

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Also, this duality structure gives FT pairs that show duality.

Suppose we have a FT table that a FT Pair A we can get the dual
Pair B using the general Duality Property:
1. Take the FT side of (known) Pair A and replace by t and move it
to the time-domain side of the table of the (unknown) Pair B.
2. Take the time-domain side of the (known) Pair A and replace t by
, multiply by 2, and then move it to the FT side of the table of
the (unknown) Pair B.
Here is an example We found the FT pair for the pulse signal:

Pair A

p (t )
Step 1

Pair B

sinc

sinc

Step 2

Here we have used the

fact that p(-) = p()

2 p ( )
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