' $

Fourier Representation of continuous time signals

Any periodic signal f (t) can be represented with a set of complex
exponentials as shown below.

f (t) = F0 + F1 ejω0 t + F2 ej2ω0 t + · · · + Fn ejnωn t + (1)

· · · + F−1 e−jω0 t + F−2 e−j2ω0 t + F−n e−jnωn t + · · · (2)

The exponential terms are orthogonal to each other because

Z +∞
(ejnωt )(ejmωt )∗ dt = 0, m 6= n
−∞

The energy of these signals is unity since

& %
' $

Z +∞
(ejnωt )(ejmωt )∗ dt = 1, m = n
−∞

Representing a signal in terms of its exponential Fourier series

components is called Fourier Analysis.
The weights of the exponentials are calculated as

Z t0 +T
f (t).(ejnω0 t )∗ dt
t0
Fn = Z t0 +T
(ejnω0 t).(ejnω0 t)∗ dt
t0

1
Z t0 +T
= f (t).(ejnω0 t )∗ dt
T t0

& %
' $
Extending this representation to aperiodic signals:
When T −→ ∞ and ω0 −→ 0, the sum becomes an integral and ω0
becomes continuous.
The resulting represention is termed as the Fourier Transform
(F (ω)) and is given by

Z +∞
F (ω) = f (t)e−jωt dta
−∞

The signal f (t) can recovered from F (ω) as

Z +∞
f (t) = F (ω)ejωt dω b
−∞

a Analysis equation
b Synthesis equation

& %
' $

Some Important Functions

Delta function is a very important signal in signal analysis. It is
defined as

Z +∞
δ(t) dt = 1
−∞

& %
' $

δ (t)

1/2ε

Area under the curve is always 1

−ε 0 ε t

Figure 1: The Dirac delta function

The Dirac delta function is also called the Impulse function.

This function can be represented as the limiting function of a
number of sampling functions:
1. Gaussian Pulse
1 − πt22
δ(t) = lim e T
& %
T →0 T
' $

2. Triangular Pulse
 
1 |t|
δ(t) = lim 1− , |t| ≤ T (3)
T →0 T T
= 0, |t| > T (4)

3. Exponential Pulse
1 − |t|
δ(t) = lim e T
T →0 2T

4. Sampling Function
Z ∞
k
Sa(kt)dt = 1
−∞ π

k
δ(t) = lim Sa(kt)
k→∞ π

& %
' $
5. Sampling Square function
k 2
δ(t) = lim Sa (kt)
k→∞ π

The unit step function is another important function signal

processing. It is defined by

u(t) = 1, t > 0
1
= , t=0
2
= 0, t < 0

The Fourier transform of the unit step can be found only in the

& %
limit. Some common Fourier transforms will be discussed.