Signals and Systems I (2016506)

Faculty of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Tutorial 5 - Fourier Series

conceptual questions

1. What is the meaning of orthogonality between functions? Give an example of two

orthogonal functions

2. What is understood under a “Fourier Series representation” of a signal?

3. Define in your own words a “harmonic” of a periodic signal

4. Write down the analysis and synthesis equations of the CT Fourier Series (CTFS) in
Trigonometric (TFS), Amplitude-Phase (AFS) and Exponential (EFS) forms

5. Define the terms “line spectrum” and “phase spectrum”

6. Explain an important difference between the CTFS and the DTFS

exercises

1 ct fourier series

1. Compute the Fourier Series representation for the following periodic functions using
either the Complex Exponential Form (EFS) or the Trigonometric Form (TFS). Employ
the one you consider the most convenient. Then, using the relationships between
forms, write an expression for the Fourier representation of the signal in the three
forms (EFS, TFS and AFS). Using Scilab, plot the line and phase spectra1
a) Signal in Figure 1

x(t)
5

t
-6 -4 -2 2 4 6

Figure 1: Signal for Exercise 1.1.a)

b) Signal in Figure 2

1 Recall that the line and phase spectra are defined only for nonnegative harmonics. Do not confuse these graphs
with the magnitude and phase plots of the EFS of a periodic signal that are defined for both positive and negative
harmonics
 x(t)

1.0

0.5

t(s)
-10 -5 5 10

-0.5

-1.0

Figure 2: Signal for Exercise 1.1.b)

c) Signal in Figure 3 (Hint: Make use of symmetry as much as possible)

x(t)

10

t(s)
-10 -5 5 10 15

-5

-10

Figure 3: Signal for Exercise 1.1.c).

d) Signal in Figure 4 (Hint: use Fourier Series properties)

 x(t)

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

t
-1.0 -0.5 0.5 1.0

Figure 4: Signal for Exercise 1.2.d).

2. The Total Harmonic Distorsion (THD) is a term used to quantify the non-sinusoidal
characteristic of a periodic signal. It can be defined as the ratio of the rms value of all
the non-fundamental frequency terms to the rms value of the fundamental frequency
term2 v q
u ∑k6=1 A2k,rms ∑k6=1 A2k,rms
u
THD = t = (1)
A21,rms A1,rms

where the rms value if the signal v (t) = is given by

s ˆ
1
Vrms = v2 (t) dt (2)
T <T >

For sinusoids of the general form v (t) = Ak cos (kω0 t + φk ) k ≥ 1 the rms value is

A
Ak,rms = √k
2

In cases where the dc term is zero, the THD may be expressed as

q
∑∞ 2
k =2 A k
THD = (3)
A1

a) Compute the Fourier Series expression for the signal in Figure 5 using the EFS
expressions. Afterwards, convert your result to the AFS form (Hint: use Fourier
Series Properties or integration by parts)

2 For convenience, in power electronics applications the Amplitude-Phase Form of the Fourier Series is used.
 x(t)

0.4

0.2

t
-1.0 -0.5 0.5 1.0

-0.2

-0.4

Figure 5: Signal for Problem 2.1

b) Using the result of incise a), compute the THD of the signal in Figure 5 (Hint:
∑∞ 1 π2 3
k =1 k 2 = 6 )

2 dt fourier series

1. Determine the DT Fourier Series representation for the following signals

 
a) x [n] = 1 + sin 2π ◦
   2π  4π
N n + 3 cos N n + cos N n + 90
 2π 
b) x [n] = sin 5 n
1 − α N +1
c) For the periodic square wave shown in Figure 6 (Hint: ∑nN=0 αn = 1− α )

x[n]
1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

n
-20 -10 10 20

Figure 6: Periodic square wave for Exercise 2.1.c)

3 The result of this exercise is related with the shape of the waveform and not with its frequency. Thus, it is invariant
with respect to frequency
 2. Find the Fourier Series coefficients
a) For the periodic signal x [n] = n for 0 ≤ n ≤ 4 with fundamental period N = 5 as
shown in Figure 7

x[n]
4

n
-4 -2 2 4 6 8 10

Figure 7: Signal for Exercise 2.2.a)

b) For the signal in Figure 8 (Hint: Use Fourier Series properties)

x[n]
2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

n
-5 5

Figure 8: Signal for Exercise 2.2.b)

advanced exercises

1. Compute the FS Coefficients of the signal in Figure. Assume ω0 = 1 rad/s. Explain

the differences of the result under this assumption and the result if you considered
ω0 = 2π f 0 with f 0 = 120 Hz
 vo (t)

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

t
0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0.030

Figure 9: Full-wave rectified sinusoid

2. Consider the signal

N −1 2π
x [n] = ∑ e jk N n
k =0

a) Show that x [n] = N for n = 0, ± N, ±2N, ±3N, . . .

b) Show that x [n] = 0 whenever k is not an integer multiple of N (Hint: use the
finite sum formula)