EE235 Signals and Systems University of Washington

Autumn 2004 Dept. of Electrical Engineering

Midterm Exam Solutions : Wednesday, Nov 3, 2004

Your Name: Cornell Theodore Samuel Peterson

Student ID: 3.141592653589793238462643383
Problem # 1 (20 points)
Consider the following signal:
2π 5π
x(t) = 2 + cos( t) + 4 sin( t)
3 3
and answer the following questions regarding this signal.
(1a) (6 pts) Can this signal be represented as a sum of complex exponentials? If so, show how this can be done. If not,
explain why it cannot be done.

Yes, of course it can. We use the standard complex exponential formulas for sin and cosine to get:
1 2π 2π 2 5π 5π
x(t) = 2 + (ej 3 t + e−j 3 t ) + (ej 3 t − e−j 3 t )
2 j

(1b) (7 pts) Now, consider a system with impulse response h(t) = e at u(−t), with a > 0. Is this system linear? Is it
time invariant? Is it causal? Is it stable? Is it memoryless? In each case, clearly answer the question and give a brief
explanation why or why not.

Since we used the term “impulse response”, then yes the system must be both linear and time invariant. It is not
causal since h(t) 6= 0 for t < 0. The system is stable since:
Z ∞ Z 0 Z ∞
at at
e u(−t)dt = e dt = e−at dt = 1/a
−∞ −∞ 0

Therefore, it is stable. The system is not memoryless since h(t) 6= Kδ(t).

(1c) (7 pts) The input signal x(t) above is input into the system with impulse response h(t) = e at u(−t). Find y(t),
the output in response to this input. Clearly indicate your work and reasoning. Also, you might find the result of the
following integral useful. Z ∞
1
eat u(−t)e−st dt =
−∞ a − s

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The easiest way to do the solution to this problem is to utilize the eigenfunction property and to find the transfer
function H(s) since we already have the impulse response. To find H(s), we do:
Z ∞ Z ∞
H(s) = h(t)e−st dt = eat u(−t)e−st dt
−∞ −∞
Z 0 Z 0
= eat e−st dt = et(a−s) dt
−∞ −∞
1 h t(a−s) i0 1
= e =
a−s −∞ a−s

The next thing to do is evaluate the output of the system using the eigenfunction property. We get:
1 2π 2π 1 2π 2π 2 5π 5π 2 5π 5π
Y (t) = 2H(0) + H(j )ej 3 t + H(−j )e−j 3 t + H(j )ej 3 t − H(−j )e−j 3 t
2 3 2 3 j 3 j 3
We can simplify, but this is an acceptable solution.

Problem # 2 (20 points)

Remember in class that we spoke about how δ(t) can be used to generate echos of a given signal. Consider the LTI
echo system described in the figure below:
x(t) + y(t)

Delay by
T seconds
and is described by the equation:
y(t) = αy(t − T ) + x(t)
Assume the system is at initial rest (which means that y(t) = 0 for t < 0 if x(t) = 0 for t < 0).
(2a) (10 pts) What is the impulse response h(t) of this system? Hint: use the fact that an impulse δ(t) is such that it is
0 for t < 0.
Since the system is at initial rest, the output y(t) = 0 for t < 0. When we use an impulse δ(t) as input, we get
the impulse as output but then the impulse gets delayed every T seconds and scaled by α. Therefore, the impulse
response looks like:
X∞
h(t) = δ(t − kT )αk
k=0

(2b) (10 pts) Show that the system is stable if 0 < α < 1 and unstable if α ≥ 1. You might find the following equation
useful:
∞  1
X
k 1−α 0<α<1
α =
∞ else
k=0
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To see if the system is stable, we can use the fact that the impulse response must be absolutely integrable. We
therefore get:
Z ∞ Z ∞ ∞
X
|h(t)|dt = δ(t − kT )αk dt
−∞ −∞ k=0
∞
X
k
= α
k=0

And we can use the give infinite sum formula to get the result.

Problem # 3 (20 points)

This is a problem that tests your knowledge of convolution. Consider the (necessarily LTI) system that has impulse
response as indicated in the figure below:

h(t)
1

1 2 3 4 t
-1

Your task is to design an input x(t) signal with the following properties:

1. x(t) is real ∀ t.
2. x(t) = 0 for t < 0.
3. |x(t)| ≤ 1 for t ≥ 0.
4. y(t) = x(t) ∗ h(t) is as large as possible at time point t = 4.

Clearly show all work, and argue convincingly why your input satisfies all 4 properties above.
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Given the constraints above, we need it such that the convolution evaluated at t = 4, or y(4), gives the largest
possible value. This means that the flipped and shifted input signal x(t) must give the maximum area when it is
flipped and shifted on top of h(t). Since |x(t)| can’t be larger than unity, and since there is nothing x(t) can do to
produce a larger area outside of the region where h(t) is non-zero (i.e., out side of 0 < t < 4) we must make sure
that the flipped and shifted x(t) gives maximum positive area at each point for h(t).
Thinking about this on the τ axis, we must have that x(4−τ )h(τ ) be positive and maximum for each 0 < τ < 4. We
can do this such that x(4 − τ ) is one whenever h(τ ) is one, and x(4 − τ ) is negative one whenever h(τ ) is negative
one, so this means that x(4 − τ ) must look like:

x(4-τ)
1

1 2 3 4 τ
-1
t=4
Using this particular x(t), we get that y(4) = 4.
Using the flip and shift ideas from convolution in reverse (i.e., we shift back to zero and then flip), we get the
following steps to re-construct x(t).

x(-τ) x(t)
1 1

-4 -2 -1 1 2 3 τ -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 t
-1 -1
t=0

Problem # 4 (20 points)

Consider the following impulse response signals.

P10
1. h1 (t) = n=1 sin(2πnt)
2π 1
2. h2 (t) = ej 3 t + e−j 3 t
3. h3 (t) = e−3t sin(4t)u(t)
4. h4 (t) = n=−∞ δ(t − 3n)
P∞

5. h5 (t) = cos2 (πt)

(4a) (2 pts each) State whether impulse responses are periodic signals. If so, give the fundamental period; if not, give
an explanation.
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1. Periodic; T=1. All the higher sins are of frequency that are harmonic multiples of the fundamental frequency.
2. Not periodic; ratio of periods is not rational, so there never will be a value T where things start repeating.
3. Not periodic; not everlasting, and because it decays.
4. Periodic; T=3. This is the same formula for any periodic signal.
5. Periodic; T=1. Note that the period of cos(πt) has a period of 2, but since we square the function, this makes
it repeat every 1.

(4b) (2 pts each) State whether LTI systems with the corresponding impulse responses are stable. Show all work.

R∞
1. Not Stable. h(t) is a periodic (everlasting) signal and so −∞ |h(t)|dt is not bounded.
2. Not Stable. Same reason as above.
R∞
3. Stable. −∞ |h(t)|dt is bounded.
4. Not Stable. Consider the bounded input x(t) = u(t).
Then y(t) = n=−∞ u(t − 3n) which is not bounded.
P∞

5. Not Stable. Consider the bounded input x(t) = u(t).

Rt
Then y(t) = −∞ cos2 (πτ )dτ which goes to infinity.

Problem # 5 (20 points) Consider a system with input and output related by the following equation:
Z t
y(t) = e−(t−τ ) x(τ − 2)dτ
−∞

5a (5 + 5 pts) Is this system linear and time-invariant?

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Lets consider an weighted sum input x(t) = α1 x1 (t) + α2 x2 (t) and let yi (t) be the response to input xi (t), for
i = 1, 2. Applying this input, we get:
Z t Z t
−(t−τ )
e x(τ − 2)dτ = e−(t−τ ) (α1 x1 (τ − 2) + α2 x2 (τ − 2)) dτ
−∞ −∞
Z t Z t
= α1 e−(t−τ ) x1 (τ − 2)dτ + α2 e−(t−τ ) x2 (τ − 2)dτ
−∞ −∞
= α1 y1 (t) + α2 y2 (t)

so the system is indeed linear.

To test time invariance, we need to make sure that the shifted output y(t − t 0 ) is the output you get for shifting the
input by the same amount x(t − t0 ). We proceed as follows, first we shift the output to get:
Z t−t0
y(t − t0 ) = e−(t−t0 −τ ) x(τ − 2)dτ
−∞

Next, lets shift the input. We form x0 (t) = x(t − t0 ) and plug it into the equation to get:
Z t Z t
e−(t−τ ) x0 (τ − 2)dτ = e−(t−τ ) x(τ − t0 − 2)dτ
−∞ −∞

Let us define an auxiliary variable τ 0 = τ − t0 so that τ = τ 0 + t0 , and so that dτ 0 = dτ . Therefore, we can write
this shifted input as:
Z t Z t−t0
0
−(t−τ )
e x(τ − t0 − 2)dτ = e−(t−t0 −τ ) x(τ 0 − 2)dτ 0 = y(t − t0 )
−∞ −∞

but the last equality follows since it is the same form as the shifted output given above (we just have a different time
axis variable). Therefore the system is TI.
Therefore the system is LTI.

5b (10 pts) If the answer to part (a) is true, then find the impulse response of the system.

The easiest way to find the impulse response of this system is to evaluate it with x(t) = δ(t) and do the convolution.
The sifting property of the impulse makes this problem not to difficult. The only tricky thing, however, is to realize
that the value t also controls the integration limits, namely if t < 2, then the impulse never “activates”, and the entire
quantity is just zero. If t > 2, then the impulse activates the decaying exponential at value τ = 2. We therefore get:
Z t  
−(t−τ ) 0 t<2
y(t) = e δ(τ − 2)dτ = = e−(t−2) u(t − 2)
−∞ e−(t−2) t > 2

Problem # 6 (ejπ points if you get this correct)

What is 1 + 1 ?
Since the problem is worth ejπ = −1 points, our answer to this question is that 1 + 1 = 3.