Exponential Fourier series

Substitution of
cos x  e  e  jx  and sin x  1 e jx  e  jx 
1 jx
2 j2
in the Fourier series gives:
 
f (t )  a0   an cos n t   bn sin n t
n 1 n 1

 a0   an e jn t  ane  jn t    

1  1  jn t  jn t
 bn e  bn e
2 n1 j2 n1
1  1 
 a0   (an  jbn )e   (an  jbn )e  jn t
jn t

2 n1 2 n1

Now define 𝑟0 = 𝑎0 and change 𝑛 to −𝑛 in the second summation:

n
1  1 1
 r0   (an  jbn )e jn t   (an  jbn )e jn t
2 n1 2 n 
 r e jn t

n  

𝑎−𝑛 +𝑗𝑏−𝑛 𝑎𝑛 −𝑗𝑏𝑛

where 𝑟𝑛 = for 𝑛 < 0 and 𝑟𝑛 = for 𝑛 > 0.
2 2
1
• Coefficients 𝑟𝑛 are complex and occur in conjugate pairs.

• Frequency spectral diagram:

𝑟0
𝑟−1 𝑟1
𝑟−2 𝑟2
𝑟−3 𝑟3
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
𝑛(𝜔)

• How to calculate 𝑟𝑛 from the periodic waveform?

1 𝜋
𝑟0 =𝑎0 = 𝑓 𝜃 𝑑𝜃
2𝜋 −𝜋

𝑎−𝑛 +𝑗𝑏−𝑛 1 𝜋 𝑗 𝜋
For 𝑛 < 0, 𝑟𝑛 = = 2𝜋 −𝜋
𝑓 𝜃 cos(−𝑛𝜃) 𝑑𝜃 + 2𝜋 −𝜋
𝑓 𝜃 sin(− 𝑛𝜃) 𝑑𝜃
2
𝑎𝑛 −𝑗𝑏𝑛 1 𝜋 𝑗 𝜋
For 𝑛 > 0, 𝑟𝑛 = = 𝑓 𝜃 cos(𝑛𝜃) 𝑑𝜃 − 𝑓 𝜃 sin( 𝑛𝜃) 𝑑𝜃
2 2𝜋 −𝜋 2𝜋 −𝜋
We can combine above equations as follows:
𝜋
1 𝜋 1
𝑟𝑛 = 2𝜋 −𝜋 𝑓 𝜃 [cos 𝑛𝜃 − 𝑗 sin( 𝑛𝜃)] 𝑑𝜃 𝑟𝑛 = 𝑓 𝜃 𝑒 −𝑗𝑛𝜃 𝑑𝜃
2𝜋
−𝜋
∞
and as it was shown before:
𝑓 𝑡 = 𝑟𝑛 𝑒 𝑗𝑛𝜔𝑡
𝑛=−∞
2
Example: Unit pulse waveform
2𝜋
𝐾
1

𝜋 𝜔𝑡
-π 0 π 2π 4π
𝐾
Period of the waveform is 𝐾 times the pulse duration.

1
 f ( ) e
 jn
rn  d , where    t
2 


 1  jn  1   jn K 
jn   n 
 
K
1 1
1 e
 jn
rn  d  e K
   e  e K
  sin 
2 2jn K 2jn   n K 

K
𝑟𝑛
𝜋𝑛
1 sin = 0 ⟹ 𝑛 = 𝑙𝐾
𝐾
sin 𝑥 𝐾
If we define sinc 𝑥 = then
𝑥
Plotted for 𝐾 = 4
1  n 
rn  sin c   … …
K K 
𝑛(𝜔)
−3𝐾 − 2𝐾 −𝐾 0 1 𝐾 2𝐾 3𝐾

3
 Frequency line spectrum for various pulse widths
• The larger the value of K, the smaller is the pulse width as compared to the time period T of the pulse.
• The larger the value of the time period T, the smaller is the value of the fundamental frequency of the
pulse signal (since ωT = 2π).
• As K increases, with constant time period T, the pulse width decreases, and the amplitude of the harmonic
components decreases, and will become vanishingly small.
• A similar effect happens when the pulse width is kept constant but the signal period T is made very large.
In the limit 𝑇 → ∞, a single rectangular pulse results and the fundamental frequency ω tends towards
zero (ω= 2π/T):
o The harmonics become very closely spaced together with extremely small amplitudes and in the
limit a continuous spectrum results.
o The single pulse is now an aperiodic, non-repetitive signal.
o These types of signal are analysed with the Fourier transform.
𝑟𝑛
𝜋𝑛
1 sin = 0 ⟹ 𝑛 = 𝑙𝐾
𝐾
𝐾

Plotted for 𝐾 = 4
… …

𝑛(𝜔)
−3𝐾 − 2𝐾 −𝐾 0 1 𝐾 2𝐾 3𝐾