Lecture 28 Continuous-Time Fourier

Transform 2
Fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing
Spring, 2012

Wei-Ta Chu
2012/6/14

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 Limit of the Fourier Series
Rewrite (11.9) and (11.10) as

As , the fundamental frequency gets very

small and the set defines a very dense set of
points on the frequency axis that approaches the
continuous variable
As a result, we can claim that

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 Limit of the Fourier Series
Similarly,

For the examples of Fig. 11-1,

the spectra plot

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 Limit of the Fourier Series
The frequencies get closer and closer together as

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 Existence and Convergence
The Fourier transform and its inverse are integrals with
infinite limits.
An infinite sum of even infinitesimally small quantities
might not converge to a finite result.
To aid in our use of the Fourier transform it would be
helpful to be able to determine whether the Fourier
transform exists or not
check the magnitude of

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 Existence and Convergence
To obtain a sufficient condition for existence of the
Fourier transform

The last step follows that for all t and

Thus, a sufficient condition for the existence of the
Fourier transform ( ) is

Sufficient Condition for Existence of

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 Right-Sided Real Exponential Signals
Fourier transform can represent non-periodic signals in
much the same way that the Fourier series represents
periodic signals
The signal
is a right-sided exponential signal
because it is nonzero only on the
right side.
Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

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 Right-Sided Real Exponential Signals
Substitute the function into (11.15) we
obtain

This result will be finite only if at the upper limit

of is bounded, which is true only if a > 0.
Thus, the right-sided exponential signal is guaranteed
to have a Fourier transform if it dies out with
increasing t, which requires a > 0.

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 Right-Sided Real Exponential Signals
The Fourier transform is a
complex function of .
We can plot the real and imaginary
parts versus , or plot the
magnitude and phase angle as
functions of frequency.

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 Bandwidth and Decay Rate
These figures show a fundamental property of Fourier
transform representations – the inverse relation between
time and frequency.
a controls the rate of decay
In the time-domain, as a increases,
the exponential dies out more
quickly.
In the frequency-domain, as a
increases, the Fourier transform
spreads out
Signals that are short in time duration
are spread out in frequency

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 Exercise 11.2

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 Rectangular Pulse Signals
Consider the rectangular pulse

The Fourier transform is

Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

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 Rectangular Pulse Signals
The Fourier transform of the rectangular pulse signal is
called a sinc function.
The formal definition of a sinc function is

Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

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 Rectangular Pulse Signals
Properties of the sinc function
1. The value at is . When we attempt
to evaluate the sinc formula at , we obtain .
However, using L’Hopital’s rule from calculus, we
obtain

Note that we could also use the small angle

approximation for the sine function to obtain
the same result

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 Rectangular Pulse Signals
2. The zeros of the sinc function are at nonzero integer
multiples of , where T is the total duration
of the pulse.
It crosses zero at regular intervals because we have
in the numerator.
Since for where n is an integer, it
follows that for or

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 Rectangular Pulse Signals
3. Because of the in the denominator of , the
function dies out with increasing , but only as fast as
4. is an even function, i.e.,

Thus the real even-symmetric rectangular pulse has a

real even-symmetric Fourier transform.

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 Bandlimited Signals
We define a bandlimited signal as one whose Fourier
transform satisfies the condition for
with
The frequency is called the bandwidth of the
bandlimited signal.
One ideally bandlimited Fourier transform

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 Bandlimited Signals
We want to determine the time-domain signal that has
this Fourier transform, i.e., we need to evaluate the
inverse transform integral

It has the form of a sinc function

This signal has a peak value of
at t = 0, and the zero
crossings are spaced at nonzero
multiplies of

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 Bandlimited Signals
Note the inverse relationship between time width and
frequency width.
If we increase , the bandwidth is greater, but the
first zero crossing in the time domain moves closer to t
= 0 so the time-width is smaller.

Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

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 Impulse in Time or Frequency
The impulse time-domain signal is the most
concentrated time signal that we can have. Therefore,
we might expect that its Fourier transform will have a
very wide bandwidth, and it does. The Fourier
transform of contains all frequencies in equal
amounts.

Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

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 Impulse in Time or Frequency
Likewise, we can examine an impulse in frequency, if
we define the Fourier transform of a signal to be

We can show by substitution into (11.2) that x(t) = 1

for all t and thereby obtain the Fourier transform pair
Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

The constant signal x(t) = 1 for all t has only one

frequency, namely DC, and we see that its transform is
an impulse concentrated at
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 Sinusoids
We will show how to determine the Fourier transform
of a periodic signal. We know that periodic signals can
be represented as Fourier series. However, there are
distinct advantages for bring this class of signals under
the general Fourier transform umbrella.
Suppose that the Fourier transform of a signal is an
impulse at , . By
substituting into the inverse transform integral

Time-Domain Frequency-Domain
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 Sinusoids
Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

The result is not unexpected. It says that a complex-

exponential signal of frequency has a Fourier
transform that is nonzero only at the frequency .
The result is the basis for including all periodic
functions in our Fourier transform framework.
Consider the signal

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 Sinusoids

Since integration is linear, it follows that the Fourier

transform of a sum of two or more signals is the sum
of their corresponding Fourier transforms.

Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

Thus, the Fourier transform of the real sinusoid x(t) is

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 Sinusoids

So we have the Fourier transform pair

Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

Note that the size (area) of the

impulse at negative frequency
is the complex conjugate of the
size of the impulse at the
positive frequency.

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 Periodic Signals
Now we are ready to obtain a general formula for the
Fourier transform of any periodic function for which a
Fourier series exists.
A periodic signal can be represented by the sum of
complex exponentials

where and

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 Periodic Signals
The Fourier transform of a sum is the sum of
corresponding Fourier transforms

Thus, any periodic signal with fundamental frequency

is represented by the following Fourier transform pair
as this figure.

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 Periodic Signals
Time-Domain Frequency-Domain

The key ingredient is the impulse function which allows us to

define Fourier transforms that are zero at all but a discrete set
of frequencies.
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 Example: Square Wave Transform
A periodic square wave where T0 = 2T

We also obtain the DC coefficient by evaluating the

integral

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 Example: Square Wave Transform

After substituting , we
obtain

If we substitute this into (11.35) we obtain the equation

for the Fourier transform of a periodic square wave:

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 Example: Square Wave Transform
This figure shows the Fourier transform of the square
wave for the case T0 = 2T. The Fourier coefficients are
zero for even multiples of , so there are no impulses
at those frequencies. Any periodic signal with
fundamental frequency will have a transform with
impulses at integer multiples of , but with different
sizes dictated by the ak coefficients.

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 Example: Transform of Impulse Train
Consider the periodic impulse train

Express it as a Fourier series

To determine the Fourier coefficients {ak}, we must

evaluate Fourier series integral over one convenient
period

The Fourier coefficients for the periodic impulse train

are all the same size.

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 Example: Transform of Impulse Train
The Fourier transform of a periodic signal represented
by a Fourier series as in (11.42) is of the form

Substituting ak into the general expression for ,

we obtain

Therefore, the Fourier transform

of a periodic impulse train is also
a periodic impulse train.

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