The Continuous-Time Fourier Series

Representing a Signal
Real and Complex Sinusoids
 Real and Complex Sinusoids

Any periodic signal can be represented as a linear

combination of complex sinusoids.
 Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier

Overview

The Fourier series represents a signal as a sum of

sinusoids.The best approximation to the dashed-line signal
below using only a constant is the solid line. (A constant is
a cosine of zero frequency.)
 Overview

The best approximation to the dashed-line signal using a

constant plus one real sinusoid of the same fundamental
frequency as the dashed-line signal is the solid line
 Overview
The best approximation to the dashed-line signal using a
constant plus one sinusoid of the same fundamental
frequency as the dashed-line signal plus another sinusoid of
twice the fundamental frequency of the dashed-line signal is
the solid line. The frequency of this second sinusoid is the
second harmonic of the fundamental frequency.
 Overview
The best approximation to the dashed-line signal using a
constant plus three harmonics is the solid line. In this case
(but not in general), the third harmonic has zero amplitude.
This means that no sinusoid of three times the
fundamental frequency improves the approximation.
 Overview
The best approximation to the dashed-line signal using a
constant plus four harmonics is the solid line. This is a good
approximation that gets better with the addition of more
harmonics.
Continuous-Time Fourier Series
Definition
Orthogonality
Orthogonality
Orthogonality
Orthogonality
Orthogonality
 Continuous-Time Fourier Series
Definition
SUMMARY
CTFS of a Real Function
The convergence guaranteed when x(t) has finite energy over
a period is very useful. In this case, we may say that x(t) and
its Fourier series representation are indistinguishable.
Alternative set of conditions developed by Dirichlet that
guarantees the equivalence of the signal and its Fourier
series representation:

Condition 1: Over any period, x(t) must be absolutely integrable, that is

This guarantees each coefficient will be finite, since

A periodic function that violates the first Dirichlet condition is

(a)
Condition 2: In any finite interval of time, x(t) is of bounded
variation; that is, there are no more than a finite number of
maxima and minima during a single period of the signal.

An example of a function that meets Condition1 but not

Condition 2:

(b)
Condition 3: In any finite interval of time, there are only a
finite number of discontinuities. Furthermore, each of these
discontinuities is finite.

An example that violates this condition is a function defined as

(c)
Summary:

· For a periodic signal that has no discontinuities, the Fourier

series representation converges and equals to the original
signal at all the values of t .

· For a periodic signal with a finite number of discontinuities

in each period, the Fourier series representation equals to the
original signal at all the values of t except the isolated points
of discontinuity.
Gibbs Phenomenon:
Near a point, where x(t) has a jump discontinuity, the partial sums of a
Fourier series exhibit a substantial overshoot near these endpoints, and an
increase in N will not diminish the amplitude of the overshoot, although with
increasing N the overshoot occurs over smaller and smaller intervals. This
phenomenon is called Gibbs phenomenon
A large enough value of N should be chosen so as to guarantee that the total
energy in these ripples is insignificant.
TRIGNOMETRIC FOURIER SERIES
 Line Spectra

• The amplitude spectrum of x(t) is defined as

the plot of the magnitudes | ck |versus 
• The phase spectrum of x(t) is defined as the
plot of the anglesck  arg(ck ) versus 
• This results in line spectra which are defined
for both positive and negative frequencies
• Notice: for k  1, 2,
| ck || c k | ck  c k
arg(ck )   arg(c k )
 Example: Line Spectra

x(t )  cos(t )  0.5cos(4t   / 3)  cos(8t   / 2)

0.
0.
TRIGNOMETRIC FOURIER SERIES
CTFS of Even and Odd Function
Signal is shifted in time the magnitude of its Fourier
series coefficient remain unaltered
Differentiation forces the Fourier series coefficient for
n=0 is zero.
Integration attenuates the magnitude of high-frequency
components of signals. So its smoothing operation at the points of
oscillation.
Negative Frequency
Negative Frequency
Negative Frequency