College of Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Signals and Systems
Lecture #5&6: Fourier Series Representation of Periodic Continuous-Time Signals
Prepared by:
Dr. Ahmed Hassan M.
Associate Professor
[Link]@[Link]
Introduction.
Signals are represented as superposition's of complex sinusoids
which leads to a useful expression for the system output and
provide a characterization of signals and systems.
Example in music, the orchestra is a superposition of sounds
generated by different equipment having different frequency
range such as string, base, violin and ect. The same example
applied the choir team.
Study of signals and systems using sinusoidal representation
is termed as Fourier Analysis introduced by Joseph Fourier
(1768-1830).
There are four distinct Fourier representations, each applicable to
different class of signals.
2
A signal is defined as a function of time representing the
evolution of a variable.
Certain types of signals have the special property of
remaining basically invariant under the action of linear time-
invariant systems.
Such signals include sinusoids and exponential functions of
time. These signals can be linearly combined to form virtually
any other signal, which is the basis of the:
Fourier series representation of periodic signals
Fourier transform representation of aperiodic signals.
The Fourier representation opens up a whole new interpretation
of signals in terms of their frequency contents, called their
frequency spectrum.
Furthermore, in the frequency domain, a linear time-invariant
system acts as a filter on the frequency spectrum of the input
signal, attenuating it at some frequencies while amplifying it at
other frequencies. This property is called the frequency
response of the system.
These frequency domain concepts are fundamental in electrical
engineering, as they underpin the fields of communication
systems, analog and digital filter design, feedback control, power
engineering, etc.
LINEAR COMBINATIONS OF HARMONICALLY
RELATED COMPLEX EXPONENTIALS
orthogonal set:
DETERMINATION OF THE FOURIER SERIES
REPRESENTATION OF A CONTINUOUS-TIME
PERIODIC SIGNAL
(4.11)
Example #1
f(t) f t a0 an cos 2nt bn sin 2nt
n 1
1
2 2
t
e-t/2 1
a0
0
e dt e 1 0.504
2
0
2
t
cos 2nt dt 0.504
2
• Fundamental period
an
0
e 2
2
1 16n
T0 = 8n
t
sin 2nt dt 0.504
2
bn e 2
2
• Fundamental frequency 0 1 16 n
f0 = 1/T0 = 1/ Hz an and bn decrease in amplitude as n .
w0 = 2/T0 = 2 rad/s
f t 0.5041
2
cos 2 nt 4 n sin 2 nt
n 1 1 16n
2
Example #2
f(t) f t a0 an cos(π n t ) bn sin π n t
n 1
A a0 0 (by inspection of the plot)
an 0 (because it is odd symmetric)
1 0 1 1/ 2
2
-A bn
2 A t sin(π n t ) dt
1 / 2
3/ 2
2
• Fundamental period (2 A 2 A t ) sin(π n t ) dt
1/ 2
T0 = 2
• Fundamental frequency 0 n is even
8 A
f0 = 1/T0 = 1/2 Hz bn 2 2 n 1,5,9,13,
n
w0 = 2/T0 = rad/s 8 A n 3,7,11,15,
n 2 2
Example #3
f(t)
1
2 /2 /2 2
1
• Fundamental period C0
2
T0 = 2
0 n even
• Fundamental frequency Cn 2
n odd
n
f0 = 1/T0 = 1/2 Hz
w0 = 2/T0 = 1 rad/s 0 for all n 3,7,11,15,
n
n 3,7,11,15,
GRAPH OF THE FOURIER SERIES
COEFFICIENTS: THE LINE SPECTRUM
Line spectrum of the
sawtooth signal.
PROPERTIES OF CONTINUOUS-TIME
FOURIER SERIES
that is, a convolution of the two sequences of spectral coefficients.
FOURIER SERIES OF A PERIODIC
RECTANGULAR WAVE
FOURIER SERIES OF A PERIODIC
TRAIN OF IMPULSES
We can calculate the Fourier series coefficients of the impulse train
by using the formula
PARSEVAL THEOREM
This result basically states that the total average power of a signal can be
computed using its frequency domain representation
We can compute the average power of a signal in different
frequency bands. It makes the Parseval theorem very useful
to, for example, electrical engineers trying to figure out the
power losses of a signal transmitted over a communication
channel at various frequencies.
POWER SPECTRUM
TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION
STEADY-STATE RESPONSE OF AN
LTI SYSTEM TO A PERIODIC SIGNAL
If the periodic input signal is an unit-amplitude rectangular wave of duty
cycle, then the output signal will have its Fourier series coefficients bk given
by: