CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-1

7. Sampling Theorem
Sampling is a process for converting an analog signal into a discrete-
time sequence, which can be digitally stored and processed. This is x t  :

what is done in CD, DVD and Blue Ray recording, and it is also done t
to your voice signal for transmission over a radio channel by your Ts
digital cell Phone.
xn : 4 2 -3 3.5 -2 4.5 1.5
In practice, when we sample an analog signal x  t  , we capture the
4 4.5
value of the signal at every T s seconds to produce a discrete-time 3.5
xs  t  : 2 1.5
sequence, x n  x  nT s  . 
t
-2
-3
Now suppose we sample x  t  by multiplying it with an impulse train to form

x s  t   x  t     t  nT s    x  nT s    t  nT s   x n   t  nT s  , (7.1)
n n n
im p u ls e s am p lin g

which is a continuous-time signal. It can be shown that the spectrum of x n is equal to the spectrum (or
Fourier transform) of x s  t  . We shall make use of this equivalence to examine the mechanism of signal
sampling and reconstruction in the continuous-time and -frequency domains, which leads to the Nyquist
sampling theorem. To aid our discussion on signal reconstruction, we begin by introducing the notion of
idealized filters.
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-2

7.1 Idealized Filters

Electronic filters are analog circuits which perform the function of removing unwanted frequency
components from a signal and/or enhancing wanted ones.

For continuous-time LTI systems, the spectrum of the output signal is obtained by multiplying the
spectrum of the input signal with the frequency response of the system. Thus, filters are essentially
systems that exhibit some sort of frequency-selective behavior.

The band of frequencies passed by a filter is referred to as the pass-band, and the band of frequencies
rejected by a filter is called the stop-band.

An idealized filter, also known colloquially as a "brick-wall filter", is one that has full transmission in
the pass-band, and complete attenuation in the stop-band, with abrupt transitions. Two such filters are
described below.

 Ideal Low-Pass Filter (LPF) pass-band

A
H f 
 f  stop-band
Frequ en cy respon se : H  f   A rect  
 2B  B 0 B f
Im pu lse respon se : h  t   2 AB sin c  2 B t  h t 
2AB

Cu toff frequ en cy  B an d w id th  B 0 t
 1 1
2B 2B
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-3

 Ideal Band-Pass Filter (BPF)

Frequ en cy respon se : stop- pass-band

H f  band
  f  fo   f  f o  A stop-
H  f   A  r ect    r ect  B  band
  B   
Im pu lse respon se :  fu  fo  fl 0 fl fo fu  f
h  t   2 AB sin c  B t  cos  2 f ot  B

Upper Cu toff frequ en cy  f u 2AB

h t  1 fo
L ow er Cu toff frequ en cy  f l
t
Cen ter frequ en cy  f o  0.5  f u  f l 
B an d w id th = B = f u  f l 1 1
B 0 B

Ideal filters can be realized mathematically by multiplication in the frequency domain or, equivalently,
convolution in the time domain. Real-time filters can only approximate this ideal since the filter is non-
causal and has an infinite delay. One such real-time filter is the Butterworth filter, which is discussed in
Chapter 8.

Ideal filters are commonly found in conceptual demonstrations or proofs, such as the sampling theorem
where ideal LPF and BPF are used to demonstrate the perfect reconstruction of the original analog signal
from its sampled form.
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-4

7.2 Continuous-time Sampling and Reconstruction of Signals

Ts  t   Ts  f 
Ideal LPF Ideal LPF
x t  x̂  t  X f   H f X̂  f 

x s t   h t  
Xs f  

 
 Sampling  Sampling frequency f s  1  2 f m 
 Ts 

t x t  X f 
0  fm 0 fm f

 

1  fs
T s  t  T s  f 
T s 0 Ts t   fs 0 fs f

T s 0 Ts  t xs  t  Xs f 
 fs  fm 0 fm fs f
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-5

 Reconstruction

T s 0 Ts  t xs  t  Xs f 
 fs  fm 0 fm fs f

 
2 fm K
K
h t 
 H f 
0 t   fm 0 fm f
1  2 f m  1  2 fm 

t x̂  t  X̂  f 
0  fm 0 fm f

What if sampling frequency f s  1  2 fm ?

Ts
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-6

 LPF
Sampling frequency  1  2f 
 f s m 
 Ts 
 Spectral images overlap. This is called
frequency aliasing.
 fm 0 fm f
 Perfect reconstruction is not possible.
 fs fs
 1  2f  LPF
 Sampling frequency f s  m 
 Ts 
 Gaps appear between spectral images
due to oversampling.
 Perfect reconstruction is possible.  fs  fm 0 fm fs f
 Relaxes LPF design.  fs 2 fs 2

Conditions for perfect reconstruction :

 x  t  must be bandlimited : X  f   0; f  fm  
  
 Sampling rate of x  t  : fs  2 fm 

 K ; f  f m    This leads to the Nyquist Sampling Theorem
 H f    
Reconstruction LPF :  0; f  f m 
 H  f  
 L in ear  
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-7

Nyquist Sampling Theorem

1. A band-limited signal of finite energy, which has no frequency components higher

than W Hz, may be completely described by specifying the values of the signal at

instants of time separated by 1 secs.

2W

2. A band-limited signal of finite energy, which has no frequency components higher

than W Hz, may be completely recovered from a knowledge of its samples taken at
the rate of 2W samples/sec.

' 2W ' is called the Nyquist Sampling Frequency or Nyquist Rate.

CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-8

Example 7-1:
A signal x  t   s in c 2  2 t  is sampled at 8 Hz to produce the sampled signal x s  t  . Sketch
the spectra of x  t  and x s  t  . Can x  t  be perfectly reconstructed from x s  t  using an
ideal low-pass filter? If “yes”, specify the filter. What is the Nyquist sampling frequency
for x  t  ?

From Fourier transform table:

 A tri  t T   AT sinc 2  fT  .

Letting T  2 and A  0.5 , we get

0.5 tri  t 2   sinc 2  2 f  .

Applying the Duality property of the Fourier transform,

 
X  f    sin c 2  2 t   0.5 t r i  f 2  .

The sampled signal and its spectrum are, respectively, given by

       
 s 
x t  x   
t  t  n 8    s 
X f  X    
f   t  n 8  
 n   and   n  
     
  sin c 2
   
2 t  t  n 8    0.5 tri  f 2  8    f  8k  

 n    k  
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-9

X f  
0.5

-2 0 2 f  Hz 

Xs f  
4


-16 -8 -6 -2 0 2 6 8 16 f  Hz 

Yes, x  t  can be perfectly reconstructed from x s  t  using an ideal low-pass filter.

H f  
K
Reconstruction filter
2 B 6 K 1 8


B 0 B f  Hz 

Nyquist sampling frequency for x  t  is 2  2  4 Hz

CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-10

7.3 Sampling Band-limited Bandpass Signal below Nyquist Rate

Consider the signal spectra X1 ( f ) and X2( f ) . What are their Nyquist sampling frequencies?
Since both their highest nonzero frequency is at 11 Hz, The Nyquist sampling frequency for them are both
22 Hz. Is that the lowest sampling frequency allowing perfect reconstruction?

X1 ( f )

-7 -9 -11 0 7 9 11
f / Hz

X2( f )

-7 -9 -11 0 7 9 11
f / Hz

In the analysis of sampling process, the sampled signal spectrum consists of multiple copies of the original
spectrum and they are separated by one sampling frequency f s . In order to avoid aliasing in reconstruction,
sampling frequency f s should be selected such that there is no overlap among all those spectrum copies.
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-11

The spectrum X1 ( f ) has two parts which are not symmetric and with a band gap in between. If the
spectrum of X1 ( f ) can be duplicated as the figure below, it can be reconstructed by going through an (ideal)

bandpass filter with cut-off frequencies fl  7 Hz and fu  11 Hz. (What is the gain for this ideal bandpass
filter?)
X 1s ( f ) 12 Hz

….
…. 12A

-11 -9 -7 -5 -3 -1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11
f / Hz
12 Hz

The corresponding sampling frequency is 12 Hz which is lower than Nyquist sampling frequency 22 Hz.
The same sampling and reconstruction process can be applied to sample signal X 2 ( f ) . Is it possible to find

an even lower sampling frequency for X 2 ( f ) since it is symmetric? If their images are fully overlapped after
sampling, their magnitude accumulates proportionally which leads to possible lower sampling frequencies.
Such spectrum extension X 2s ( f ) with fully overlapped images is shown in the figure next page where the
sampling frequency is selected as f s  4.5 Hz. To reconstruct the X 2 ( f ) from X 2s ( f ) , we can use an ideal

bandpass filter with gain 1


1
and cut-off frequencies fl  7 Hz, fu  11 Hz.
2 fs 9
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-12

X 2s ( f )

…. 9A ….

-7 -9 -11 -2.5 -4.5 -6.5 -2 0 2 2.5 4.5 6.5 7 9 11

f / Hz
4.5 Hz
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-13

In general, if x  t  is a band-limited bandpass signal, it is possible to sample x  t  below Nyquist rate and
yet achieve perfect reconstruction using a bandpass reconstruction filter.
Suppose the spectrum X  f  of x  t  is as shown below:
B B

 fc 0 fc f

 Nyquist rate: f s  2 f c  B (7.2)

 Is it possible to sample a bandpass signal below Nyquist rate and yet achieve perfect signal
reconstruction? The answer is YES, if f c  B .
There are two possible scenarios.
2 fc 2 f 
(a) Overlapping spectral images : fs  ; k  1, 2, ,  c (7.3a)
k  B 
Assumption: The +ve and -ve frequency bands
are symmetric about f c and  f c , respectively

2 fc  B 2f  B 2 f  B 
(b) Un-aliased spectral images :  fs  c ; k  1, 2, ,  c  (7.3b)
k 1 k  2B 
where   denotes integer floor.
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-14

Example 7-2(a): Lowest sampling frequency with overlapping spectral images

A signal has center frequency f c  24 Hz  and bandwidth B  8 Hz  . What are the possible
sampling frequencies (below Nyquist rate) that allow for perfect signal reconstruction?
Solution:
Nyquist rate:  24  4   2  56 Hz  .
From (7.3a): f s  2  24 ; k  1, 2, ,  2  24 
k  8 
f s  48 ; k  1, 2, , 6
k
Possible sampling frequencies : f s  48, 24, 16, 12, 9.6, 8 Hz
Lowest sampling frequency : f s  8 Hz
Spectrum of ORIGINAL SIGNAL
-48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48  f
Images due to the ve frequency
(a)
part of the original spectrum
Images due to the ve frequency
(b)
part of the original spectrum

Spectrum of SAMPLED SIGNAL

(a+b)
f s  12 Hz

-48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48  f

CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-15

Example 7-2(b): Lowest sampling frequency with un-aliased spectral images

A signal has center frequency f c  24 Hz  and bandwidth B  8 Hz  . What are the possible
sampling frequencies (below Nyquist rate) that allow for perfect signal reconstruction?

Solution:
Nyquist rate:  24  4   2  56 Hz  .
From (7.3b): 2  24  8  f s  2  24  8 ; k  1, 2, ,  2  24  8 
k 1 k  2  8 
56  f  40 ; k  1, 2
k 1 s
k
wit h k 1 wit h k 2
Possible sampling frequencies : 28  f s  40 or 18.67  f s  20 Hz
Lowest sampling frequency : f s  18.67 Hz

Spectrum of ORIGINAL SIGNAL

-52 -43 -33 -24 -14 -5 0 5 14 24 33 43 f

Spectrum of SAMPLED SIGNAL

f s  19 Hz
-52 -43 -33 -24 -14 -5 0 5 14 24 33 43 f
CG2023 Signals & Systems Page 7-16

Example 7-2(c): Reconstruction filter

Specify an ideal filter for reconstructing the x  t  in Examples 7-2(a) & (b) from its sampled versions.
Solution:
The ideal filter should be bandpass and have the following specifications:

1; 20  f  28
H f   and H  f  L in ear
0; otherwise


Remarks:
When a bandpass signal is sampled at Nyquist rate, an ideal lowpass filter may also be used to
reconstruct the signal from its samples. However, this will require higher sampling rate and also lead to
a significant reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio at the filter output, and is thus not usually practised.

-24 0 24 f
Spectrum of ORIGINAL SIGNAL

Ideal LPF
Ideal BPF

-80 -56 -32 -24 0 24 32 56 80 f

Spectrum of SAMPLED SIGNAL f s  56 Hz  N yq u i st Ra te