Fourier Series Representation

Introduction
❑ The convolution sum/integral developed for LTI systems is based on
representing signals as linear combinations of shifted impulses.
❑ To describe LTI systems based on linear combination of a set of basic signals
(complex exponentials).
❑ Based on superposition property of LTI systems, response to any input
including linear combination of basic signals is the same as that of linear
combination of the individual responses to each of the basic signals.
❑ At first, CT/DT periodic signals are described by Fourier Series.
❑ Then Fourier transform is introduced to represent aperiodic signals.
❑ If the input to an LTI system is expressed as a linear combination of periodic
complex exponentials or sinusoids, the output can also be expressed in this
form.
❑ For analyzing LTI system, the signals can be represented as a linear
combination of basic signals.
❑ The basic signals should
▪ be able to be used to construct a wide range of useful class of signals.
▪ have simple structure in LTI system response.
❑ In addition to providing spectral representations of signals, Fourier analysis is
also essential for describing certain types of systems and their properties in the
frequency domain.
As the number of coefficients
used is increased, a signal can
be approximated better and
better, as more frequency scale
factors are "discovered".
❑ A signal might be described as x(t), where "t" is time. This is referred to as the
"time domain." However, it is often useful to think of signals and systems in
the "frequency domain" where frequency, instead of time, is the independent
variable, e.g., X(f) where "f" is frequency. This brings us to the concept of
Fourier Analysis.
❑ Fourier series is just a means to represent a periodic signal as an infinite sum of sine
wave components.
❑ A periodic signal is a signal that repeats its pattern at some period.
❑ The primary reason that we use Fourier series is that we can better analyze a signal in
another domain rather in the original domain.
❑ Sometimes a signal reveals itself more in another domain.
 Fourier Series Representation of Continuous time periodic signal
There are two well known basic periodic signals, the sinusoidal signal

and complex exponential signal given as,

These are periodic with fundamental frequency ω0 and fundamental period

T0 = 2π/ω0. These signals are called periodic since x(t) = x(t+T0)
Associated with this signal are other harmonic complex exponentials, given as
They have fundamental frequencies, that are multiple of ω0 and with period
equal to T0 or a fraction of T0.
The complex exponential Fourier series representation of a periodic signal
x( t) with fundamental period T0 is given by

where ck are known as the complex Fourier coefficients and are given by

Where denotes the integral over any one period and 0 to T0 or -T0 /2
to T0/2 is commonly used for the integration.
This equation can be used to determine the Fourier Series coefficients in
the Fourier Series representation of a periodic signal.
Setting k = 0 in the above equation, we have

which indicates that c0 equals the average value of x(t) over a period.
When x(t) is real, then it follows that,
Power Content of a Periodic Signal:
The average power of a periodic signal x(t) over any period is given as,

If x(t) is represented by the complex exponential Fourier series, then it can

be shown that

This equation is called Parseval's identity (or Parseval's theorem) for the
Fourier series.
Properties of the Continuous-Time Fourier Series
Discrete Fourier series representation of a periodic signal
The Discrete Fourier Series (DFS) is an alternative representation of a
periodic sequence x with period N.
Discrete Fourier series coefficients
The DFS coefficients are obtained from the periodic signal x (the role of X and x are
permuted with a minus sign in the exponential) as:

The pairs are usually denoted as {x[n]} ←→ {X[k]}.

Note that, like the underlying sequence x, X is periodic with period N:
It is therefore common practice to only
consider one period of the sequence
{X[k]}, that is: only the N DFS
Coefficients as
X[k] for k = 0, 1, . . . ,N−1.