3/7/2005 Phase and Frequency.

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Phase and Frequency

Consider the trig functions sinx and cosx.

Q: What are the units of x ??

A: The units of x must be radians.

In other words x is phase φ , i.e., cos φ and sin φ.

Phase can of course be a function of time, i.e., cos φ (t ) . For

example:
cos (ω 0t + φ0 )

In other words, the signal phase φ (t ) is φ (t ) = ω 0t + φ0 !

Q: What the !?! I always

thought “phase” was φ0 ,
not ω 0t + φ0 !

A: Time for some definitions!

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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We call φ( t ) = ω 0t + φ0 the total, or absolute phase of the

sinusoidal signal. Note the total phase is a linearly increasing
function of time !

φ( t )

ω 0t + φ0
φ0
t

The slope of this line is ω 0 , while the y-intercept is φ0 .

We can define the relative phase φr( t ) as:

φr (t ) = φ (t ) − ω0t

Thus, if φ (t ) = ω0t + φ0 , then φr( t ) = φ0 .

But, the relative phase need not be a constant. In general, we

can write:
cos ⎡⎣ω 0t + φr( t ) ⎤⎦

Therefore, the relative phase is in general some arbitrary

function of time.

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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Q: O.K., so you have

made phase really
complicated, but at
least the signal
frequency is still ω 0 ,
right ??

A: Wrong ! Frequency too is a little more complicated

than you might have imagined.

Angular frequency is defined as the rate of (total) phase

change with respect to time. As a result, it is measured in units
of radians/second.

How do we determine the rate of phase change with respect to

time?

We take the derivative of φ (t ) with respect to t !

I.E.,

d φ (t )
ω (t ) = (radians/sec)
dt

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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For example, if φ( t ) = ω 0t + φ0 , then:

d ( ω 0t + φ0 )
ω( t ) = = ω0
dt

Q: See! I told you! The

frequency is ω 0 after all !

A: Not so fast! The frequency (i.e., the rate of phase

change) is equal to ω 0 only if total phase is
φ( t ) = ω 0t + φ0 . In other words, the frequency is equal
to ω 0 if the relative phase is a constant φ0 . Otherwise:

d [ω0t + φr (t ) ]
ω (t ) =
dt
d (ω0t ) d φr (t )
= +
dt dt
d φ (t )
= ω0 + r
dt
= ω0 + ωr (t )

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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In other words, the total frequency ω (t ) is the sum of the

carrier frequency ω 0 and the relative frequency ωr( t ) .

The signal frequency can change with time !

Remember, we can also express frequency in cycles/second (i.e.,

Hz) if we divide by 2π .

ω (t )
f (t ) = (Hz)
2π

Therefore, we can write:

f ( t ) = f0 + fr( t )

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS