Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Frequency Analysis of Continuous Signals

Fourier Transform
The Fourier transform is a linear operator that maps a functional space to another
functions space and decomposes a function into another function of its frequency
components.
Like periodic signals, aperiodic signals also can be represented in the frequency
domain. However, unlike the discrete spectrum of the periodic case, we have a
continuous spectrum for the aperiodic case; that is, the frequency components
constituting a given signal x (t ) lie in a continuous range (or ranges), and quite often
this range could be (−∞, ∞) .
The Fourier transform (FT) is a mathematical function that transforms a signal
from the time domain x(t), to the frequency domain, X(f). The time to frequency
domain transformation is given by:

Equivalently, the Inverse Fourier Transform may be used to convert a signal from
the frequency domain to the time domain as follows:

When the Fourier transform is to be expressed in terms of the angular frequency

(rad/sec) rather than the frequency (Hz) the conversion is achieved by letting
dw=2πdf ,Therefore Eqs. (1) and (2) when written in terms of ω take the form

…………………………………………(1)

.…………………………………………(2)

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

The functions x(t) and X(f) are said to Fourier transform pair, where X(f) is the
Fourier transform of a time function x(t), and x(t) is the Inverse Fourier transform
(IFT) of a frequency-domain function X(f).

Example One

Fourier transform for the signal

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Example Two

Consider the signal:

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Example Three

Find the Fourier Transform of S(f) for the signal shown in Figure.
s S(t)
Solution A t ( tp
p t
) A

0 0 t t

( this means that Fourier Transform S(f) equal zero at frequencies f= n/tp)
S
A tp S (f)
(
f
)

- -1/tp
1 1/tp
/ f
1
t
2 2/tp f
/
t p
/
t
5
p p
 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Properties of the Continuous Time Fourier Transform

1. Linearity
The F.T. is linear:

2. Scaling Property
If

Then

3. Time-Shift Property
If

Then

In other words, a shift in time corresponds to a change in phase in the F.T.

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

4. Frequency-shift Property
This property forms a basis for every radio and TV transmitter in the world. It
simply states that if

Then

But we can multiply by . Using linearity we get

What we get out is two images in the frequency domain, at positive and
negative frequencies. This is called (amplitude modulation).
5. Convolution Property
If

Then

(where is convolution) and

6. Time Differentiation

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Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

7. Time Integration

Table (1): some basic Fourier Transform Pairs

f(t) F(w)

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Example Four

Find the spectrum of sinusoid:

Solution

Example Five

Prove that the Spectrum of a Rectangular Pulse is Sinc Function

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Solution

The Fourier transform of a rectangular pulse as shown in Fig. of duration T second

can be obtained as

S(t)

S(f)

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Figures bellow illustrate some basic signals and it´s Fourier Transform:

Figure: (a)Rectangular , (b)sin x/x and (c)Triangular signals

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Example Six

Find the Fourier transform for the signal shown in Fig.

Solution X(t)
x
( t
tp
tp
t p
A
This signal is the signal of example (3) ) A

shifted by .

0 t t t0
t0 tt
0
Using delay property

Example Seven

Use the time-shifting property to find the Fourier Transform of the function

solution

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

g(t) is a pulse of width 2 and can be obtained by shifting the symmetrical rectangular
pulse by 4 units to the right.

This signal become similar the signal in Example one where Fourier transform equal

By substituting 1 instead of T1 to satisfy the Eq. of

Then the Fourier transform become

After this using time-shift property

Hence by putting t0=4 in the time shift theorem

Solution without using time-shift property

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 Signals & Systems Lecture Three Lecturer: Dr.Manal Khadhim.

Parseval's Relation
If x(t) and X(w) are a Fourier transform pair, then

……………………….……………… (3)

This expression, referred to as Parseval's Relation , follows from direct application of

Fourier transform . specifically ,

Reversing the order of integration gives

But the bracketed term is simply the Fourier transform of x(t); thus,

The quantity on the left side of eq.(3) is the total energy in the signal x(t). Parseval's
Relation, eq.(3), says that this total energy may be determined either by computing
the energy by unit time and integrating over all time, or by computing the

energy by unit frequency and integrating over all frequencies. For

this reason is often referred to as the energy-density spectrum of the signal.

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