Lecture # 07:

Introduction to Fourier Transform:

Transforms:

 Mathematical transformations are applied to signals to obtain a

further information from that signal that is not readily available
in the raw signal.

 There are number of transformations that can be applied,

among which the Fourier transforms are probably by far the
most popular.
Time Domain:

 Time domain is a term used to describe the analysis of

mathematical functions, or physical signals, with respect to
time.

 In the time domain, the signal or function's value is known

at various discrete time points; or for all real numbers, for
the case of continuous time.

 An oscilloscope is a tool commonly used to visualize real-

world signals in the time domain.
Time Domain:

 The frequency is measured in cycles/second, or with a more

common name, in "Hertz".

 For example the electric power we use in our daily life in the
US is 60 Hz (50 Hz elsewhere in the world).

 This means that if you try to plot the electric current, it will be
a sine wave passing through the same point 50 times in 1
second.
 Now, look at the following figures. The first one is a sine wave
at 3 Hz, the second one at 10 Hz, and the third one at 50 Hz.
Lets, Compare them.
Time Domain:
Frequency Domain:

 Frequency domain is a term used to describe the analysis of

mathematical functions or signals with respect to frequency.

 Speaking non-technically, a time domain graph shows how a

signal changes over time, whereas a frequency domain graph
shows how much of the signal lies within each given frequency
band over a range of frequencies.

 A frequency domain representation can also include

information on the phase shift that must be applied to each
sinusoid in order to be able to recombine the frequency
components to recover the original time signal.
Frequency Domain:

 The frequency axis starts from zero, and goes up to infinity.

For every frequency, we have an amplitude value.

 For example, if we take the FT of the electric current that we

use in our houses, we will have one spike at 50 Hz, and
nothing elsewhere, since that signal has only 50 Hz frequency
component.

 No other signal, however, has a FT which is this simple. For

most practical purposes, signals contain more than one
frequency component.

 The following shows the FT of the 50 Hz signal:

Frequency Domain:
Time Domain Vs Frequency Domain
 Fourier transform:

“An arbitrary function, continuous or with

discontinuities, defined in a finite interval by an
arbitrarily capricious graph can always be expressed
as a sum of sinusoids”
J.B.J. Fourier

Jean B. Joseph Fourier

December, 21, 1807
(1768-1830)
 Fourier transform:

Original Signal Constituent Sinusoids of different frequencies

Fourier transform:
 The Fourier transform is a certain linear operator that maps
functions to other functions.

 Loosely speaking, the Fourier transform decomposes a function

into a continuous spectrum of its frequency components, and
the inverse transform synthesizes a function from its spectrum
of frequency components.

 In mathematical physics, the Fourier transform of a signal x(t)

can be thought of as that signal in the "frequency domain."
Fourier transform:

 For example the following signal

 x(t)=cos(2*pi*10*t)+cos(2*pi*25*t)+cos(2*pi*50*t)
+cos(2*pi*100*t)

is a stationary signal, because it has frequencies of 10, 25,

50, and 100 Hz at any given time instant.

 This signal is plotted below:

Complex Signal Representation:
Frequency Components:
Fourier transform:
 If f(x) is a continuous function of a real variable x, then the
Fourier Transform of f(x), denoted by ,   f(x) is defined by the
equation:

 f(
 x
) F
(
u)
f(x
)
ej
2ux
dx 1



 Given F(u), f(x) can be obtained by using the inverse Fourier

Transform:
f(x)
1
F(
u ) 2

F(
u )exp 
 j2  du
ux



Eq (1) and (2) are collectively called as Fourier Transform Pair

Fourier transform:

 As Fourier transform is Complex function, it can be stated as:

F(u) = R(u) + j I(u) 3

 Where R(u) and I(u) are, respectively, the real and imaginary
components of F(u).
Fourier transform:
 It is often convenient to express eq: 3 in exponential form:

F
(
u)F
(
u
)
e j(u
)
4

Where:
F
(
u)R
(
u
)I(
u) 2 2 1/2
 5

and:
I(u)
(
u ) 
1
tan 
6
R(
u )

 The magnitude function F(u) is called the Fourier Spectrum of

f(x) and (u) its phase angle.
Fourier transform:
 The square of the spectrum, is often referred as ”Power
Spectrum” of f(x).

 Another common term used is “Spectral Density”

2
P
()
u F(
u)

= R2(u) + I2(u)
Fourier transform:
 The variable “u” appearing in the Fourier transform is often
called as “Frequency Variable”.

 This arises from the fact, that, If we expand the exponential

term by using Euler’s formula, it is:

j2ux=Cos(2πux) – jSin(2πux)
e
 If we interpret the Integral in Eq:(1) as a limit-summation of
discrete terms, it is evident that F(u) is composed of an Infinite
sum of Sine & Cosine terms, and that each value of “u”
determines the frequency of its corresponding sine-cosine pair.
Fourier transform:

Fig (a) Fig (b)

Fourier transform:
 Consider the function as shown in the Fig. (a) Its Fourier
transform is obtained from Eq. (1) as follows:


F
(u
)f(
x) 
exp
j
2  dx
ux



X
A  j2
exp   dx
ux
0


j
2
A
u

j
 e 0 e
2ux

X 

j
2
A
u

j
2

uX
1  

For simplification Multiply & Divide by ejuX

 Fourier transform:

 
 A  
 ej

uX j
e uX
ejuX
j
2 u

 
A j
uX  
 e 
ejuX
ejuX
j
2 u

Aj
(
u
e
uX
e
juX
)
/2j
e
juX


As  i
(
e
e

i
)
/
2i 
sin
===> F
(u
)
A

 sin(
uX
)
e
juX


u
Fourier transform:
 So we have obtained the Fourier transform, that is
Frequency Domain representation :

 As F(u) is a complex term, we can find out the Fourier

Spectrum by:

A
F
(
u 
) sin(
uX
)
e
juX


u

AX

sin(uX )
uX

A Plot of F(u) is shown in Fig (b)

above.
2-D Fourier transform:
 The Fourier transform can be easily extended to a
function f(x, y) of two variables.

 If f(x, y) is continuous and F (u, v) is integrable, we

have that the following Fourier Transform pair :

F
(
u,v
) f(
 x,y
)
F
(
u,v
)

 f(x
,y )

[
exp
j
2(
ux
vy
)]
dxdy 7
 

f(x
,y)1F(u
,v)
 (ux

f(x
,y) F(u,v)e
[j2 vy)]
dudv 8

2-D Fourier transform:
 As in the one –dimensional case. , the Fourier spectrum,
phase, and power spectrum, respectively, are:

F
(
u,
v)
2
R(
u,
v)

2 1/2
I(
u,
v)  9

I(
u,v )

(u )
,v tan
 

1 10

R(
u ,v)

22 2
P
(
u
,v
)
F(
u
,)
v R
(
u,
v),
I(
uv) 11
2-D Fourier transform:

Figure.2 (a) A two-dimensional function. (b) It’s a

Fourier spectrum and (c) the spectrum displayed as an
intensity function.
2-D Fourier transform:
 Consider the function as shown in the Fig. 2(a) Its Fourier
transform is obtained from Eq. (1) as follows:

F
(
u,
v)

f
(x,
y)

[j
2(
uxvy
)]
exp dxdy 1



X
 
exp
j2 
ux
y
dx 
exp
0 j2vy
dy2   
0
2-D Fourier transform:

 j2
uxX
 
j2
vyY
e e
A  

 j
2 
u 
0
j
2 
u0
3

1 uX 1
 
 e 
j
2 j
2

uY
A [
 1
] [
e

1
] 4

j2
u j2
u


 
sin(
AXY
uX
)
e
j
2 

uX 
j
sin(
uY
)e
2

uX
5

 
uX



 uY 

2-D Fourier transform:
AsF(u,v) is a complex term, we can find out the Fourier
Spectrum by:

F
(
u,
v)

AXY

sin(
uX
)  6
sin(
uY
)  

 
uX

 
uY
  
Short Comings in Fourier
Transform

 Fourier Analysis based on overlapping of Sines and

Cosines.

 Extend to Infinity and are Non Local.

 Poor at Approximating Sharp Spikes and Discontinuities.