INTRODUCTION TO LAPLACE TRANSFORM

(A Review of Signals)
Experiment no. ______
I. OBJECTIVES
1. To illustrate basic signals by the use of MATLAB simple
programming.
II. INTRODUCTION
We encounter functions that have a continuity, or jump, at the
origin. For example, from our discussion of transients behavior, that
switching operations create abrupt changes in currents and voltages.
We can accommodate these discontinuities mathematically by
introducing the step and impulse functions.
Mathematically, a step function is defined by
Ku (t ) 0
Ku (t ) K

t 0;
t 0;

and is illustrated in Figure 1a.

If K = 1, the function is called the unit step. The step function is not
defined at t = 0. Approximation is done to solve this situation. A
discontinuity may occur at some time other than t = 0. A step that
occurs at t = a is expressed as
Ku (t a ) 0,

Ku (t a ) K ,

ta

t a.

and is illustrated in Figure 1(b).

A step function equal to K for t < a is written as Ku(a t). Thus
Ku (a t ) K ;
Ku (a t ) 0,

t a;
t a.

The discontinuity is to the left of the origin when a < 0. The illustration
is on Figure 1(c).

III. Tools and Equipment

(1)PC with MATLAB
IV. Procedure
1. Example illustrating the step function is given in Figure 1. Solving
the slopes and equations of lines gives

Figure 1 A Triangular Wave using Step Function to Plot

figure('Units', 'normalized',...
'Color', [1 1 1],...
'Position', [0.09 0.0595 0.8 0.8],...
'Name', 'Using Step Function to form Triangular Wave',...
'Numbertitle', 'off')
t = -1:0.0001:5;
f = 2*t.*(u(t) - u(t - 1)) + (-2*t + 4).*(u(t - 1) - u(t - 3)) + (2*t - 8).*(u(t 3) - u(t - 4));
plot(t, f,'linewidth', 2), grid on
title('Illustrated functions using Step Function')
xlabel('t')
ylabel('f(t)')
axis([-0.5 4.5 -2.5 2.5])

V. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS TO PONDER

1. Use MATLAB and step functions to illustrate the following plot.