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Communications Principles
Fourier Transforms*

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Copyright Regulations 1969

Proakis Chpt 2.3 WARNING

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 Aims
• Find the Fourier Transform of a non‐periodic
Energy signal. 
• Draw the frequency spectrum for a non‐
periodic Energy signal.
• Use Parceval’s theorem to calculate power.
• Draw Power Spectrum.

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 Fourier Transform
• In the module on Fourier Series we saw how a
periodic signal could be made up by summing
harmonically related sinusoids.
• Plotting the coefficients of the Fourier series
against frequency, we obtain the Fourier
Spectrum of the signal. (Commonly called
Spectrum).

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 Fourier Transform
• Implicit in the computation of the Fourier
Series is the  period of the signal.
• What happens if the signal is not periodic?
• How can the spectrum be drawn?
• Recall that a non‐periodic signal can be
considered as a periodic signal whose period
approaches infinity.
• Using this we can define the Fourier Transform
of a non‐periodic energy signal as:
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 Fourier Transform

X ( f )  F x(t )   xt e  j 2 f 0t
dt X(f) 
Frequency 
 domain
• Note the use of the Fourier Transform
gives rise to  a continuous spectrum.
• The Fourier Series on the other hand leads
to a line spectrum
• Works for Energy Signals, be careful with
Power signals.
• may have problems with noise!!!
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 Inverse Fourier Transform

x(t )  F -1
X  f    X  f e j 2 f t
df x(t) Time
domain

• The time domain representation of the
signal can be obtained from the
frequency domain by using the Inverse
Fourier Transform.
• Proakis p79

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 Fourier Transform Pairs
• To simplify the computation of the
Fourier Transform and its Inverse the
following tables may be useful.

• Fourier Transform pairs
• Fourier Transform of Common Signals

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Example: Fourier Transform of a Single 
Rectangular Pulse
• Find the Fourier Transform for the single
rectangular pulse of width  s and amplitude A
V as shown:
Amplitude V
A

time s
Skip
-/2 0 /2 example

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Example: Fourier Transform of 
Rectangular Pulse
 A t   2  Equation of pulse
x (t)   
 0 t   2 

X ( )   x t e  j t
dt
 
 2


j
X ( )  A e  t
dt
 2

 2 sin
 2 A

sin  2
X ( )  A 
 2 Fourier Transform
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 Example: Fourier Transform of 
Rectangular Pulse
• Plot of Fourier Transform of rectangular pulse
(frequency spectrum).
Volts Hz -1
A Note Units

-  -  0   

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 Example: Fourier Transform of 
Sinusoid
x(t )  Acos(c t ) Tricky to do this way.
As this is for an energy signal

X (  )  F { x ( t )}   x t e  j t
dt
 

Re-express the cosine using Euler’s theorem

A j c t
A cos c t  e  e
2
 j c t
 e  e
2 2

A j c t A  j  c t

Using the linearity property of the FT


 A j c t
F A cos c t  F  e  e  j c t 
 
A
F e 
j c t

A
F e  
 j c t
 
2  2 2

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 Example: Fourier Transform of 
Sinusoid
Also from the transform pairs:
Need (f)
Fe  2   
j o t
0

Therefore:

F A cos c t  2   c   2   c 

A A
2 2
F A cos c t  A   c   A   c 

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 Continuous Spectrum
• The Fourier transform leads to a continuous
spectrum.
• Periodic signals have line spectra. (Fourier Series)
• May not be able to evaluate the Fourier Transform
integral from ‐∞ to +∞
• Generally need to use Impulse functions.
• We can convert a line spectrum to a continuous
spectrum by replacing the lines by impulses!!!

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 Continuous Spectrum
•Eg Continuous spectrum of Acos(c t )
F A cos c t  A   c   A   c 

Note:
Impulse not
line
A/2 A/2

-fc 0 fc f Hz

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 Power
• The instantaneous power of a signal is
given by:
v(t) 2
p(t)  v(t)i(t)   i(t) R
2

R
• If the resistance R is normalized to 1
and x(t) is used to represent either v(t) or
i(t) then the normalized power for the
signal is:
p(t)  x(t) 2

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 Power
• The normalised average power is given by:
T0 2
1
P  x (t )
2
dt
T0 T0 2

• This expression can be used to calculate the
average power developed across a 1W resistor
in the time domain. The calculation can also be
performed in the frequency domain by using
Parceval’s theorem.
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 Parceval’s Theorem
• Recall that a periodic signal can be represented
by a set of Fourier coefficients. It can be shown
that:
T0 2 Two Sided

1
P  x (t ) dt  c
2 2
n
T0 T0 2 n  

• This implies that for a periodic signal the
average power can be found in either the time
or frequency domains.

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 Parceval’s Theorem
• If a one sided spectrum is used then the
expression for the power is:
 This assumes we are


1 using the peak values
P  C02  Cn 2 of Cn.
2
n 1 Thus the factor of ½

 This assumes we are

P 
n 0
Cn 2 using the RMS
values of Cn.

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 Power Spectrum
• Spectrum which shows how a signal distributes
its power over the different frequency
components.
• Can obtain using Parceval’s theorem i.e. simply
square the amplitude of each component in the
frequency domain and divide by 2 (except for
the DC component. WHY?).

1
P =C0 +  Cn
2 2

2 n 1

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 Power Spectrum
• Eg
Magnitude Volt
10
8
6

0
0 20 60 f Hz

Average Normalised Power 50

Volt2
36 32

0
0 20 60 f Hz
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 Energy Spectral Density
• For an Energy Signal we can’t plot the
Power Spectrum. WHY?
• We can show that:
 

 
2 2
E x(t ) dt  X ( f ) df
 
• Rayleigh’s (Parceval’s) Energy Theorem.
• We call the |X(f)|2 the Energy Spectral Density and it
usually represents the energy per unit bandwidth.
• We can plot this against frequency as a spectrum.
• See Proakis p 111.
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 Energy Spectral Density of 
Rectangular Pulse
50
volts sec/Hz
2

0
-180 -91 -1 89 179
f

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Department of Telecommunications, Electrical and Robotics Engineering TNE30003
Fourier Transforms of Common Signals
Time Domain Frequency Domain
(t) 1
1 ()
e j 0 t 2 (   0 )
cos( 0t )  (   0 )   (   0 )
sin( 0t )  j (   0 )  j (   0 )

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F o u rie r T ra n s fo rm P a irs
T im e D o m a in F re q u e n c y D o m a in
L in e a rity

ax 1(t)  bx 2 (t) aX 1 ( )  bX 2 ( )
T im e S h ift
x(t  t 0 ) X(  )e  j  t 0
F re q u e n c y S h ift
(M o d u la tio n )
x(t)e j 0 t
X(    0 )
S c a lin g

x(at) 1 
X( )
a a
T im e R e v e rs a l
x(  t) X(   )
D iffe re n tia tio n
d j  X(  )
x(t)
dt
In te g ra tio n

 x(  )dt
1
X(  )   X ( 0 ) 
j
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