Unit 4.

2: Fourier transforms of
commonly occurring signals
Contents
Colophon
Not e on Not at ion
Agenda
Reminder of t he Definit ions
Table of Common Fourier Transform Pairs
Some Select ed Fourier Transforms
Derivat ion of t he Fourier Transform from t he Laplace Transform
Fourier Transforms of Common Signals
Suggest ions for Furt her Reading
Summary
References

Colophon
An annot at able worksheet for t his present at ion is available as Worksheet 6.

The source code for t his page is fourier_ t ransform/2/ft 2.md.

You can view t he not es for t his present at ion as a webpage (HTML).
This page is downloadable as a PDF file.

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Note on Notation
If you have been reading bot h Karris and Boulet you may have not iced a difference in t he
not at ion used in t he definit ion of Fourier Transform:

Karris uses F (ω)

Boulet uses F (jω)

I checked ot her sources and Hsu (Schaum’s Signals and Syst ems)[Hsu, 2011] and Morrell (The
Fourier Analysis Video Series on YouTube) bot h use t he F (ω) not at ion.

According t o Wikipedia Fourier Transform: Ot her Not at ions bot h are used only by elect ronic
engineers anyway and eit her would be accept ible.

There is some advant age in using Boulet ’s not at ion F (jω) in t hat it helps t o reinforce t he idea
t hat Fourier Transform is a special case of t he Laplace Transform and it was t he not at ion t hat I
used in t he last sect ion.

In t hese not es, I’ve used t he ot her convent ion on t he basis t hat it s t he more likely t o be seen in
your support mat erials.

However, I am happy t o change back if you find t he addit ion of j useful.

You should be aware t hat Fourier Transforms are in general complex so what ever t he not at ion
used t o represent t he t ransform, we are st ill dealing wit h real and imaginary part s or magnit udes
and phases when we use t he actual transforms in analysis.

Agenda
Tables of Transform Pairs
Examples of Select ed Transforms
Relat ionship bet ween Laplace and Fourier
Fourier Transforms of Common Signals

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Reminder of the Definitions
Last t ime we derived t he Fourier Transform by evaluat ing what would happen when a periodic
signal was made periodic. Let us rest at e t he definit ions.

The Fourier Transform

In t he signals and syst ems cont ext , t he Fourier Transform is used t o convert a funct ion of t ime
f(t) t o a funct ion of radian frequency F (ω):

∞
F {f(t)} = ∫ f(t)e −jωt dt = F (ω).
−∞

The Inverse Fourier Transform

In t he signals and syst ems cont ext , t he Inverse Fourier Transform is used t o convert a funct ion
of frequency F (ω) t o a funct ion of t ime f(t):

∞
−1 1
F {F (ω)} = ∫ F (ω)e jωt dω = f(t).
2π −∞

Not e, t he fact or 2π is int roduced because we are changing unit s from radians/second t o
seconds.

Duality of the transform

Not e t he similarit y of t he Fourier and it s Inverse.

This has import ant consequences in filt er design and lat er when we consider sampled dat a
syst ems.

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Table of Common Fourier Transform Pairs
This t able is adapt ed from Table 8.9 of Karris. See also: Wikibooks: Engineering Tables/Fourier
Transform Table and Fourier Transform—WolframMat hworld for more complet e references.

Name f(t) F (ω) Remarks

1. Dirac delt a δ(t) 1 Const ant

energy at all
frequencies.

2. Time sample δ(t − t 0 ) e −jωt0

3. Phase shift e jω0 t 2πδ(ω − ω 0 )

4. Signum sgn t 2 also known as

jω sign funct ion

5. Unit st ep u 0 (t) 1
+ πδ(ω)
jω

6. Cosine cos ω 0 t π [δ(ω − ω 0 ) + δ(ω + ω 0 )]

7. Sine sin ω 0 t −jπ [δ(ω − ω 0 ) − δ(ω + ω 0 )]

8. Single pole e −at u 0 (t) 1 a>0

jω + a

9. Double pole te −at u 0 (t) 1 a>0

(jω + a) 2

10. Complex pole e −at cos ω 0 t u 0 (t) jω + a a>0

(cosine (jω + a) 2 + ω 20
component )

11. Complex pole e −at sin ω 0 t u 0 (t) ω0 a>0

(sine (jω + a) 2 + ω 20
component )

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Some Selected Fourier Transforms

Relationship between f(t) and F (ω)

In most of t he work we will do in t his course, and in pract ice, t he signals t hat we use wit h t he
Fourier t ransform will be a real cont inuous aperiodic funct ions of t ime t hat are zero when t = 0.

The Fourier t ransforms of such signals will be complex cont inous funct ions of frequency which
have real and imaginary part s and will exist at bot h posit ive and negat ive values of ω.

It is oft en most convenient t o deal wit h t he t ransformed “spect rum” by considering t he

magnit ude and phase and we will t herefore oft en plot F (ω) on t wo separat e graphs as
magnitude |F (ω)| and phase ∠F (ω) (where phase is measured in radians) plot t ed against
frequency ω ∈ [−∞, ∞] (in radians/second).

We most oft en represent t he system by it s so-called frequency response and we will be

int erest ed on what effect t he syst em has on t he signal f(t).

As for t he Laplace t ransform, t his is more convenient ly det ermined by exploit ing t he time
convolution property. That is by performing a Fourier t ransform of t he signal, mult iplying it by
t he syst em’s frequency response and t hen inverse Fourier t ransforming t he result .

Have t hese ideas in mind as we go t hrough t he examples in t he rest of t his sect ion.

The Dirac Delta

δ(t) ⇔ 1

Proof: uses sampling and sift ing propert ies of δ(t).

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Matlab:

format compact
syms t;
fourier(dirac(t))

ans =

Relat ed:

δ(t − t 0 ) ⇔ e −jωt0

DC

1 ⇔ 2πδ(ω)

Matlab:

syms t omega;
A = sym(1);
fourier(A,omega)

ans =

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 2*pi*dirac(omega)

Relat ed by frequency shift ing propert y:

e jω0 t ⇔ 2πδ(ω − ω 0 )

Cosine (Sinewave with even symmetry)

1 jω0 t
cos(t) = (e + e −jω0 t ) ⇔ πδ(ω − ω 0 ) + πδ(ω + ω 0 )
2

Not e: f(t) is real and even. F (ω) is also real and even.

Sinewave

1 jω0 t
sin(t) = (e − e −jω0 t ) ⇔ −jπδ(ω − ω 0 ) + jπδ(ω + ω 0 )
j2

Not e: f(t) is real and odd. F (ω) is imaginary andcont

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Signum (Sign)
The signum funct ion is a funct ion whose value is equal t o

⎧−1 t < 0
sgn t = ⎨ 0 x = 0
⎩
+1 t > 0

The t ransform is:

2
sgn t = u 0 (t) − u 0 (−t) =
jω

Example 4: Unit Step

Use t he signum funct ion t o show t hat

Clue
Define
⎪
This funct ion is oft en used t o model a voltage comparitor in circuit s.

F {u 0 (t))} = πδ(ω) +

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1
jω
 sgn t = 2u 0 (t) − 1

Does that help?

Proof

sgn t = 2u 0 (t) − 1

so

1 sgn t
u 0 (t) = +
2 2

From previous result s 1 ⇔ 2πδ(ω) and sgn x = 2/(jω) so by linearit y

1
u 0 (t) ⇔ πδ(ω) +
jω

QED

Graph of unit step

1
u 0 (t) ⇔ πδ(ω) +
jω

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The unit st ep is neit her even nor odd so t he Fourier t ransform is complex wit h real part
F Re (ω) = πδ(ω) and imaginary part F Im (ω) = 1/(jω). The real part is even, and t he
imaginary part is odd.

Example 5
Use t he result s derived so far t o show t hat

1
e jω0 t u 0 (t) ⇔ πδ(ω − ω 0 ) +
j(ω − ω 0 )

Hint : linearit y plus frequency shift propert y.

Example 6
Use t he result s derived so far t o show t hat

π ω0
sin ω 0 t u 0 (t) ⇔ [δ(ω − ω 0 ) − δ(ω + ω 0 )] + 2
j2 ω0 − ω2

Hint : Euler’s formula plus solut ion t o example 2.

Important note: t he equivalent example in Karris (Sect ion 8.4.9 Eq. 8.75 pp 8-23—8-24) is
wrong!

See worked solut ion for t he correct ed proof.

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Example 7
Use t he result of Example 6 t o det ermine t he Fourier t ransform of cos ω 0 t u 0 (t).

Solution to example 7

π jω
cos ω 0 t u 0 (t) ⇔ [δ(ω − ω 0 ) + δ(ω + ω 0 )] + 2
2 ω0 − ω2

Derivation of the Fourier Transform from the

Laplace Transform
If a signal is a funct ion of t ime f(t) which is zero for t ≤ 0, we can obt ain t he Fourier t ransform
from t he Laplace t ransform by subst it ut ing s by jω.

Example 8: Single Pole Filter

Given t hat

1
L {e −at u 0 (t)} =
s+a

Comput e

F {e −at u 0 (t)}

Solution to example 8

1
jω + a

Boulet gives t he graph of t his functSkip

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Example 9: Complex Pole Pair cos term
Given t hat

s+a
L {e −at cos ω 0 t u 0 (t)} =
(s + a) 2 + ω 20

Comput e

F {e −at cos ω 0 t u 0 (t)}

Solution to example 9

jω + a
(jω + a) 2 + ω 20

Boulet gives t he graph of t his funct ion.

Fourier Transforms of Common Signals

We shall conclude t his session by comput ing as many of t he t he Fourier t ransform of some
common signals as we have t ime for.

rect angular pulse

t riangular pulse
periodic t ime funct ion
unit impulse t rain (model of regular sampling)

I will not provide not es for t hese, but you will find more det ails in Chapt er 8 of Karris and
Chapt er 5 of Boulet and I have creat ed some worked examples (see Canvas and t he OneNot e
not ebook) t o help wit h revision.

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Suggestions for Further Reading
Boulet has several int erest ing amplificat ions of t he mat erial present ed by [Karris, 2012]. You
would be well advised t o read t hese. Part icular highlight s which we will not have t ime t o cover:

Time mult iplicat ion and it s relat ion t o amplit ude modulat ion (pp 182—183).
Fourier t ransform of t he complex exponent ial signal e (α+jβ)t wit h graphs (pp 184—187).
Use of inverse Fourier series t o det ermine f(t) from a given F (jω) and t he “ideal” low-
pass filt er (pp 188—191).
The Dualit y of t he Fourier t ransform (pp 191—192).

Summary
Tables of Transform Pairs
Examples of Select ed Transforms
Relat ionship bet ween Laplace and Fourier
Fourier Transforms of Common Signals

References
See Bibliography.

Next Section

The Fourier Transform for Syst ems and Circuit Analysis

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Unit 4.1: Defining the Fourier Unit 4.3: Fourier Transforms for
Transform Circuit and LTI Systems
Analysis