Signals and Systems HW1 Solution

Ming-Fu Tang
March 14, 2014

1. The output signal of a system is expressed as



Z t
y(t) = cos wc t +
x( )d ,

where x(t) denotes the input signal and wc is a real-valued constant. Please answer
the following question and justify your answer.
(a) Is this system linear? (10%)
(b) Is this system time-invariant? (10%)
(c) Is this system causal? (10%)
Answer:
(a) We let x1 (t) and x2 (t) denote two input signals and their output signals are
denoted as y1 (t) and y2 (t), respectively. Now we define a new input signal as
x3 (t) , ax1 t + bx2 (t), the resulting output signal:


Z t


y3 (t) = cos wc t +
ax1 ( ) + bx2 ( ) d



Z t
Z t
= cos wc t + a
x1 ( )d + b
x2 ( )d





Z t
Z t
6= cos wc t + a
x1 ( )d + cos wc t + b
x2 ( )d

= ay1 (t) + by2 (t).

This system is NOT linear.
(b) We define an input signal as x (t) = x(t + s), the resulting output signal:


Z t

y (t) = cos wc t +
x( + s)d



Z t+s
6= cos wc (t + s) +
x( + s)d .

This system is NOT time-invariant.

(c) Since the output of this system at any time depends on the values of the input
signal at present and past times, this system is causal.
2. Consider a recursive system which is described by the equation
y[n] = y[n 1] + x[n],
where x[n] denotes the input signal, y[n] denotes the output signal and is a realvalued constant. We assume y[0] = 1 and y[n] = 0 when n < 0.
(a) Please find the impulse response h[n]. (hint: we may obtain the impulse response at the output by letting x[n] = [n].) (20%)
(b) Is the system causal and memoryless? Justify your answer. (10%)
(c) If || < 1, please show that the system is BIBO stable. (10%)
1

Answer:
(a) The output signal:
y[n] = y[n 1] + x[n]




= [n 2] + x[n 1] + x[n] = 2 y[n 2] + x[n 1] + x[n]


= 3 y[n 3] + 2 x[n 2] + x[n 1] + x[n]
..
.
n1
X
= n y[0] +
k x[n k], since y[0] = 1
k=0

= n +

n1
X

k x[n k].

(1)

k=0

To obtain the impulse response, we let x[n] = [n], (1) becomes

h[n] =

n
X

k [n k] = n u[n].

(2)

k=0

(b) Based on (2), we may write the output signal as:

y[n] =

n
X

k x[n k].

k=0

This system is NOT memoryless but causal.

(c) We let the input be bounded in magnitude such that |x[n]| < B for all n, then
the output signal:
|y[n]| B
= B

k=

|h[k]|
k u[k]

k=

B
, || < 1
1
<
=

This system is BIBO stable.

3. Consider a system is the cascade of two LTI systems with finite-duration input signal
x(t) whose duration is T1 (i.e. x(t) 6= 0 when 0 t < T1 and x(t) = 0, else), the
block diagram is drawn as below.

The impulse response of system 1 is written as

h1 (t) =

(t nT1 ).

n=

(a) Is the output signal z(t) periodic? Justify your answer. (15%)
(b) If the impulse response of system 2, denoted as h2 (t), is a periodic signal with
period T2 , find the period of output signal z(t). (15%)
NOTE:
This question is not well-conditioned.
Therefore, the grade of this question should be given away.
Answer:
(a) We assume the impulse response of system 2, denoted as h2 (t), is not a periodic
signal. The output signal:
z(t) = y(t) h2 (t)

X


=
(t nT1 ) x(t) h2 (t)

(3)

n=

We let f (t) x(t) h2 (t), (3) becomes:

z(t) =

f (t nT1 )

n=

= z(t + T1 ).
Therefore, z(t) is a periodic signal.
(b) Given that y(t) = y(t + T1 ) and h2 (t) = h2 (t + T2 ), h2 (t) can be written as:
h2 (t)

h2 (t)

(t mT2 ),

m=

where h2 (t) is a signal with finite-duration T2 . Consequently, the output signal

z(t) can be written as:


 X
z(t) = x(t) h(t)

(t nT1 mT2 )

m= n=

f (t)
=

(t nT1 mT2 )

m= n=

f (t nT1 mT2 ),

m= n=

where f (t) , x(t)h(t) and is a function with finite-duration T1 +T2 . Therefore,

the period of z(t) is expressed as:


T = min |aT1 + bT2 | , where a, b Z.
3