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LearnEMC:Time/FrequencyDomainRepresentationofSignals

Time/FrequencyDomain
RepresentationofSignals
Electrical signals have both time and frequency domain representations. In the time domain, voltage or current is
expressed as a function of time as illustrated in Figure 1. Most people are relatively comfortable with time domain
representations of signals. Signals measured on an oscilloscope are displayed in the time domain and digital
informationisoftenconveyedbyavoltageasafunctionoftime.

Figure1.Timedomainrepresentationofanelectricalsignal.
Signalscanalsoberepresentedbyamagnitudeandphaseasafunctionoffrequency.Signalsthatrepeatperiodicallyin
timearerepresentedbyapowerspectrumasillustratedinFigure2.Signalsthataretimelimited(i.e.areonlynonzero
forafinitetime)arerepresentedbyanenergyspectrumasillustratedinFigure3.

Figure2.Powerspectrumofaperiodicsignal.

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Figure3.Energyspectrumofatimelimited(transient)signal.
Frequency domain representations are particularly useful when analyzing linear systems. EMC and signal integrity
engineersmustbeabletoworkwithsignalsrepresentedinboththetimeandfrequencydomains.Signalsourcesand
interference are often defined in the time domain. However, system behavior and signal transformations are more
convenientandintuitivewhenworkinginthefrequencydomain.

LinearSystems
Linearsystemtheoryplaysakeyroleintheengineeringanalysisofelectricalandmechanicalsystems.Engineersmodel
awidevarietyofthingsincludingcircuitbehavior,signalpropagation,couplingandradiationaslineartransformations.
Therefore,itisimportanttoreviewexactlywhatwemeanbyalinearsystemsothatwerecognizehowandwhentotake
advantageofthepowerfullinearsystemanalysistoolsavailabletous.
Fig.4illustratesasystemwithoneinput,x(t),andoneoutput,y(t)=H[x(t)].Ifaninput,x1(t)producesanoutputy1(t),
andaninputx2(t)producesanoutputy2(t),thenthesystemisalinearsystemifandonlyif,
(1)
whereaandbareconstants.Inotherwords,scalingtheinputbyaconstantwillproduceanoutputscaledbythesame
constantandcombining(summing)twoinputswillproduceanoutputthatisthesumoftheoutputsproducedbythe
individualinputs.

Figure4:Alinearsystem.

QuizQuestion
Whichofthefollowingequationsdescribestherelationshipbetweentheoutputy(t)andtheinputx(t)
ofalinearsystem?
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a.)y=5x
b.)y(t)=0
c.)y=8x+3
d.)y=x2
e.)y(t)=5tx(t)
f.)y=sinx

Ofthechoicesabove,onlya,bandgarelinearsystemtransformations.y=0isnotaveryinterestingsystem,becauseits
outputisalwayszero,butitislinear.Simplederivativeandintegraloperatorsarelinear,becausetheysatisfythe
conditionsinEquation(1).Theremainingchoicesarenotlinearoperations.Notethaty=8x+3istheequationofa
straightline,butitdoesnotdescribealinearsystembecauseithasanonzerooutputwhenthereisnoinput.

FrequencyDomainAnalysisofLinearSystems
Linearsystemshavetheuniquepropertythatanysinusoidalinputwillproduceasinusoidaloutputatexactlythesame
frequency.Inotherwordsiftheinputisoftheform,
(2)

.
thentheoutputwillhavetheform,
.

(3)

In general, the magnitude and phase of the sinusoidal signal may change, but the frequency must be constant. This
providesuswithaverypowerfulanalysistoolforanalyzinglinearsystems.Ifwerepresentaninputsignalasthesumof
its components in the frequency domain, then we can express the output as a simple scaling of the magnitudes and
shiftingofthephasesofthesecomponents.
PhasorNotation
To facilitate the analysis of linear system responses to sinusoidal inputs, it is convenient to represent signals in an
abbreviatedformknownasphasornotation.Consideraninputoftheform,
(4)

.
Thiscanberepresentedas,

(5)
.
where Re{ } indicates the real part of a complex quantity. Recognizing that the frequency will be the same
throughout the system, we don't need to specifically write the term ejt as long as we remember that it's there. The
sameappliestotheRe{}notation.Thisallowsustoexpressasinusoidalsignalsimplyintermsofitsmagnitudeand
phaseas,
.

(6)

Theexpressionin(6)isthesignalin(4)expressedusingphasornotation.Notethatwemustknowthefrequencyofa
signalinordertocovertfromphasornotationtothetimedomainrepresentation.

QuizQuestion
Writethefollowingsignalsusingphasornotation:
a.)x(t)=5cos(wt)volts
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b.)y(t)=5sin(wt)amps
c.)z(t)=5tsin(wt)volts

Thefirstsignalexpressedinphasornotationissimplyx=5volts.Toobtainthephasornotationforthesecondsignal,
werecognizethatsin(t)=cos(t+/2)soy=5ej(/2).Thethirdsignalisnotasinusoidandthereforecannotbe
expressedusingphasornotation.
FourierSeries
Ofcoursemanyoftheinputstolinearsystemswewouldliketoanalyzearenotsinusoidal.Inthiscase,itisdesirableto
represent more arbitrary signal waveforms as a sum of sinusoidal frequency components. We then analyze each
componentindividuallyandapplytheconceptofsuperpositiontoreconstructtheoutputsignal.
AperiodicsignalcanberepresentedasasumofitsfrequencycomponentsbycalculatingitsFourierseriescoefficients.
AperiodicsignalwithperiodTcanbewritten,
(7a)
.
where
(7b)
.
Ifx(t)isarealtimedomainsignal,thecoefficientscnandcnarecomplexconjugates(i.e.
Equation(7)intheform,

)andwecanrewrite
(8)

.
In this form, we see that the Fourier series coefficients consist of a DC component, c0, and positive harmonic
frequencies, n0 (n = 1,2,3, ). This is a onesided Fourier series and the coefficients,
amplitudesofthefrequencyharmonicsthatwouldbemeasuredusingaspectrumanalyzer.

, correspond to the

A few periodic signals and their frequency domain representations are illustrated in Figure 5. The frequency domain
representation of a periodic signal is a line spectrum. It can only have nonzero values at DC, the fundamental
frequency, and harmonics of the fundamental. Because periodic signals have no beginning or end, nonzero periodic
signalshaveinfiniteenergybutgenerallyhavefinitepower.Thetotalpowerinthetimedomainsignal,
(9)
.
isequaltothesumofthepowerineachfrequencydomaincomponent,
(10)
.

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Figure5.Periodicsignalsinthetimeandfrequencydomain.

Example1:FrequencyDomainRepresentationofaPulseTrain
DeterminethefrequencydomainrepresentationforthepulsetrainshowninFigure6.

Figure6:Apulsetrain.
Inthetimedomainthissignalisdescribedbythefollowingformula:
(E1)
.
ThecoefficientsoftheFourierseriesarethencalculatedusingEquation(7b)as,
(E2)

.
Note that as
, our time domain signal looks like an impulse train and the amplitudes of all the harmonics
approachthesamevalue.As
,thesignalbecomesasquarewaveandthemagnitudeoftheharmonicsbecomes,
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(E3)

.
Inthiscase,theamplitudeoftheevenharmonicsiszeroandtheoddharmonicsdecreaselinearlywithfrequency(n).
FourierTransform
Transient signals (i.e. signals that start and end at specific times) can also be represented in the frequency domain
usingtheFouriertransform.TheFouriertransformrepresentationofatransientsignal,x(t),isgivenby,
(11)

TheinverseFouriertransformcanbeusedtoconvertthefrequencydomainrepresentationofasignalbacktothetime
domain,
(12)
.
SometransienttimedomainsignalsandtheirFouriertransformsareillustratedinFigure7.

Figure7.Transientsignalsinthetimeandfrequencydomain.
Notethattransientsignalshavezeroaveragepower(whenaveragedoveralltime),buttheyhavefiniteenergy.Thetotal
energyinatransienttimedomainsignalisgivenby,
(13)

.
Thismustequalthetotalenergyinthefrequencydomainrepresentationofthesignal,

(14)
.

FrequencyDomainRepresentationofaTrapezoidalSignal
Let's examine the frequency domain representation of the periodic trapezoidal waveform illustrated in Figure 8.
Examining the behavior of this waveform helps us to gain insight into the relationship between time and frequency
domainrepresentationsingeneral.Also,thesimilaritybetweenthetrapezoidalwaveformandcommondigitalsignal
waveformswillbeusefulwhenweinvestigateEMCorsignalintegrityproblemswithdigitalsystems.

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Figure8.Atrapezoidalwaveform.
UsingtheonesidedFourierseries,Equations(7b)and(8),wecanrepresentthissignalasthesumofitsfrequency
components[1],
(15)
.
where
(16)

.
Equation (16) can be derived by noting that the trapezoidal waveform in Figure 7 can be obtained by convolving the
pulsetraininFigure9withanotherpulsetrainwhosepulseshaveawidth,tr,andanamplitudeA/tr.Convolutioninthe
time domain is equivalent to multiplication in the frequency domain, so we can simply multiply the two frequency
domainrepresentationsofthesepulsetrainstoobtainEquation(16).
Each term

, , is the amplitude of the nth harmonic. If we assume that tr<<T, we note that the third term is

approximatelyequalto
forthelowerharmonics.If
(i.e.a50%dutycycle),thenthenumeratorof
thesecondtermis1fortheharmonics(n=1,3,5,)and0fortheevenharmonics(n=2,4,6,).Theamplitudeofthe
lowerharmonicsistheninverselyproportionalton(i.e.theamplitudeofthelowerharmonicsdecreasesproportional
tothefrequency).Athigherharmonics,thethirdtermalsobeginstodecreaseproportionaltofrequency,sotheoverall
amplitude of the upper harmonics decreases on average at a rate proportional to the square of the frequency. This
frequencyrepresentationofatrapezoidalsignal

anditsenvelopeareillustratedinFigure9.

Figure9:FrequencyDomainrepresentationofatrapezoidalsignal

Example2:HarmonicsofaTrapezoidalSignal
ThewaveformshowninFigure10belowismeasuredonanoscilloscopeinthelab.Theriseandfalltimesare0.8ns.
a.)Whatisthefundamentalfrequency?
b.)Calculatetheamplitudesoftheharmonicsat50MHz,150MHz,250MHzand1.55GHz.
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Iftheriseandfalltimesareincreasedto1.6nanoseconds,thenbyhowmanydBwilltheharmonicsat50MHz,
150MHz,250MHzand550MHzbereduced?

Figure10.TrapezoidalwaveformforExample2.
Noting that the period is 20 nsec, the fundamental frequency is easily determined to be
.
Thereforewearebeingaskedtodeterminetheamplitudesofthe1st,3rd,5thand11th harmonics. Applying Equation
(16)forn=1,3,5and11wegettheamplitudesoftheseharmonics,

.
None of these harmonics are significantly affected by the risetime. They have virtually the same amplitude that they
would have had if the risetime had been zero. Increasing the risetime to 1.6 ns however, significantly affects the
amplitudeoftheupperharmonics,

.
Doublingtherisetimefrom0.8to1.6nsreducesthefirstharmonicbyonly
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.Thethirdharmonic
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is reduced by
harmonicisreducedby

LearnEMC:Time/FrequencyDomainRepresentationofSignals

. The fifth harmonic is reduced by

, while the eleventh

Notethatchangingtherisetimecanhaveasignificanteffectontheamplitudeoftheupperharmonicswithoutchanging
thetimedomainrepresentationofthesignalsignificantly.RadiatedEMIorcrosstalkproblemsattheupperharmonic
frequenciesofadigitalsignalcanoftenbesolvedbyincreasingtherisetimeofthedigitalsignalwaveform.Generally,a
risetime that is equal to 10% of a bit length or more will still produce a very good digital signal while significantly
limitingtheamplitudeofasignalatfrequenciesabovethe10thharmonic.
Updatesorcorrectionstothiswebpageshouldbeemailedtowebmaster@LearnEMC.com.
ReturntoLearnEMCTutorialsPage.

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