ENSC327

Communications Systems
6: Hilbert Transform

Jie Liang
School of Engineering Science
Simon Fraser University
1

Why Hilbert Transform?

Fourier Spectrum of real signals:

Amplitude: even function

Phase:
odd function.

Only needs to know half of the spectrum.

amp

phase

Original spectrum, DSB, and single sideband (SSB):

M(f)
f
DSB(f)
fc

-fc

Original: lowpass signal

 DSB: moved to fc and fc.
 SSB: only transmit one sideband:


USB(f)

How to get SSB?

USB: Move pos (neg) freq to fc (-fc)

LSB: Move neg (pos) freq to fc (-fc)

LSB(f)
f

The power & bandwidth can

be reduced by 50%.

How to implement this?

Roadmap
Implementation of the SSB needs analytic signal and
Hilbert transform

Proof of the Hilbert transform needs sgn(t), sgn(f),
exponential function, and duality property

The SSB signal can be written as

sssb (t ) =

m (t )

Ac
(m(t ) cos(2f ct ) m m (t ) sin (2f ct ))
2

is the Hilbert transform of m(t).

Analytic Signal (Pre-Envelope)

Decompose X(f) into positive and negative parts:

1
X ( f ) = (X p ( f ) + X n ( f ))
2
X(f)

Xp(f)

Xn(f)

1
1, f > 0,

Use sgn( f ) = 0, f = 0,
1, f < 0.

xp(t) is called analytic signal or pre-envelope of the positive frequencies.

4

xn(t) is called analytic signal or pre-envelope of the negative frequencies.

Derivation of Hilbert Transform




To get xp(t) in time domain, we need IFT of sgn(f).

To get IFT of sgn(f), we start from exponential pulse (pp. 24),
because direct calculation is not convergent (Page 47).
1
at
g (t ) = e u (t ),
G( f ) =
a + j 2f

t > 0,
1,

where u (t ) = 0.5, t = 0,
0, t < 0.

Proof:

Similarly:

g (t ) = e at u (t )

Derivation of Hilbert Transform

Signum function (pp. 47):

t > 0,
1,

sgn(t) = 0,
t = 0,
1, t < 0.

1
F{sgn(t)} =
jf

Proof: Signum function can be viewed as the limit of

e at ,
t > 0,

g(t) = 0,
t = 0, when a 0.
e at , t < 0.

(pp. 27)

g(t) can also be written as:

Its FT is thus:

a 0:

Definition of Hilbert Transform

Signum function:

By duality property:

g(t) = sgn(t)

G( f ) =

1
jf

Definition of Hilbert Transform



The Hilbert Transform (HT) of x(t) is the convolution of x(t)

with the filter h(t) = 1 / (t). The HT of x(t) is denoted as x (t )

x (t ) = x(t )

1
t

x(t)

h(t)

From the result in the last page, we see that

The HT of x(t) has the following properties:

(t ) is also real.

If x(t) is real, then x

Phases at positive frequencies are shifted by -90o.

Phases at negative frequencies are shifted by 90o.

The amplitudes of FT are not changed.

But DC component of the input is discarded!

x (t )

Some Hilbert Transform Pairs

The

HT of a cos signal is a sin signal.

x(t ) = cos(2f 0t ), f 0 > 0

x (t ) = sin(2f 0t ).

Proof:

Some Hilbert Transform Pairs

The

HT of a sin signal is -cos signal.

x(t ) = sin( 2f 0t ), f 0 > 0
x (t ) = cos(2f 0t ).

Proof:

10

Analytic Signal (Pre-envelope)



Now go back to our SSB signal:

2 X ( f ), f > 0,

X p ( f ) = X ( f ) + sgn( f ) X ( f ) = X (0), f = 0,
0,
f < 0.

X(f)

2 Xp(f)

By the HT notation, this can be written as

Taking IFT 

Note 1: The analytic signal xp(t) is a complex signal.

Note 2: Although xp(t) only has the positive freq of x(t), it has
all info about x(t), because

11

Analytic Signal (Pre-envelope)

Example:

Solution:

x(t ) = cos(2f 0t ), f 0 > 0

x p (t )= ?

This is as expected, since Xp(f) is defined to have twice of

the pos. part of X(f):

12

Analytic Signal of the Neg. Freq.



The analytic signal of the negative frequency is:

X n ( f ) = X ( f ) sgn( f ) X ( f )

By the HT notation, this can be written as

Taking IFT 




Note 1: xn(t) is also a complex signal.

Note 2: xn(t) also has all info about x(t), because

Usually we only use xp(t).

13