Discrete-time Fourier

Transform

Signal representation
Have learnt
Time-domain signal representation
Convolution representation
Applicable to both periodic and aperiodic signals

Frequency-domain signal representation

Fourier series: continuous-time, periodic signal
Fourier Transform: Continuous-time, aperiodic signal
Discrete-time Fourier series: discrete-time, periodic
signals:
Discrete-time, aperiodic signal?

Objectives
Understand the signals representations
Analyze signals using frequency domain
techniques
Aperiodic discrete-time signals
Discrete-time Fourier Transform

DTFS to DTFT

Similar to the transition from FS to

FT,
Consider the period increases
4

DTFS to DTFT

DTFS to DTFT
The normalized DTFS approaches this
limit as the period approaches
infinity.

Aperiodic Signal
Discrete-time signal
Use Discrete Time Fourier Transform to find
spectrum of non-periodic signal

X ( ) =

x[n]e

X ( ) =

jn

jwt
(
)
x
t
e
dt

n =

Calculate the DTFT of the following signal:

n
x[n]

n<0
0

0
2

1
-1

2
3

3
0

4
1

n>4
0

DTFT
n
x[n]

n<0
0

0
2

1
-1

2
3

3
0

4
1

n>4
0

X () = 2 e j + 3e j 2 + e j 4
Try 2 cases:

Signal is shifted by n0
Replace by +2m

DTFT: Signal is shifted by n0

X

new

() =

jn
x
[
n

n
]
e

n =

n
x[n]

n<0
0

n
n<n0
x[n-n0] 0

0
2

1
-1

2
3

3
0

4
1

n>4
0

n0

n0+1 n0+2 n0+3 n0+4 n> n0+4

X new () =

DTFT: Signal is shifted by n0

DTFT
X ( ) =

x[n]

x[n]e

jn

n =

x[n n0 ]

DTFT

new

() = e

jn0

X ( )

Same magnitude spectrum

10

Example

11

DTFT

Replace by +2m

X () = 2 e
X ( + 2 ) =

+ 3e

j 2

+e

j 4

DTFT is periodic with period 2

12

DTFT
X () = 2 e j + 3e j 2 + e j 4

Inverse DTFT
1
x[n] =
2
1
x[n] =
2

X ()e

jn

(2 e

+ 3e j 2 + 4e 4 j )e jn d

n = 0 x[0] =

1
2

j
j 2
4 j
(
2
3
4
)d =

+
+
e
e
e

1
2

1 j 3 j 2 4 4 j
2

+
e
e e

2j
4j
j

1 j 3 j 2 4 4 j

2
e
e
e

1
2j
4j
j
1
=
(4 ) = 2
x[0] =
1 j ( ) 3 j 2 ( ) 4 4 j ( ) 2
2
+ e
+ e
2( ) j e

j
2
4j

13

DTFT
X () = 2 e j + 3e j 2 + e j 4

Inverse DTFT
1
x[n] =
2

(2 e

+ 3e j 2 + 4e 4 j )e jn d

1
n = 1 x[1] =
2

1 2 j
3 j 4 3 j
j
3 j
j

+
+

(
2
1
3
4
)
e
e
e
d
e
e e

2 j
3j
j

14

Inverse DTFT: table

X () = 2 e j + 3e j 2 + e j 4

Inverse DTFT

[n] 1

[n N ] e jN
x[n] =

15

Exercise 1: Discrete Time

Fourier Transform
Non-periodic signal:

x[n] = 1 for n=0, 1, 2, 3 and zero otherwise

DTFT

X [] =

jn
j
j 2
j 3
[
]
1
x
n
e
e
e
e
=
+
+
+

n =

X [] = e j [...] + e 2 j [...]
...

X [] = 4 cos cos
2
16

Exercise 1: DTFT

17

DTFT
The transform pair notation x[n]X()

X () =

jn
x
[
n
]
e

n =

1
x[n] =
2

jn
(
)
X

e
d

Table of common DTFT pairs

18

Summary
Discrete Time Fourier Transform

X ( ) =

jn
x
[
n
]
e

n =

x[n] =

1
2

Discrete Time Fourier Series

jn
(
)
X

e
d

N 1

x[n] =

X [k ]e

j 2

kn
N

k =0

1
X [k ] =
N

N 1

x[n]e

j 2

kn
N

n =0

19

Summary

20

Relations Among Fourier Methods

21

Discrete Fourier Transform

22

Discrete Fourier Transform

Discrete time Fourier transform
X () =

x[n]e

jn

n =

Input: aperiodic discrete time signal

Spectrum: periodic and continuous
Sample the spectrum?

Keep some samples of the spectrum

OK to keep one period only

Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)

X [k ] =

N 1

x[n]e

n =0

j 2

k
n
N

k=0, 1,, N-1

23

Discrete Fourier Transform

X [k ] =

N 1

x[n]e

j 2

k
n
N

n =0

1
x[n] =
N

N 1

X [k ]e

j 2

k
n
N

k =0

Index k: marks the frequency

N: no of samples
DFT window: N time samples used in DFT
Example
x[0] = 2, x[1] = -1, x[2] = 3, x[3] = 3
Zero at other values
24

Discrete Fourier Transform

DTFT

X [] =

jn
j
j 2
j 3
x
[
n
]
e
=
2

e
+
3
e
+
3
e

n =

Continuous
spectrum

25

Discrete Fourier Transform

Consider N=4,
3

X [k ] =

k
j 2 n
4
x[n]e

= 2e

k
2

+ 3e jk + 3e

3k
2

n =0

k can be 0, 1, 2, and 3 only

X [0] = 2 1 + 3 + 3 = 7
X [1] =
X [2] =
X [3] =
26

Discrete Fourier Transform

Consider N=4,
3

X [k ] =

k
j 2 n
4
x[n]e

= 2e

k
2

+ 3e jk + 3e

3k
2

n =0

k can be 0, 1, 2, and 3 only

27

DTFT and DFT

DFT matches DTFT exactly, but at a finite no of points only.

DTFT: produces smooth functions of frequency,
DFT: produces sampled versions of the same spectra
28

Discrete Fourier Transform

Consider N=8,
8

X [k ] = x[n]e

k
j 2 n
8

= 2e

k
4

+ 3e

k
2

+ 3e

3k
4

n =0

k can be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 only

X [0] = 2 1 + 3 + 3 = 7
X [1] = 2 e

1
2

3
4

X [2] = 2 e
X [3] = 2 e

1
4

+ 3e

1
2

+ 3e

+ 3e j + 3e
+ 3e

3
2

+ 3e

3
4

3
2

= 0.8284 4.4142 j = 4.4913e j1.7563

= 1 + 4 j = 4.1231e j1.8158

9
4

= 4.8284 + 1.5858 j = 5.0822e j 0.3173

29

Discrete Fourier Transform

Consider N=8,
8

X [k ] = x[n]e

k
j 2 n
8

= 2e

k
4

+ 3e

k
2

+ 3e

3k
4

n =0

k can be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 only

X [4] = 2 e j + 3e j 2 + 3e j 3 = 3
X [5] = 2 e
X [6] = 2 e
X [7] = 2 e

5
4

3
2

7
4

+ 3e

5
2

+ 3e

7
2

15
4

18
4

+ 3e

+ 3e j 3 + 3e
j

+ 3e

21
4

= 4.8284 1.5858 j = 5.0822e j 0.3173

= 1 4 j = 4.1231e j1.8158
= 0.8284 + 4.4142 j = 4.4913e j1.7563
30

Discrete Fourier Transform

N=4:
N=8:

X [k ] = 7, 4.1231e + j1.8158 , 3, 4.1231e j1.8158

7, 4.4913 e j1.7563 , 4.1231 e j1.8158 , 5.0822 e j 0.3173 ,

X [k ] =
j 0.3173
j1.8158
j1.7563
3, 5.0822 e

, 4.1231e
, 4.4913e

31

x(n)

(a) A discrete-time

aperiodic signal
(b) The discrete-time
Fourier transform of
x(t) X() is
periodic with period
= 2
(c) X() is sampled at
N points, the
sampling space =
2/N
(d) The inverse
transform of X[k] is
a discrete-time
periodic signal.

0
X()

-2

N-1

DTFT

X[k]

0
xN(n)

2
N

N-1

DTFS or
DFT
0

N-1
32

Resolution in
DFT X()

-2

X [k ] =

N 1

x[n]e

j 2

k
n
N

n =0

DFT: has N points to cover a range of frequencies from 0

to 2 , each frequency separates by

2
N

Resolution/frequency
spacing of DFT

The higher the value N, the better the resolution of the

frequency spectrum.
33

Resolution Issue
Sometimes, the resolution might not be fine
enough to characterize the spectrum
Example:
DTFT

X [ ] = 1 + e j + e j 2 + e j 3 +
e j 4 + e j 5 + e j 6 + e j 7 +
e j8 + e j9
X [] =

1 e j10
1 e j
34

DTFT and DFT

DTFT

X [ ] =

1 e j10

DFT, N=10

1 e j
X [k ] =

k
9
j 2 n
10
x[n]e

n =0

1 e

1 e

2k
10
10

2
k
10

k =0
10
X [k ] =
0 otherwise

35

Improved Resolution
Increase N
E.g., N=40

k
39
j 2 n
40
x[n]e

X [k ] =

n =0

1 e

1 e

2k
10
40

2
k
40

36

Exercise 2
Five samples of a digital signal are [3
-1 0 2 1]
Find a 5-point DFT magnitude spectrum
for these samples
Zero-pad the signal to 8 points, and find
an 8-point DFT magnitude.
Compare the results

37

Exercise 2: Solution
5-point DFT

X [k ] =

k
j 2 n
5
x[n]e

n =0

magnitude spectrum
for these samples

38

Exercise 2: Solution
8-point DFT

X [k ] =

k
j 2 n
8
x[n]e

n =0

magnitude spectrum
for these samples

39

Exercise 2: Solution
Compare the results

X [] = 3 e j + 2e j 3 + e j 4
5-point

8-point

40

Fast Fourier Transform

DFT: processor intensive
Fast Fourier Transform:
Fast implementation for DFT

41

What have you learnt?

discrete-time signals representations in frequency
domain
Discrete-time Fourier Transform

Relationships among various Fourier methods

Continuous-time signal:

Periodic: Fourier series

Aperiodic: Fourier transform

Discrete-time signal:

Periodic: Discrete-time Fourier series

Aperiodic: Discrete-time Fourier transform
DFT: discrete Fourier transform
Sample the spectrum of the DTFT

42

Reference
Fundamentals of Signals &
Systems
M.J. Roberts, McGraw Hill, 2008
Chapter 11: The Discrete-Time Fourier
Transform

43