Fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing

Nathan Henry and Nicholas Cemenenkoff

Let's draw a squiggly line that doesn't intersect itself with a pencil. Then we'll take a blue pen and place four or ve dots anywhere along the pencil line and connect each dot. Comparing the lines created a zig-zagging geometric line and a free-owing, spontaneous line - we see that they don't exactly match up. The blue line sort of follows the squiggle's path, but obviously not exactly. But what if we drew the rst pencil squiggle, but then created a blue line comprised of 50 dots? The blue line would look much more like the squiggle. 200 dots? It'd probably just be made of dots and t almost exactly. In essence, adding more dots increases the amount of data derived from the pencil squiggle, the signal. Digital signal processing is the art of converting a continuously changing analog waveform into a series of discrete digital levels. Much like adding blue dots on a pencil line, the analog waveform is sliced into equal segments and the resulting waveform amplitude is measurable from the middle of each segment. Figure 1: A Pencil Squiggle and a Blue Line 

breaking it down into a linear combination of the basis vectors such that
f (x) = a1 e1 + + an en

Approaching the subject mathematically, let's say we are given a function space V with basis = {b1 , ... , bn }, and within this space we want to approach, or approximate the analog function f () by

In fact, Fourier was the one to rst come up with a groundbreaking theorem for this type of problem, and in it he proves that any continuous, periodic signal can be approximated as a sum of sines and cosines. So let's use those as our basis vectors and try to solve for the cocients, a1 , ... ., an . With a Fourier series, we are going to try to write a series representation for f (x) on L x L in the form,

f ( x) =
n=0

An cos

nx nx + Bn sin L L n=1

From our background in dierential equations and calculus, we see that a Fourier series is, in some way, a combination of the Fourier sine and Fourier cosine series. For now, it's not critically important to know if the series will actually converge to f (x), but we'll just assume it does. Next, we need to determine the coecients An and Bn . Now, cutting some corners here but bear with me, imagine the graphs of sine and cosine. They are perfectly opposite by inspection. It's a little long, but it's relatively simple to prove that the sets are mutually
nx nx and cos L L n=1 n=1 orthogonal on the interval L x L. The specic formulas for this principle are if n = m = 0 L 2L nx mx cos cos dx = L if n = m = 0 L L L 0 if n = m sin

sin
L

mx nx sin dx = L L

L 0

if n = m if n = m
mx L

So let's start o by multiplying both sides of the series above, f (x), by cos L to L.

and integrating from

f ( x) =
n=0

An cos

nx nx + Bn sin L L n=1
L

mx f (x) cos dx = L L

nx mx An cos cos dx + L L L n=0

Bn sin
L n=1

nx mx cos dx L L

Integral signs are just fancy summation symbols. So let's change them around just for shits and giggles.

f (x) cos
L

mx dx = An L n=0

cos
L

nx mx cos dx + Bn L L n=1

sin
L

nx mx cos dx L L

Now we'll take advantage of the fact that the sines and cosines are mutually orthogonal. The integral in the second series will always be zero and in the rst series, the integral will be zero if n = m. This reduces to

f (x) cos
L

mx dx = L

Am (2L) Am (L)

if n = m = 0 if n = m = 0

Solving for Am gives

A0 = 1 = L
L

1 2L

f (x) dx
L

Am

f (x) cos
L

mx dx L

m = 1, 2, 3, ...
mx L

Now, do it all over again, ya varmint! But this time, multiply both sides by sin sides from L to L and interchange the integral and summation to get
mx dx = An f (x) sin L L n=0
L

. Integrate both

nx mx sin dx + Bn cos L L L n=1

sin
L

nx mx sin dx L L

In this case the integral in the rst series will always be zero and the second will be zero if n = m and so we get

f (x) sin
L

mx dx = Bm (L) L

Finally, solving for Bm gives,

Bm 1 = L
L

f (x) sin
L

mx dx L

m = 1, 2, 3, ...

With Fourier sine and Fourier cosine series, since the functions are conveniently even, it's quite easy to show a reduced form of the coecients in terms of an integral from 0 to L. However, since this Fourier series, or Fourier transform is arbitrary, we have no idea whether f (x) is even, odd, or neither. So there it is right there! 2