Fourier Series

Experiment no. ____

I. Objective
1. To demonstrate Fourier series by using MATLAB
2. To use Simulink block diagram to illustrate Fourier series
II Introduction1
Though not all signals used in communication systems are strictly periodic in
nature, but they are often close enough for practical purposes. Our sound voice consists
of complex sinusoidal signal, and most of the sound that we can hear is complex in nature
consisting of many frequencies with varying amplitudes. Any well-behaved periodic
waveform can be represented as a series of sine and/or cosine waves at multiples of its
fundamental frequency (called harmonics) and sometimes a dc offset. This was
discovered by a French mathematician Joseph Fourier in 1822. Fourier says that any
periodic signal can be represented by summation of sine or cosine waveforms. With the
help of Fourier series we can also indicate the amplitude of signal at particular frequency.
With this very helpful mathematical tool, we can look at the same signal with two
different domain the time domain and frequency domain. Studying them will yield vast
information about a particular signal.
Mathematically, Fourier series in time domain can be expressed as
f(t) = Ao/2 + A1 cos t + B1 sin t + A2 cos 2t + B2 sin 2t + A3 cos 3t + B3 sin 3t +
+ An cos nt + Bn sin nt
Where f(t) = any well-behaved function of time.
An and Bn = real-number coefficients
= radian frequency of the fundamental
The radian frequency is the reciprocal of one period designated as T (capital T as oppose
to t to mean time domain expression)
f = 1/ T
In the example below, the half-wave signal is done by adding the instantaneous values of
several of the sine waves in the frequency-domain representation. If enough of these
components are included, the result begins to look like the half-wave signal that we are
after of.
In communication system, reconstructing a signal from frequency domain to time
domain it is very important to get the correct phase relationship between frequency
components, otherwise the signal during reconstruction will be distorted.
However, there is limitation in constructing the original signal the bandwidth of
transmission channel, whether it is cables or space. In general, the wider the bandwidth,
the better, but acceptable results can be obtained with a band-limited signal. Increasing
the bandwidth requirement means higher cost and that bandwidth may be in short supply
as there are more demand. In telephony employing cables, whether it be electrical or
optical means, the total bandwidth of a given cable is fixed by the technology employed.
The more bandwidth used by each signal, the fewer signals can be carried by the cable.
1

Include in your Telephony design as part of your Review of Related Literature

Consequently, some services are constrained by cost and/or government regulation to use
less than optimal bandwidth. For example, telephone systems use about 3 kHz of
baseband bandwidth for voice. This is obviously not distortionless transmission: the
difference between a voice heard live, in the same room, and the same voice heard over
the telephone is obvious. High-fidelity audio needs at least 15 kHz of baseband
bandwidth. On the other hand, the main goal of telephone communication is the
understanding of speech, and the bandwidth used is sufficient for this. Using a larger
bandwidth would contribute little or nothing to intelligibility and would greatly increase
the cost of nearly every part of the system (Blake, 2002).
III. Equipment and Tools
(1) PC
(1) MATLAB software with Simulink
IV. Procedure
1. A half-wave signal and its derived Fourier series are given below. You will
examine the true and experimental waveform by changing the number of
harmonics contained in the signal.
V
V
2V n
1
v (t ) m m sin t m
* cos nt

2
2,even 1 n 2

2. Copy and run the program given below.

t = 0.05:0.01:3*T;
T = 2*pi;
omega = 2*pi/T; k = 2;
Vm = 5;
V1_t = Vm/pi + Vm/2*sin(omega.*t);

V2_t = zeros(size(t));
V2_true = zeros(size(t));
j = 100;
for n = 2:2:k
V2_t = 2*Vm/pi*(1/(1-(n^2))*cos(n*omega.*t))+ V2_t;
end
for n = 2:2:j
V2_true = 2*Vm/pi*1/(1-n.^2)*cos(n*omega.*t)+ V2_true;
end
V_ttest = V1_t + V2_t;
V_ttrue = V1_t + V2_true;
plot(t, V_ttest,'r',t, V_ttrue,'b','linewidth',1.5), grid on
xlabel('t,sec'), ylabel('v(t)')
3. Draw the output waveforms. The blue-colored waveform is the actual signal and
the red-colored waveform is the experimental. You will notice that there is only 2
harmonics in the signal (the fundamental and the second harmonics, k = 2 in the
program) which resulted in inaccurate signal.

4. Try run the program with k = 20. What do you notice?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Run the Simulink from MATLAB toolbar. Set up the block diagram from your
Simulink workspace. You can look for the name of element(s) on the FIND
toolbar, such as sine, constant, gain, summer, scope (simply scope not a floating
scope). Drag them to Simulink workspace then connect each element. Parameter
values are given below.
PARAMETERS:
Sine
Amplitude: 5
Bias: 0
Frequency (rad/sec): 1
Phase: 0 (use pi/2 for cosine)
Sample time: 0.0001

Gain:
Gain: 1/pi
Sum
List of sign: +++++++ (7 plus)
Follow the formula and create the simulink block elements. Double-click the
scope and run the simulink. You will observe the waveform of half-wave signal.

6. Given below is the Fourier series representation of a full-wave rectified signal.

Modify the sample program above to simulate a full-wave rectified signal. Run
your program in MATLAB workspace and see if it gives the signal representation.
2Vm 4Vm n
1
v(t )

cos nt

2, even 1 n 2

7. Work the full-wave rectified signal using Simulink, run and test it. Draw your
simulink element and output below.

8. Build the Simulink element of a triangular signal. Sketch the output waveform as
seen in your scope. Also draw the simulink elements.
8V n 1
v (t ) 2m 2 cos nt
1, odd n