Signals

& Systems

Sampling

EE201 Signals and Systems

Fall 2013

Prof. Tanju Erdem

Subject 1.10 Sampling

Topics
1. Sampling and Aliasing
2. Reconstruction from Samples

1. Sampling and Aliasing

Questions:
1. What is sampling?
2. What is the relationship between the Fourier transforms of a CT signal
and its sampled DT version?
3. What is aliasing?
4. What is Nyquist frequency?
5. How can aliasing be prevented?

Sampling is the process of obtaining a DT signal !" [] from a CT signal !" ():
!" [] = !" (), ! ,

where is called the sampling interval. In order to find the relationship between
the Fourier transforms of !" [] and !" () we employ an intermediate CT
signal defined as
! () = !" ()! ()

where ! () is a sequence of impulses which are separated by :
!

! () =

( )

!!!!

The above signals are depicted in the following figure:

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem

Signals & Systems

Sampling

In order to relate the Fourier transforms of !" () and ! (), we first compute
the Fourier transform of (). Since () is periodic, it has a Fourier series
representation:
!

! !"!! !

! () =

!!!!

where
2

and the coefficients are calculated as

! =

1
! =

Thus,

!!!

1
! () !!"!! ! =

1
! () =

!/!

!!!!

!!!!/!

1
( ) !!"!! ! =

!"!! !

(*)

!!!!

Now, using the above decomposition (*) of ! () into complex exponentials, we
can obtain its Fourier transform as follows:
!"!! !

2
2( ! ) ! ()

(
!!!!

2
)

Thus, the Fourier transform of a sequence of impulses in time, is also a sequence
of impulses in frequency. As the separation between impulses in time increases,
the separation between impulses in frequency decreases, so that their product
always remains 2.

Now, we are ready to relate the Fourier transforms of !" () and ! (). Using the
modulation property
1

! () = !" ()! () ! () =
() ! ()
2 !"
thus
!
!
1
2
1
2
! () = !" ()
( ) =
!" ( )

!!!!

!!!!

Next, we relate the Fourier transforms of ! () and !" []. To this effect, we first
express !" () in terms of !" ():
!

!" () =

!" []
!!!!

!!!!

!" () !!!!

!!!!

Then we express ! () in terms of !" ():

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem

Signals & Systems

Sampling

! () !!"# =

! () =

!!!!
!

!!"#

!"
!!!!

!!!!

!" ()( ) !!"#

=
!!!! !!!!
!

( ) !!"# =

!" ()
!!!!

!" () !!"#$
!!!!

!!!!

From the above two relationships, we conclude that

!" () = !

Thus, finally,
!" () = !

1
=

!"
!!!!

2
1

!"
!!!!

In conclusion, !" () is equal to the infinite sum of 2-shifted replicas of

!
!

. The above Fourier transforms are depicted in the following figure:

!"

!!
The frequency ! is called the sampling frequency (or sampling rate) ! . The
replicas of !" () will overlap if the maximum frequency ! of !" () is not less
!
!
than half the sampling rate ! . The frequency ! is called the foldover frequency
! . Any frequency of !" () which is above ! is folded-over to a frequency
which is below ! .

If the foldover frequency ! is less than the maximum frequency ! of a signal
then we say that the signal is undersampled (this will result in aliasing); if !
is more than ! , then we say that the signal is oversampled; and if ! equals
! then we say that the signal is critically sampled.

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem

Signals & Systems

Sampling

The overlapping of replicas is called aliasing. In order to prevent aliasing, the
sampling rate ! should be at least twice as large as the maximum frequency !
of the CT signal. The frequency 2! is called the Nyquist frequency (or the
Nyquist rate) ! .


Example 1.1: Let
!" () = cos 3

Find !" () for = 1/4. Will there be aliasing as a results of this sampling?

The signal !" () is bandlimited with maximum frequency 3. Thus,
Signal bandwidth: ! = 3
Nyquist frequency: ! = 6

Sampling interval is 1/4. Thus,
!!
Sampling rate: ! = !/! = 8

Foldover frequency: ! = !/! = 4

We have

! < ! or, equivalently, ! < !

thus, there will not be aliasing.

Let us calculate and draw the Fourier transforms of !" () and !" (). We have
!" () = 3 + + 3

Due to scaling:
1

!"

= 4!" 4 = 4 4 3 + 4 4 + 3

!!
!

+ +

!!
!

Then, using the sampling formula:

!

!" () =
!!!!

1
2
!"

=
!!!!

!!
!

+ 2 + +

!!
!

+ 2

The above Fourier transforms are depicted in the following figure:s

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem

Signals & Systems

Sampling

Example 1.2: Let

!" () = cos 2 +cos 5

Let = 1/4. Will there be aliasing as a results of this sampling?

The signal !" () is bandlimited with maximum frequency 5. Thus,
Signal bandwidth: ! = 5
Nyquist frequency: ! = 10

Sampling interval is 1/4. Thus,
!!
Sampling rate: ! = !/! = 8

Foldover frequency: ! = !/! = 4

We have

! > ! or, equivalently, ! > !

thus, there will be aliasing. The frequency 5 will be folded to 3. Thus, the
sampled signal will be reconstructed as
!
!"
() = cos 2 +cos 3



Example 1.3: What should be the sampling interval in Example 1.2 to prevent
aliasing?

To prevent aliasing, we must to have
1
! < ! ! > 10 <
5

Example 1.4: Suppose !" () is bandlimited and has Nyquist rate ! . What
would be the Nyquist rates of the following signals?

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem

Signals & Systems

Sampling

! () = !" () + !" ( 1)

! () = !" ()

! () = !" ! ()

! () = !" () cos !

The Fourier transforms and Nyquist rates are calculated as follows:
! () = !" () 1 + !!"

! () = !" ()

! () = !" () !" ()

! () = !" () ( ! ) + ( ! )

!,! = !

!,! = !

!,! = 2!

!,! = ! + 2!

In order to prevent aliasing during sampling, the CT signal is low-pass filtered
to limit its bandwidth to the foldover frequency.

Example 1.5: Let
!" () = cos 2 +cos 5

and = 1/4. What should be the cut-off frequency ! of the low-pass filter to
prevent aliasing during sampling?

The cut-off frequency is calculated as

! = ! = = 4

Thus, any frequencies above 4 will be eliminated by this low-pass filter and the
low-pass filtered signal will become:
!
!"
() = cos 2




2. Reconstruction from Samples

Questions:
1. What is Nyquist sampling theorem?
2. How can we reconstruct a CT signal from its samples?
3. How do we prevent aliasing during sampling?


Let !" () be a band-limited signal, i.e,
!" () = 0 for !

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem

Signals & Systems

Sampling

and let !" [] represent its samples obtained with sampling interval . The
Nyquist theorem states that, !" () can be uniquely reconstructed from its
samples !" [] if
! <
or, equivalently

2
> 2!

that is, the sampling frequency should be at least twice as large as the maximum
frequency of the CT signal. Recall that the frequency 2! is called the Nyquist
frequency (or the Nyquist rate). If the sampling frequency ! is less than the
Nyquist frequency 2! , then there will be aliasing and perfect reconstruction of
!" () from its samples !" [] will not be possible.


In order to reconstruct a CT signal !" () from its samples, we apply a low-pass
filter !" () to the DT signal with cut-off frequency equal to the foldover
frequency

! = ! =

Thus,

<
!" () =


0 elsewhere
! =

!!

The purpose of this low-pass filter is to eliminate all replicas !" ( ! )

except !" (). The low-pass filter !" () and its effect are shown in the
following figure:

Notice that the low-pass filter used for reconstruction from the DT signal is the
same as the low-pass filter applied to the CT signal to prevent aliasing.

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem

Signals & Systems

Sampling

The impulse response of the filter !" () can be calculated as
1

!" () = sinc

The reconstructed signal is obtained by summing infinitely many sinc signals

that are shifted to the locations of the samples and multiplied by the sample's
amplitude. Since the impulse response of the reconstruction filter has zeros at
multiples of (except at = 0) where the samples of the signal are located, the
amplitudes of the signal at sample locations will be preserved after low-pass
filtering. The following figure shows how the low-pass filter provides
reconstruction. In this figure we have (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) a CT signal,
its samples, low-pass filter, and reconstruction of the CT signal.

The following figure shows where the low-pass filters are used in DT processing
of CT signals.

2013 Arif Tanju Erdem