Before looking at this module, one should be familiar with the
concepts of eigenfunction and
LTI systems. Recall, for
ℋ
ℋ LTI system we get the following relationship
where
ⅇst
s
t
is an eigenfunction of
ℋ ℋ. Its corresponding eigenvalue
Hs
H
s
can be calculated using the impulse response
ht
h
t
Hs=∫-∞∞hτⅇ-sτdτ
H
s
τ
h
τ
s
τ
So, using the Fourier
Series expansion for periodic
ft
f
t
where we input
ft=∑n
c
n
ⅇⅈ
ω
0
nt
f
t
n
c
n
ω
0
n
t
into the system,
our output
yt
y
t
will be
yt=∑nHⅈ
ω
0
n
c
n
ⅇⅈ
ω
0
nt
y
t
n
H
ω
0
n
c
n
ω
0
n
t
So we can see that by applying the fourier series expansion
equations, we can go from
ft
f
t
to
c
n
c
n
and vice versa, and we do the same for our output,
yt
y
t
We can think of an LTI system as shaping
the frequency content of the input. Keep in mind the basic
LTI system we presented above in Figure 2.
The LTI system, ℋ
ℋ, simply multiplies all of our Fourier coefficients
and scales them.
Given the Fourier coefficients
c
n
c
n
of the input and the eigenvalues of the system
Hⅈ
w
0
n
H
w
0
n
, the Fourier series of the output is
Hⅈ
w
0
n
c
n
H
w
0
n
c
n
(simple term-by-term multiplication).
The eigenvalues
Hⅈ
w
0
n
H
w
0
n
completely describe what a LTI system does to
periodic signals with period
T=2π
w
0
T
2
w
0
What does this system do?
ht=1RCⅇ-tRCut
h
t
1
R
C
t
R
C
u
t
What does this system do to the Fourier Series of an input
ft
f
t
?
Calculate the eigenvalues of this system
Hs=∫-∞∞hτⅇ-sτdτ=∫0∞1RCⅇ-τRCⅇ-sτdτ=1RC∫0∞ⅇ-τ1RC+sdτ=1RC11RC+sⅇ-τ1RC+s|τ=0∞=11+RCs
H
s
τ
h
τ
s
τ
τ
0
1
R
C
τ
R
C
s
τ
1
R
C
τ
0
τ
1
R
C
s
1
R
C
1
1
R
C
s
τ
0
τ
1
R
C
s
1
1
R
C
s
(1)
Now, say we feed the RC circuit a periodic (period
T=2π
w
0
T
2
w
0
) input
ft
f
t
.
Look at the eigenvalues for
s=ⅈ
w
0
n
s
w
0
n
|Hⅈ
w
0
n|=1|1+RCⅈ
w
0
n|=11+R2C2
w
0
2n2
H
w
0
n
1
1
R
C
w
0
n
1
1
R
2
C
2
w
0
2
n
2
The RC circuit is a lowpass system: it
passes low frequencies (
n
n around
0
0) and attenuates high
frequencies (large
n
n).
-
Input Signal: Taking the fourier series of
ft
f
t
c
n
=12sinπ2nπ2n
c
n
1
2
2
n
2
n
1t
1
t
at
n=0
n
0
-
System: eigenvalues
Hⅈ
w
0
n=11+ⅈRC
w
0
n
H
w
0
n
1
1
R
C
w
0
n
-
Output Signal: Taking the fourier series of
yt
y
t
d
n
=Hⅈ
w
0
n
c
n
=11+ⅈRC
w
0
n12sinπ2nπ2n
d
n
H
w
0
n
c
n
1
1
R
C
w
0
n
1
2
2
n
2
n
d
n
=11+ⅈRC
w
0
n12sinπ2nπ2n
d
n
1
1
R
C
w
0
n
1
2
2
n
2
n
yt=∑
d
n
ⅇⅈ
w
0
nt
y
t
n
d
n
w
0
n
t
What can we infer about
yt
y
t
from
d
n
d
n
?
- Is
yt
y
t
real?
- Is
yt
y
t
even symmetric? odd symmetric?
-
Qualitatively, what does
yt
y
t
look like? Is it "smoother" than
ft
f
t
? (decay rate of
d
n
d
n
vs.
c
n
c
n
)
d
n
=11+ⅈRC
w
0
n12sinπ2nπ2n
d
n
1
1
R
C
w
0
n
1
2
2
n
2
n
|
d
n
|=11+RC
w
0
2n212sinπ2nπ2n
d
n
1
1
R
C
w
0
2
n
2
1
2
2
n
2
n
"My introduction to signal processing course at Rice University."