ELEC 241 Lab
Introduction
This week we are going to take a break from circuits
(well, almost) and
spend our time
looking more closely at signals.
We already have a number of
parameters to
characterize
simple, periodic
signals, such as amplitude, period, and waveshape.
But we need a way to describe more complex signals, both
periodic and non-periodic, other than by drawing pictures of them.
The way we will do that is by Fourier analysis,
specifically the
Fourier Transform.
The formula for the Fourier Transform
has an elegant simplicity to it, but actually
trying to evaluate it, for other than very simple
signals,
is an exercise in extreme computation.
Fortunately, computation is what computers
excel at, so the idea of using the Lab PC
to compute the Fourier Transform is an appealing,
and fortunately, practical one.