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UnderstandingFFTsandWindowingNationalInstruments

UnderstandingFFTsandWindowing
PublishDate:may04,2015

Overview

Learnaboutthetimeandfrequencydomain,fastFouriertransforms(FFTs),andwindowingaswellashowyoucanusethem
toimproveyourunderstandingofasignal.ThistutorialispartoftheInstrumentFundamentalsseries.
TableofContents

1.UnderstandingtheTimeDomain,FrequencyDomain,andFFT
2.Windowing
3.Summary
4.AdditionalInstrumentationResources
1.UnderstandingtheTimeDomain,FrequencyDomain,andFFT

TheFouriertransformcanbepowerfulinunderstandingeverydaysignalsandtroubleshootingerrorsinsignals.Althoughthe
Fouriertransformisacomplicatedmathematicalfunction,itisntacomplicatedconcepttounderstandandrelatetoyour
measuredsignals.Essentially,ittakesasignalandbreaksitdownintosinewavesofdifferentamplitudesandfrequencies.
Letstakeadeeperlookatwhatthismeansandwhyitisuseful.

AllSignalAretheSumofSines

Whenlookingatrealworldsignals,youusuallyviewthemasavoltagechangingovertime.Thisisreferredtoasthetime
domain.Fourierstheoremstatesthatanywaveforminthetimedomaincanberepresentedbytheweightedsumofsines
andcosines.Forexample,taketwosinewaves,whereoneisthreetimesasfastastheotherorthefrequencyis1/3the
firstsignal.Whenyouaddthem,youcanseeyougetadifferentsignal.

Figure1.Whenyouaddtwosignals,yougetanewsignal.

Nowimagineifthatsecondwavewasalso1/3theamplitude.Thistime,justthepeaksareaffected.

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Figure2.Adjustingtheamplitudewhenaddingsignalsaffectsthepeaks.

Imagineyouaddedathirdsignalthatwas1/5theamplitudeandfrequencyoftheoriginalsignal.Ifyoucontinuedinthis
fashionuntilyouhitthenoisefloor,youmightrecognizetheresultingwaveform.

Figure3.Asquarewaveisthesumofsines.

Youhavenowcreatedasquarewave.Inthisway,allsignalsinthetimedomaincanberepresentedbyaseriesofsines.

Althoughitisprettyneatthatyoucanconstructsignalsinthisfashion,whydoyouactuallycare?Becauseifyoucan
constructasignalusingsines,youcanalsodeconstructsignalsintosines.Onceasignalisdeconstructed,youcanthen
seeandanalyzethedifferentfrequenciesthatarepresentintheoriginalsignal.Takealookatafewexampleswhere
beingabletodeconstructasignalhasprovenuseful:

Ifyoudeconstructradiowaves,youcanchoosewhichparticularfrequencyorstationyouwanttolistento.
Ifyoudeconstructaudiowavesintodifferentfrequenciessuchasbassandtreble,youcanalterthetonesor
frequenciestoboostcertainsoundstoremoveunwantednoise.
Ifyoudeconstructearthquakevibrationsofvaryingspeedsandstrengths,youcanoptimizebuildingdesignstoavoid
thestrongestvibrations.
Ifyoudeconstructcomputerdata,youcanignoretheleastimportantfrequenciesandleadtomorecompact
representationsinmemory,otherwiseknownasfilecompression.

DeconstructingSignalsUsingtheFFT

TheFouriertransformdeconstructsatimedomainrepresentationofasignalintothefrequencydomainrepresentation.
Thefrequencydomainshowsthevoltagespresentatvaryingfrequencies.Itisadifferentwaytolookatthesamesignal.
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Adigitizersamplesawaveformandtransformsitintodiscretevalues.Becauseofthistransformation,theFourier
transformwillnotworkonthisdata.Instead,thediscreteFouriertransform(DFT)isused,whichproducesasitsresultthe
frequencydomaincomponentsindiscretevalues,orbins.ThefastFourier(FFT)isanoptimizedimplementationofa
DFTthattakeslesscomputationtoperformbutessentiallyjustdeconstructsasignal.

TakealookatthesignalfromFigure1above.Therearetwosignalsattwodifferentfrequenciesinthiscase,thesignal
hastwospikesinthefrequencydomainoneateachofthetwofrequenciesofthesinesthatcomposedthesignalinthe
firstplace.

Figure4.Whentwosinewavesofequalamplitudeareadded,theyresultintwospikesinthefrequencydomain.

Theamplitudeoftheoriginalsignalisrepresentedontheverticalaxis.IfyoulookatthesignalfromFigure2abovewhere
therearetwodifferentsignalsatdifferentamplitudes,youcanseethatthemostprominentspikecorrespondstothe
frequencyofthehighestvoltagesinesignal.Lookingatasignalinthetimedomain,youcangetagoodideaofthe
originalsignalbyknowingatwhatfrequenciesthelargestvoltagesignalsoccur.

Figure5.Thehighestspikeisthefrequencyofthelargestamplitude.

Itcanalsobehelpfultolookattheshapeofthesignalinthefrequencydomain.Forinstance,letstakealookatthe
squarewaveinthefrequencydomain.Wecreatedthesquarewaveusingmanysinewavesatvaryingfrequenciesas
such,youwouldexpectmanyspikesinthesignalinthefrequencydomainoneforeachsignaladded.Ifyouseeanice
rampinthefrequencydomain,youknowtheoriginalsignalwasasquarewave.

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Figure6.Thefrequencydomainofasinewavelookslikearamp.

Sowhatdoesthislooklikeintherealworld?Manymixedsignaloscilloscopes(MSO)haveanFFTfunction.Below,you
canseewhatanFFTofasquarewavelookslikeonamixedsignalgraph.Ifyouzoomin,youcanactuallyseethe
individualspikesinthefrequencydomain.

Figure7.TheoriginalsinewaveanditscorrespondingFFTaredisplayedinthetopimage,whilethebottomimageisa
zoomedinportionoftheFFTwhereyoucanseetheindividualspikes.

Lookingatsignalsinthefrequencydomaincanhelpwhenvalidatingandtroubleshootingsignals.Forinstance,sayyou
haveacircuitthatissupposedtooutputasinewave.Youcanviewtheoutputsignalontheoscilloscopeinthetime
domaininFigure8below.Itlooksprettygood!

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Figure8.Ifthesetwowaveswereadded,theywouldlooklikeaperfectsinewavebecausetheyaresosimilar.

However,whenyouviewthesignalinthefrequencydomain,youexpectonlyonespikebecauseyouareexpectingto
outputasinglesinewaveatonlyonefrequency.However,youcanseethatthereisasmallerspikeatahigherfrequency
thisistellingyouthatthesinewaveisntasgoodasyouthought.Youcanworkwiththecircuittoeliminatethecauseofthe
noiseaddedatthatparticularfrequency.Thefrequencydomainisgreatatshowingifacleansignalinthetimedomain
actuallycontainscrosstalk,noise,orjitter.

Figure9.LookingattheseeminglyperfectsinewavefromFigure8,youcanseeherethatthereisactuallyaglitch.

2.Windowing

AlthoughperforminganFFTonasignalcanprovidegreatinsight,itisimportanttoknowthelimitationsoftheFFTandhowto
improvethesignalclarityusingwindowing.

WhatisWindowing

WhenyouusetheFFTtomeasurethefrequencycomponentofasignal,youarebasingtheanalysisonafinitesetof
data.TheactualFFTtransformassumesthatitisafinitedataset,acontinuousspectrumthatisoneperiodofaperiodic
signal.FortheFFT,boththetimedomainandthefrequencydomainarecirculartopologies,sothetwoendpointsofthe
timewaveformareinterpretedasthoughtheywereconnectedtogether.Whenthemeasuredsignalisperiodicandan
integernumberofperiodsfilltheacquisitiontimeinterval,theFFTturnsoutfineasitmatchesthisassumption.

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Figure10.Measuringanintegernumberofperiods(top)givesanidealFFT(bottom).

However,manytimes,themeasuredsignalisntanintegernumberofperiods.Therefore,thefinitenessofthemeasured
signalmayresultinatruncatedwaveformwithdifferentcharacteristicsfromtheoriginalcontinuoustimesignal,andthe
finitenesscanintroducesharptransitionchangesintothemeasuredsignal.Thesharptransitionsarediscontinuities.

Whenthenumberofperiodsintheacquisitionisnotaninteger,theendpointsarediscontinuous.Theseartificial
discontinuitiesshowupintheFFTashighfrequencycomponentsnotpresentintheoriginalsignal.Thesefrequencies
canbemuchhigherthantheNyquistfrequencyandarealiasedbetween0andhalfofyoursamplingrate.Thespectrum
yougetbyusingaFFT,therefore,isnottheactualspectrumoftheoriginalsignal,butasmearedversion.Itappearsasif
energyatonefrequencyleaksintootherfrequencies.Thisphenomenonisknownasspectralleakage,whichcausesthe
finespectrallinestospreadintowidersignals.

Figure11.Measuringanonintegernumberofperiods(top)addsspectralleakagetotheFFT(bottom).

YoucanminimizetheeffectsofperforminganFFToveranonintegernumberofcyclesbyusingatechniquecalled
windowing.Windowingreducestheamplitudeofthediscontinuitiesattheboundariesofeachfinitesequenceacquiredby
thedigitizer.Windowingconsistsofmultiplyingthetimerecordbyafinitelengthwindowwithanamplitudethatvaries
smoothlyandgraduallytowardzeroattheedges.Thismakestheendpointsofthewaveformmeetand,therefore,results
inacontinuouswaveformwithoutsharptransitions.Thistechniqueisalsoreferredtoasapplyingawindow.

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Figure12.Applyingawindowminimizestheeffectofspectralleakage.

WindowingFunctions

Thereareseveraldifferenttypesofwindowfunctionsthatyoucanapplydependingonthesignal.Tounderstandhowa
givenwindowaffectsthefrequencyspectrum,youneedtounderstandmoreaboutthefrequencycharacteristicsof
windows.

Anactualplotofawindowshowsthatthefrequencycharacteristicofawindowisacontinuousspectrumwithamainlobe
andseveralsidelobes.Themainlobeiscenteredateachfrequencycomponentofthetimedomainsignal,andtheside
lobesapproachzero.Theheightofthesidelobesindicatestheaffectthewindowingfunctionhasonfrequenciesaround
mainlobes.Thesideloberesponseofastrongsinusoidalsignalcanoverpowerthemainloberesponseofanearby
weaksinusoidalsignal.Typically,lowersidelobesreduceleakageinthemeasuredFFTbutincreasethebandwidthofthe
majorlobe.Thesideloberolloffrateistheasymptoticdecayrateofthesidelobepeaks.Byincreasingthesideloberoll
offrate,youcanreducespectralleakage.

Selectingawindowfunctionisnotasimpletask.Eachwindowfunctionhasitsowncharacteristicsandsuitabilityfor
differentapplications.Tochooseawindowfunction,youmustestimatethefrequencycontentofthesignal.
Ifthesignalcontainsstronginterferingfrequencycomponentsdistantfromthefrequencyofinterest,choosea
smoothingwindowwithahighsideloberolloffrate.
Ifthesignalcontainsstronginterferingsignalsnearthefrequencyofinterest,chooseawindowfunctionwithalow
maximumsidelobelevel.
Ifthefrequencyofinterestcontainstwoormoresignalsveryneartoeachother,spectralresolutionisimportant.In
thiscase,itisbesttochooseasmoothingwindowwithaverynarrowmainlobe.
Iftheamplitudeaccuracyofasinglefrequencycomponentismoreimportantthantheexactlocationofthe
componentinagivenfrequencybin,chooseawindowwithawidemainlobe.
Ifthesignalspectrumisratherflatorbroadbandinfrequencycontent,usetheuniformwindow,ornowindow.
Ingeneral,theHanning(Hann)windowissatisfactoryin95percentofcases.Ithasgoodfrequencyresolutionand
reducedspectralleakage.Ifyoudonotknowthenatureofthesignalbutyouwanttoapplyasmoothingwindow,start
withtheHannwindow.

Evenifyouusenowindow,thesignalisconvolvedwitharectangularshapedwindowofuniformheight,bythenatureof
takingasnapshotintimeoftheinputsignalandworkingwithadiscretesignal.Thisconvolutionhasasinefunction
characteristicspectrum.Forthisreason,nowindowisoftencalledtheuniformorrectangularwindowbecausethereis
stillawindowingeffect.

TheHammingandHannwindowfunctionsbothhaveasinusoidalshape.Bothwindowsresultinawidepeakbutlowside
lobes.However,theHannwindowtoucheszeroatbothendseliminatingalldiscontinuity.TheHammingwindowdoesnt
quitereachzeroandthusstillhasaslightdiscontinuityinthesignal.Becauseofthisdifference,theHammingwindow
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doesabetterjobofcancellingthenearestsidelobebutapoorerjobofcancelinganyothers.Thesewindowfunctionsare
usefulfornoisemeasurementswherebetterfrequencyresolutionthansomeoftheotherwindowsiswantedbut
moderatesidelobesdonotpresentaproblem.

Figure13.HammingandHannwindowingresultinawidepeakbutnicelowsidelobes.

TheBlackmanHarriswindowissimilartoHammingandHannwindows.Theresultingspectrumhasawidepeak,but
goodsidelobecompression.Therearetwomaintypesofthiswindow.The4termBlackmanHarrisisagoodgeneral
purposewindow,havingsideloberejectioninthehigh90sdBandamoderatelywidemainlobe.The7termBlackman
Harriswindowfunctionhasallthedynamicrangeyoushouldeverneed,butitcomeswithawidemainlobe.

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Figure14.TheBlackmanHarrisresultsinawidepeak,butgoodsidelobecompression.

AKaiserBesselwindowstrikesabalanceamongthevariousconflictinggoalsofamplitudeaccuracy,sidelobedistance,
andsidelobeheight.ItcomparesroughlytotheBlackmanHarriswindowfunctions,butforthesamemainlobewidth,the
nearsidelobestendtobehigher,butthefurtheroutsidelobesarelower.Choosingthiswindowoftenrevealssignals
closetothenoisefloor.

Theflattopwindowissinusoidalaswell,butitactuallycrossesthezeroline.Thiscausesamuchbroaderpeakinthe
frequencydomain,whichisclosertothetrueamplitudeofthesignalthanwithotherwindows.

Figure15.Theflattopwindowresultsinmoreaccurateamplitudeinformation.

Thesearejustafewofthepossiblewindowfunctions.Thereisnouniversalapproachforselectingawindowfunction.
However,thetablebelowcanhelpyouinyourinitialchoice.Alwayscomparetheperformanceofdifferentwindow
functionstofindthebestonefortheapplication.

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3.Summary

Allsignalsinthetimedomaincanberepresentedbyaseriesofsines.
AnFFTtransformdeconstructsatimedomainrepresentationofasignalintothefrequencydomainrepresentationto
analyzethedifferentfrequenciesinasignal.
Thefrequencydomainisgreatatshowingyouifacleansignalinthetimedomainactuallycontainscrosstalk,noise,or
jitter.
Spectralleakageiscausedbydiscontinuitiesintheoriginal,nonintegernumberofperiodsinasignalandcanbeimproved
usingwindowing.
Windowingreducestheamplitudeofthediscontinuitiesattheboundariesofeachfinitesequenceacquiredbythedigitizer.
Nowindowisoftencalledtheuniformorrectangularwindowbecausethereisstillawindowingeffect.
Ingeneral,theHanningwindowissatisfactoryin95percentofcases.Ithasgoodfrequencyresolutionandreduced
spectralleakage.
Youshouldcomparetheperformanceofdifferentwindowfunctionstofindthebestonefortheapplication.

4.AdditionalInstrumentationResources

MultifunctioninstrumentsIntegratedbenchtopinstrumentsintoasingle,fixedfunctiondevice.
(http://www.ni.com/virtualbench/whatis/)
Learnaboutanallinoneinstrumentthatcombinesamixedsignaloscilloscope,afunctiongenerator,adigitalmultimeter,a
programmableDCpowersupply,anddigitalI/OintoonedeviceandworkswithyourPCoriPadforefficientcircuitdesign
debuggingandvalidation.

ExploreOscilloscopesBuiltforTest(http://www.ni.com/whitepaper/51981/en/)
Oscilloscopesareessentialinstrumentsatthecoreofavarietyofapplications,makingthemanecessityforautomatedtest
systems.Consideramodularsolutionifyourapplicationrequiresmeasuring,analyzing,orprocessingdatademandsfast
throughputorrequiresasmallformfactorwithminimalpowerconsumption.

Forthecompletelistoftutorials,returntotheInstrumentFundamentalsmainpage(http://www.ni.com/tutorial/3214/en/).

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