Lecture 7

Systems & Laplace Transform

Peter Cheung
Dyson School of Design Engineering

URL: www.ee.ic.ac.uk/pcheung/teaching/DE2_EE/
E-mail: [email protected]

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 1

 10 things you have learned about signals (1)
1. Signals can be represented in time domain or frequency domain.

2. Any signal can be made up from weighted sum of sinusoidal signals.

3. A sinusoid at frequency w and amplitude A can be an everlasting sine

wave (A sin wt), cosine wave (Acos wt) or exponential (A/2 ejwt).
Furthermore, two sinusoids at different frequencies have NOTHING in
common.

4. For a time-limited signal, moving between time and frequency domain

is done through Fourier Transform.

5. A periodic signal is represented in the frequency domain in Fourier

series, where the fundamental frequency f0 is 1/periodicity of the signal,
and all the other frequency are integer multiple of f0.

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 2

 10 things you have learned about signals (2)

6. You must sample a signal at a sampling frequency fs which is at least

twice that of maximum signal frequency fmax: fs ≥ 2*fmax.

7. When sampling signals at fs, the spectrum of the original signal is

repeated at EVERY multiple of sampling frequency, i.e ± nfs, n = 1, 2, 3...

8. If you sample a signal which has a frequency component higher than fs/2,
aliasing occurs (which results in spectral folding).

9. When you extract a portion of a signal, you effectively multiply the signal
with a rectangular window, which results in spreading of energy to
neigbouring frequency components. This is known as “leakage”.

10. You can reduce this leakage by multiplying your signal with a special
window function which has smooth instead of shape edges.

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 3

 What are Systems?
 Systems are used to process signals to modify or extract information
 Physical systems – characterized by their input-output relationships
 E.g. electrical systems are characterized by voltage-current relationships
for components and the laws of interconnections (i.e. Kirchhoff’s laws)
 From this, we derive a mathematical model of the system
 “Black box” model of a system:

SYSTEM
MODEL

L1.6
PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 4
 Linear Systems (1)
 A linear system exhibits the additivity property:

if then

 It also must satisfy the homogeneity or scaling property:

if then

 These can be combined into the property of superposition:

if then

 A non-linear system is one that is NOT linear (i.e. does not obey the
principle of superposition)

L1.7-1
PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 5
 Linear Systems (2)
 Consider the following simple RC circuit:

 Output y(t) relates to x(t) by:

t Current source
1
y(t) = Rx(t) +
C
∫ x(τ )d τ
−∞
 The second term can be expanded:
0 t
1 1
y(t) = Rx(t) + ∫
C −∞
x(τ )d τ + ∫
C 0
x(τ )d τ

t
1
y(t) = vC (0) + Rx(t) + ∫ x(τ )d τ
C 0
 This is a single-input, single-output (SISO) system. In general, a
system can be multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO).
L1.6
PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 6
 Linear Systems (3)

 A system’s output for t ³ 0 is result of 2 independent causes:

1. Initial conditions when t = 0 (zero-input response)
2. Input x(t) for t ³ 0 (zero-state response)

 Decomposition property:

Total response = zero-input response + zero-state response

x(t ) y (t )
= y0 (t )
+ x(t ) ys (t )

L1.7-1

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 7

 Time-Invariant Systems
 Time-invariant system is one whose parameters do not change with time:

delay by
TI System
T seconds

delay by
TI System
T seconds

 Linear time-invariant (LTI) systems – main type of systems for this course.

L1.7-2

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 8

 System modelling using ODEs
 Many systems in electrical and mechanical engineering where input and
output are related by ordinary differential equations (ODEs)
 For example:

vL (t) + vR (t) + vc (t) = V

d 2 vC dvC
M !! ! + K s x(t) = F(t)
x(t) + K d x(t)
LC 2 + RC + vC = V
dt dt
L1.8

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 9

 System Analysis in time and frequency domains
time-domain y(t) = h(t) * x(t) 𝑌 𝜔 = 𝐻 𝜔 ×𝑋 𝜔
analysis X (ω )
x(t ) frequency-domain
using ODEs or
Impulse response
x(t ) F analysis F -1 y (t )
h(t) H(w)

 Analyse system using differential  Analyse system using frequency

equations or using the system’s response H(w)
impulse response h(t) (later lecture)
 Analyse system behaviour in time-domain via solving differential equations can be
tedious.
 Could use impulse response and convolution (later topic), but could be expensive.
 Using Fourier transforms and frequency response to analyse (and predict behaviour
of) a system has limitations.
 Frequency response is only useful in predicting steady-state behaviour of a
system, not transient behaviour.
 Alternative – use Laplace transform to transform both system and signals to the
complex Laplace variable, the s-domain.
PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 10
 Laplace Transform (1)
 Laplace Transform is a method that converts differential equations in time-
domain into algebraic equations in complex Laplace variable s-domain.
 Definition of Laplace Transform L
is: Fourier Transform
" "
ℒ[𝑋 𝑡 = 𝑋 𝑠 = ' 𝑥 𝑡 𝑒 #$% 𝑑𝑡 ℱ𝑥 𝑡 = ' 𝑥 𝑡 𝑒 #&'% 𝑑𝑡
! #"

𝑠 = 𝛼 + 𝑗𝜔
 Once transformed to the s-domain, analysis and prediction of the
system becomes easy if we know the system’s characteristic H(s),
which is also called the transfer function (more later)
X (s) Y (s) = H (s) X (s)
s-domain
x(t ) L analysis L-1 y (t )
H(s) L4.1

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 11

 Laplace Transform (2)
 Laplace Transform obeys laws of linearity:

 The Laplace transform of an impulse function:

 The Laplace transform of a unit step function:

L4.1

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 12

 Laplace Transform (3)
 Laplace Transform of eat u(t):

 Laplace Transform of cos w0 t u(t):

L4.1

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 13

 Laplace Transform (4)
Laplace Transform of a differentiator x(t) dx(t) :
 ! =
dt
dx(t) ∞ dx(t) −st
L[ ]= ∫ t=0 dt e dt
dt

 It can be shown (using integration by parts) that this result in:

!
L[ x(t)] = sX (s) − x(0)

 If x(0) = 0 (i.e. zero initial condition), then !

L[ x(t)] = sX (s)

 Therefore, differentiation in the time domain is multiplication by s in the s-

domain:
ℒ

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 14

 Laplace Transform (5)
t
 Laplace Transform of an integrator ∫ τ =0 x(τ )d τ :
t
Let g(t) = ∫ τ =0 x(τ )dτ
dg(t)
then x(t) = , and g(0) = 0
dt
 From last slide

!
L[x(t)] = L[ g(t)] = sG(s) − g(0) = sG(s)
 Therefore
1
L[g(t)] = X (s)
s
 Therefore, integration in the time domain is multiplication by 1/s in the s-
domain:
ℒ

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 15

 Laplace transform Pairs (1)

 Finding inverse Laplace transform requires integration in the complex

plane – beyond scope of this course.
 So, use a Laplace transform table (analogous to the Fourier Transform
table).

*
*

L4.1

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 16

 Laplace transform Pairs (2)

*
*
*
* L4.1

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 17

 Laplace Transform vs Differential Equations
 Since 𝑥 𝑡
ℒ = 𝑠𝑋(𝑠)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑* ℒ
we can generalise higher order differential as: ↔ 𝑠*
 Therefore, consider the mechanical system in slide 10:
𝑑𝑡*

M !! ! + K s x(t) = F(t)
x(t) + K d x(t)

 Apply Laplace transform assuming zero initial condition:

Ms 2 X (s) + K d sX (s) + K s X (s) = F(s)

𝑀𝑠 ( + 𝐾) 𝑠 + 𝐾$ 𝑋 𝑠 = 𝐹(𝑠)
𝑋(𝑠) 1
⟹𝐻 𝑠 = =
𝐹 𝑠 𝑀𝑠 ( + 𝐾) 𝑠 + 𝐾$
PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 18
 Using Laplace Transform to model a system
 Here is another mechanical system with a wheel (taken from last year’s
examination paper):

 The relationship between the wheel angle 𝛼 and the external torque T is
given by the following equation:
!" ! !"
𝑇 − 𝑘𝛼 − 𝑐 −𝐽 =0
!# !# !
 Apply Laplace transform assuming zero initial condition:

𝑇 𝑠 − 𝑘𝛼 𝑠 − 𝑐𝑠𝛼 𝑠 − 𝐽𝑠 $ 𝛼 𝑠 = 0
Hence, 𝛼 𝑠 1
𝐻 𝑠 = = !
𝑇 𝑠 𝐽𝑠 + 𝑐𝑠 + 𝑘

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 19

 Three Big Ideas
1. Laplace transform is useful for analysing systems. It maps time domain
behaviour to the complex frequency s-domain where 𝑠 = 𝛼 + 𝑗𝜔. This
contrasts with Fourier transform which maps to frequency (or 𝜔) domain.

2. Laplace transform converts mathematical models of real systems described

using differential equations in time domain to algebraic equation in s-domain.
This is possible because:
) )%
ℒ = 𝑠 and ℒ = 𝑠(
)% )% %

3. Transfer function of a system H(s) is the Laplace transform of the output

signal Y(s) divided by the Laplace transform of the input signal X(s):

,-%.-% /($)
𝐻 𝑠 =
23.-% 4($)

PYKC 30 Jan 2023 DE2 – Electronics 2 Lecture 7 Slide 20