Problem Set 2

Instructor: Subhadip Mukherjee

Department of E&ECE, IIT-Kharagpur
EC21208: Signals and Systems
29 January 2024

Problem 1. Solve the differential equation

(D2 + 3D + 2)y(t) = Dx(t),

dy(t) d
subject to the initial conditions y(0) = 2 and = 3, where D ≡ dt , for the following inputs x(t) for
dt t=0
t ≥ 0:
1. x(t) = 10 e−3t .

2. x(t) = 5.
3. x(t) = e−2t .
π


4. x(t) = 10 cos 3t + 6 .
Hint: Show that for the equation Q(D)y(t) = P (D)x(t), where Q(D) and P (D) are constant coefficient
P (ζ)
polynomials in D, the forced response for x(t) = eζt is given by yϕ (t) = H(ζ)eζt , where H(ζ) = . Then,
Q(ζ)
use the fact that the total response is given by the superposition of the forced and the natural responses,
and then determine the arbitrary constants from the initial conditions.

Problem 2. Determine whether the systems described by the following linear constant-coefficient differen-
tial equations are stable, unstable, or marginally stable.
1. D(D + 2)y(t) = 3x(t).
2. D2 (D + 3)y(t) = (D + 5)x(t).
3. (D + 1)(D + 2)y(t) = (2D + 3)x(t).

4. (D2 + 1)(D2 + 9)y(t) = (D2 + 2D + 4)x(t).

5. (D + 1)(D2 − 4D + 9)y(t) = (D + 7)x(t).

Problem 3. Consider a system specified by the equation (D2 + 5D + 6)y(t) = (D + 1)x(t).

1. Find the characteristic polynomial, characteristic equation, characteristic roots, and the characteristic
modes of the system.
dy(t)
2. Find the zero-input response subject to the initial conditions y(0) = 2 and = −1.
dt t=0
Z +∞
Problem 4. The autocorrelation function of a signal x(t) is defined as ϕxx (t) = x(t + λ)x(λ)dλ. Let
−∞
x(t) be a given signal of finite duration, i.e., x(t) = 0 for t < 0 and t > T , for some T .

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 1. Find the impulse response h(t) of a linear shift-invariant (LSI) system so that ϕxx (t−T ) is the system’s
output when the input is x(t). This system is called a matched filter (the impulse response would tell
you why).
2. Let x(t) be as in Part-1, and let y(t) be the response to x(t) of an LSI system with real impulse response
h(t). Assume that h(t) = 0 for t < 0 and for t > T . Show that the choice for h(t) that maximizes y(T ),
Z T
subject to the constraint that h2 (t)dt = M , where M is a positive constant, is a scalar multiple of
0
the impulse response determined in Part-1.
"Z # 21 "Z # 21
Z b b b
2 2
Hint: Use the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality: u(t)v(t)dt ≤ u (t)dt v (t)dt .
a a a

Problem 5. Consider a system described by

dy(t)
(D2 − 6D + 5)y(t) = x(t), subject to initial conditions = y(0) = 0.
dt t=0

Suppose the input x(t) is activated at t = 0. Find the unit impulse response of the system.

Problem 6. Consider the homogeneous difference equation

N
X
ak y[n − k] = 0. (1)
k=0

1. Show that if z0 is a solution of the equation

N
X
ak z −k = 0, (2)
k=0

then Az0n is a solution of (1), where A is an arbitrary constant.

2. Consider the equation obtained by multiplying both sides of (2) by z N (to get rid of all negative powers
of z):
XN
p(z) = ak z N −k = 0. (3)
k=0
σ1 σ
The polynomial p(z) can be factored as p(z) = a0 (z − z1 ) · · · (z − zr ) r , where z1 , · · · , zr are distinct
roots of p(z). Show that if y[n] = nz n−1 , then
N
X dp(z) n−N
ak y[n − k] = z + (n − N )p(z)z n−N −1 .
dz
k=0

Use this fact to show that if σi = 2, then both Azin and Bnzin−1 are solutions of (1), where A and B
are arbitrary complex-valued constants.

Problem 7. Determine the Fourier series representations for the following periodic signals:
1. x(t) is periodic with period T = 2 and x(t) = e−t for −1 < t ≤ 1.
2. The signals that are shown in (a)-(c) below.

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Problem 8. Let x(t) be a periodic signal whose Fourier series coefficients are given by
(
2, for k = 0,
ck = 1 |k|
j 2 , otherwise.

Use the Fourier series properties to answer the following questions:

1. Is x(t) real?
2. Is x(t) even?
dx(t)
3. Is even?
dt
Problem 9. Consider the following continuous-time signals with a fundamental period of T = 12 :

• x(t) = cos(4πt),
• y(t) = sin(4πt), and
• z(t) = x(t)y(t).

1. Determine the Fourier series coefficients of x(t) and y(t).

2. Using the multiplication property of the continuous-time Fourier series, determine the Fourier series
coefficients of z(t).
3. Determine the Fourier series coefficients of z(t) through direct computation and compare your result
with that of Part 2.

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Problem 10. We say that a sequence of functions {fn (t)}∞ n=1 uniformly converges to a function f (t) if the
following happens: for any ϵ > 0 and for any t ∈ R, there exists a positive integer N (which might depend
on ϵ but not on t) such that |fn (t) − f (t)| < ϵ for all n ≥ N . Such convergence is called uniform convergence
since the same N works uniformly for all t.
d2 f (t)
Let f (t) be a twice differentiable and periodic function with fundamental period T , and assume that
dt2
is continuous for all t ∈ R. Show that the n-term Fourier series approximation of f (t), given by
n   Z T2  
X 2π 1 2π
fn (t) = ck exp j kt , where ck = f (t) exp −j kt dt,
T T − T2 T
k=−n

converges uniformly to f (t) as n → ∞.

c0
Hint: Use integration by parts to show that the Fourier series coefficients ck decay as , where c0 is a
k2
constant. Can you generalize this result for a function f (t) which is periodic and whose first m derivatives
exist and are continuous? Can you compare this approximation with the Taylor series approximation in
terms of the requirements on f (t)?