Interfacing with C, 2nd Edition

7

Fourier transforms

Fourier transforms using a PC

The impressive computational power of 16-, 32- and 64-bit machines, together with the increased efficiency of the fast Fourier transform, makes spectral analysis a challenging proposition using a PC. The data capture with graphics routine outlined in Chapter 3 provided a useful time-domain chronicle of the signal. In certain circumstances, however, it may be advantageous to preserve this information in a complementary form and present it as a frequency-domain record.

Electronics engineers routinely use Fourier transforms to examine the effects of noise or bandwidth on the signals being processed through a particular system. The central idea is quite simple. Spectral analysis decomposes a signal ...