Signals and Systems I (2016506)

Faculty of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Tutorial 10 - Laplace Transform

conceptual questions

1. What are the existing relationships between the Laplace Transform and the CT Fourier
Transform?
2. What is a Region of Convergence (ROC)? Why it is important to define a ROC for a
Laplace Transform?
3. Describe the ROC for each of the following signals. Assume that their corresponding
Laplace Transforms are rational
a) A left-sided signal
b) A right-sided signal
c) A two-sided signal
4. What are the main differences between the two-sided and the one-sided Laplace Trans-
form? Are the properties of the former the same as for the latter?
5. State the Final Value Theorem (FVT) and the Initial Value Theorem (IVT)
6. What is the definition of “transfer functions”? What are the properties of the systems
whose responses can be described by transfer functions?

exercises

Two-sided Laplace Transform

1. The Laplace Transform X (s) of an absolutely integrable signal x (t) is known to have
a pole at s = −2. Answer the following questions:
a) Could x (t) be of finite duration?
b) Could x (t) be left-sided? Could it be negative-time?
c) Could x (t) be right-sided? Could it be positive-time?
d) Could x (t) be two-sided? If not, under what conditions will it be two-sided?
2. Let x (t) be a signal that has a rational Laplace Transform with exactly two poles,
located at s = −1 and s = −3. If g (t) = e2t x (t) and G ( jω ) [the Fourier Transform of
g (t)] converges, determine whether x (t) is left-sided, right-sided or two-sided
3. Given that
L 1
e−at u (t) ↔ Re {s} > Re {− a}
s+a

determine the inverse Laplace Transform of

2 ( s + 2)
X (s) = Re {s} > −3
s2 + 7s + 12

4. A causal LTI system with impulse response h (t) has its input x (t) and output y (t)
related through a linear constant-coefficient differential equation

d3 d2 d
3
[y (t)] + (α + 1) 2 [y (t)] + α (α + 1) [y (t)] + α2 y (t) = x (t)
dt dt dt
 a) If
d
g (t) = [h (t)] + h (t)
dt

How many poles does G (s) have?

b) For what real values of the parameter α are the systems H (s) and G (s) guaranteed
to be stable?

5. Consider a causal second-order system with transfer function

2
H (s) =
s2 + s − 2
a) Is the system stable or not?
b) The initial value of the response y (t) to an input x (t) = 2e−2t u (t)
c) If by action of a feedback controller the unstable pole of the system is moved to
s = −1 so that the system has a new controlled transfer function Hc (s). Compute
the final value of the output yc (t) to a unit-step input

6. The system function of a causal LTI system is

s+1
H (s) =
s2 + 2s + 2

Determine the response y (t) when the input is

x (t) = e−|t| − ∞ < t < ∞

7. Consider a continuous-time LTI system for which the input x (t) and output y (t) are
related by the differential equation

d2 d
2
[y (t)] − [y (t)] − 2y (t) = x (t)
dt dt
Let X (s) and Y (s) denote Laplace Transforms of x (t) and y (t), respectively, and let
H (s) denote the Laplace Transform of h (t), the system impulse response.
a) Determine H (s) as a ratio of two polynomials in s. Sketch the pole-zero pattern
of H (s)
b) Determine h (t) for each of the following cases:
i. The system is stable
ii. The system is causal
iii. The system is neither stable nor causal

One-sided Laplace Transform

1. Find the one-sided Laplace Transform L− of the following time functions using tables
and properties as much as possible
a) x (t) = sin (3t) u (t) + 2 cos (3t) u (t) + e−t sin (3t) u (t)
b) x (t) = te−t u (t) + 2t cos (t) u (t)
c) x (t) = sin (t) u (t) ∗ sin (t) u (t)
d) x (t) = u (t) + 2t cos (t) u (t)
Rt
e) x (t) = 0 cos (t − τ ) sin (τ ) dτ
2. Find the functions x (t) with the following Laplace Transforms X (s) = L− { x (t)}. It
is not necessary to evaluate by hand the coefficients in the partial fraction decomposi-
tion; instead, do it using Scilab or a CAS
s +3
a) X (s) = s +1
1
b) X (s) = s ( s2 + s +1)
( s +3)
c) X (s) =
(s+1)(s+2)2
e−s
d) X (s) = s2
2(s+2)(s+5)2
e) X (s) = 2
(s+1)(s2 +1)

3. Solve the following ODEs using the Laplace Transform L−

a) ÿ (t) + ẏ (t) + 3y (t) = 0 y (0) =1 ẏ (0) =2
t
b) ÿ (t) + 2ẏ (t) = e y (0) =1 ẏ (0) =2