KNL3313 Digital Signal Processing Semester 1 Session 10/11

Continuous-Time Transfer Function

- Laplace Transform -

Transform techniques are an important tool in the analysis of signals and linear
time-invariant (LTI) systems. For the analysis of the continuous-time (CT) signals and LTI
systems, Laplace transform technique is required. Laplace transform provide a method for
representing and analyzing linear systems using algebraic method. This method has many
important applications in mathematics, physics, optics, electrical engineering, control
engineering, signal processing, and probability theory. In mathematics, it is used for solving
differential and integral equations. In physics, it is used for analysis of linear time-invariant
systems such as electrical circuits, harmonic oscillators, optical devices, and mechanical
systems.

Definition

Consider a CT signal, x(t ) . Its Laplace Transform pair is defined as


X ( s) : L[ x(t )] :  x(t )e  st dt (1)


and the inverse Laplace transform is defined as

c  j

1
x(t )  L1 [ X ( s)]  X ( s )e st ds (2)
2j c  j

where, s  Laplace  transform var iable , s    j . The Laplace Transform as defined is often
called the one-sided Laplace Transform. If the lower integration limit 0 in Eq. (1) is replaced by
 , the Eq. (1) is called the two-sided Laplace Transform. Equation (1) is sometimes
considered an operator that transforms a signal x (t ) into a function X (s ) symbolically
represented by
X ( s)  L{x(t )} (4)
and the signal x (t ) and its Laplace transform X (s ) are said to form a Laplace transform pair
denoted as
x(t )  X ( s) (5)

The Region of Convergence

The range of values of the complex variables s for which the Laplace transform converges is
called the region of convergence (ROC).

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KNL3313 Digital Signal Processing Semester 1 Session 10/11

Example:

Consider the signal is

x(t )  e 2t
Its Laplace transform is

X (s)  0
x(t )e  st dt

 0
e 2t e st dt

 e  ( s  2)t dt
0
1  ( s  2)t 
 e t 0
s2

1
s2

e  ( s  2)t t   e  ( s  2)t t 0 

1
s2

e  ( s  2)t t   e0 

1
s2

e  ( s  2)t t  1 
the value of e ( s  2)t at t   can be, depending on s, zero, infinity, or undefined. To see this,
we express the complex variable as s    j , where   Re s and   Im s are respectively,
the real and imaginary part of s.

e  ( s  2)t  e  (  j  2)t
 e (  2)t .e  jt
 e (  2)t . cos t  j sin t

In conclusion,

For Re s < 2  e  ( s  2)t   or 

t 

For Re s = 2  e  ( s  2)t undef i ned

t 

For Re s > 2  e  ( s  2)t 0

t 

If Re s > 2 , e ( s  2)t 0
t 

The Laplace transform of e 2t is

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KNL3313 Digital Signal Processing Semester 1 Session 10/11

 
X ( s )  L e 2t  
1
s2
[0  1] 
1
s2

1
The region of convergence is needed to compute the inverse Laplace transform of
s2

Im s

ROC=region of convergence

1 2 Re s

C=2.5
Fig. 1 : Region of Convergence

For inverse Laplace transform,

c  j

1
x(t )  L1 [ X ( s)]  X ( s )e st ds
2j c  j

For example, we take c  2.5

2.5 j

1
 X ( s )e st ds
2j 2.5  j

= for t  0  e 2t
for t  0  0
It yields a positive-time signals. If c is selected outside the ROC such as c= 1, 0 or -2, then its
inverse Laplace Transform will yield a negative-time signal.

Laplace Transform Pairs for Common Signals:

The Laplace transforms of some common signals are tabulated in Table 1.

Properties of the Laplace Transform:

Basic properties of the Laplace transform are tabulated in Table 2.

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KNL3313 Digital Signal Processing Semester 1 Session 10/11

Transfer Function

The transfer function is defined as

L[output ]
Transfer Function =
L[input ] all　 initial　 conditions　 zero
Or
U (s) Y (s)
H (s )

Y ( s)  H ( s)U ( s)
where Y(s) is the Laplace transform of the output, U(s) is the Laplace transform of the input,
and H(s) is the Laplace Transform of the impulse response and is called Transfer Function. By
using this equation, we can obtain the transfer function using any input-ouput pair.

Table of Laplace Transform

Table 1 Laplace Pairs Transform Table

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KNL3313 Digital Signal Processing Semester 1 Session 10/11

Table 2 Properties of Laplace Transform

Notes: