Electrical Engineering Department

Dr. Yasmine Zaghloul

Winter 2023

NETW 401: Signals and Systems

Sheet (3) – Solution

Problem 1:
The following are the impulse responses of LTI systems. Check the system’s stability and Causality.

a. ℎ(𝑡) = 𝑒 −4𝑡 𝑢(𝑡 − 2)

𝜋
b. ℎ[𝑛] = 𝑛 cos [ 𝑛] 𝑢[𝑛]
4

c. ℎ[𝑛] = 3𝑛 𝑢[−𝑛 + 10]

Solution:

𝐚. ℎ(𝑡) = 𝑒 −4𝑡 𝑢(𝑡 − 2)

Recall that:
𝒆− ∞ = 𝟎
1. Check for stability:

∞ ∞
−4𝑡 −4𝑡
1 −4𝑡 ∞ 1 −∞ −8 ]
𝒆−𝟖
∫ |𝑒 𝑢(𝑡 − 2) | 𝑑𝑡 = ∫ 𝑒 𝑑𝑡 = [− 𝑒 ] = − [𝑒 −𝑒 = < ∞
4 2 4 𝟒
−∞ 2

Therefore, the system is stable.

2. Check for causality:

∵ ℎ(𝑡) = 0 for 𝑡 < 0

∴ The system is causal

Page 1 of 10
 𝜋
𝐛. ℎ[𝑛] = 𝑛 cos [ 𝑛] 𝑢[𝑛]
4

1. Check for stability:

∞ ∞ ∞
𝜋 𝜋
∑ |ℎ[𝑛]| = ∑ | 𝑛 cos [ 𝑛] 𝑢[𝑛] | = ∑ | 𝑛 cos [ 𝑛]| > ∞
4 4
𝑛=∞ 𝑛=∞ 𝑛=0
∞
𝝅
Although ∑ 𝐜𝐨𝐬 [ 𝒏] diverges (unstable),
𝟒
𝑛=0
∞
𝝅
∑ | 𝐜𝐨𝐬 [ 𝒏] | is 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝟒
𝑛=0

So, it is stable system. However, 𝑛 is between 0 till ∞, so when it is multiplied by cosine, it can

produce a product of infinity. Therefore, the system is unstable.

2. Check for causality:

∵ ℎ[𝑛] = 0 for 𝑛 < 0

∴ The system is causal

𝐜. ℎ[𝑛] = 3𝑛 𝑢[−𝑛 + 10]

1. Check for stability:

∞ ∞ 10

∑ |ℎ[𝑛]| = ∑ | 3𝑛 𝑢[−𝑛 + 10] | = ∑ 3𝑛 < ∞

𝑛=∞ 𝑛=∞ 𝑛=−∞

Therefore, the system is stable.

2. Check for causality:

∵ ℎ[𝑛] ≠ 0 for 𝑛 < 0

∴ The system is non-causal

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Problem 2:
Compute and plot the convolution 𝑦[𝑛] = 𝑥[𝑛] ∗ ℎ[𝑛], where

Solution:

Try to solve on your own and get the final solution result:

8
6 6
4
2 4
2

𝑦[𝑛] = n
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

(Refer to Lecture 4 for a similar problem.)

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Problem 3:
Compute and plot the convolution 𝑦[𝑛] = 𝑥[𝑛] ∗ ℎ[𝑛], where

𝑥[𝑛] = 𝑢[𝑛] − 𝑢[𝑛 − 7] and ℎ[𝑛] = (0.9)𝑛 𝑢[𝑛]

Solution:

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Case (1) : 𝒏 < 𝟎
𝑦[𝑛] = 0 for 𝒏 < 𝟎

Case (2) : 𝟎 ≤ 𝒏 ≤ 𝟔
𝑛 𝑛
1 − (0.9)−(𝑛+1)
𝑦[𝑛] = ∑ (1) (0.9)𝑛−𝑘 = ∑(0.9)𝑛 (0.9)−𝑘 = (0.9)𝑛 [ ]
1 − (0.9)−1
𝑘=0 𝑘=0

1
= −9 [(0.9)𝑛 − ] Recall that
0.9
𝒏
𝟏 − 𝒓−(𝒏+𝟏)
∑ 𝒓−𝒌
⬚ =
𝟏 − 𝒓−𝟏
𝒌=𝟎

Case (3) : 𝒏 > 𝟔

6 6
𝑛−𝑘 𝑛 −𝑘 𝑛 1 − (0.9)−7
𝑦[𝑛] = ∑ (1) (0.9) = ∑ (0.9) (0.9) = (0.9) [ ]
1 − (0.9)−1
𝑘=0 𝑘=0

= 9.816 (0.9)𝑛

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Problem 4:
Compute and plot the convolution 𝑦[𝑛] = 𝑥[𝑛] ∗ ℎ[𝑛], where

1 −𝑛
𝑥[𝑛] = ( ) 𝑢[−𝑛 − 1] and ℎ[𝑛] = 𝑢[𝑛 − 1]
3

Solution:

Step (1): Rename 𝑥[𝑛] → 𝑥[𝑘] & ℎ[𝑛] → ℎ[𝑘], then draw both.

3−1
3−2
−3
3
3−4 -
𝒙[𝒌] = 𝒌
….. -4 -3 -2 -1

1 1 1 1

𝒉[𝒌] = 𝒌
1 2 3 4 ……..

Step (2): Shift ℎ[𝑘] by 𝒏 to the left to be ℎ[𝑘 + 𝑛], then reverse it to obtain 𝒉[𝒏 − 𝒌]

1 1 1 1

𝒉[𝒏 − 𝒌] = 𝒌
𝑛−4 𝑛−3 𝑛−2 𝑛−1

Step (3): Multiply 𝑥[𝑘] by ℎ[𝑛 − 𝑘], then get the summation of the overlapping over the time.

𝑦[𝑛]= 𝑥[𝑛] ∗ ℎ[𝑛] = ∑ 𝑥[𝑘] ℎ[𝑛 − 𝑘]

𝑘=−∞

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𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 (𝐈): 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝒏 − 𝟏 ≤ −𝟏 → 𝒏 ≤ 𝟎
𝑛−1

𝑦[𝑛] = ∑ 3𝑘
𝑘=− ∞

Let 𝒓 = (𝒏 − 𝟏) − 𝒌 → 𝒌 = 𝒏 − 𝒓 − 𝟏, then new limits of the summation are:

𝒌 = −∞ → 𝒓 = ∞ & 𝒌=𝒏−𝟏 → 𝒓=𝟎

∞ ∞
1
𝑦[𝑛] = ∑ 3𝑛−𝑟−1 = (3𝑛−1 ) ∑(3−𝑟 ) = 3𝑛−1 ( )
1 − 1/3
𝑟=0 𝑟=0

𝑛−1 3 𝟑𝒏
= (3 )( ) = Recall that
2 𝟐
∞
𝟏
∑ 𝒓𝒌⬚ =
𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 (𝐈𝐈): 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝒏 − 𝟏 > −𝟏 → 𝒏 > 𝟎 𝟏−𝒓
𝒌=𝟎

−1 |𝒓|<𝟏
𝑦[𝑛] = ∑ 3𝑘
𝑘=− ∞

Let 𝒓 = −𝒌 → 𝒌 = −𝒓, then new limits of the summation are:

𝒌 = −∞ → 𝒓 = ∞ & 𝒌 = −𝟏 → 𝒓 = 𝟏

∞ ∞
−𝑟 1 𝑟
∑3 = ∑( )
3
𝑟=1 𝑟=1

∞
1 𝑟 1 𝟏
= (∑ ( ) ) − 1 = −1=
3 1 − 1/3 𝟐
𝑟=0

𝟑𝒏
,𝒏 ≤ 𝟎
𝟐
∴ 𝒚[𝒏] =
𝟏
{ ,𝒏 > 𝟎
𝟐

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Problem 5:
Determine and sketch the convolution of the following two signals:

𝑡 , 0≤𝑡≤2

𝑥(𝑡) = 2 , 2<𝑡≤4 and ℎ(𝑡) = 𝛿(𝑡 + 1) + 𝛿(𝑡 + 5)

{ 6−𝑡 , 4 < 𝑡 ≤6

Solution:

𝒙(𝒕)

Note that:

Since 𝒉(𝒕) is a summation of two shifted impulses, so we can use the

property:
𝒙(𝒕) ∗ 𝜹(𝒕 − 𝒕𝟎 ) = 𝒙(𝒕 − 𝒕𝟎 )

𝒚(𝒕) = 𝒙(𝒕) ∗ 𝒉(𝒕) = 𝒙(𝒕) ∗ (𝜹(𝒕 + 𝟏) + 𝜹(𝒕 + 𝟓)) = 𝒙(𝒕 + 𝟏) + 𝒙(𝒕 + 𝟓)

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Step (1): Shift 𝑥(𝑡) by 𝟏 to the left, we can get 𝒙(𝒕 + 𝟏)

Step (2): Shift 𝑥(𝑡) by 𝟓 to the left, we can get 𝒙(𝒕 + 𝟓)

Step (3): Add the two graphs to get 𝒚(𝒕)

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𝒚(𝒕)

𝒚(𝒕)

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