MATLAB: FFT gives different amplitudes for different freqeuncies

fft fourier transform

I have been working with FFTs for some time now and I just noticed this while I was trying to reproduce some results from simulations. The amplitude of the peak recovered with FFT changes with the the freqeuncy itself. Also, I noticed that different sampling frequencies on the same signal frequency produce a similar effect (with sampling freqeucny always higher than Nyquist). Lastly, I noticed that with sampling points around powers of two the effect is exxagerrated, with the delta function receovered by FFT being significantly broadened. WHy is this happenining?

Here is the code that I am using. Any help is appreciated!

sampling_points=2000;
f_s=3000; % Hz sampling frequency
time=(1:sampling_points)/f_s;
A=2;     
for ii=1:100 %loop to produce spectra with different frequencies
freq(ii)=ii*1+10;
spectrum=A*cos(2*pi*freq(ii)*time); %make the spectrum
FFT_of_spectrum=fft(spectrum,[],2);
FFT_abs=2*abs(FFT_of_spectrum)/sampling_points;  % rescale the fft
FFT_abs=FFT_abs(1:sampling_points/2);
FFT_abs(2:end-1)=FFT_abs(2:end-1);
peak(ii)=max(FFT_abs); % find the height of the peak
end
figure('name','FFT of time domain spectrum')
plot(FFT_abs);
xlabel('Frequency (Hz)');
ylabel('Amplitude');
figure('name','FFT of spectrum in depth domain')
plot(freq,peak)
xlabel('Frequency (Hz)');
ylabel('Amplitude of peak');

Best Answer

Hi Fabio,

Good observation. The reason for this is when there are an exact integer number of cycles in the time record, you have a periodic trig function and the fft gives the peak that you expect. When there are not an exact integer number of cycles in the time record, the function is still periodic in the time record (by definition of the fft), but the function being repeated is a trig function that's lopped off at the end. That function requires frequencies other than the fundamental to define it, which takes away from the amplitude of the fundamental and spreads the peak in the frequency domain.

For a time record of length T, the number of cycles n = fT, and here

T = N/fs = 2/3 sec
f = ii+10 (in Hz) 
and 
n = (ii+10)*2/3

Then n is an integer and you get a full peak a third of the time, when ii+10 is divisible by 3.

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hello Anna

look at my fft function at the end of my code

clc
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%





% load signal
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% data
data = importdata('SFC5S_nov25_ST_1_1.txt');
dt = 1e-6; % 1 micro seconds
signal = data(:,1);
samples = length(signal);
Fs = 1/dt; % sampling frequency (Hz)
%% decimate (if needed)
% NB : decim = 1 will do nothing (output = input)
decim = 1;
if decim>1
    signal = decimate(signal,decim);
    Fs = Fs/decim;
end
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% FFT parameters
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
NFFT = 512;    % 
OVERLAP = 0.95;
% spectrogram dB scale
spectrogram_dB_scale = 80;  % dB range scale (means , the lowest displayed level is XX dB below the max level)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% options 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% if you are dealing with acoustics, you may wish to have A weighted
% spectrums 
% option_w = 0 : linear spectrum (no weighting dB (L) )
% option_w = 1 : A weighted spectrum (dB (A) )
option_w = 0;
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

% display 1 : averaged FFT spectrum
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
[freq, sensor_spectrum] = myfft_peak(signal,Fs,NFFT,OVERLAP);
% convert to dB scale (ref = 1)
sensor_spectrum_dB = 20*log10(sensor_spectrum);
% apply A weigthing if needed

if option_w == 1
    pondA_dB = pondA_function(freq);
    sensor_spectrum_dB = sensor_spectrum_dB+pondA_dB;
    my_ylabel = ('Amplitude (dB (A))');
else
    my_ylabel = ('Amplitude (dB (L))');
end
figure(1),plot(freq,sensor_spectrum_dB,'b');grid
title(['Averaged FFT Spectrum  / Fs = ' num2str(Fs) ' Hz / Delta f = ' num2str(freq(2)-freq(1)) ' Hz ']);
xlabel('Frequency (Hz)');ylabel(my_ylabel);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

% display 2 : time / frequency analysis : spectrogram demo
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
[sg,fsg,tsg] = specgram(signal,NFFT,Fs,hanning(NFFT),floor(NFFT*OVERLAP));  
% FFT normalisation and conversion amplitude from linear to dB (peak)
sg_dBpeak = 20*log10(abs(sg))+20*log10(2/length(fsg));     % NB : X=fft(x.*hanning(N))*4/N; % hanning only
% apply A weigthing if needed
if option_w == 1
    pondA_dB = pondA_function(fsg);
    sg_dBpeak = sg_dBpeak+(pondA_dB*ones(1,size(sg_dBpeak,2)));
    my_title = ('Spectrogram (dB (A))');
else
    my_title = ('Spectrogram (dB (L))');
end
% saturation of the dB range : 
% saturation_dB = 60;  % dB range scale (means , the lowest displayed level is XX dB below the max level)
min_disp_dB = round(max(max(sg_dBpeak))) - spectrogram_dB_scale;
sg_dBpeak(sg_dBpeak<min_disp_dB) = min_disp_dB;
% plots spectrogram
figure(2);
imagesc(tsg,fsg,sg_dBpeak);colormap('jet');
axis('xy');colorbar('vert');grid
title([my_title ' / Fs = ' num2str(Fs) ' Hz / Delta f = ' num2str(fsg(2)-fsg(1)) ' Hz ']);
xlabel('Time (s)');ylabel('Frequency (Hz)');
function pondA_dB = pondA_function(f)
	% dB (A) weighting curve
	n = ((12200^2*f.^4)./((f.^2+20.6^2).*(f.^2+12200^2).*sqrt(f.^2+107.7^2).*sqrt(f.^2+737.9^2)));
	r = ((12200^2*1000.^4)./((1000.^2+20.6^2).*(1000.^2+12200^2).*sqrt(1000.^2+107.7^2).*sqrt(1000.^2+737.9^2))) * ones(size(f));
	pondA = n./r;
	pondA_dB = 20*log10(pondA(:));
end
function  [freq_vector,fft_spectrum] = myfft_peak(signal, Fs, nfft, Overlap)
% FFT peak spectrum of signal  (example sinus amplitude 1   = 0 dB after fft).
% Linear averaging
%   signal - input signal, 
%   Fs - Sampling frequency (Hz).
%   nfft - FFT window size
%   Overlap - buffer overlap % (between 0 and 0.95)
signal = signal(:);
samples = length(signal);
% fill signal with zeros if its length is lower than nfft
if samples<nfft
    s_tmp = zeros(nfft,1);
    s_tmp((1:samples)) = signal;
    signal = s_tmp;
    samples = nfft;
end
% window : hanning
window = hanning(nfft);
window = window(:);
%    compute fft with overlap 
 offset = fix((1-Overlap)*nfft);
 spectnum = 1+ fix((samples-nfft)/offset); % Number of windows
%     % for info is equivalent to : 
%     noverlap = Overlap*nfft;
%     spectnum = fix((samples-noverlap)/(nfft-noverlap));	% Number of windows
    % main loop
    fft_spectrum = 0;
    for i=1:spectnum
        start = (i-1)*offset;
        sw = signal((1+start):(start+nfft)).*window;
        fft_spectrum = fft_spectrum + (abs(fft(sw))*4/nfft);     % X=fft(x.*hanning(N))*4/N; % hanning only 
    end
    fft_spectrum = fft_spectrum/spectnum; % to do linear averaging scaling
% one sidded fft spectrum  % Select first half 
    if rem(nfft,2)    % nfft odd
        select = (1:(nfft+1)/2)';
    else
        select = (1:nfft/2+1)';
    end
fft_spectrum = fft_spectrum(select);
freq_vector = (select - 1)*Fs/nfft;
end

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