MATLAB: Finding the dominant frequency of a time series data using fft matlab

ffttime series

I'm trying to determine the dominant frequency of a time series data using the fft function in matlab. my data is represented as a vector while my time scale is also a vector. Below is my sample code:

Fs = 10; % sampling frequency 1 kHz
t =  [0,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90]; % time scale
x = [10,120,130,120,120,100,123,456,78,89]; % time series
plot(t,x), axis('tight'), grid('on'), title('Time series'), figure
nfft = 512; % next larger power of 2
y = fft(x,nfft); % Fast Fourier Transform
y = abs(y.^2); % raw power spectrum density
y = y(1:1+nfft/2); % half-spectrum
[v,k] = max(y); % find maximum
f_scale = (0:nfft/2)* Fs/nfft; % frequency scale
plot(f_scale, y),axis('tight'),grid('on'),title('Dominant Frequency')
fest = f_scale(k); % dominant frequency estimate
fprintf('Dominant freq.: true %f Hz, estimated %f Hznn', f, fest)
fprintf('Frequency step (resolution) = %f Hznn', f_scale(2))

The problem is that my dominant frequency here is 0 which am not quite sure if it is correct. Could some provide feedback on this please especially if the Fs matters alot in this case!

Best Answer

The ‘frequency’ at 0 is the mean of your signal (or D-C offset). To eliminate it, subtract the mean before doing the fft.

This gives you the result you want:

Fs = 10; % sampling frequency 1 kHz
t =  [0,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90]; % time scale
x = [10,120,130,120,120,100,123,456,78,89]; % time series
x = x - mean(x);                                            % <= ADDED LINE
plot(t,x), axis('tight'), grid('on'), title('Time series'), figure
nfft = 512; % next larger power of 2
y = fft(x,nfft); % Fast Fourier Transform
y = abs(y.^2); % raw power spectrum density
y = y(1:1+nfft/2); % half-spectrum
[v,k] = max(y); % find maximum
f_scale = (0:nfft/2)* Fs/nfft; % frequency scale
plot(f_scale, y),axis('tight'),grid('on'),title('Dominant Frequency')
fest = f_scale(k); % dominant frequency estimate
fprintf('Dominant freq.: true %f Hz, estimated %f Hznn\n', fest, fest)
fprintf('Frequency step (resolution) = %f Hznn\n', f_scale(2))

Related Solutions

MATLAB: I get the peaks at the wrong frequency and with the wrong amplitude.

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

MATLAB: Issue with data format when using textscan()

The format should be all lower case for duration.

%{hh:mm:ss}T

However, the data appears to be delimited as semicolon. You'd have more luck with readtable:

opts = detectImportOptions('D:\SI010118.txt')
opts = setvartype(opts,1,'datetime')
opts = setvaropts(opts,1,'InputFormat','dd.MM.uuuu HH:mm:ss')
readtable('D:\SI010118.txt',opts)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: I get the peaks at the wrong frequency and with the wrong amplitude.

MATLAB: Issue with data format when using textscan()

Related Question