MATLAB: Setting pwelch frequency resolution

MATLABnfftpwelchtime series

Hi All, I have a time series recorded at 100Hz for which I want to use pwelch (60 sec signal). My prob is that I want to obtain the results with a specific resolution of 0.01Hz and I am struggling to set up the right inputs for the windows, nfft and overlap to achieve that. Any ideas how to do that?

Cheers

Eduardo

Best Answer

Refer to the documentation of “pwelch” function for the calculation of different parameters to be used to achieve the desired frequency resolution. If you want to learn more about how the “pwelch” function is used in a practical application, refer this example here.

The following code snippet will help you in using the “pwelch” function in your application.

% Reset the random number generator for reproducible results.  
rng default 
  
fs = 100;  % Assuming the sampling frequency is 100 Hz
t = 0:1/fs:60-1/fs; % Assuming that the signal is of 60 Seconds length
x = cos(2*pi*0.01*t) + randn(size(t)); % Create a test signal in which some randomized AWGN noise 
% is added to a sinusoidal signal of 0.01 Hz frequency 
% Use Welch's power spectral density estimation function to estimate the PSD.
  
% Calculation of the input parameters for "pwelch" function to get the required frequency resolution
  
% Resolution Required = 0.01 Hz  
resolutonReqd = 0.01;
% Calculate number of FFT points (NFFT) required for the required resolution
% fs/NFFT = resolutionReqd
NFFT = fs / resolutonReqd;
% Set window size for averaging to 200 
window = 200; % This makes number of FFT averages to 6000 samples/ 200 = 30
% Set overlap to 0 
overlap = 0;
% Now use pwelch with above parameters.
[pxx,f] = pwelch(x,window,overlap,NFFT,fs); 
% Now plot the PSD
plot(f,10*log10(pxx))
xlabel('Frequency (Hz)')
ylabel('PSD (dB/Hz)')

Related Solutions

MATLAB: What are the output pwelch units

As I read the documentation on pwelch, your ylabel is correct. The pwelch function would output the power at each frequency, and power is essentially amplitude squared.

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

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: What are the output pwelch units

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

Related Question