P ROOF

OF THE

S AMPLING T H E O R E M

William Stallings

Copyright 2003 William Stallings

A common definition of the sampling theorem is: Sampling Theorem: If a signal x(t) is sampled at regular intervals of time and at a rate higher than twice the highest signal frequency, then the samples contain all the information of the original signal. The function x(t) may be reconstructed from these samples by the use of a lowpass filter.

The sampling theorem can be restated as follows.

Sampling Theorem: Given: x(t) is a bandlimited signal with bandwidth fh . p(t) is a sampling signal consisting of pulses at intervals T s = 1/fs , where fs is the sampling frequency. x s (t) = x(t)p(t) is the sampled signal. Then x(t) can be recovered exactly from xs (t) if and only if fs 2fh . Proof Because p(t) consists of a uniform series of pulses, it is a periodic signal and can be represented by a Fourier series: p (t) = Pn e j 2p nfs t
n= -

We have x s (t) = x(t) p(t) =

n = -

Pn x(t)e j2pnf st

Now consider the Fourier transform of xs (t):

Xs ( f ) =

xs(t )e
-2-

- j 2pft

dt

Substituting for xs (t), we have

Xs ( f ) =

j2pnf t - j 2pft dt n Pn x(t)e s e = -

Rearranging yields

Xs ( f ) =

Pn x(t)e - j2p ( f - nfs )t dt n = -

-

From the definition of the Fourier transform, we can write

X( f - nfs ) =

x(t) e

- j2 p ( f - nf s )t

dt

where X(f) is the Fourier transform of x(t). Substituting this into the preceding equation, we have

Xs ( f ) = Pn X( f - nf s )
n= -

This last equation has an interesting interpretation, which is illustrated in Figure 1, where we assume without loss of generality that the bandwidth of x(t) is in the range 0 to fh . The spectrum of xs (t) is composed of the spectrum of x(t) plus the spectrum of x(t) translated to each harmonic of the sampling frequency. Each of the translated spectra is multiplied by the corresponding coefficient of the Fourier series of p(t). If fs 2fh , these various translations do not overlap, and -3-

the spectrum of x(t), multiplied by P0 , appears in Xs (f). By passing Xs (f) through a lowpass filter with f fs , the spectrum of x(t) is recovered. In equation form, - fs f f s 2 2

Xs ( f ) = P0 X( f )

X(f)

fh

fh

(a) Spectrum of x(t) Xs(f)

P0 P 1 P 2 P1 P2

2fs fs fh 0 fh fs f h fs 2fs

(b) Spectrum of xs(t)

Figure 1 Demonstration of Sampling Theorem

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