Howtosignalprocessing
- What the FFT analysis of a signal tells us about the signal?
- What are the disadvantages of FFT?
- How accurate is FFT?
What the FFT analysis of a signal tells us about the signal?
The output of the FFT is a complex vector containing information about the frequency content of the signal. The magnitude tells you the strength of the frequency components relative to other components. The phase tells you how all the frequency components align in time.
What are the disadvantages of FFT?
A disadvantage associated with the FFT is the restricted range of waveform data that can be transformed and the need to apply a window weighting function (to be defined) to the waveform to compensate for spectral leakage (also to be defined). An alternative to the FFT is the discrete Fourier transform (DFT).
How accurate is FFT?
Discrete Fourier transforms computed through the FFT are far more accurate than slow transforms, and convolutions computed via FFT are far more accurate than the direct results. However, these results depend critically on the accuracy of the FFT software employed, which should generally be considered suspect.
