Fourier Transform and

Its Medical Application


Fourier Transform
Fourier Transform
Fourier Transform

Integral transform
a particular kind of mathematical
operator (a symbol or function
representing a mathematical operation)
any transform T of the following form:
Output function Tf

Input function f

Kernel function K of 2 variables

Inverse Kernel function K-1

for inverse transform
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Integral transform
Motivation
manipulating and solving the equation in
the target domain can be much easier than
manipulation and solution in the original
domain.
The solution is then mapped back to the
original domain with the inverse of the
integral transform.

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Integral transform
Transform

Symbol

t1

Fourier
transform
Laplace
transform

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t2

K-1

u1

u2

Laplace Transform

F ( s) f (t )e st dt

Differential Equation

where s = + j is a complex number

L[ f (t )] F ( s )

Transform differential
equation to
algebraic equation.

L1[ F (s)] f (t )

the ability to convert

differential equations to
algebraic forms
widely adapted to
engineering problems

Solve equation
by algebra.

Determine
inverse
transform.

Solution

Pierre-Simon, marquis
de Laplace (1749-1827)
French Astronomer and
Mathematician

Laplace Transform
Common Transform Pairs
f (t )
1 or u (t )

F ( s ) (1)e st dt
0

F ( s)

e 1
e

s 0

s
st

e t

sin t

F ( s ) L[ f (t )]
1
s
1
s

s 2
2

cos t

f (t ) e

e t sin t

F ( s ) e t e st dt e ( s )t dt

e ( s )t
e 0

0
( s ) 0
( s )

1
s

e t cos t

t
tn
e t t n

(t )

s
s2 2

(s )2 2
s
(s )2 2
1
s2
n!
s n1
n!
( s ) n 1
1

Laplace Transform
Laplace Transform Operations

f (t )
f '(t )

t
0

f (t )dt

F (s)
sF ( s ) f (0)
F (s)
s
F (s )

et f (t )
f (t T )u (t T )
f (0)

e sT F (s)
lim sF (s)

lim f (t )

lim sF ( s)*

s
s 0

Laplace Transform
Ex) Solve a differential equation shown below.

Sol)

d2y
dy

3
2 y 24
2
dt
dt

y (0) 10 and y '(0) 0

s 2Y (s) 10s 0 3 sY (s) 10 2Y ( s)

24
10s 30

s( s 2 3s 2) s 2 3s 2
24
10 s 30

s( s 1)( s 2) ( s 1)( s 2)

Y ( s)

YF (s)

12
4
2

s s 1 s 2

yf (t ) 12 4et

2e2t

24
s

Laplace Transform
Ex) Solve a differential equation shown below.

Sol)

d2y
dy

2
5 y 20
2
dt
dt

y (0) 0 and y '(0) 10

s 2Y (s) 0 10 2 sY (s) 0 5Y ( s)
Y ( s)

20
s

20
10

s( s 2 2s 5) s 2 2s 5

Y ( s)

4
4s 8
10
4
4s 2
2
2
2
s s 2 s 5 s 2 s 5 s s 2s 5

Y ( s)

4
4( s 1)
3(2)

s ( s 1)2 (2) 2 ( s 1) 2 (2) 2

y(t ) 4 4et cos 2t 3et sin 2t

Periodic Signal Representation

Time vs Frequency

Fourier Series
Harmonic Analysis :

sine(:harmonics) .

Fundamental
Harmonics

Orthogonal Basis Function

spectral factorization :

V, I

expanding a function from its "standard"

representation to a sum of orthonormal basis
functions, suitably scaled and shifted.
the determination of the amount by which an
individual orthonormal basis function must be
scaled in the spectral factorization of a function,
f, is termed the "projection" of f onto that basis
V, I = Acos(t+)
function.
f = s(t) = Acos(t+)

t
A constant, DC waveform

where t : time,
: frequency,
A : amplitude,
: phase angle

A
- /
-A

An AC, sine waveform

t
T = 1/f
= 2/

Harmonics Analysis

Figure Harmonic coefficients of the aortic

pressure waveform

Figure Harmonic reconstruction of the

aortic pressure waveform.

Effect of Higher Harmonics

Original waveform

N=1

N=3

N=7

N=19

Reconstructed waveform

N=79

abruptly changing points in time

Effect of Higher Harmonics

Effect of Higher Harmonics

Periodic Signal Representation:

The Trigonometric Fourier Series

: fundamental frequency
: harmonics

Joseph Fourier initiated the

study of Fourier series in order
to solve the heat equation.

Fourier Series
Example Problem

MATLAB Implementation

Figure (a) MATLAB result showing the first 10 terms of

Fourier series approximation for the periodic square wave
of Fig. 10.7a. (b) The Fourier coefficients are shown as a
function of the harmonic frequency.

Compact Fourier Series

The sum of sinusoids and cosine can be rewritten by a single cosine
term with the addition of a phase constant;

Example Problem

Exponential Fourier Series

Eulers formula :

Relationship to trigonometry :

Proofs : using Talyor series,

Exponential Fourier Series

Complex exponential functions are directly related to sinusoids and cosines;

Eulers identities:

Meaning of the
negative frequencies?

It requires only
one integration.

Example Problem

Transition from Fourier Series

to Fourier Transform
Continuous Aperiodic signals frequency components.

Fourier Transform

Fourier Series
T,
0=2/T 0,
m0

Fourier Series

Fourier Transform

Aperiodic Signal Representation

Time vs Frequency
Bandwidth

Fourier Transform
Fourier Integral or Fourier Transform;
Used to decompose a continuous aperiodic signal into its
constituent frequency components.

X() is a complex valued function of the continuous frequency, .

The coefficients cm of the exponential Fourier series approaches
X() as T .
Aperiodic function = a periodic function that repeats at infinity

Example Problem

Properties of
the Fourier Transform
Linearity
Time Shifting / Delay
Frequency Shifting
Convolution theorem

Discrete Fourier Transform

DTFT (Discrete Time Fourier Transform) : Fourier
transform of the sampled version of a continuous signal;
X() is a periodic extension of X() - Fourier transform of a
continuous signal x(t) ;
Periodicity :
Poisson summation formula*:
*which indicates that a periodic extension of function
samples of function

can be constructed from the

DFT (Discrete Frourier Transform) : Fourier series of a

periodic extension of the digital samples of a continuous
signal;
N-1

Discrete Fourier Transform

Symmetry (or Duality)
if the signal is even: x(t) = x(-t)
then we have
For example, the spectrum of an even square wave is a sinc
function, and the spectrum of a sinc function is an even square
wave.

Extended Symmetry

t
Fourier Series

t
Discrete Time Fourier Transform

t
Fourier Transform

t
Discrete Fourier Transform

Discrete Fourier Transform

fast Fourier transform (FFT) :
an efficient algorithm to
compute the discrete Fourier
transform (DFT) and its inverse.
There are many distinct FFT
algorithms.
An FFT is a way to compute
the same result more quickly:
computing a DFT of N points
in the obvious way, using the
definition, takes O(N2)
arithmetical operations, while
an FFT can compute the same
result in only O(NlogN)
operations.
Figure (a) 100 Hz sine wave. (b)
Fast Fourier transform (FFT) of
100 Hz sine wave.

Figure (a) 100 Hz sine wave

corrupted with noise. (b) Fast
Fourier transform (FFT) of the
noisy 100 Hz sine wave.

Biosignal Representation
Time vs Frequency

biosignals

power spectrum

Biosignal Representation
The occipital EEG recorded
while subject having eyes
closed shows high intensity
in the alpha band (7-13 Hz).

Spectrogram :
a time-varying spectral
representation(forming
an image) that shows
how the spectral
density of a signal
varies with time

Signal Filtering
Filtering : remove unwanted frequency components
Low-Pass, High-Pass, Band-Pass, Band-Stop
via Hardware and/or Software

Signal Filtering using

Fourier Transform
Selected parts of the frequency spectrum H(f)

Low-pass Filter

Band-pass Filter

Signal Filtering using

Fourier Transform
Rejection of the selected parts of the frequency
spectrum H(f)

Notch Filter

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of the
beat-to-beat variations in heart rate.
Time domain measures
standard deviation of beat-to-beat intervals
root mean square of the differences between heart beats
(rMSSD)
NN50 or the number of normal to normal complexes that
fall within 50 milliseconds
pNN50 or the percentage of total number beats that fall
with 50 milliseconds.

Frequency domain measures

ULF(<0.0033Hz), VLF(0.0033~0.04), LF(0.04~0.15)
HF (0.15~0.4Hz)
LF/HF : an index of sympathetic to parasympathetic
balance

HRV Examples

Heart rhythm of a 33-year-old male experiencing anxiety.

The prominent spikes are due to pulses of activity in the
sympathetic nervous system.

Heart rhythm of a heart transplant recipient.

Note the lack of variability in heart rate, due to loss of
autonomic nervous system input to the heart.

Heart rhythm
of a healthy 30-year-old male driving car and
then hiking uphill.

Heart rhythm
of a 44-year-old female with low heart rate variability while
suffering from headaches and pounding sensation in her head.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Pan, J. and Tompkins, W. J. 1985. A real-time QRS detection algorithm.

IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. BME-32: 23036,

A Real-time QRS Detection Algorithm

ECG sampled at 200 samples per second.

Low-pass filtered ECG.

ECG after bandpass filtering and differentiation. ECG signal after squaring function.

Bandpass-filtered ECG.

Signal after moving window integration.

2D Fourier Transform
Fourier transform can be generalized to
higher dimensions:

2D Fourier Transform

a pure horizontal cosine of

8 cycles and a pure
vertical cosine of 32 cycles

2D cosines with both

horizontal and vertical
components

The FTs also tend to have

bright lines that are
perpendicular to lines in the
original letter. If the letter has
circular segments, then so
does the FT.

Image Processing using

Fourier Transform
Smoothing LPF operation;

Image Processing using

Fourier Transform
Sharpening HPF operation;

X-ray computed tomography

computed tomography (CT scan) or computed
axial tomography (CAT scan), is a medical
imaging procedure that utilizes computerprocessed X-rays to produce tomographic
images or 'slices' of specific areas of the body.

X-ray computed tomography

1917: J. Radon, Mathematical basis
1963: A. Cormack(Tuffs Univ.) developed the
mathematics behind computerized tomography.
1972: G.N. Hounsfield(EMI), built practical scanner

Allan M. Cormack
USA
Tufts University
Medford, MA, USA
1924 - 1998

Sir Godfrey N. Hounsfield, UK

Central Research Laboratories,
EMI, London, UK
1919 -

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1979

"for the development of computer assisted tomography"

X-ray Imaging System

differential attenuation of x-rays to produce an
image contrast

dI n Idx
dI / dx n I
I I 0e x

n : atoms per unit volume of the material

I : X-ray intensity at x
I0: incident X-ray intensity
:linear attenuation coefficient[np/cm or cm-1]

X-ray Imaging System

Linear Attenuation Coefficient
I0

I = I0e-x

I0

1 2 3 N-1 N
x

I = I0e-(1+2+3+N-1+N)x

i= ln(I0/I)/x

X-ray computed tomography

CT scanner with cover removed to

show internal components.
T: X-ray tube, D: X-ray detectors
X: X-ray beam, R: Gantry rotation

Reconstruction Problem

Is the problem mathematically solvable?

1

256

(1) Iterative method

(2) Fourier transform method
(3) Back projection method

65281

c1,c2,c,3,.c256

C1
C2
C3
.
.
.
.
.

C65536

w1,1 w1,2 w1,65536

w2,1 w2,2 w2,65536
.
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=
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w65536,,1 w65536,,65536

1
2
3
.
.
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.

65536

Algebraic Reconstruction Technique

N

fijq 1 fijq
cross section

g j fijq
i 1

Where q=indicator for the iteration #.

fij(calculated element)
gj(measured projection)
N elements per line

Iterative ray-by-ray reconstruction

Object
8

16

+2

+2

10

12

14

11
-.5

Next
Iteration

11
+.5

7.5 8.5
2.5 3.5
11

11

-1.5
st

1 Iteration

7
1

+1.5
9

9
5

Radon Transform
Radon transform operator performs the line
integral of the 2-D image data along y
The function p(x) is the 1-D projection of f(x,y)
at an angle
Properties
The projections are periodic in with a period of 2
and symmetric; therefore, p(x) = p(-x)
The Radon transform leads to the projection or central
slice theorem through a 1-D or 2-D Fourier Transform.
The Radon transform domain data provide a sinogram.

Radon Transform (Cont.)

y
y

Object
f(x,y)

p ( x ') R[ f ( x, y )]

f ( x, y ) ( x cos y sin x ')dxdy

f ( x 'cos y 'sin , x 'sin y 'cos ) dy '

where

p ( x ') f ( x, y)dy '

y

x ' x1

Projection
0

x=x1

x ' cos
y ' sin

or
x cos
y sin

sin x
cos y
sin x '
cos y '

Projection Theorem
Relationship between the 2-D Fourier transform
of the object function f(x,y) and 1-D Fourier
transform of its Radon transform or the projection
data p(x).
P ( ) 1[ p ( x ')]

p ( x ') exp(i x ')dx '

f ( x 'cos y 'sin , x 'sin y 'cos ) exp( i x ') dx ' dy '

f ( x, y ) exp[i ( x cos y sin )]dxdy

F ( cos , sin ) F ( x , y )
F ( , )

Fourier Transform Method

construct
2-D
Spectrum
F(, )

f(x,y)
inverse
2-D
transform

p(x)

1-D
transform

P()

A 1-D Fourier transform of the projection data p(x) at a given

view angle is the same as the radial data passing through the
origin at a given angle in the 2-D Fourier transform domain data.