2009 International Conference on Communications and Mobile Computing
Study of a Novel Zoom Spectrum Analysis Approach for Wireless
Communication Analyzer
Jin Yanhua, Li Gun, Qin Kaiyu
Institute of A&A, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, Sichuan, China. 610054
e-mail: jinyh@uestc.edu.cn
Abstract
To perform FFT-based measurement in wireless
communication analyzer, the frequency range and
resolution on the x-axis of a spectrum plot depend on
the sampling rate and the number of points acquired.
However, the sampling rate of the acquisition front end
is fixed in wireless communication analyzer, which
implies a large size FFT to be used for getting high
frequency resolution. On the other hand, it is necessary
that the analysis range and the frequency resolution
can be set by user. Aiming to solve these problems, a
programmable zoom spectrum analysis method with
multistage filtering technique is presented in this
paper. The zoom FFT technique is investigated firstly,
and then the key process is discussed in detail, such as
the complex modulation, decimation filter and down-
sampling. Especially a practical scheme of
programmable multistage decimation in wireless
communication analyzer has been given. Finally, the
simulation results indicate that the frequency spectrum
is more precision by using this method, and the
decimation factor can be set by user between 2~20000
(1-2-5 step) in the application of a certain wireless
communication analyzer.
1. Introduction
The wireless communication analyzer is designed to
address the measurement challenges with dynamic RF
signals. It affords two functions, vector signal analysis
and real-time spectrum analysis. And the Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT) is a widely used tool in spectrum
measurement. It can meet the requirements of signal
processing in most case. Generally, using FFT for
signal analysis shows discrete spectrum, and spanning
the whole frequency range. In wireless communication
analyzer, the frequency range and resolution on the x-
axis of a spectrum plot depend on the sampling rate
978-0-7695-3501-2/09 $25.00 © 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/CMC.2009.122
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and the number of points acquired. The interval
between each frequency bins, Δf, can be computed as
Δf = FS / N (1)
where FS denotes the sampling rate, N denotes the
number of points in the acquired time-domain signal.
When Δf is unfitted, some effective spectrum
information would be omitted as a result of picket-
fence effect.
Thus in order to get high frequency resolution, the
number of FFT points can be increased or the sampling
rate can be decreased. In wireless communication
analyzer, the sampling rate of the acquisition front end
is fixed, which implies a quite long time will be taken
for the FFT computation.
In most applications, this increased resolution is
required only over some specified frequency segment
in place of the full length FFT in the entire frequency
range. In this case, several techniques can be used for
zoom spectrum analysis, such as Chirp-Z Transform
(CZT)[1,2], Multiple Modulation Zoom Spectrum
Analysis (ZFFT)[3,4] and its modified algorithm[5]. The
specific comparison between ZFFT and CZT is
presented in literature [6] by theoretical analysis and
simulation. And the simulation results indicate that the
performance of ZFFT algorithm is better for the
harmonic signal with multi-frequency component.
However, the decimation factor is fixed in
conventional ZFFT algorithm. In this paper, a novel
programmable ZFFT algorithm is presented. It takes
advantages of multistage filtering technique to reduce
the total number of filter coefficients and achieves
better filter performance. Especially, according to the
frequency range that is set by the user, a suitable
decimation factor can be chose to satisfy the demands
of the frequency resolution. The remaining section in
this paper is organized as follows. Section II explains
the fundamental of ZFFT algorithm. In section III,
some practical considerations are discussed in detail.
Section IV describes the details of the simulation
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 results of the proposed algorithm. Conclusions are
given in section V.
2. Fundamental of ZFFT Algorithm
The ZFFT algorithm based on Complex Modulation
can be summarized with following steps shown in
figure 1. The original sequence x(n) is first
modulated, and the specified frequency segment is
shifted by ω0 . Then the resulting sequence y (n) is low
pass filtered to eliminate frequency aliasing. Finally,
the filtered sequence g (n) is sampled at a slower rate
by data decimation. Thus the spectrum with high
resolution will be computed using the FFT algorithm.
x(n) y(n) lowpass g(n)
Decimation 0
filter
e -jω n
0
spectrum of the original signal with M×N point FFT,
but the computational complexity has been reduced. If
the number of complex multiplications (NCM) for N-
point FFT is ( N / 2) log 2 N , the required NCM for
Direct FFT and ZFFT can be presented as follows.
Direct FFT : MN + ( MN / 2) log 2 MN
ZFFT : MN + RN + ( N / 2) log 2 N
Where N = points of FFT
M = decimation factor
MN = total number of sample points
R = number of filter coefficients
3. Practical Considerations of the ZFFT
In the following sections, some practical points will
x (n) window X[k] be emphasized, such as complex multiplications,
and FFT multistage decimation, spectrum leakage, etc.

Figure1. Architecture of Zoom FFT.

3.1 Complex Multiplications

Consider an M×N-point sequence x(n) obtained by The original sequence x(n) is modulated in
sampling the time function x(t ) , where M must be an complex form by multiplying the complex exponential
integer and the integer N is restricted to being a power sequences, that is
of 2. Assuming X (e jω ) indicates the spectrum of y(n) = x(n) × exp( j 2π fC nTS ) (6)
original sequences x(n) . The spectrum of modulated where TS is sampling time, fC is the center frequency
sequence y (n) is shifted by ω0 can be written as of the desired segment, and ω0 = 2π fC . Implementation
of equation (6) with x(n) real utilizes two separate
Y (e jω ) = DTFT [ x(n)e− jω0 n ] = X (e j (ω +ω0 ) ) (2)
multipliers and two sinusoidal sequences that have a
After filtering by the low-pass filter and decimation phase difference of π/2, which is given by
by a factor of M, the spectrum of this sequence y (n) = x(n) cos(2π f C nTs )＋j ⋅ x(n)sin(2π fC nTs )
becomes: (7)
= I ( n) + j × Q ( n)
X 0 (e jω ) = DTFT [ x0 (n)]
where I (n) indicates in-phase component of y(n) and
1 M −1 ω
+ ω0 −
2π ω
−
2π (3)
∑ X (e
j( l) j( l)
= M M
) H LP (e M M
) Q(n) indicates the quadrature component of y(n) . In
M l =0 this case, the orthogonality of these two sequences (I
jω
where HLP (e ) denotes an ideal low-pass filter whose and Q component) must be ensured. Otherwise the
pseudo spectrum lines will be resulted.
π The digital mixing technique is used in wireless
cutoff frequency meet ω0 ≤ to eliminating the
M communication analyzer, so owing to the digital
aliasing. Thus equation (3) can be rewritten as operation, the orthogonality of two sinusoidal
1 ω
j ( + ω0 ) j
ω sequences is easy to meet as long as the computation
X 0 (e jω ) =
X (e M ) H LP (e M ) (4) precision can be assured.
M
The N-point DFT of this sequence is given by
3.2 Decimation Filter
jϖ
X 0 ( k ) = X 0 (e ) 2π
ω= k An important point which should be considered is
N
(5) filtering and decimation (down-sampling). The
2π 2π
1 j( k + ω0 ) j k
sampling rate of I and Q component can synchronously
=
X (e MN ) H LP (e MN )
M be reduced by a factor of M without aliasing if the
From formula (5), we can see that the spectrum of bandwidth of the original sequence is first reduced by a
specified segment with N-point FFT is the same as the factor of M by anti-aliasing filters. So the

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 implementation of base band low-pass filter is the
kernel in the whole process.
If we set the frequency span of the desired segment
is f L ~ f H , and the center frequency is fC , then the
relation between them is given by
fC = ( f H + f L ) 2 (8)
and the spectrum of modulated x(n) is shifted by f C .
To attenuate the aliasing, the pass band cutoff
frequency f p and the stop band cutoff frequency f s of
the digital filter will be satisfied as
f p ≥ ( f H − fC )
f s ≤ FS 2 M (10)
where M is decimating factor, and FS denotes
sampling rate. Assuming the design of FIR filter is
based on the window method, the filter order R can be
estimated using the formula
−20 lg δ − 8
R= ⋅ Fs + 1 (11)
2.285 × 2π ( f s − f p )
where δ denotes stop band attenuation.
From formula (11), a larger factor, M, will induce a
higher order which is difficult to implement and will
yield a long time delay. Consequently, using
multistage decimation to decrease the filter order at
every stage, simultaneously reduce computation
complexity, is one of effective scheme corresponding
to this case. Figure 2 shows the structure of multistage
decimation.
(a) Single stage decimation, M.
It is easy to show, using the multistage decimation,
M=M1×M2=25×4, in first stage fs=20000/25=800Hz
and fp=80Hz, then
60 − 8
R1 = ⋅ 20000 + 1 ≈ 231 (13)
2.285 × 2π (400 − 80)
in second stage fs=800/4=200Hz and fp=80Hz, then
60 − 8
R2 = ⋅ 800 + 1 ≈ 151 (14)
2.285 × 2π (100 − 80)
So the number of complex multiplications for
decimation filter in ZFFT and multistage decimation
(9) ZFFT are RN and R1 ( MN / M 1 ) + R2 N respectively.
From approximately computation of formula (12),
(13), (14), it is clear that the number of multiplication
per second can be reduced by the use of multistage
decimation.
In the practical applications, the number of
computation will be more reduced by the use of FIR
half-band filter (HBF), because nearly half coefficient
of the impulse response of HBF is zero, the only
restrictions is that the decimation factor M must be a
power of 2. Obviously, the integer M not always
satisfy this condition, for example, M=50=5×10. In
fact, M can be expressed as M=K×2L, in this case the
cascaded integrator-comb (CIC) filter will be used to
implement K-fold decimating and multistage half-band
filter used to implement 2L-fold decimation.
Therefore, it must be considered weighty in wireless
communication analyzer, that how to partition and
calculate the decimation factor in every stage. In order
to afford variant frequency range and resolution, the
several scales corresponding different decimation
factor can be preassigned. Table 1 shows a feasible
assignment scheme of decimating factor in a certain
wireless communication analyzer. The multistage
decimation Filter is implemented in FPGA (Field
Programmable Gate Array).

(b) Multistage decimation, M=M1M2…Ml. Table 1. Table of Decimation Factor

Signal Sampling Decimation CIC Deci. HBF Deci.
Figure 2 the structure of multistage decimation bandwidth Rate Factor factor _factor
For example, assuming that the sampling rate of an 2MHz 5.12MHz 1 1 1
10MHz 25.6MHz 2 1 2
input sequence x(n) is 20KHz, decimating factor, 5MHz 12.8MHz 4 1 4
M=100, so the sampling rate of the output sequence 2MHz 5.12MHz 10 5 2
y (m) is 200Hz. 1MHz 2.56MHz 20 5 4
500KHz 1.28MHz 40 5 8
Using the single stage decimation, the stop band 200KHz 521KHz 100 25 4
cutoff frequency fs=100Hz, and suppose the pass-band 100KHz 256KHz 200 25 8
cutoff frequency fp=80Hz, then 50KHz 128KHz 400 25 16
20KHz 51.2KHz 800 25 32
60 − 8
R= ⋅ 20000 + 1 ≈ 3631 (12) 10KHz 25.6KHz 2000 125 16
2.285 × 2π (100 − 80) 5KHz 12.8KHz 4000 125 32
2KHz 5.12KHz 8000 250 32
1KHz 2.56KHz 20000 625 32

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 3.3 Spectrum Leakage

In the FFT algorithm, there is an assumption that

the time record is exactly repeated throughout all time
and that signals contained in a time record are thus
periodic at intervals that correspond to the length of the
time record. If this assumption is violated, that is, the
time record has a non-integral number of cycles, the
leakage occurs in frequency spectrum.
Windows are useful in reducing spectrum leakage (a) No decimation, 1024 point.
when using the FFT for spectrum analysis, each
window has its own characteristics, and different
windows are used for different applications. The
necessity and effect of using windows are discussed in
references [7] in detail.

4. Simulation Results
Assuming the input original sequence consisting of
three sinusoidal signals: 893Hz to 0.25V, 901Hz to (b) Single stage decimation, M=10.
0.5V, 907.6Hz to 1.0V which be sampled at 25KHz,
such as
x(t ) = 0.25 sin(2π * 893t ) +
0.5 sin(2π * 901t ) + sin(2π * 907.6t )
The spectrum of original signal with 1024 point
FFT is illustrated in Fig.3 (a). Three signals are
undistinguishable because the resolution, Δf, is 24.4Hz.
Fig.3 (b) depicts the zoom output with single stage
decimation, M=10, the resolution Δf is 2.44Hz. Three (c) Single stage decimation, M=50.
amplitudes could be discerned indistinctly, respectively
as (893.95Hz, 0.17741), (901.27Hz, 0.44053),
(908.59Hz, 0.76956).
When the single stage decimation M=50, the zoom
spectrum is shown in Fig.3 (c), Δf =0.488Hz. The three
original signals can be distinguished with a few of
error, respectively as (892.97Hz, 0.2499), (900.78Hz,
0.35018), (907.62Hz, 0.99691).
Fig.3 (d) illustrates the zoom output with single
stage decimation, M=100, Δf=0.244Hz. Three (d) Multistage decimation, M=100.
amplitudes respectively are (892.97Hz, 0.22412),
(901.03Hz, 0.4414), (907.62Hz, 0.8758).
By using two stage decimation, M=25×4, the zoom
output is given in figure 3 (d). The resolution is same
as single stage decimation and the peak amplitudes of
three signals are shown as (892.97Hz, 0.24015),
(901.03Hz, 0.48616), (907.62Hz, 0.99032).

(e) Multistage decimation, M=25×4.

Figure 3. Example showing operation of the ZFFT

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 As the repeated emulation results proved, under the
same condition of precision, multistage decimation has
less operation than single stage decimation; moreover,
under the same number of operation, multistage
decimation offers more precision than single stage
decimation. The essential reason lies in the order of
decimation filter.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, a novel programmable zoom spectrum
analysis method is investigated. From the simulation
results and above discussion, it is clear that the less
computation will be required using the multistage
decimation, simultaneity that the high frequency
resolution will be achieved by the use of ZFFT
algorithm. In addition, a programmable structure for
decimation filter is presented, and then the decimation
factor and the frequency resolution can be set by user.
Finally, a feasible application in wireless
communication analyzer has been achieved via
discussing some practical considerations, especially
implementation of multistage decimation filter.
6. References
[1] Oppenheim A. V., Schafer R. W., Buck J. R., Discrete-
time Signal Processing, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice Hall,
1989.
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[2] Huang Yuchun, Huang Zailu, Huang Benxiong, etc.,
“Chirp Z transform based high performance frequency
estimation”, Journal of Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, 36(6), 2008, pp.73-76.
[3] Xie Ming, Ding Kang, “Algorithm of Multiple
Modulation Zoom Spectrum Analysis Based on Complex
Analytic Band-Pass Filter”, Journal of Vibration
Engineering, 15(4), 2002, pp.479-483.
[4] A. Yazidi, H. Henao, G.A. Capolino, etc., “Improvement
of Frequency Resolution for Three-phase Induction Machine
Fault Diagnosis”, Industry Applications Conference, 2005,
pp.20-25.
[5] Zhou Zhihai, Shan Tao, “Research on Fast Computation
of Ambiguity Function”, Congress on Image and Signal
Processing, 2008, pp.188-192.
[6] Ding Kang, Pan Chenghao, Li Weihua, “Spectrum
analysis Comparison between ZFFT and Chirp-Z
Transform”, Journal of Vibration and Shock, 25(6), 2006,
pp.9-12.
[7] Michael Cerna, Audrey F.Harvey, “The Fundamentals of
FFT-Based Signal Analysis and Measurement”, Application
Note 041, Hewlett-Packard, July 2000.