Using RF components in high speed digital systems

[chiques]

From what I understand, a pulse such as:

Has the spectrum:

Does this mean that the center frequency is always 0 in the frequency domain where the harmonics are infinite?



And if the harmonics are present, does this mean I can use RF components such as capacitors, inductors and filters to target these harmonics?

Screenshots take from http://eeweb.poly.edu/~yao/EE3414/signal_freq.pdf

 

[mtwieg]

First of all, those figures are for a single pulse waveform, defined over an infinite timespan. It's not a periodic signal, so it has no period, not fundamental frequency, and no harmonics.

If the waveform were periodic, then the spectrum looks totally different from a sinc function.

 

[FvM]

High speed digital circuits do use " RF components" for different purposes e.g. waveform shaping, compensation of cable attenuation. I don't think that the above printed sin(x)/x spectrum function gives particular insights in this regard.

 

[chiques]

What would it look like?

First of all, those figures are for a single pulse waveform, defined over an infinite timespan. It's not a periodic signal, so it has no period, not fundamental frequency, and no harmonics.

If the waveform were periodic, then the spectrum looks totally different from a sinc function.

What would it look like if it were periodic?

 

[chiques]

My initial question is just an impulse. I really am asking about a periodically repeating pulse

Would this be it?

 

[mtwieg]

Sorry missed your earlier post. Yes, that's a better representation of periodic signals in the frequency domain. It's composed of a fundamental frequency and its harmonics, each with its own magnitude and phase.

As to your original question, yes, you can use various filtering techniques on digital signals. Though whether doing so is actually a good idea depends on more context.