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What Are Twiddle Factors

Twiddle factors (W) are values used to speed up calculations of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT). Without twiddle factors, DFT computation is O(n2) but with twiddle factors it improves to O(NlogN). Twiddle factors exhibit a cyclic or periodic property where the values repeat every N cycles. This periodicity allows easier computation by taking advantage of familiar, repeating values. The twiddle factors can be represented in a matrix form to calculate DFT and IDFT, further improving computational efficiency.

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محمد القدومي
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2K views5 pages

What Are Twiddle Factors

Twiddle factors (W) are values used to speed up calculations of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT). Without twiddle factors, DFT computation is O(n2) but with twiddle factors it improves to O(NlogN). Twiddle factors exhibit a cyclic or periodic property where the values repeat every N cycles. This periodicity allows easier computation by taking advantage of familiar, repeating values. The twiddle factors can be represented in a matrix form to calculate DFT and IDFT, further improving computational efficiency.

Uploaded by

محمد القدومي
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What are twiddle factors?

Twiddle factors (represented with the letter W) are a set of values that is used
to speed up DFT and IDFT calculations.
For a discrete sequence x(n), we can calculate its Discrete Fourier Transform
and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform using the following equations.

DFT: x(k) = 

IDFT: x(n) = 
The computation procedure for the above is quite complex.
Complexity
To be pedantic, the DFT requires NxN complex multiplications and N(N-1)
complex additions. Without the twiddle factor, the computational complexity of
DFT is O(n2). With twiddle factors, the computational complexity is Nlog2N.
Let’s keep this information aside for a moment though.
Twiddle factors are mathematically represented as:

Rewriting the equations for calculating DFT and IDFT using twiddle factors we
get:

DFT: 

IDFT: 
Why do we use twiddle factors?
We use the twiddle factor to reduce the computational complexity of
calculating DFT and IDFT.
The twiddle factor is a rotating vector quantity. All that means is that for a
given N-point DFT or IDFT calculation, it is observed that the values of the
twiddle factor repeat at every N cycles. The expectation of a familiar set of
values at every (N-1)th step makes the calculations slightly easier. (N-1
because the first sequence is a 0)
Alternatively, we can also say that the twiddle factor has periodicity/a cyclic
property. We’ll graphically see this below.

Cyclic property of twiddle factors


For a 4-point DFT
Let’s derive the twiddle factor values for a 4-point DFT using the formula
above.
For n=0 and k=0,

(From Euler’s formula:  )


Similarly calculating for the remaining values we get the series below:
=1
= -j
= -1
=j
=1
As you can see, the value starts repeating at the 4th instant. This periodic
property can is shown in the diagram below.

For an 8-point DFT


Let’s derive the twiddle factor values for an 8-point DFT using the formula
above.
For n=0 and k=0,
=1

Similarly calculating for the remaining values we get the series below:
=1
= 0.707-0.707j
= -j
= -0.707-0.707j
= -1
= -0.707+0.707j
=j
= 0.707+0.707j
=1
As you can see, the value starts repeating at the 8th instant. This periodic
property can is shown in the diagram below.
Matrix method of calculating DFT and IDFT with
twiddle factors
The above DFT equation using the twiddle factor can also be written in matrix
form. The matrix form of calculating a DFT and an IDFT eases up many
calculations.
X(k) =  x(n)

Similarly an IDFT can be calculated using a matrix form using the following
equation.

x(n) = 
Here,  is the complex conjugate of the twiddle factor. To get the values of
the complex conjugate, just invert the signs of the complex components of the
twiddle factor. For example: The complex conjugate of 0.707+0.707j will
become 0.707-0.707j.
DFT as linear transform 
The matrix of  is known as the matrix of linear transformation. Check out the
scene of the linear transformation in DFT below.
We have the formula for calculating DFT using a matrix as:
X(k) =  x(n)
x(n) =  X(k)
We also have the formula for calculating the IDFT using a matrix as:
x(n) = 
Equating the last two equations:
= 
 

Here, ‘I’ is an identity matrix of order N. This equation represents the fact that
the DFT displays linear transformation characteristics

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