In mathematics and Fourier analysis, a rectangular mask short-time Fourier transform (rec-STFT) is a simplified form of the short-time Fourier transform which is used to analyze how a signal's frequency content changes over time. In rec-STFT, a rectangular window (a simple on/off time-limiting function) is used to isolate short time segments of the signal. Other types of the STFT may require more computation time ( refers to the amount of time it takes a computer or algorithm to perform a calculation or complete a task) than the rec-STFT.
The rectangular mask function can be defined for some bound (B) over time (t) as
We can change B for different tradeoffs between desired time resolution and frequency resolution.
Rec-STFT
Inverse form
Rec-STFT has similar properties with Fourier transform
(a)
(b)
If ,and are their rec-STFTs, then
From the image, when B is smaller, the time resolution is better. Otherwise, when B is larger, the frequency resolution is better.
Compared with the Fourier transform:
Compared with other types of time-frequency analysis: