A unique polar representation of the hyperanalytic signal

Abstract

The hyperanalytic signal is the straight forward generalization of the classical analytic signal. It is defined by a complexification of two canonical complex signals, which can be considered as an inverse operation of the Cayley-Dickson form of the quaternion. Inspired by the polar form of an analytic signal where the real instantaneous envelope and phase can be determined, this paper presents a novel method to generate a polar representation of the hyperanalytic signal, in which the continuously complex envelope and phase can be uniquely defined. Comparing to other existing methods, the proposed polar representation does not have sign ambiguity between the envelope and the phase, which makes the definition of the instantaneous complex frequency possible.