Signals In Natural Domain

Chapter 1 : Introduction

Objectives
In this lecture you will learn the following

First of all we will try to look into the formal definitions of the terms 'signals'.
Then we talk of signal processing in brief, about the classification of signals and some properties of signals.

We would even frame our main objectives in this course.

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Signals in Natural Domain

Chapter 1 : Introduction
We are all immersed in a sea of signals. All of us from the smallest living unit, a cell, to the most complex living
organism (humans), receive signals all the time and continue to process them. Survival of any living organism
depends upon its ability to process the signals appropriately.

What is a Signal?

Anything which carries information is a signal. e.g. human voice, chirping of birds, smoke signals, gestures (sign
language), fragrances of the owers.

Many of our body functions are regulated by chemical signals, blind people use sense of touch. Bees
communicate by their dancing pattern.

Modern high speed signals are: voltage changer in a telephone wire, the electromagnetic eld emanating from a
transmitting antenna,variation of light intensity in an optical ber.

Thus we see that there is an almost endless variety of signals and a large number of ways in which
signals are carried from on place to another place.

Signals: The Mathematical Way

A signal is a real (or complex) valued function of one or more real variable(s).When the function depends
on a single variable, the signal is said to be one-dimensional and when the function depends on two or more
variables, the signal is said to be multidimensional.

Examples of a one dimensional signal: A speech signal, daily maximum temperature, annual rainfall at a
place
An example of a two dimensional signal: An image is a two dimensional signal, vertical and horizontal
coordinates representing the two dimensions.
Four Dimensions: Our physical world is four dimensional(three spatial and one temporal).

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Signals in Natural Domain

Chapter 1 : Introduction

What is Signal processing?

Processing means operating in some fashion on a signal to extract some useful information e.g. we use our
ears as input device and then auditory pathways in the brain to extract the information. The signal is processed
by a system. In the example mentioned above the system is biological in nature.

The signal processor may be an electronic system, a mechanical system or even it might be a computer program.

Analog versus digital signal processing

The signal processing operations involved in many applications like communication systems, control systems,
instrumentation, biomedical signal processing etc can be implemented in two different ways

Analog or continuous time method

Digital or discrete time method..

Analog signal processing

o Uses analog circuit elements such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, diodes etc

o Based on natural ability of the analog system to solve differential equations that describe a
physical system

o The solutions are obtained in real time...

Digital signal processing

The word digital in digital signal processing means that the processing is done either by a digital hardware or by
a digital computer.

o Relies on numerical calculations

 o The method may or may not give results in real time..

The advantages of digital approach over analog approach

o Flexibility: Same hardware can

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Signals in Natural Domain
Chapter 1 : Introduction
Classification of signals
We use the term signal to mean a real or complex valued function of real variable(s) and denote the signal by x(t)
The variable t is called independent variable and the value x of t as dependent variable.
When t takes a vales in a countable set the signal is called a discrete time signal. For example
t {0, T, 2T, 3T, 4T,...}
t {....-1, 0 ,1,...}
t {1/2, 3/2, 5/2, 7/2,...}
For convenience of presentation we use the notation x[n] to denote discrete time signal. When both the
dependent and independent variables take values in countable sets (two sets can be quite different) the signal
is called Digital Signal.
When both the dependent and independent variable take value in continous set interval, the signal is called
an Analog Signal.

Notation:
When we write x(t) it has two meanings. One is value of x at time t and the other is the pairs (x(t), t) allowable
value of t. By signal we mean the second interpretation.

Notation for continous time signal

{x(t)} denotes the continuous time signal. Here {x(t)} is short notation for {x(t), t I } where I is the set in which t
takes the value.

Notation for discrete time signal

Similarly for discrete time signal we will use the notation {x(t)}, where {x(t)} is short for {x(t), n I }.

Note that in {x(t)} and {x[n]} are dummy variables ie. {x[n]} and {x[t]} refer to the same signal. Some books use
the notation x [.] to denote {x[n]} and x[n] to denote value of x at time n.
{x(t)} refers to the whole waveform,while x[n] refers to a particular value.
Most of the books do not make this distinction clean and use x[n] to denote signal and x[n0] to denote a
particular value.
.
Discrete Time Signal Processing and Digital Signal Processing
When we use digital computers to do processing we are doing digital signal processing. But most of the theory
is for discrete time signal processing where dependent variable generally is continuous. This is because of the
mathematical simplicity of discrete time signal processing. Digital Signal Processing tries to implement this as
closely as possible. Thus what we study is mostly discrete time signal processing and what is really
implemented is digital signal processing.

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Signals in Natural Domain

Chapter 1 : Introduction
Elementary Signals

There are several elementary signals that occur prominently in the study of digital signals and digital signal
processing.

(a) UNIT SAMPLE SEQUENCE:

Defined by

Graphically this is as shown below.

Unit sample sequence is also known as impulse sequence.

This plays role akin to the impulse function of continous time. The continues time impulse is purely a
mathematical construct while in discrete time we can actually generate the impulse sequence.

(b) UNIT STEP SEQUENCE:

Defined by :

Graphically this is as shown below

(c) EXPONENTIALSEQUENCE:
The complex exponential signal or sequence {x[n]} is defined by x[n] = C n
where C and are, in general, complex numbers.
Note that by writing = e , we can write the exponential sequence as x[n] = c en
Real exponential signals:
: If C and are real, we can have one of the several type of behavior illustrated below
For || > 1 magnitude of the signals grows exponentially,
|| < 1 It is decaying exponential.
For > 1 all terms of {x[n]} have same sign,
<1 sign of terms in {x[n]} alternates.

(d)SINUSOIDAL SIGNAL:

The sinusoidal signal {x[n]} is defined by

Euler's relation allows us to relate complex exponentials and sinusoids as

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Signals in Natural Domain

Chapter 1 : Introduction
Generating Signals with MATLAB
MATLAB, acronym for MATrix LABoratory has become a very popular software environment for complex based
study of signals and systems. Here we give some sample programmes to generate the elementary signals
discussed above. For details one should consider MATLAB manual or read help files.
In MATLAB, ones(M,N) is an M-by-N matrix of ones, and zeros(M,N) is an M-by-N matrix of zeros. We
may use those two matrices to generate impulse and step sequence.
The following is a program to generate and display impulse sequence.

Here >> indicates the MATLAB prompt to type in a command, stem(n,x) depicts the data contained in
vector x as a discrete time signal at time values defined by n. One can add title and lable the axes by suitable
commands. To generate step sequence we can use the following program

We can use the following program to generate real exponential sequence

Note that, in this program, the base alpha is a scalar but the exponent is a vector, hence use of the
operator to denote element-by-element power.
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Signals In Natural Domain

Chapter 1 : Introduction
Recap
In last lecture you have learnt the following
Signals are functions of one or more independent variables.
Systems are physical models which gives out an output signal in response to an input signals.
Trying to identify real-life examples as models of signals and systems, would help us in understanding the
subject better.
Congratulations, you have finished Lecture 1. To view the next lecture select it from the left hand side
menu of the page

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