LEB30503 Signals and Systems

Chapter 1 - Introduction To Signals and

Systems

Pn. Fatimah Abdul Hamid

MEET, MIMET

1
 Signals

• A function of independent variables such as time, distance, position,

temperature, pressure, etc.
• A signal carries information:
– x(t) = Acos(ωt + ø); 3 parameters, A, ω, ø
– x(t) = A(t)cos(ωt + ø); Amplitude Modulation (AM)
– x(t) = Acos(ω(t)t + ø); Frequency Modulation (FM)
– x(t) = Acos(ωt + ø(t)); Phase Modulation (PM)
• Examples: speech, audio, seismic, image and video
• A signal can be a function of one, two or N independent variables
– speech and audio are 1‐D signals (functions of time)
– an image is a 2‐D signal (function of spatial coordinates)
– video is a 3‐D signal (function of spatial coordinates and time)
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 Types of Signals

• Analog Signals (Continuous-Time Signals)

– Signals that are continuous in both the dependant and
independent variable (e.g., amplitude and time). Most
environmental signals are continuous-time signals.

• Discrete Sequences (Discrete-Time Signals)

– Signals that are continuous in the dependant variable (e.g.,
amplitude) but discrete in the independent variable (e.g., time).
They are typically associated with sampling of continuous-time
signals.

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 Types of Signals (cont.)

• Digital Signals (Discrete-Time, Discrete-

Amplitude Signals)
– Signals that are discrete in both the dependant and independent
variable (e.g., amplitude and time) are digital signals. These are
created by quantizing and sampling continuous-time signals or
as data signals (e.g., stock market price fluctuations).

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Types of Signals (cont.)

5
Some Typical Signals

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 Systems

• A system is the abstraction of a process or object that

puts a number of signals into some relationship.
• Examples:
– A circuit involving a capacitor can be viewed as a system that
transforms the source voltage (signal) to the voltage (signal)
across the capacitor.
– A CD player takes the signal on the CD and transforms it into a
signal sent to the loud speaker.
– A communication system is generally composed of three sub-
systems, the transmitter, the channel and the receiver. The
channel typically attenuates and adds noise to the transmitted
signal which must be processed by the receiver. 7
 Example – Removal of Noise

X
Y
Filter Amplifier Recording
equipment for new
format

• A varying voltage is termed a signal.

• The filter (device) that transforms the signal at X into that at Y and this
forms a useful basis to define a system. 8
 Signal Classification

• Signals may be classified into:

– Continuous-time and discrete-time signals
– Analogue and digital signals
– Periodic and aperiodic signals
– Energy and power signals
– Deterministic and probabilistic signals
– Causal and non-causal
– Even and Odd signals.

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 Signal Classification –
Continuous vs Discrete
• Continuous-time
– The variables are present at all instants of time
– Continuous-Time (CT) signals:
x(t), t – continuous value
– Most of the signals in the physical world are CT
signals – e.g. voltage & current, sound pressure and
volume velocity, temperature, velocity, etc.
Ex. Quarterly gross product

• Discrete-time
– The signals that only available at discrete time
intervals.
– The discreteness occurs either due to nature of the
process.
– Discrete-Time (DT) signals:
x(n), n – integer value only
– Example: DNA base sequence & population of the
n-th generation of certain species.
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 Signal Classification
– Analogue vs Digital

• Analog signal
– A signal whose amplitude can take on any value in a continuous range.
– Means that an analog signal amplitude can take infinite number of
values.

• Digital Signal
– A signal whose amplitude can take only a finite number of values.
– Signal associated with a digital computer are digital because they take
on only two values (binary signal)

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Signal Classification
– Analogue vs Digital

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 Signal Classification
– Periodic vs Aperiodic
• A signal x(t) is said to be periodic if for some positive constant To

• The smallest value of To that satisfies the periodicity condition of this

equation is the fundamental period of x(t).
• Periodic signal, by definition, must start at t   and continuing
forever.

Ex. A periodic signal of period To

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 Signal Classification
– Causal vs Non-causal

• Causal signal
– A signal that does not start at t = 0.
– f(t) is a causal signal if
f (t )  0 t0

• Non-Causal signal
– A signal that start before t=0

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 Signal Classification
– Energy and Power Signals
• Energy signal
• A signal with finite energy has zero
– A signal with finite energy. power.
• A signal with finite power has infinite
energy.
•Therefore, a signal cannot both be an
energy and a power signal.

• Power signal
– A signal with finite and nonzero power.
– Power is the time average of energy.

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 Signal Classification
– Deterministic vs Random
• Deterministic signal
– A signal whose physical description is known completely, either in mathematical
form or a graphical form.

• Random signal
– A signal whose values cannot be predicted precisely but are known only in term
of probabilistic description, such as mean value, mean squared value, and so on.

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 Signal Classification
– Even and Odd Signals

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 Basic Operations on Signals

• There are 3 signal operations:

i. Scaling
ii. Shifting
iii. Addition

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 Basic Operations on Signals
- Scaling
• Amplitude Scaling
– This is an operation on the dependent variable.
– General relationship between input and output:

y (t )  ax(t ) where a is a constant.

10
x(t)
8 y(t)

x(t) Amplifier y(t) 2

Amplitude

Output is identical in
gain 2 0
shape to the input
-2
but is everywhere
-4 twice its amplitude.
-6

-8

-10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time
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 Basic Operations on Signals
- Scaling
• Time Scaling
– Time axis is rescaled.
– Problem when apply on discrete signal – what meaning can be given to fractional
samples, what about missing samples?
x(t) x(0.5t) x(2t)
5 5 5

4 4 4

3 3 3

2 2 2

1 1 1
Amplitude

Amplitude

Amplitude
0 0 0

-1 -1 -1

-2 -2 -2

-3 -3 -3

-4 -4 -4

-5 -5 -5
0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20
Time Time Time
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 Basic Operations on Signals
- Shifting
• Reflected signal
– Can be obtained by putting the value of the signal that was originally at t, at the
point –t, it is hence described as the signal x(-t).

Reflection of Signal x(t) Reflection of Signal x(t)

4.5 5
x(-t) x(-n) x(n)
4 x(t)
3.5
4

3
A m p litu d e
Amplitude

3
2.5

2
2
1.5

1 1

0.5

0
0
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Time integer
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 Basic Operations on Signals
- Shifting (cont.)
• Time shifting
– To obtain the DELAYED signal the value of the signal that was originally at (t-T)
must now be at point t.
– The delayed signal is hence represented by x(t-T).
– An operation of time ADVANCE would be represented by the signal x(t+T).
– Shifting can only be performed, in the case of a discrete signal, by an integer
number of values.
Time Delay of Signal x(t)
Time Delay of Signal x(t) 5
5
Original Signal Delayed x[n] x[n-N]
x(t) Signal x(t-T) 4
4
A m p litu d e

A m p lit u d e
3
3

2 2

1 1

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 229 10
Time Integer
 Basic Operations on Signals
- Shifting (cont.)
Time Delay and Reflection of Signal x(t)
5
x(-t) x(t) Delayed version of x(-t)
4
Amplitude

0
-4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time

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 Basic Operations on Signals
- Addition/Subtraction

• If 2 continuous signals are added together

1
x(t)

0
-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time
1
y(t)

0
-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time
1
x(t)+y(t)

0
-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time

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 Basic Operations on Signals
- Addition/Subtraction (cont.)
• If 2 continuous signals are subtraction together

1
x(t)

0
-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time
1
y(t)

0
-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time
2
x(t)-y(t)

0
-2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time

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 Two properties of signals:
Even and Odd Signals
• These properties are based on symmetries that signals may have
about t=0 (n=0).

• A signal is referred to as an even if it is identical to its time-reversed

counterparts: x(t) = x (-t) or x[n] = x[-n]

300 300

250
x(-t) x(t) 250

200 200

x[-n] x[n]
Amplitude
Amplitude

150 150

100 100

50 50

0 0

-50 -50
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-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
Time Time
 Two properties of signals:
Even and Odd Signals (cont.)

• A signal is odd if x(t) = -x(-t) or x[n] = -x[-n]

6000 6000

4000
x(t) 4000

2000
x[n]
2000

Amplitude
Amplitude

0 0

-2000 -2000

-4000 -x(-t) -4000 -x[-n]

-6000
-6000
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8

Time Time

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 Two properties of signals:
Even and Odd Signals (cont.)
• Using the definition of even and odd signal, any signal may be
decomposed into a sum of its even part, xe(t) + xo(t), as follows:

x(t )  x (t )  x (t ) 
 x(t )  x(t ) x(t )  x(t )

e o
2 2

EVEN ODD

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 Two properties of signals:
Even and Odd Signals (cont.)

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 Two properties of signals:
Periodicity
• The feature that makes the signal periodic – the signal repeats
itself indefinitely in the future and has repeated itself
indefinitely in the past.
• If the transformed signal x(t + nT) is same as x(t), then the signal is
periodic.
• A periodic signal x(t), x[n] has the property that:

x(t  T )  x(t ) for all t.

x ( n  N )  x ( n) for all n.

The time T (or the number N) is known as the period of the waveform.
Note: If a waveform is periodic with T, it is also periodic for any integer
multiple of T. 30
Two properties of signals:
Periodicity (cont.)

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 Some Basic Signals

• Exponential signal.
• Sinusoidal signal.
• Complex exponential.
• Unit step and unit impulse.

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 Some Basic Signals
- (1)The exponential signal
• Continuous time exponential:
at
x(t )  Ae where A and a are constants.

• Its slope:
dx at
 aAe  ax(t ) where A and a are constants.
dt
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Exponential Signal
4
x 10 Exponential Signal
x 10 3
4

3.5 2.5

3
2
2.5
Amplitude
Amplitude

2
1.5
a<0
1.5
a>0
1

1
0.5
0.5

0
0
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-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Time Index
Time Index
 Some Basic Signals
- (1)The exponential signal (cont.)

• Discrete exponential signal:

anT aT n n
where ,
x[n]  Ae  A(e )  A( z ) A and a are constants.
z  eaT
• OR

x[n  1]  Az n 1  Az n z  x(n) z
8
x 10 Exponential Signal 4
Exponential Signal
x 10
2.5 3

2 If z > unity (a +ve this 2.5 If z < unity (a -ve this

leads to growth 2 leads to decaying
1.5
Amplitude

signal.
Amplitude

1.5

1
a<0
a>0 1

0.5
0.5

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0 0
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Time Index Time Index
 Some Basic Signals
- (2)The sinusoidal signal

• Sinusoidal signals are perhaps the most important type of the signal
that will encounter in signal processing.
• There are 2 basic types of signals:
– The cosine
– The sine
• It can be represented as:

x(t )  A sin( )  A sin(t )  A sin( 2ft ) OR x(t )  A cos( )  A cos(t )  A cos(2ft )

Phase angle Angular

(unit: radians frequency having
or degree units rad/s
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 Some Basic Signals
- (2)The sinusoidal signal (cont.)

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 Some Basic Signals
- (2)The sinusoidal signal (cont.)
• A more general signal can be obtained by advancing a sine wave by
an arbitrary angle φ giving:

x(t )  A sin(t   )  A sin(t ) cos( )  A cos(t ) cos( )

φ 37
 Some Basic Signals
- (2)The sinusoidal signal (cont.)
• Property of sinusoidal signal that makes them so useful is that:

If 2 sinusoids of the same frequency (but of arbitrary amplitude

and phase) are added together they will produce another
sinusoids of the same frequency.

• If sinusoids are added to sinusoid with frequency that is integer

multiple to that sinusoid (its harmonics) => result = signal output not
sinusoidal but periodic with period equal to fundamental signal.

• Note: Periodicity will remain no matter how many further harmonics

are added.
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 Some Basic Signals
- (2)The sinusoidal signal (cont.)

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 Some Basic Signals
- (2)The sinusoidal signal (cont.)

x[ n]  A sin(n )

where   T  = normalized frequency
fs
ω is angular frequency of unsampled sinusoid and fs is sampling frequency
• Another way to represent this signal:

x[ n]  A sin(nT   )  A sin(n   )
• Because of the periodicity of the sinusoid,

A sin(n   )  A sin(n[  2m]   )

• Hence, sampling a sinusoid of normalized frequency θ will produce exactly 40
the same discrete signal as sampling a sinusoid of frequency (θ 2πm).
 Some Basic Signals
- (2)The sinusoidal signal (cont.)

By examination of the
sampled signal it is not
possible to determine
which of the three
sinusoids the sample
represent.

The identity of the

original signal is lost
among ‘alias’ signals and
this effect is known as
aliasing 41
 Some Basic Signals
- (3)The Complex Exponential
• This exponential function is very important in signals & systems, and
the parameter s is a complex variable given by:
s    j
• Therefore
st (   j ) t t jwt t
e e e e  e (cos t  j sin t )
• Since s* = σ+jω (the conjugate of s), then
s*t   j t  jwt t
e e e e  e (cos t  j sin t )
• and
t 1 st s*t
e cos t  (e  e )
2 42
 Some Basic Signals
- (3)The Complex Exponential (cont.)
• If σ = 0, then we have the function ejωt , which has a real frequency
of ω.
• Therefore the complex variable s = σ+jω is the complex frequency.
• The function est can be used to describe a very large class of signals
and functions. Here are a number of example:

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 Some Basic Signals
- (3)The Complex Exponential (cont.)

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 Some Basic Signals
- (3)The Complex Exponential (cont.)

45
 Some Basic Signals
- (4)Unit Step and Unit Impulse

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 Some Basic Signals
- (4)Unit Step and Unit Impulse (cont.)

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 Some Basic Signals
- (4)Unit Step and Unit Impulse (cont.)

48
 Some Basic Signals
- (4)Unit Step and Unit Impulse (cont.)

49
 Some Basic Signals
- (4)Unit Step and Unit Impulse (cont.)

50
 Some Basic Signals
- (4)Unit Step and Unit Impulse (cont.)

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