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1.1 - Introduction To DSP - 20F-ELEG631-610 - Digital Signal Processing

This document introduces digital signal processing (DSP). It defines signals as functions with independent variables, such as one-dimensional audio signals, two-dimensional images, and three-dimensional movies. It describes four categories of signals: continuous signals which have continuous independent variables; discrete signals where the independent variable takes discrete values; quantized signals where the dependent variable takes values from a finite set; and digital signals where both variables are discrete. DSP involves processing digital signals to improve understanding of information contained in either the signal values over time or the frequency characteristics.

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102 views2 pages

1.1 - Introduction To DSP - 20F-ELEG631-610 - Digital Signal Processing

This document introduces digital signal processing (DSP). It defines signals as functions with independent variables, such as one-dimensional audio signals, two-dimensional images, and three-dimensional movies. It describes four categories of signals: continuous signals which have continuous independent variables; discrete signals where the independent variable takes discrete values; quantized signals where the dependent variable takes values from a finite set; and digital signals where both variables are discrete. DSP involves processing digital signals to improve understanding of information contained in either the signal values over time or the frequency characteristics.

Uploaded by

alexsg5
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© © All Rights Reserved
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3/9/2020 1.

1 - Introduction to DSP: 20F-ELEG631-610: Digital Signal Processing

1.1 - Introduction to DSP


This course introduces the fundamentals of digital signal processing (DSP). To first understand what
DSP is all about, we need to ask what we mean by a signal. A signal is some function of one, two, or
more independent variables. A signal with a one-dimensional independent variable is called a 1-
dimensional signal; a signal with a two-dimensional independent variable is a two-dimensional signal;
and so on. Here are some examples:

One-dimensional signal - output of a microphone


Two-dimensional signal - an image
Three-dimensional signal - a movie

Please click the tabs for descriptions of these additional categories of signals:

Continuous or Analog Signal


A signal, , is a one-dimensional continuous or analog signal if the independent variable,
t, and the dependent variable are continuous. For example, the output of a microphone is
continuous.

Discrete Signal
A signal is discrete if the independent variable is discrete, that is, it takes on a countable
number of values but the dependent variable is continuous.

An example of a discrete signal is an idealized analog-to-digital converter (ADC). An ideal


ADC takes the value of a continuous time signal at a specified point in time, . This is
ideal because such a device would require an infinite number of bits to represent the
continuous time signal without error.

Quantized Signal
A signal can be quantized if the dependent variable takes on one of a countable set of values
while the independent variable is continuous.

For example, the output of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) produces a quantized signal.
The DAC takes a binary word with a fixed number of bits and converts it to an analog
voltage. That voltage is held until a new binary word is applied. Since the number of values

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3/9/2020 1.1 - Introduction to DSP: 20F-ELEG631-610: Digital Signal Processing

for the input to the DAC is finite, there is also a finite number of values for the voltages
produced.

Digital Signal

In a digital signal, both the independent and dependent variables take on only a countable
set of values. These are the signals developed with a computing device working on signals
produced from an actual ADC.

DSP is basically number crunching on digital signals, not in some random fashion, but in a
way that is designed to improve the understanding of information in a signal. The whole
purpose of DSP is to improve information that is in one of two forms:

1. Information in the time history of the signal or the values of


2. Information in the frequency characteristic of the signal

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