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Types of Signals

This document discusses different types of electrical waveforms including periodic, square, rectangular, triangular, sawtooth, and pulse waveforms. It describes the key characteristics of each waveform such as their shape, symmetry, duty cycle, frequency, and other properties. The document is intended to explain the basic characteristics that define different electrical signal waveforms.

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El-shimaa Ebrahim
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123 views9 pages

Types of Signals

This document discusses different types of electrical waveforms including periodic, square, rectangular, triangular, sawtooth, and pulse waveforms. It describes the key characteristics of each waveform such as their shape, symmetry, duty cycle, frequency, and other properties. The document is intended to explain the basic characteristics that define different electrical signal waveforms.

Uploaded by

El-shimaa Ebrahim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1

Electrical Waveforms

Electronic systems use an extremely wide variety of signal waveform types and shapes from
sinusoidal to those created by waveform generators.

In the Oscillators tutorials we saw that an oscillator is an electronic


circuit used to generate a continuous output signal. Generally this
output signal is in the form of a sinusoid at some predetermined
frequency or wavelength set by the resonant components of the circuit.
We also saw that there are many different types of oscillator circuits
available but generally they all consist of an amplifier and either an
Inductor-Capacitor, ( LC ) or Resistor-Capacitor, ( RC ) tank circuit used
to produce a sine wave type output signal.

But sometimes in electronic circuits we need to produce many different


types, frequencies and shapes of Signal Waveforms such as Square
Waves, Rectangular Waves, Triangular Waves, Sawtoothed Waveforms
and a variety of pulses and spikes.
These types of signal waveform can then be used for either timing
signals, clock signals or as trigger pulses. However, before we can
begin to look at how the different types of waveforms are produced, we
firstly need to understand the basic characteristics that make
up Electrical Waveforms
2

Periodic Waveforms
Periodic waveforms are the most common of all the electrical
waveforms as it includes Sine Waves. The AC (Alternating Current)
mains waveform in your home is a sine wave and one which constantly
alternates between a maximum value and a minimum value over time.
The amount of time it takes between each individual repetition or cycle
of a sinusoidal waveform is known as its “periodic time” or simply
the Period of the waveform. In other words, the time it takes for the
waveform to repeat itself.
Then this period can vary with each waveform from fractions of a
second to thousands of seconds as it depends upon the frequency of
the waveform. For example, a sinusoidal waveform which takes one
second to complete its cycle will have a periodic time of one second.
Likewise a sine wave which takes five seconds to complete will have a
periodic time of five seconds and so on.
So, if the length of time it takes for the waveform to complete one full
pattern or cycle before it repeats itself is known as the “period of the
wave” and is measured in seconds, we can then express the waveform
as a period number per second denoted by the letter T as shown below.

Units of periodic time, ( T ) include: Seconds ( s ), milliseconds ( ms )


and microseconds ( μs ).
3

For sine wave waveforms only, we can also express the periodic time of
the waveform in either degrees or radians, as one full cycle is equal to
360o ( T = 360o ) or in Radians as 2pi, 2π ( T = 2π ), then we can say
that 2π radians = 360o – ( Remember this! ).
We now know that the time it takes for electrical waveforms to repeat
themselves is known as the periodic time or period which represents a
fixed amount of time. If we take the reciprocal of the period, ( 1/T ) we
end up with a value that denotes the number of times a period or cycle
repeats itself in one second or cycles per second, and this is commonly
known as Frequency with units of Hertz, (Hz). Then Hertz can also be
defined as “cycles per second” (cps) and 1Hz is exactly equal to 1 cycle
per second.
Both period and frequency are mathematical reciprocals of each other
and as the periodic time of the waveform decreases, its frequency
increases and vice versa with the relationship between Periodic
time and Frequency given as.

Relationship between Frequency and Periodic Time

Where: ƒ is in Hertz and T is in Seconds.


One Hertz is exactly equal to one cycle per second, but one hertz is a
very small unit so prefixes are used that denote the order of magnitude
of the waveform such as kHz, MHz and even GHz.
4

Square Wave Electrical Waveforms


Square-wave Waveforms are used extensively in electronic and micro
electronic circuits for clock and timing control signals as they are
symmetrical waveforms of equal and square duration representing each
half of a cycle and nearly all digital logic circuits use square wave
waveforms on their input and output gates.
Unlike sine waves which have a smooth rise and fall waveform with
rounded corners at their positive and negative peaks, square waves on
the other hand have very steep almost vertical up and down sides with a
flat top and bottom producing a waveform which matches its description,
– “Square” as shown below.

A Square Wave Waveform

We know that square shaped electrical waveforms are symmetrical in


shape as each half of the cycle is identical, so the time that the pulse
width is positive must be equal to the time that the pulse width is
negative or zero. When square wave waveforms are used as “clock”
signals in digital circuits the time of the positive pulse width is known as
the “Duty Cycle” of the period.
Then we can say that for a square wave waveform the positive or “ON”
time is equal to the negative or “OFF” time so the duty cycle must be
50%, (half of its period). As frequency is equal to the reciprocal of the
period, ( 1/T ) we can define the frequency of a square wave waveform
as:
5

Rectangular Waveforms
Rectangular Waveforms are similar to the square wave waveform
above, the difference being that the two pulse widths of the waveform
are of an unequal time period. Rectangular waveforms are therefore
classed as “Non-symmetrical” waveforms as shown below.

The example above shows that the positive pulse width is shorter in
time than the negative pulse width. Equally, the negative pulse width
could be shorter than the positive pulse width, either way the resulting
waveform shape would still be that of a rectangular waveform.
These positive and negative pulse widths are sometimes called “Mark”
and “Space” respectively, with the ratio of the Mark time to the Space
time being known as the “Mark-to-Space” ratio of the period and for a
Square wave waveform this would be equal to one.

Triangular Waveforms
Triangular Waveforms are generally bi-directional non-sinusoidal
waveforms that oscillate between a positive and a negative peak value.
Although called a triangular waveform, the triangular wave is actually
more of a symmetrical linear ramp waveform because it is simply a slow
6

rising and falling voltage signal at a constant frequency or rate. The rate
at which the voltage changes between each ramp direction is equal
during both halves of the cycle as shown below.

Generally, for Triangular Waveforms the positive-going ramp or slope


(rise), is of the same time duration as the negative-going ramp (decay)
giving the triangular waveform a 50% duty cycle. Then any given
voltage amplitude, the frequency of the waveform will determine the
average voltage level of the wave.
So for a slow rise and slow delay time of the ramp will give a lower
average voltage level than a faster rise and decay time. However, we
can produce non-symmetrical triangular waveforms by varying either the
rising or decaying ramp values to give us another type of waveform
known commonly as a Sawtooth Waveform.

Sawtooth Waveforms
Sawtooth Waveforms are another type of periodic waveform. As its
name suggests, the shape of the waveform resembles the teeth of a
saw blade. Sawtoothed waveforms can have a mirror image of
themselves, by having either a slow-rising but extremely steep decay, or
an extremely steep almost vertical rise and a slow-decay as shown
below.
7

Triggers and Pulses


Although technically Triggers and Pulses are two separate waveforms,
we can combine them together here, as a “Trigger” is basically just a
very narrow “Pulse”. The difference being is that a trigger can be either
positive or negative in direction whereas a pulse is only positive in
direction.
A Pulse Waveform or “Pulse-train” as they are more commonly called,
is a type of non-sinusoidal waveform that is similar to the Rectangular
waveform we looked at earlier. The difference being that the exact
shape of the pulse is determined by the “Mark-to-Space” ratio of the
period and for a pulse or trigger waveform the Mark portion of the wave
is very short with a rapid rise and decay shape as shown below.
8

A Pulse is a waveform or signal in its own right. It has very different


Mark-to-Space ratio compared to a high frequency square wave clock
signal or even a rectangular waveform.
The purpose of a “Pulse” and that of a trigger is to produce a very short
signal to control the time at which something happens for example, to
start a Timer, Counter, Monostable or Flip-flop etc, or as a trigger to
switch “ON” Thyristors, Triacs and other power semiconductor devices.

THANKS

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