Description of Continuous-

Time Systems
 Systems
• Broadly speaking, a system is anything that
responds when stimulated or excited
• The systems most commonly analyzed by
engineers are artificial systems designed and
built by humans
• Engineering system analysis is the
application of mathematical methods to the
design and analysis of systems

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 Systems
• Systems have inputs and outputs
• Systems accept excitations or input signals at their
inputs and produce responses or output signals at
their outputs
• Systems are often usefully represented by block
diagrams
• The operator Ҥ could perform any imaginable
operation
A single-input, single-output system block diagram

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 A Multiple-Input, Multiple-
Output System Block Diagram

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 Block Diagram Symbols
Three common block diagram symbols for an amplifier (we will
use the last one).

Three common block diagram symbols for a summing junction

(we will use the first one).

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 Block Diagram Symbols

Block diagram symbol for an integrator

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 Feedback Systems
In a feedback system the response/output of the system is “fed back”
and combined with the excitation is such a way as to optimize
the response in some desired sense. Examples of feedback
systems are
1. Temperature control in a house using a thermostat
2. Water level control in the tank of a flush toilet.
3. Pouring a glass of lemonade to the top of the glass without
overflowing.
4. A refrigerator ice maker which keeps the bin full of ice
but does not make extra ice.

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 System Modeling
• Modelling means describing a system mathematically or
logically or graphically.
• Example of electronic system is a circuit (eg. RC lowpass
filter circuit, highpass filter circuit, modulator, analogue to
digital converters)
• RC lowpass filter circuit has two components: resistor and
capacitor.
• Other components in electronic system: inductor, operational
amplifier etc.
• To do engineering design, we must be able to accurately
predict the quantitative behavior of a circuit or other system.
This requires mathematic model.

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 An Electrical Circuit Viewed as a
System
An RC lowpass filter is a simple electrical system

It is excited by a voltage vin ( t ) and responds with a

voltage vout ( t ) .

It can be viewed or modeled as a single-input, single-

output system

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 Response of an RC Lowpass
Filter to a Step Excitation
If an RC lowpass filter is excited by a step of voltage
vin ( t ) = A u ( t )
its response is
v o u t ( t ) = A (1 − e − t / RC ) u ( t )

If the excitation is doubled, the response doubles.

The differential equation is used to describe the system. Write a
differential equation to describe the RC circuit.

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𝑣 𝑡 = 𝑅𝑖 𝑡 𝑑𝑣(𝑡) 𝑑𝑖(𝑡)
𝑣(𝑡) 𝑖 𝑡 =𝐶 𝑣 𝑡 =𝐿
𝑖 𝑡 = 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑅 1 𝑡 1 𝑡
𝑣 𝑡 = න 𝑖 𝜏 𝑑 𝜏 +𝑣 0 i 𝑡 = ‫׬‬0 𝑣 𝜏 𝑑 𝜏 + 𝑖 0
𝐿
𝐶 0

Using Kirchhoff voltage law:

𝑣𝑖𝑛 𝑡 = 𝑣𝑅 𝑡 + 𝑣𝐶 𝑡
= 𝑅𝑖 𝑡 + 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡
𝑑𝑣 (𝑡)
𝑣𝑖𝑛 𝑡 = 𝑅𝐶 𝑜𝑢𝑡 +𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡
𝑑𝑡

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 Properties of Continuous Time
System

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 Homogeneity
• In a homogeneous system, multiplying the
excitation by any constant (including complex
constants), multiplies the response by the same
constant.

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 Homogeneity
To test a system for homogeneity use this
logical process. Apply a signal g (t ) as the
excitation and find the system response y1 (t ).
Then apply the signal K g (t ) where K is a
constant and find the system response y 2 (t ).
If y 2 (t ) = K y1 (t ) for any arbitrary g (t ) and K ,
then the system is homogeneous
If g(t ) ⎯⎯
H
→ y1 ( t ) and K g(t ) ⎯⎯
H
→ K y1 ( t )  H is Homogeneous

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 Time Invariance
• If a system is initially in its zero state and an arbitrary
excitation x(t) causes a response y(t) and delaying the
excitation x(t-t0) simply delays the response y(t-t0) by
the same amount of time, regardless of the amount of
delay, then the system is time invariant

If g(t ) ⎯⎯
H
→ y1 ( t ) and g(t − t0 ) ⎯⎯
H
→ y1 ( t − t0 )  H is Time Invariant
This test must succeed for any g and any t0 .
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 Additivity
• If one excitation causes a response and another excitation causes
another response and if, for any arbitrary excitations, the sum of
the two excitations causes a response which is the sum of the two
responses, the system is said to be additive

If g(t ) ⎯⎯
H
→ y1 ( t ) and h(t ) ⎯⎯
H
→ y2 (t )
and g ( t ) + h ( t ) ⎯⎯
H
→ y1 ( t ) + y 2 ( t )  H is Additive
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 Linearity and LTI Systems
• If a system is both homogeneous and additive
it is linear.
• If a system is both linear and time-invariant it
is called an LTI (linear time-invariant)
system.
• Some systems which are non-linear can be
accurately approximated for analytical
purposes by a linear system for small
excitations
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 Stability
• Any system for which the response is bounded for
any arbitrary bounded excitation, is called a
bounded-input-bounded-output (BIBO) stable
system.

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 Stability
• Thus, for any bounded input the output either
remain constant or decrease with time

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 Incremental Linearity
• If a system can be modeled as a linear system
with an offset added to its response it is
called an incrementally linear system

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 Causality
• A system is said to be causal system if its
output depends on the present and past inputs
ONLY and not on the future inputs.
• The output of casual system depends on
present and past inputs, it means output, y(t)
is a function of x(t), x(t-1), x(t-2), x(t-3)…etc.
Some examples of causal systems are given
below:
1) y(t) = x(t) + x(t-2)
2) y(t) = x(t-1) – x(t-3)
3) y(t) = 7x(t-5)
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 Causality
• A system whose present response depends
SOLELY on future input values is called as an
anticausal system (ex: y(t) = x(t+5)).
• Non-causal system response depends on past,
present and future input values.
• Since non-causal system contains future samples; a
non-causal system is practically not realizable. That
means in practical cases it is not possible to
implement a non-causal system.

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 Memory
• If a system’s response at any arbitrary time
depends only on the excitation at that same
time and not on the excitation or response at
any other time is called a static system and is
said to have no memory (or memoryless)
• A system whose response at some arbitrary
time does depend on the excitation or
response at another time is called a dynamic
system and is said to have memory
• Any system containing an integrator has
memory
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