Signal

Signal
• A physical quantity that varies with time
• A system designed to perform a particular task often uses measurements obtained from the environment and/or
inputs from a user. These in turn may be converted into other forms. The physical variables of interest are
generally called signals.
• A convenient abstraction is to model the value of a physical variable of interest by a number. We are usually
interested in the physical variable not at just a single time, but rather at a set of times. In this case, the signal is a
function of time, say f(t). For example, f(t) might denote a voltage level, or the velocity of an object, or the price
of a stock at time t.
• In some cases, we might be interested in measuring the quantity as a function of some variable other than time.
For example, suppose we are interested in measuring the water
temperature in the ocean as a function of depth. In this case, the signal is
a function of a spatial variable, with f(x) denoting temperature at depth x.
suppose we are interested in the temperature at particular points in the ocean, not simply as a
function of depth. In this case, we might let f(x, y, z) denote the temperature at the point (x, y,
z), so the signal is a function of three variables. Now, if we are also interested in how the
temperature evolves in time, the signal f(x, y, z, t) would be a function of four variables.
Examples of signals that we will encounter frequently are audio signals, images, and video. An audio signal is
created by changes in air pressure, and therefore can be represented by a function of time f(t) with f
representing the air pressure due to the sound at time t.
 Analog and Digital Signals
• Often the domain and the range of a signal f(x) are modeled as continuous. That is,
the time (or spatial) coordinate x is allowed to take on arbitrary values (perhaps
within some interval) and the value of the signal itself is allowed to take on
arbitrary values (again within some interval). Such signals are called analog signals.
• A continuous model is convenient for some situations, but in other situations it is
more convenient to work with digital signals — i.e., signals that have a discrete
(often finite) domain and range.
• Two other related words that are often used to describe signals are continuous-time and
discrete-time, referring to signals where the independent variable denotes time and takes on
either a continuous or discrete set of values, respectively.
• Sometimes a signal that starts out as an analog signal needs to be digitized (i.e., converted to a digital signal). The
process of digitizing the domain is called sampling. For example, if f(t) denotes temperature as a function of time,
and we are interested only in the temperature at 1 second intervals, we can sample f at the times of interest
The process of digitizing the range is called quantization. In
quantizing a signal, the value f(x) is only allowed to take on
some discrete set of values (as opposed to the variable x
taking on discrete values as in sampling).
 Analog and Digital Signal
Features of Digital Systems: Features of Analog Systems:
• Uses binary code: Digital systems use binary • Uses continuous signals: Analog systems use
code, which is a combination of zeros and continuous signals to represent information,
ones, to represent information. such as electrical voltages or sound waves.
• Accuracy: Digital systems are more accurate • Real-world representation: Analog systems are
than analog systems because the information better suited for representing real-world
is represented in a precise and consistent phenomena such as sound and light, which are
manner. continuous in nature.
• Processing speed: Digital systems are capable • Smooth transitions: Analog systems provide
smooth and continuous transitions between
of processing large amounts of data quickly
different values, which can be important in
and accurately.
certain applications such as music or video.
• Noise immunity: Digital systems are immune • Complexity: Analog systems can be more
to noise and interference, which means that complex than digital systems due to the need for
the transmitted information is less likely to be additional circuitry to process and transmit the
corrupted signals.
 Frequency, Time period and
Wavelength

• Wavelength is just the distance between

two identical points in the adjacent cycles
of a wave.
• Period is the time it takes to complete
one cycle of the wave.
• Frequency is then the number of cycles in
a second. In other words, frequency is the
inverse of period, frequency = 1 / period
Relation Between Frequency And
Wavelength
• The frequency and wavelength are indirectly proportional to each other.
More is the wavelength, lesser is the frequency and vice-versa. The
speed at which a wave travels is equal to the product of its frequency
and wavelength, which justifies the link between these two parameters.
V=λf
• where,
• V is the wave speed,
• f is the wave frequency,
• λ is the wavelength.
Signal phase, Amplitude and
Frequency.
Frequency is the number of cycles a radio wave completes in one
second. For example, wireless network signals typically operate at
2.4ghz or 5ghz.
Amplitude is how strong those radio frequencies are.
Finally, phase is the relation that multiple radio signals have that share
the same space and frequency
Simple and Composite function
• A simple periodic analog signal, a sine wave, cannot be decomposed into simpler signals.
• A simple signal is a signal that consists of a single frequency component. It is
characterized by having a single frequency, amplitude, and phase.
- Examples of simple signals include sine waves, cosine waves, and impulse signals.
- Simple signals are often used in basic signal processing tasks and serve as building
blocks for more complex signals.
• A composite periodic analog signal is composed of multiple sine waves.
• A composite signal is a signal that consists of multiple frequency components. It is a
combination of simple signals with different frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.
• Composite signals can be created by adding together or modulating multiple simple
signals.
• Examples of composite signals include music signals, speech signals, and most real-world
signals that are not simple sinusoidal waves.
Noise
• There is often a need for analog-to-digital conversion and digital-to-
analog conversion (also written A/D and D/A conversion). In digitizing
signals, one would also like to know how much information is lost by
sampling and quantization, and how best to do these operations.
 Noise
• In many applications desired signals are subject to various types of
degradations. These degradations can arise from a variety of sources such
as limitations of the sensing device, random and/or un modeled
fluctuations of underlying physical processes, or environmental conditions
during sensing, transmission, reception, or storage of the data. The term
noise is typically used to describe a wide range of degradations.

• It is often useful to try and model certain properties of the noise. One widely
used model is to assume that the original (desired) signal is corrupted by
additive noise, that is, by adding another unwanted signal. Of course, if we knew
the noise signal that was added, we could simply subtract it off to get back the
original signal, and the noise would no longer be an issue. Unfortunately, we
usually do not have such detailed knowledge of the noise signal.