ELEC1010 Tutorial 2

Introduction to Signals and Systems

What is Signal?
Signal: A pattern or variation that conveys information.

music
we can hear
image
we can see

Signal we do not
feel directly
Signal

video
Signal we do not
we can watch
feel directly
2
Signal
 Signal can be the variation of some physical quantity
over time

e.g.
Amplitude V= f(t),
one variable =>
one-dimensional
signal.

Temporal signal

Sound signal – variation of acoustic pressure over 2 second

3
Signal
 Signal can also be variations of some physical quantity over space

e.g. Pixel=f(x,y) => two-dimensional space

Spatial signal
y

Color and brightness of pixels

change over space

4
 Signal
 Signal can also be variations over both space and time
e.g. Pixel=f(x,y,t) => 3-dimensional signal, Spatial-Temporal signal

Video

5
Signal
Notations
Prefix Symbol Value
tera T 1012
giga G 109
mega M 106
kilo k 103
(no prefix) 100
milli m 10-3
micro  10-6
nano n 10-9
pico p 10-12
6
Signals as Input and Output of Systems

Input Output
System
Signals Signals

 Output signals from one system is often the input to

another system.
 Signals transfer information from one system to another
system
 Signals bring interactions among systems

Knowledge on Understanding of electronic

electronics and ELEC1010 devices, cellular network
Prof. YUAN exam performance
information students
technology

7
 Audio Signal (Sound)
 Signal we can hear
The range of frequency we can hear is from 20Hz to 20 kHz.

20 Hz 20kHz

 Variation of acoustic pressure or electrical current as

a function of time
Acoustic Electrical
Pressure Current

time
10 ms 20 ms 10 ms 20 ms time
8
Periodic Signal
 Periodic signal: repeats itself after a certain amount
of time (period (T))
 Period: repeating interval of a periodic signal Period

 Fundamental Frequency:
 Repetition rate of a periodic signal
ଵ

்
 Unit: Hz (cycle per second)
 Longer period lower fundamental frequency
 Lower fundamental frequency lower pitch
9
How We Represent Periodic Signal
 Mathematically: signal function
h = Asinθ
A
t  t
θ h 
T t 2 T
1
h = Asin 2 t
T

S ( t )  A sin( 2  ft ) h = Asin2πft

Amplitude Time
Fundamental
Related to signal power The only variable
Frequency

 Graphically: amplitude

e.g. : S(t)=10sin(2π1000t) period

10
Exercise 1
Which of the following statements is/are correct concerning the signal
S  t   5sin 6 t

A. The amplitude of the signal is 5.

B. The amplitude of the signal is 10.
1
C. The period of the signal is s .
6
D. The fundamental frequency of the signal is 3 Hz.
E. The fundamental frequency of the signal is 6 Hz.

Answer: A and D

11
Exercise 2
The time domain representation of a signal is shown below:
3

1
amplitude

-1

-2

-3
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
t (second)
12
Exercise 2
Which of the following statement is/are correct?

A. The amplitude of the signal is 6.

B. The amplitude of the signal is 3.
C. The signal is a periodic signal.
D. The period of the signal is 0.5 second.
E. The fundamental frequency of the signal is 1 Hz.

Answer: B, C and E

13
Harmonics
The harmonic of a signal is a component frequency of the signal that
is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency.

integer × f

e.g. f=100Hz, 2f=200Hz, 5f=500Hz

a signal with frequency f is the 1st harmonic
a signal with frequency 2f is the 2nd harmonic
a signal with frequency 5f is the 5th harmonic
Signal
Signal # of
Frequency
Frequency Harmonic
(Hz) Note: 350Hz=3.5f is
1×f 100 1st harmonic not a harmonic!
2×f 200 2nd harmonic
5×f 500 5th harmonic
14
Harmonics – What’s the period of the n-th harmonic
 Periodic function with period and positive
integers n

 A sine function is periodic with period

f ( x )  sin  x  2   sin  x 

 For n-th harmonic with period T:

f (t )  sin 2nf t  T   sin 2nft  2nfT   sin 2nft 
The n-th harmonic also repeats with period T
 How about S t   sin 2 3 ft   sin 2 4 ft 
Still a periodic function?
Yes, with same fundamental frequency f.
15
 Example: Making complex periodic signals
 Adding harmonics does not change the fundamental frequency
(period) of a signal, i.e. the signal still repeats with period T
 In the example below, we add together a sine wave at 250 Hz
with its 2nd harmonic (sine wave at 500 Hz) of equal amplitude:
Example:
T = 4 ms 2T2 = 4 ms

T T2
Fundamental = f = 1/4ms = 250 Hz 2nd harmonic = 2f = 2 x 1/4ms = 500 Hz

P.16
 Example: Making complex periodic signals
• At each point, we add the value of the two sine waves. The result is a more
complex waveform. But the fundamental frequency (period T) remains the
same.
Point1 Point 2
1 .5

0 .5
• At Point 1,
0
Red Signal =1
- 0 .5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Green Signal = 0
-1
Resultant Signal = 1 + 0 = 1
- 1 .5

2 • At Point 2,
1.5 Red Signal = 0.7
1 Green Signal = -1
0.5 Resultant Signal = 0.7 + (-1) = -0.3
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2
T P.17
Harmonics – Exercise 1
The time domain representation of part of a signal (0 – 0.04s) is
shown below:

Which of the following statements is correct?

A. 150Hz might be a harmonic contained in the signal.
B. 75Hz might be a harmonic contained in the signal.
C. We cannot determine which of the two frequencies (150Hz or
75Hz) might be a harmonic contained in the signal or not.

Answer: A
18
Harmonics – Exercise 2
The time domain representations of part of signal 1 and part of signal
2 are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, respectively

Figure 1 Figure 2
Which signal contains the highest order harmonic?

Answer: Signal 2
The higher order harmonic the signal contains, the faster the signal
varies.
19