Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Introduction
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
What is signal ?
A Signal is the function of one or more independent variables that
carries some information to represent a physical phenomenon.
For example : music, speech, still photos, heart beat etc.
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Classification of signals
Signals
Continuous time Discrete time
Digital signals
signals signals
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Continuous time signals
The signals that are defined for every instant of time are known as
continuous time signals
Amplitude
(volt)
(Sec)
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Discrete time signals
The signals that are defined at discrete instants of time are known as
discrete time signal. The discrete time signals are continuous in amplitude
but discrete in time.
Amplitude
(volt)
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Digital Signal
The signals that are discrete in time and quantized in amplitude are digital
signal
(Volts)
(Sec)
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Elementary continuous time signals
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Unit step signal
1 fo r t 0
u t
0 fo r t 0
Amplitude
(volt)
(Sec)
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Unit ramp signal
t fo r t 0
r t r(t)
0 fo r t 0
Amplitude
(volt)
t (Sec)
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Unit ramp signal (contd.)
The unit ramp signal can be obtained by applying unit step signal to
an integrator
t t
r t u d d t
0
Conversely, the unit step signal can be obtained by differentiating the
unit ramp signal
dr(t)
u(t)
dt
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Unit impulse signal
The unit impulse is a signal with infinite
magnitude and zero duration, but with unit
area
fo r t 0
t
0 fo r t 0
(t)dt 1
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Sinusoidal signal
The sinusoidal signal is defined as
x(t) = A sin (2 fot+ )
= A sin ( ot+ )
o= 2 fo = 2 /To
To = Time period of the sinusoidal signal
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Real exponential signal
The real exponential signal is defined as
x(t) = A b>1
Where A and b are real A
A = amplitude of the exponential signal
b<1
A
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Complex exponential signal
The complex exponential signal is defined as
x(t) Ae zt Ae b j t
Ae bt e j t Where, z b j
x(t) Ae bt cos( t ) j sin ( t )
x(t) Ae bt cos( t ) jAe btsin ( t )
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Complex exponential sinusoidal signal
The complex exponential sinusoidal signal is defined as
x(t ) jAe bt sin ( t ) = 2 f = 2 /T
T = Time period of the sinusoidal signal
A A
b = negative
b = positive
