Lec 2,3 Signal Classification

Signals and Systems
(19ECE203)
Dr. Vivek Venugopal

Assistant Professor
Room no B-207, ECE department
Email id: [email protected]
Signal
• A mathematical function of one or more independent variable that convey some information about physical
phenomena.
• One dimensional signal - o. Here t/n is independent variable and x is the dependent variable.
• Speech signal- Voice sent to a microphone which converts the pressure differences to electric signal.
• Variations of the voltage over time is plotted here.
• Different instances have different voltage values
Classification of signal
Signal
Continuous time Discrete time
• Continuous time signals – The independent variable (time) exists from -∞ to ∞. And the signal has some value for all
time instances in this range. Denoted by .
• If we have a function defined by , x is defined as the domain of the function and y is called the range/co-domain of the
function.
• For the case of a continuous time signal, what is the domain?
• Most of the signals that we observe in the physical world is a continuous time signal.
• E.g: Power signal (A/C voltage)

Classification of signal
𝑥 (𝑡 )
• For a given value of t, we get a single number corresponding to the value of the signal at time instance t.
• The value of a signal at a time instance is called as its amplitude.
Discrete time signals
• The independent variable (time) exists from -∞ to ∞. And the signal has some value for some time instances
in this range and is not defined for other time instances.
• These time instances are assumed to be uniformly spaced in the range -∞ to ∞. Difference between two
consecutive time instances where signal is defined is denoted as
• In other words, the discrete time signal is defined for all time instances that are integer multiples of and is
undefined otherwise.
• Denoted by where n is an integer.
• Depicted by a stick and bubble at each integer value of n.
• Cannot connect two consecutive sticks/samples

Example of discrete signal
• Number of lecture hours you have for 4 credit courses each day
• For each day we represent it by an integer, Monday=1, Tuesday=2, …, Sunday=7
• Another example is recording the temperature of each day across a year.

• The amplitude values may or may not be integers
Sampling a continuous time signal
• Discrete signal can be obtained from a continuous time signal through the operation of sampling.
• The idea is to preserve the signal amplitudes for all those time instances which are a multiple of T and discard others.
• The value of T is called sampling interval.
• Mathematically, we can write 𝑥 [ 𝑛 ] =𝑥( 𝑛𝑇 )
• If we want to process a continuous time signal using a computer, it is difficult as we may require a large amount of
memory
• So, in such cases we would prefer a discrete time signal over a continuous time signal.
𝑥 (𝑡 ) 𝑥 [𝑛 ]
𝑛
Signal representation
• How to represent or describe a signal on paper?
• There are many approaches to do it.
• We will focus on 2 such methods that we will be using throughout this course for signal representation.
• Formal Method:
• Signals are defined as functions of one or more variables.
• In mathematics , we represent a function of the form in the form of an expression like
• One dimensional signals are functions of time
• So, you can write a signal as a formula/mathematical equation .
• This approach is called the formal method.

Formal representation
0
t=0 t=2
{ { 𝑡
0 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡 <0 50≤ ≤ 2
𝑥 ( 𝑡 )= 5 0 ≤ 𝑡 ≤ 2 𝑥 ( 𝑡 )=
0 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡 >2 ¿0 𝑂𝑡h𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
Formal method for discrete time signals
• Discrete time signals can also be defined using the formal method.
• Instead of t, they will be functions of n.

Graphical method
• Instead of representing them as equations/ formulae we can also represent signals as graphs.
• If we know the formal definition of the signal, we can easily find out its graphical form.
• For e.g: .
• Find the value of the signal by substituting for various values of t.

Example
• Find the graphical representation for the signal given by
Graphical method for discrete time signals
• Can be done similar to the continuous time signals.
• Find the value of the signal by substituting for various integer values of n.
Graphical method for discrete time signals
Why the need for these 2 representations?
• For some signals, it may not be possible to obtain a formal representation of it and graphical may be possible and in
some other cases, it would be more convenient to represent it in a formal representation rather than a graphical
one.
• What is the formal representation for this signal?
• Consider the signal

• We know that when value of increases, the amplitude of also increases and it goes to infinity and becomes
infinity.
• We cannot represent such a function on paper till infinity. We would draw such signals for a particular duration and
assumes that it reaches infinity as value of becomes infinity
Examples
𝑥 ( 𝑡 )=sin ⁡(𝑡)
Examples
• Obtain the formal representation of the signal whose graphical form is given below
{
𝑥[𝑛]= 4𝑛=−3 ,− 2,− 1,0
¿0 𝑂𝑡h𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
Examples
• Obtain the graphical form of the discrete time signal given by
𝑥[𝑛]= { 1𝑛≥0
¿ 0 𝑂𝑡h𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
1
Discrete signal representation using
sets/arrays
• A discrete signal can be represented as a set comprising of the values.
• But we need to denote for which value of n the first element in the set corresponds to
sets/arrays
Same representation as x[n] but the

signal is not the same
sets/arrays
• To avoid such confusion, we need to know which element in the set corresponds to the instance where n=0
and put an arrow below it.
sets/arrays
Discrete time signal representation using
arrays
• Using set representation, we showed that discrete time signals can be represented as a sequence of values
in a set.
• These sequence of values can also be viewed as the elements in an array.
• Numerical problem: Obtain the set representation for the signal x[n] whose graphical representation is given
below
Numerical problems
• Obtain the set representation of the sequence y[n] given below:
Numerical problems
• Obtain the graphical representation of the signal x[n] given by:
Numerical problems
• Obtain the graphical representation of the signal x[n] given by:

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Signals and Systems

Dr. Vivek Venugopal

Continuous time Discrete time

• For the case of a continuous time signal, what is the domain?

• E.g: Power signal (A/C voltage)

• Denoted by where n is an integer.

• Depicted by a stick and bubble at each integer value of n.

• Cannot connect two consecutive sticks/samples

• Another example is recording the temperature of each day across a year.

• There are many approaches to do it.

• In mathematics , we represent a function of the form in the form of an expression like

• One dimensional signals are functions of time

• So, you can write a signal as a formula/mathematical equation .

• This approach is called the formal method.

• Instead of t, they will be functions of n.

• Find the value of the signal by substituting for various values of t.

• Consider the signal

Same representation as x[n] but the

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