Signals and Systems

Introduction
Lecture 1
 Introduction
What is a signal?
 A signal is a function of time that represents a
physical quantity such as a force, position,
voltage, and so on.
 Signal Processing: the field of techniques
used to extract information from signals.
 Application Areas
 Electrical signals: Voltages and currents in a
circuit.
 Telecommunications: modems, cell phone.
 Speech and Audio: voice mail, audio
compression.
 Medical: MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging),
CT-scan.
 Image Processing: Compression, Enhancement,
Restoration.
 Radar, Sonar.
Application Areas
 SIGNALS AND CLASSIFICATION OF
SIGNALS
1- Continuous-Time and Discrete-Time Signals:
 Continuous signals and systems: Continuous-time signal is a function of a real argument x(t) where t
is a continuous variable and it can take any real value.
 Discrete signals and systems: A discrete-time signal is a function of an argument that takes values
from a discrete set x[n] where n ={...-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3...}

Fig. 1 Graphical representation of (a) continuous-time and (b) discrete-time signals

A discrete-time signal x[n] may be obtained by sampling a
continuous-time signal x(t) such as

or in a shorter form as

where we understand that

and are called samples and the time interval between

them is called the sampling interval.
When the sampling intervals are equal (uniform sampling),
then

where the constant Ts, is the sampling interval.

2- Analog and Digital Signals:
 Analog signals and systems: Continuous in time and amplitude.
 Digital Signals: discrete in time and discrete in amplitude (using M-levels quantization
to be used in computers), these signals can be obtained from analog signals by doing
sampling process followed by quantization process.

3- Real and Complex Signals:

A signal x(t) is a real signal if its value is a real number, and a
signal x(t) is a complex signal if its value is a complex number. A
general complex signal x ( t) is a function of the form

where x1( t ) and x2( t ) are real signals and j = −1

4- Deterministic and Random Signals:
 Deterministic signals and systems: Deterministic signals are those signals whose values
are completely specified for any given time. Thus, a deterministic signal can be modeled
by a known function of time t.
 Random signals and systems: Random signals are those signals that take random values
at any given time and must be characterized statistically.

5- Even and Odd Signals:

Examples of even and odd signals are shown in Fig. 2.
Any signal x(t) or x[n] can be expressed as a sum of
two signals, one of which is even and one of which
is odd. That is,

Where

Note that the product of two even signals or of two

odd signals is an even signal and that the product of an
even signal and an odd signal is an odd signal
Examples: (Even Signals)
Examples: (Odd Signals)
Example: Find the even and odd parts for each
of the following signals:
Solution:
Solution:
Solution :

The even and odd parts of the signal x(t)=u(t) are shown in Fig.1
6- Energy and Power Signals
 Energy (joules)
 Power (watt)
1. x(t) (or x n ) is said to be an energy signal ( or
sequence) if and only if 0 < E < ∞ and so P=0.
2. x(t) (or x n ) is said to be a power signal ( or
sequence) if and only if 0 < P < ∞ , thus
implying that E=0.
3. Signals that satisfy neither property are referred
to as neither energy signals nor power signals.
 Signal Energy & Power
 It is often useful to characterise signals by measures such as
energy and power
 Total energy of a continuous signal x(t) over [t1, t2] is:
t2
E 
2
x(t ) dt
t1

where |.| denote the magnitude of the (complex) number.

 Similarly the total energy for a discrete time signal x[n] over [n1, n2]:

E  n  n x[n]
n2 2

 Power is defined as the amount of energy consumed per unit

time.
 Periodic signals are power signals; nonperiodic signals
(pulses) are energy signals.
 Energy and Power
 For many signals, we’re interested in examining the power and energy over
an infinite time interval (-∞, ∞). These quantities are therefore defined by:
T 
E  lim T   x(t ) dt   x(t ) dt
2 2
T 

E  lim N  n N x[n]  n x[n]

N 2  2

 If the sums or integrals do not converge, the energy of such a signal is

infinite
1 T
2T T
P  lim T 
2
x(t ) dt
1

N
P  lim N 
2
x[ n ]
2 N  1 n N
 Two important (sub)classes of signals
1. Finite total energy (and therefore zero average power)
2. Finite average power (and therefore infinite total energy)
 Signal Energy & Power:
Determine if the signal is energy or power signal

Determine if the signal is energy or power signal

 Energy and Power
Example
For this signal, what is the total energy?
Solution
Find the power of x(t)=𝑒 𝑗𝑤0 𝑡