Signals and Systems

Spring 2019
Lecture-slides1

1
 Motivation
LTI
System

+ H(z)

G(z)
2
Lecture Contents
1) Course Logistics
2) Signals
a) Continuous Time (CT) signals

b) Discrete Time (DT) signals

3) System
4) System Interconnection
5) Power and Energy of signals
6) Transformations of Time Variable 3
Signals
Signals are functions of independent variables that carry
information. For example:
• Electrical signals --- voltages and currents in a circuit
• Acoustic signals --- audio or speech signals (analog or
digital)
• Video signals --- intensity variations in an image (e.g. a
CAT scan)
• Biological signals --- body temperature, Heart’s blood
pumping rate.

• Signals can be functions of single or multiple independent

variables

 We will only deal with signals that are functions of single

independent variable, particularly time t.
•

4
 The Independent Variables
• Can be continuous
— Time
— Altitude
• Can be discrete
— Total population
— Digital image pixels

• Can be 1-D, 2-D, ••• N-D

• For this course: Focus on a single (1-D) independent variable

which we call “time”.
Continuous-Time (CT) signals: x(t), t — continuous values
Discrete-Time (DT) signals: x[n], n — integer values
only

5
CT Signals

• Most of the signals in the physical world are CT

signals—E.g. voltage & current, pressure,
temperature, velocity, etc.

6
DT Signals
• x[n], n — integer, time varies discretely

• Examples of DT signals in nature:

— DNA base sequence
— Population of the nth generation of certain
species
— Due to Sampling of CT signals (why?).

7
 General Introduction
DT Signals

8
 Examples
DT Signals

9
 Examples
DT Signals

10
 Examples
DT Signals

11
Many human-made DT Signals
Ex.#1 Weekly Dow-Jones Ex.#2 digital image
industrial average

Why DT? — Can be processed by modern digital computers

and digital signal processors (DSPs).
12
Signal Representation
 Signals can be represented in mathematical
form:
 x(t) = et , x[n] = n/2
0 ,t  5
 y(t) =  2
 t ,t  5
 Discrete signals can also be represented as
sequences:
 {y[n]} = {…,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,…}
 Exercise: Represent the above signals in
graphical form. 13
Systems
For the most part, our view of systems will be from an
input-output perspective:
A system responds to applied input signals, and its response
is described in terms of one or more output signals.

Discrete-Time System: Input and output signals are

discrete.

14
Systems (cont’d)
 Continuous-Time System: Input and
output signals are continuous.

• Combination is also possible, e.g. analog-

to-digital or digital-to-analog converters.

15
 Example:
Acquiring Data with a Sound Card

16
Example : RLC Circuit

17
Example : A Communication
System

18
 More Examples
• Dynamics of an aircraft or space vehicle
• An algorithm for analyzing financial and economic
factors to predict bond prices
• An algorithm for post-flight analysis of a space launch
• An edge detection algorithm for medical images

19
System Interconnections
• An important concept is that of interconnecting systems
— To build more complex systems by interconnecting
simpler subsystems
— To modify response of a system

• Signal flow (Block) diagram

Cascade

Parallel +

Feedback
+

20
Power and Energy of Signals
 Signal is a function of varying amplitude through
time.
 Good measurement of signal strength is the area
under the curve.
 The area may have a negative part which does not
have less strength than a positive signal of the same
size.
 Either square the signal or take absolute value, then
find the area.
 Energy of a signal is the area under the squared
signal.

21
Power and Energy of Signals
(cont’d)
 Energy: accumulation of absolute of the
signal
 T 
E  lim  x(t ) dt   x(t )
2 2
dt
T 
T 
 N 
E  lim  x[n]   x[n]
2 2

N 
n N 

22
 Power and Energy of Signals
(cont’d)
 What if the signal does not decay?
Infinite energy.
 Power is a time average of energy
(energy per unit time). Useful for
infinite energy signal.
 Power is the rate at which energy is
delivered.

23
 Power and Energy of Signals
(cont’d)
 Power: average of absolute of the
signal

 T
1 E
P  lim  x(t ) dt  lim
2

T  2T T  2T
T
 1 N
E
P  lim  x[n]  lim
2

N  2 N  1 N  2 N  1
n N

24
 Examples:
 Energy signal if 0<E<, and so P=0.
 e.g:  0, t  0
x(t )   t
e , t  0
 X[n] = {1,1,1} discrete time energy signal
 Power signal if 0<P<, and so E=.
 e.g: x(t) = Acos(10t), x[n]=4
 Neither energy nor power, when both E and P are
infinite.
 e.g: x(t )  et
 Exercise: Calculate power and energy for the above
signals.
25
Transformations of Time
Variable
 Three possible time transformations:
 Time Flip (or reverse): x(-t), x[-n]
 Flips the signal over the vertical axis.
 Time Shift: x(t+a), x[n+a]
 On horizontal axis, shifts to the right when
a<0, shifts to the left when a>0.
 Time Scale: x(at), x[an] for a>0.
 On horizontal axis, scales the signal length
down when a>1, scales it up when a<1.
26
 (cont’d)

• Time-flip example:
x(t) x(-t)
1 1
t t
-2 -1 1 2

• Time-shift example:
x(t-1) x(t+1)
1 1
t t
-2 -1 1 -3 -2 -1

27
 Transformations of Time Variable
(cont’d)
• Time-scale example:
x(2t) x(t/2)
1 1
t t
-1 -1/2 -4 -3 -2 -1

• Combinations are possible:

x(-2t) x(-t+3)
1 1
t t
-1 -1/2 1 2 3 4 5 6
28
 Transformations of Time Variable (cont’d)

• Be careful when combining the transformations.

– e.g. x(-t+3) = x1(t-3) where x1(t)= x(-t) or
x(-t+3) = x2(-t) where x2(t)= x(t+3)
• Given y(t) below, find y(-3t+6) in different orders:
flip/shift/scale, flip/scale/shift, shift/flip/scale.

y(t)
2
t
1 2 3
-2

29
Transformations of Time
Variable (cont’d)

30
Transformations of Time
Variable (cont’d)

31