EECS3451 Signals and Systems

Lecture 1: Introduction to Signals & Systems

Instructor: Houshang Karimi

Course Notes by: Gene Cheung

York University

January 9, 2025

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Lecture Outline

Introducing Signals
Signal Examples
Physics, Mathematics, Engineering
Philosophy in Signals & Systems Course
Chapter 2: Signals
Time
Continuous-time (CT) Signals
Discrete-time (DT) Signals

Reading
SASAFL Chapter 1: Introduction
SASAFL Chapter 2: Signals

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Introducing Signals

We study signals & systems.

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Introducing Signals

We study signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.

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Introducing Signals

We study signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

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Introducing Signals

We study signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:

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Introducing Signals

We study signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:
1 Speech is signal, ear is system.

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Introducing Signals

We study signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:
1 Speech is signal, ear is system.
2 Acoustic wave is input signal, microphone is system, electrical
signal is output signal.

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Introducing Signals

We study signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:
1 Speech is signal, ear is system.
2 Acoustic wave is input signal, microphone is system, electrical
signal is output signal.

Transducer: system that transforms a signal from one form to

another.

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Signal Examples 1
The phrase “signals and systems” uttered by the author
(2.3sec).

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Signal Examples 2

a 128-Hz tuning fork

(13sec).

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Signal Examples 2

a 128-Hz tuning fork

(13sec).
(c) appears sinusoidal.

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Signal Examples 2

a 128-Hz tuning fork

(13sec).
(c) appears sinusoidal.
Repeats 14 times in
0.1097sec → 127.62Hz.

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Signal Examples 2

a 128-Hz tuning fork

(13sec).
(c) appears sinusoidal.
Repeats 14 times in
0.1097sec → 127.62Hz.
Frequency difference of
0.3%.

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Signal Examples 3

Middle-C key of a piano

(1.0sec).

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Signal Examples 3

Middle-C key of a piano

(1.0sec).
Theoretical frequency of
middle-C is 261.6 Hz.

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Signal Examples 3

Middle-C key of a piano

(1.0sec).
Theoretical frequency of
middle-C is 261.6 Hz.
Waveform shown is not
purely sinusoidal.

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Signal Examples 4

Figure: Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) records voltages generated by a

human heart.

Signals in the preceding figures are all plotted against time,

which is called an independent variable.

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Signal Examples 4

Figure: Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) records voltages generated by a

human heart.

Signals in the preceding figures are all plotted against time,

which is called an independent variable.
A photograph is also a signal and must be plotted against two
independent variables, one for each spatial dimension.

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2D Signal: Image (Compression)

Figure: Original and JPEG compressed (Q90, 8.7%) lena.

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3D Signal: 3D Point Cloud (Denoising)

Figure: Visual comparison of different 3D point cloud denoising algorithms.

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Physics, Mathematics, Engineering

Physics: develops physical laws to describe natural

phenomena and to uncover the basic structure of matter.

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Physics, Mathematics, Engineering

Physics: develops physical laws to describe natural

phenomena and to uncover the basic structure of matter.

Mathematics: has no generally accepted definition (Wiki).

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Physics, Mathematics, Engineering

Physics: develops physical laws to describe natural

phenomena and to uncover the basic structure of matter.

Mathematics: has no generally accepted definition (Wiki).

The art that sharpens your mind and helps you better
understand the world of engineering! (my definition!).

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Physics, Mathematics, Engineering

Physics: develops physical laws to describe natural

phenomena and to uncover the basic structure of matter.

Mathematics: has no generally accepted definition (Wiki).

The art that sharpens your mind and helps you better
understand the world of engineering! (my definition!).
The bottom line in mathematics is absolute correctness,
whereas the bottom line in physics is truthfulness to the
physical world (SASAFL).

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Physics, Mathematics, Engineering

Physics: develops physical laws to describe natural

phenomena and to uncover the basic structure of matter.

Mathematics: has no generally accepted definition (Wiki).

The art that sharpens your mind and helps you better
understand the world of engineering! (my definition!).
The bottom line in mathematics is absolute correctness,
whereas the bottom line in physics is truthfulness to the
physical world (SASAFL).

Engineering: often involves tradeoffs or compromises between

performance and cost, and between conflicting specifications.

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Philosophy in Signals & Systems Course

Electrical Engineering curriculum has become theoretical.

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Philosophy in Signals & Systems Course

Electrical Engineering curriculum has become theoretical.

Signals & Systems is old topic.

Mission:
The following are widely recognized:

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Philosophy in Signals & Systems Course

Electrical Engineering curriculum has become theoretical.

Signals & Systems is old topic.

Mission:
The following are widely recognized:
1 There is a gap between what is taught at universities and what
is used in industry.

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Philosophy in Signals & Systems Course

Electrical Engineering curriculum has become theoretical.

Signals & Systems is old topic.

Mission:
The following are widely recognized:
1 There is a gap between what is taught at universities and what
is used in industry.
2 It is more important to teach how to learn than what to learn.

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Motivational Quote

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Lao Tzu (∼ 610BC)

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Time

Chapter 2:

We study signals that vary with time.

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Time

Chapter 2:

We study signals that vary with time.

Consider real number line for time.

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Time

Chapter 2:

We study signals that vary with time.

Consider real number line for time.
Rational number can be expressed as a ratio of two integers.

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Time

Chapter 2:

We study signals that vary with time.

Consider real number line for time.
Rational number can be expressed as a ratio of two integers.
Irrational number is a real number with infinitely many digits
after the decimal point and without exhibiting any repetitive
pattern.

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Time

Chapter 2:

We study signals that vary with time.

Consider real number line for time.
Rational number can be expressed as a ratio of two integers.
Irrational number is a real number with infinitely many digits
after the decimal point and without exhibiting any repetitive
pattern.
A real number line consists of rational numbers (including
integers) and irrational numbers.

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Time

Chapter 2:

We study signals that vary with time.

Consider real number line for time.
Rational number can be expressed as a ratio of two integers.
Irrational number is a real number with infinitely many digits
after the decimal point and without exhibiting any repetitive
pattern.
A real number line consists of rational numbers (including
integers) and irrational numbers.
The set of irrational numbers is much larger than the set of
rational numbers.

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Continuous-time (CT) Signals

A signal is a function x(t) of time t.

x is called the amplitude or value.
Function x(t) must assume a unique real number at every t.

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Continuous-time (CT) Signals

A signal is a function x(t) of time t.

x is called the amplitude or value.
Function x(t) must assume a unique real number at every t.
Signal is called a continuous-time (CT) signal if x(t) is
defined at every t in a continuous range of time.

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Continuous-time (CT) Signals

A signal is a function x(t) of time t.

x is called the amplitude or value.
Function x(t) must assume a unique real number at every t.
Signal is called a continuous-time (CT) signal if x(t) is
defined at every t in a continuous range of time.
A CT signal (function) is continuous if its amplitude does not
jump from one value to another as t increases.

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Example of Continuous-time (CT) Signal

Clock signal: generated using a quartz-crystal oscillator, is

needed from digital watches to supercomputers.

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Example of Continuous-time (CT) Signal

Clock signal: generated using a quartz-crystal oscillator, is

needed from digital watches to supercomputers.
A 2-GHz (2 × 109 cycles per second) clock signal will repeat
its pattern every 0.5 × 10−9 second or half a nanosecond (ns).

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Staircase Approximation of CT Signals - Sampling

Consider the CT signal x(t) = 4e −0.3t cos(4t), t ∈ [0, 5).

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Staircase Approximation of CT Signals - Sampling

Approximation of CT signal x(t).

1 Select a T > 0.
2 Approximate with a staircase function: approximate amplitude
of x(t) for t ∈ [0, T ) with x(0).
xT (t) = x(nT ), for nT ≤ t < (n + 1)T (1)

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Staircase Approximation of CT Signals - Sampling

T the sampling period.

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Staircase Approximation of CT Signals - Sampling

T the sampling period.

nT is sampling instants or sample times.

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Staircase Approximation of CT Signals - Sampling

T the sampling period.

nT is sampling instants or sample times.
x(nT ) are sampled values or samples of x(t).

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Staircase Approximation of CT Signals - Sampling

T the sampling period.

nT is sampling instants or sample times.
x(nT ) are sampled values or samples of x(t).
fs = 1/T is sampling rate or sampling frequency with unit in
Hz (cycles per second).

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Staircase Approximation of CT Signals - Sampling

T the sampling period.

nT is sampling instants or sample times.
x(nT ) are sampled values or samples of x(t).
fs = 1/T is sampling rate or sampling frequency with unit in
Hz (cycles per second).

Approximation of x(t) by xT (t) is called pulse-amplitude

modulation (PAM).

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Summary

We studied signals & systems.

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Summary

We studied signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.

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Summary

We studied signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

19 / 23
Summary

We studied signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:

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Summary

We studied signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:
1 Speech is signal, ear is system.

19 / 23
Summary

We studied signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:
1 Speech is signal, ear is system.
2 Acoustic wave is input signal, microphone is system, electrical
signal is output signal.

19 / 23
Summary

We studied signals & systems.

Signal: anything that carries information.
System: any physical device or computer program that
manipulates an input signal to an output signal.

Examples:
1 Speech is signal, ear is system.
2 Acoustic wave is input signal, microphone is system, electrical
signal is output signal.

Transducer: system that transforms a signal from one form to

another.

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Problem 1
Q: Is an integer a rational number? Why?

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Problem 2
Q: Prove that the midpoint of any two rational numbers is a
rational number.

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Problem 3
Q: Consider x(t) defined by x(t) = 0.5t, for 0 ≤ t ≤ 3 and
x(t) = 0 for t < 0 and t ≥ 3. Plot x(t) for t ∈ [0, 5]. Is x(t) a
signal? If not, modify the definition to make it a signal.

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Problem 4
Q: Find the samples of the modified x(t) if the sampling period is
T = 0.5.

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