UEC-404

Signals and Systems

Course Instructor:
Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Associate Prof., ECED
[email protected]
+91-7340 820 555

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 NOTE to All ECE/ENC students

[1] These slides are ONLY for reference purpose only. Do not fully depend on these slides.

[2] Read the books as mentioned in these slides.

[3] These slides do not fully cover the numerical aspects related to this subject, these
problems are being handled in class board only.

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 Lecture #1

Introduction

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Recommended Books

Signals and Systems.

A.V. Oppenheim, A.S. Willsky, with S.H. Nawab.
Pearson New International Edition.

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This Lecture
In this first lecture, we will take a cursory look of the course “Signals and Systems”.

Don’t worry if things seem a bit abstract/weird at this point: we will fill in all the
details as the semester goes on.

This just gives you all an idea of what to expect and what kind of things we will be
looking at.

Some prerequisites for the class (we will review them when necessary):
[*] complex numbers: arithmetic operations, geometric representation Euler’s
formula
[*] working knowledge of linear circuits (Ohm’s law, Kirchhoff laws, RLC stuff, etc.)
[*] basic knowledge of linear differential equations
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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] A signal is a pattern of variation of a physical quantity: a definition which covers a wide territory.

[*] A signal is a formal description of a phenomenon evolving over time or space; by processing we
mean any operation which modifies, analyzes or otherwise manipulates the information contained in
a signal.

[*] You are processing signals as you are listening to me, means I am creating a signal and your ear
processes these signals.

[*] Signals are all around us.

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] Examples include acoustical, electrical, and mechanical signals.

[*] Signals may depend on one or more independent variables.

[*] As the name implies, one-dimensional (1D) signals depend on one independent
variable.

[*] An example is the location of a particle moving in a rectilinear motion, in which

case the independent variable is time, .

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What is a Signal???

Signals that vary in time:

[*] neural spike train recordings
[*] speech or audio waveforms (and their sampled versions)
[*] EEG or ECG readings
[*] social trend data (e.g., http://trends.google.com)

Signals that vary in space:

[*] digital images
[*] CT or MRI scans
Signals that vary both in time and in space:
[*] video

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] Two-dimensional (2D) signals depend on two independent variables.

[*] An example is a picture that varies spatially, in which case the independent
variables are the spatial coordinate, and .

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

One-dimensional (1D) signal

Fig. Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal – the electrical activity of the human heart

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

One-dimensional (1D) signal

Fig. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal – the

electrical activity of the human brain

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

Two-dimensional (2D) signal

Fig. Image of Lena Söderberg used in many image

processing experiments.

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] A system processes signals.

[*] For example, a compact disc (CD) player is a system that reads a digital signal
from a CD and transforms it into an electrical signal.

[*] The electrical signal goes to the speaker, which is another system that
transforms electrical signals into acoustical signals.

[*] Many signals contain information.

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] Other signals are used only to transport energy.

[*] For example, the signal from a wall socket is boring in terms of information
content, but very useful for carrying energy.

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] We are often be interested in converting signals from one type to another.

[*] For example, in a chemistry laboratory, a continuous-time transducer measures

the analog value of a physical quantity.

[*] We will often use a continuous-to-discrete (analog-to-digital A/D) converter to

capture the signal into a computer for processing.

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] Signals may be represented as a graph with time on the horizontal axis and
amplitude of the signals on the vertical axis.

[*] An OSCILLOSCOPE is a system that converts an electrical signal into an optical

signal showing such a graph, allowing us to examine how the signal varies as a
function of time.

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Introduction to Signals & Systems

[*] A SPECTRUM ANALYZER is a system that converts an electrical signal into an

optical signal, showing a graph of what frequencies are in the input, called the
SPECTRUM of a signal. Knowing the frequency content of a signal allows to characterize the
signal.

[*] The spectrum of a signal consists of a graph that shows what frequencies are
present in the signal as well as the magnitudes of the frequency components.

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Examples of Signals

Let us now consider some simple examples of signals.

[*] Sinusoidal signals will prove to be one of the most useful signals we will
encounter.

[*] Mathematically, a sinusoidal signal may be represented as

= cos 2 + ,

where denotes the amplitude or magnitude of the signal,

its corresponding frequency,

and its phase.

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Examples of Signals

Fig. A 200 sine wave, = cos 2 200

its amplitude is 1, phase is 0 & a frequency

of 200 0.2

Fig. The spectrum of a 200 sine wave

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Examples of Signals

Fig. a periodic square wave at 200

Fig. The spectrum of a periodic square wave at 200

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Examples of Signals

[*] The square wave alternates between +1 and −1 with a period of 0.005 .

[*] The spectrum consists of spikes at 200 , 600 , 1000 , 1400 , etc.

[*] The largest peak is at the fundamental frequency of 200 .

[*] The next peaks are at third harmonic 3 , fifth harmonic 5 , seventh harmonic 7 , and so forth.
The amplitudes drop off for higher harmonic.

[*] Later we will show how these amplitudes and frequencies can be determined analytically using
Fourier series and numerically using the MATLAB command fft.

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Examples of Signals

Fig. a triangle wave at 200

Fig. The spectrum of a 200 triangle wave

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Examples of Signals

[*] NOTE that the spectrum also contains the odd harmonics, but the amplitudes drop off quickly
compared to the amplitudes of the square wave (previously).

[*] These examples suggest that we could construct any signal by summing sinusoids of different
amplitudes and frequencies.

[*] This underlying principle forms the basis of Fourier series.

[*] The spectrum shows the amplitude of the coefficients of the Fourier series.

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Review: Complex Numbers

[~] Rectangular form: = + , = −1

= !" , = #$
[~] Polar form: = %" &'
[~] Euler’s formula: " &' = cos ( + sin (
[~] Complex conjugate: ∗ = − = %" ,&'
∗ - - -
= = +

N.B.:
%= = - + -
Engineers often use to represent complex unity. 1
The variable 3 is reserved to denote the current of ( = tan,0
2
electrical systems.

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Review: Complex Numbers

[~] Euler’s formula: " &' = cos ( + sin (

so, " ,&' = cos ( − sin ( " &'
4" , = sin ( 1

Therefore, in terms of complex exponentials,

cosine and sine can be expressed as
0 4" , = cos (
cos ( = " &' + " ,&'
-
and
0 Fig. Complex exponential plotted
sin ( = " &' − " ,&' on a complex plane
-&

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Review: Complex Numbers

s Fig. Graphical representation of

(a) cosine and (b) sine on a
complex plane
1
cos ( = " &' + " ,&'
2
1 &'
sin ( = " − " ,&'
2

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Review: Complex Numbers

[*] In terms of complex exponentials, we can now write a simple sine wave as
follows:
9
= 6 cos 7 + 8 = "& :;<=
+ " ,& :;<=
,
-
where 6 and 8 are real constants.

The units of 7 are radians per second, as shown:

Fig. Graphical representation of sinusoid on a complex plane

Here both the vectors are now functions of time,

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Review: Complex Numbers

[*] Note that as increases, the upper vector rotates counterclockwise (CCW) at a rate
determined by the angular frequency 7 and the lower vector rotates clockwise (CW) at an
angular frequency of −7.

[*] Thus, we define a vector with a negative frequency −7 as one that rotates in the CW
direction.

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Review: Complex Numbers

[*] There are many different ways of representing a sinusoid:

[1] = 6 cos 7 + 8 = !" 6" & :;<=

,

where 6 and 8 are real constants, and !"{ } indicates the real part of an expression.

Using Euler’s identity, we have:

6" & :;<= = 6 cos 7 + 8 + 6 sin 7 + 8

i.e., !" 6" & :;<=

= !" 6 cos 7 + 8 + 6 sin 7 + 8 = 6 cos 7 + 8

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Review: Complex Numbers

[*] There are many different ways of representing a sinusoid:

[2] = 6 cos 7 + 8 = !" 6" & :;<=

= !" 6" &= " &:; = !" @" &:;

This is called the phasor notation.

The phasor @ = 6" &= contains the amplitude 6 and the phase 8 information of the
sinusoid, corresponding to the length or magnitude and angle of the vector in the complex
plane.

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