Signals, Systems and

Signal Processing

Engr. Marife A. Rosales

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 Objectives
Understand:
• Signals, Systems and Signal Processing
• Classification of signals
• Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog
conversion

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 QUESTION?
• What is Signal?
• What is System?
• What is Signal Processing

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 Signals
• In simple terms anything that carries some sort
of information is known as a signal.
• An example of which is the ECG
(Electrocardiogram) that provides information
about the health of a person’s heart.
• Signals can be given as input to any compatible
system to do the necessary modifications, and
what we get as a result is known as an output
signal.

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 Signals
• It is a function that conveys information
about the behavior or attributes of some
phenomenon.
Samples: audio, video, speech, image,
communication, geophysical, sonar,
radar, medical and musical signals,
output of a thermocouple (temperature),
output of a Ph meter (acidity)

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 Signals
• Signals and systems together forms the very
basis of the course signal processing.
• A signal is defined as any physical quantity
represented as a function of one or more
variables, which conveys some useful
information about that particular quantity.
• Any physical quantity that is unable to convey
any useful information is referred to as noise.

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 Signals
• A noise is a random phenomenon arising due
to some sort of a disturbance in the system and
in most cases is undesirable.
• Voltage Signal:

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 Signals
• Speech Signal:

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 Signals
• What can you observe?

• The signal looks like noise

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 Signals
• What can you observe?

• Signal processing technique known as

the Fourier transform, shows that it contains
five well defined frequency components.
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 Digital signal processing
• Digital signal processing is the processing
of digitized discrete-time sampled signals.

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 Analog Signals
• Electrical signals of which amplitude
changes continuously with respect to time
with no breaks or discontinuities.

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 Digital Signals
• Electrical signals that are described as
discrete; their amplitude maintains constant
level for a prescribed period of time and
then it changes to another level with respect
to time with no breaks or discontinuities.

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 Binary Signal
• Electrical signals that are described as
discrete; their amplitude maintains constant
level for a prescribed period of time and
then it changes to another level with respect
to time with no breaks or discontinuities.

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Discrete-time signal processing
• Discrete-time signal processing is for
sampled signals, defined only at discrete
points in time, and as such are quantized in
time, but not in magnitude.

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 Signals
• The radio and television signals are
propagated through free space and by radio
and television receivers are converted into
sound and picture.
• Long distance data communications through
internet is carried out using electrical
signals.
 Signals
• In addition to communications, signals are
used in medical diagnoses (the heart waves
–electrocardiogram or ECG; brain waves –
electroencephalogram or EEG), geophysical
investigations, stock-market analysis,
meteorological and demographical studies
etc.