WILMAR P.

CADUNGOG
BS ECE – 3 February 8, 2023
ECE 7 – Signals, Spectra and signal Processing

ACTIVITY

1. Define Signal (in electronics term)

A signal is an electromagnetic or electrical current that carries data from one system or
network to another. In electronics, a signal is often a time-varying voltage that is also an
electromagnetic wave carrying information, though it can take on other forms, such as
current.

2. What is Signal Processing

Signal processing involves converting or transforming data in a way that allows us to see
things in it that are not possible via direct observation. Signal processing allows engineers
and scientists to analyze, optimize, and correct signals, including scientific data, audio
streams, images, and video. This is a broad and growing discipline concerned with the
manipulation and analysis of both analog and digital (sampled and quantized) signals. For
example, a common use of both analog and digital processing is for filtering electrical signals
to remove unwanted noise or to separate one signal from another. Examples of more
sophisticated uses of signal processing arise in the formation of an X-ray CT image for
medical diagnosis, or in machine recognition and synthesis of speech. Increasingly
sophisticated uses of signal processing have appeared in these areas and in many others,
including communications, control, image and video processing, radar, sonar, geophysical
exploration, and consumer electronics. This expanded use of signal processing techniques
has been prompted by advances in both the mathematical theory and the physical devices
used for signal processing. This is especially true for digital signal processing, where sampled
and quantized analog signals are processed using computers or special-purpose digital
hardware.

3. What are the (2) subfields of Signal Processing? Define.

Signal processing has 2 subfields namely Digital and Analog. Digital signal processing (DSP)
is the study of signals in a digital representation and the processing methods of these
signals. DSP and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing. DSP has at least
three major subfields: audio signal processing, digital image processing and speech
processing.

Since the goal of DSP is usually to measure or filter continuous real-world analog signals, the
first step is usually to convert the signal from an analog to a digital form, by using an analog
to digital converter. Often, the required output signal is another analog output signal, which
requires a digital to analog converter.

The algorithms required for DSP are sometimes performed using specialized computers,
which make use of specialized microprocessors called digital signal processors (also
abbreviated DSP). These process signals in real time and are generally purpose-designed
ASICs.

Analog signal processing is a type of signal processing conducted on continuous analog

signals by some analog means (as opposed to the discrete digital signal processing where
the signal processing is carried out by a digital process). "Analog" indicates something that is
mathematically represented as a set of continuous values. This differs from "digital" which
uses a series of discrete quantities to represent signal. Analog values are typically
represented as a voltage, electric current, or electric charge around components in the
electronic devices. An error or noise affecting such physical quantities will result in a
corresponding error in the signals represented by such physical quantities.

Examples of analog signal processing include crossover filters in loudspeakers, "bass",

"treble" and "volume" controls on stereos, and "tint" controls on TVs. Common analog
processing elements include capacitors, resistors and inductors (as the passive elements)
and transistors or opamps (as the active elements).

4. Define Analog and Digital signals and describe the difference between them
Electrical signals can be in analog or digital form. With Analog signals, the amplitude
changes continuously with respect to time with no breaks or discontinuities while Digital
signals are described as discrete; their amplitude maintains a constant level for a prescribed
period of time and then it changes to another level. If there are only two levels possible, it is
called binary signal. All binary signals are digital, but all digital signals are not necessarily
binary.

5. Define signal analysis

When designing electronic communications systems, it is often necessary to analyze and
predict the performance of the circuit based on the voltage distribution and frequency
composition of the information signal. This is done with mathematical signal analysis.
Although all signals in electronic communications systems are not single-frequency sine or
cosine waves, many of them are, and the signals that are not can be often represented by
combinations of sine and cosine waves.

6. Define what is meant by a periodic wave

Periodic wave is when a single-frequency has a repetitive waveform and it repeats at a
uniform rate. In other words, each successive cycle of the signal takes exactly the same
length of time and has exactly the same amplitude variations as every other cycle – each
cycle has the same shape. A series of sine, cosine, or square waves are example of periodic
waves. Periodic waves can be analyzed in either the time domain or the frequency domain.
In fact, it is often necessary when analyzing system performance to switch from the time
domain to the frequency domain and vice versa.

7. Describe time and frequency domain

A description of a signal with respect to time is called a time-domain representation. A
standard oscilloscope is a time-domain instrument. The display on the cathode ray tube
(CRT) is an amplitude-versus-time representation of the signal and is commonly called a
signal waveform. Essentially, a signal waveform shows the shape and instantaneous
magnitude of the signal with respect to time but does not directly indicate its frequency
content. With an oscilloscope, the vertical deflection is proportional to the amplitude of the
input signal, and the horizontal deflection is a function of time (sweep rate). A description of
a signal with respect to its frequency is called a frequency-domain representation. A
spectrum analyzer is a frequency-domain instrument. Essentially, no waveform is displayed
on the CRT. Instead, an amplitude-versus-frequency plot is shown (this is called a frequency
spectrum). With a spectrum analyzer, the horizontal axis represents frequency and the
vertical axis amplitude. Therefore, there is a vertical deflection for each frequency present in
the waveform. The vertical deflection (height) of each line is proportional to the amplitude
of the frequency it represents.

8. Define complex wave

Essentially, any repetitive waveform that is comprised of more than one harmonically
related sine or cosine wave is a nonsinusoidal complex wave. Thus, a complex wave is any
periodic (repetitive) waveform that is not a sinusoid, such as square waves, rectangular
waves, and triangular waves. To analyze a complex periodic wave, it is necessary to use a
mathematical series developed in 1826 by the French Physicist and mathematician Baron
Jean Fourier. This series is appropriately called the Fourier series.

9. Describe frequency spectrum and bandwidth and how they relate to each other
The frequency spectrum of a waveform consists of all the frequencies contained in the
waveform and their respective amplitudes plotted in the frequency domain. Frequency
spectrums can show absolute values of frequency-versus-voltage or frequency-versus-
power level, or they can plot frequency-versus-some relative unit of measurement, such as
decibels (dB).

The term bandwidth can be used in several ways. The bandwidth of a frequency spectrum is
the range of frequencies contained in the spectrum. The bandwidth is calculated by
subtracting the lowest frequency from the highest. The bandwidth of the frequency
spectrum shown in Figure 2-6 for Example 2-1 is 8000 Hz (9000 - 1000).

The bandwidth of an information signal is simply the difference between the highest and
lowest frequencies contained in the information, and the bandwidth of a communications
channel is the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies that the channel will
allow to pass through it (i.e., its passband. The bandwidth of a communications channel
must be sufficiently large (wide) to pass all significant information frequencies. In other
words, the bandwidth of a communications channel must be equal to or greater than the
bandwidth of the information signal. Speech contains frequency components ranging from
approximately 100 Hz to 8 kHz, although most of the energy is distributed in the 400-Hz to
600-Hz band with the fundamental frequency of typical human voice about 500 Hz. How-
ever, standard telephone circuits have a passband between 300 Hz and 3000 Hz, as shown
in Figure 2-8, which equates to a bandwidth of 2700 Hz (3000 - 300). Twenty-seven hundred
hertz is well beyond what is necessary to convey typical speech information. If a cable
television transmission system has a passband from 500 kHz to 5000 kHz, it has a bandwidth
of 4500 kHz (4.5 MHz). As a general rule, a communications channel cannot propagate a
signal through it that is changing at a rate that exceeds the bandwidth of the channel.

In general, the more complex the information signal, the more bandwidth required to
transport it through a communications system in a given period of time. Approximately 3
kHz of bandwidth is required to propagate one voice-quality analog telephone conversation.
In contrast, it takes approximately 32 kHz of bandwidth to propagate one voice-quality
digital telephone conversation. Commercial FM broadcasting stations require 200 kHz of
bandwidth to propagate high-fidelity music signals, and almost 6 MHz of bandwidth is
required for broadcast-quality television signals.

10. Describe the relationship between power and energy spectra

In the previous sections, we used the Fourier series to better understand the frequency- and
time-domain representation of a complex signal. Both the frequency and the time domain
can be used to illustrate the relationship of signal voltages (magnitudes) with respect to
either frequency or time for a time-varying signal.

However, there is another important application of the Fourier series. The goal of a
communications channel is to transfer electromagnetic energy from a source to a destina-
tion. Thus, the relationship between the amount of energy transmitted and the amount
received is an important consideration. Therefore, it is important that we examine the
relationship between energy and power versus frequency.

Electrical power is the rate at which energy is dissipated, delivered, or used and is a function
of the square of the voltage or current (P = E~/Ror P = ₽ X R). For power relationships. in the
Fourier equation. f(t) is replaced by If?. Figure 2-16 shows the power spectrum for a
rectangular waveform with a 25% duty cycle. It resembles its voltage-versus-frequency
spectrum except it has more lobes and a much larger primary lobe. Note also that all the
lobes are positive because there is no such thing as negative power.