ANALOG VS DIGITAL

SIGNALS
LISA HAIR

WHAT ARE SIGNALS?

A signal is the transmission of data that we constantly
deal with during our daily routine life.
There are two types of signals that carry information:

Analog signal
Digital signal

ANALOG SIGNALS
Any continuous signal for which the time varying feature
(variable) of the signal is a representation of some other time
varying quantity.

Infinite possibilities
Continuous electrical signal
Replicas of sound waves that can be distorted with noise and
drop the quality

of transmission. Difficult

ANALOG EXAMPLES

AM/FM Radio
Cassette tapes
VCR
Human voice in air

DIGITAL SIGNALS
An electrical signal that is converted into a pattern of bits and
has a discrete value at each sampling point.

Finite possibilities
Non-continuous electrical signal
Easier and more reliable to transmit with fewer errors

DIGITAL EXAMPLES

Cellphones
Computers
E-book Readers
Virtually all modern electronic devices

WHICH IS BETTER?
ANALOG

DIGITAL

PROS

Infinite amount of data

Density of analog signals is
much higher as compared to
digital
Easy processing

PROS

Can travel much faster

Able to transfer more data

Hardware is flexible in implementation

CONS

CONS

Quality often degraded due to

noise

Greater bandwith is essential

Systems and processing is more complex

Generation loss
Analog hardware is not flexible

IT REALLY DEPENDS ON THE

SITUATION!
Just because digital technology has
advantages doesnt mean its ALWAYS better.
An analog watch might be far more accurate
than a digital one.