UNIT I

CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS AND

SYSTEMS
• What is a signal?
• Classfication of signals
• Types of Signals
• Operations on Signals
• Concluding Summary
 What is a Signal?
• It is the time evolution of a quantity, for example:
• The price of a share in a publically listed
company;
• The level of water in a reservoir;
• The speed of a car;
• The temperature in a room;
• The voltage driving the speaker in a mobile
telephone; many others . . .
 Classification of signals
The signals can be grouped into classes. The classes
of signals which are relevant to linear systems are
listed below.
• Continuous-time and discrete-time signals.
• Analog and digital signals.
• Periodic and aperiodic signals.
• Energy and Power signals.
• Deterministic signals and random signals.
• Odd and even signals.
• Causal signals.
CONTINUOUS-TIME AND DISCRETE-TIME SIGNALS
ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNALS
PERIODIC AND APERIODIC SIGNALS
 ENERGY AND POWER SIGNALS

• A signal with finite energy is an energy

signal. An exponentially decaying signal
that exists only for t > 0 is an energy signal.

• On the other hand, a signal that has a finite

and nonzero power is a power signal
 DETERMINISTIC AND RANDOM SIGNALS

• It may be possible to predict a signal accurately as

a function of time and then such a signal is called
a deterministic signal. All past, present, and future
values of a deterministic signal are known
precisely without any ambiguity or uncertainty.
• On the other hand, there are some signals which
cannot be predicted accurately by a mathematical
expression. Such a signal is called a random
signal. A random signal can be described only in
terms of probability. For example, the output of a
noise generator is a random signal
 ODD AND EVEN SIGNALS

• A continuous-time signal y(t) can be said to be

an even signal, if equation (1.3) is satisfied. If
equation (1.4) is satisfied, then y(t) can be said to
be an odd signal
 CAUSAL SIGNALS

• In practice, the input signals to a circuit

start at t = 0. Signals that start at t = 0
referred to as causal signals
 BASIC OPERATIONS ON SIGNALS

Operations on the signal

• Amplitude Scaling
• Addition
• Differentiation of continuous-time signal
• Integration of continuous-time signal
Operations on the independent variable
• Time scaling
• Time shifting
• Time reversal /Folding / Reflection
• Amplitude Scaling

• Given a signal y1(t), it can be multiplied by a

scalar constant to yield y2(t), which has an
amplitude equal to c times the amplitude of y1(t).
Differentiation and Integration
Time Scaling
Time shifting or Translation in Time
Domain
Time reversal /Folding / Reflection
 Types of Signals
• UNIT-STEP FUNCTION
RAMP FUNCTION
IMPULSE FUNCTION
 Summary
• These slides has introduced and explained
the classification and types of signals
• Operations performed on the signals with
and without independent variable