SIGNALS & SYSTEMS

Lecture 01 - Fundamental Concepts

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Fundamental Concepts
 Signals and Systems
 Continuous-Time Signals
 Discrete-Time Signals
 Examples of Systems
 Basic System Properties
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Signals and Systems

• The concept of signals and systems arise in virtually all

areas of technology, ranging from appliances or devices
found in homes to very sophisticated engineering
innovations.
• Much of the development of high technology is a result of
advancements in the theory and techniques of signals and
systems.
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Signals and Systems

Signal
• A signal is the outcome of a physical system.
• A signal is anything you can see, hear, observe or measure
using some machine.
• A signal x(t) is a real-valued or scalar-valued function of the
time variable t.
• For any fixed value of the time variable t, the value of the signal at
time t is a real number.
• Examples of signals:
• voltage or current waveform in an electrical circuit
• audio signals such as speech or music waveforms
• bioelectric signals such an electrocardiogram(ECG)
• (Radio, TV, Radar)
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Signals and Systems

Electrocardiogram (ECG)
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Signals and Systems

• A signal is the carrier of information

– ECG contains information related to sickness
• medical diagnosis
– Voice contains information about who is speaking
and what is spoken
• Speech recognition
• Speaker recognition
– Radar signal contains information about the target
• To avoid accidents for airport navigation
• To defend the country for enemy’s attack
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Signals and Systems

• A signal is the carrier of information

– Biometric images contain information about
authentication
• Face images
• Fingerprints
• Iris
• Vein
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Signals and Systems

A speech signal
• 50-millisecond
segment of speech
• `sh`- to -`u`
transition in the
utterance of the
word `should`.
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Signals and Systems

• Signal can be represented by the set of sample values.

where is the value of the signal at time ,

is the number of sample points.

• This type of signal can be generated by sampling the

speech signal.
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Signals and Systems

Signal Processing
• A very important component of technology is signal
processing, processing of signals for various purposes
such as the extraction of the information carried in a
signal.
 Distinguish one`s voice from others by characterization of speech
signals in terms of their frequency spectrum.
 Extraction of information from signals in the medical field in the
processing of bioelectric signals
 Reconstruction of signals that have been corrupted by spurious
signals or noise.
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Signals and Systems

Signal Processing
• Restore a signal corrupted by noise or useless background
– Tuning in radio and TV
– Noise cleaning
– Pick up the voice of a certain person in a party
• Reconstruct a signal from different measurement
– Computerized tomogram (CT)
– Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging
– Reconstruct 3D images from different 2D views
• Find a system that can generate the desired signal
–Speech synthesis
–3D sound synthesis
–Make a virtual world in computer
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Signals and Systems

Signal Processing
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Signals and Systems

Systems
A System is an interconnection of components (devices or
processes) with terminals or access parts through which
matter, energy or information can be applied or extracted.

A system may be MIMO or SISO

SISO(Single Input Single Output)

𝑥(𝑡) y
SYSTEM
Input Output
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Signals and Systems

Systems
• MIMO(Multiple Input Multiple Output)

When
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Signals and Systems

Systems
• To undertake on in depth study of a system, it is very
useful to have a mathematical model.
• A mathematical model consists of a collection of equations
describing the relationships between the signals appearing
in the system.
• A mathematical model of a system is usually an idealized
representation of the system.

• Two basic types of mathematical models:

• Input / Output representations
• State or internal model
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Signals and Systems

Systems
• Four types of input/output representations:
1. The input/output differential equation Time
or difference equation. Domain
2. The convolution model Models
3. The Fourier Transform representation Frequency
4. The Transfer Function Domain
Models
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Continuous-Time Signals

 Signals and Systems

 Continuous-Time Signals
 Discrete-Time Signals
 Examples of Systems
 Basic System Properties
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Continuous-Time Signals

• A signal x(t) is said to be a continuous-time signal or an analog

signal when the time variable t takes its value from the set of
real numbers.

- Step and Ramp Functions ()

• The unit-step function is defined mathematically by

Amplitude of is equal to 1 for

all t 0 (
Unit-step function
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Continuous-Time Signals
• The unit-ramp function

Unit-ramp function

The unit-ramp function is equal to the integral of the unit-

step function.
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Continuous-Time Signals
• The Impulse
unit impulse

The impulse can be approximated by a pulse centered at the

origin with amplitude A and time duration 1/A, where A is a very
large positive number.

Pulse interpratation of
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Continuous-Time Signals
• The unit-step function is equal to the integral of the unit-
impulse
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Continuous-Time Signals
• Periodic Signals
Let T be a fixed positive real number.
A continuous-time signal is said to be periodic
with period T if,
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Continuous-Time Signals
• Example: Sinusoid

𝜃 − 𝑝h𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠

Solution:
Acos(wt +θ)

Periodic with period also fundamental period

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Continuous-Time Signals
• Example: Sinusoid
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Continuous-Time Signals
• Time-Shifted Signals
If is a positive real number, the signal is shifted to the right
by seconds and is shifted to the left by seconds.

Unit-step function ,

Two-second shifts of : a) right shift : b) left shift

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Continuous-Time Signals
• The time-shifted unit impulse is useful in defining the
shifting property of the impulse
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Continuous-Time Signals
• Continuous and Piecewise-Continuous Signals
A signal is discontinuous at a point if the value of ‘jumps’
as goes through the point .

{
−𝜏 𝜏
1, ≤𝑡 <
𝑝𝜏= 2 2
−𝜏 𝜏
0 ,𝑡 < ,𝑡≥
2 2

Triangular pulse function.

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Continuous-Time Signals

is continuous except

Rectangular pulse function

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Continuous-Time Signals
• Derivative of a Continuous-Time Signals
A continuous-time signal is said to be differentiable at a fixed
point if
𝑥 ( 𝑡 1+ h ) − 𝑥 (𝑡 1)
h
has a limit as , independent of whether approaches zero from above () or
from below ().
If the limit exists, has a derivative at the point defined by

𝑑𝑥 (𝑡)
|
=lim
𝑑𝑡 𝑡=𝑡 h →0
𝑥 ( 𝑡 1 +h ) − 𝑥 (𝑡 1 )
1
h
 

(Piecwise-continuous signals are not differentiable at all points)

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Continuous-Time Signals
• Signals Defined Interval by Interval
Continuous-time signals are often defined interval by
interval.
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Continuous-Time Signals
• MATLAB Application
Consider the signal
Plot x(t).

t ranging from 0 to 30 seconds with 0.1- 0.8

second increments, the MATLAB commands

0.6
for generating x(t)
0.4

t=0:0.1:30; 0.2

x=exp(-.1*t).*sin(2/3*t);
x(t)
0

axis([0 30 -1 1]);
plot(t,x)
-0.2

Grid -0.4

Ylabel(’x(t)’); xlabel(‘Time(sec)’) -0.6

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time(sec)
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Discrete-Time Signals

 Signals and Systems

 Continuous-Time Signals
 Discrete-Time Signals
 Examples of Systems
 Basic System Properties
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Discrete-Time Signals

• The time variable is said to be a discrete-time variable if takes

on only the discrete values for some range of integer values of
n.

• a discrete-time signal has values only at the discrete-time

points where n takes on only integer values.
• arise in many areas of business, economics, science and
engineering.
• In applications to business or economics may be the day,
month, quarter or year of a specified period of time.

Discrete-time signal is defined as

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Discrete-Time Signals

• Example
,,,,

Plot of a discrete-time signal

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Discrete-Time Signals

n=-2:6;
x=[0 0 1 2 1 0 -1 0 0];
stem(n,x); 2

xlabel(‘n’) 1.5

ylabel(‘x[n]’)
1

x[n] 0.5

-0.5

-1
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
n
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Sampling
Sampling continuous-time signals discrete-time signals

Sampled signal
Switch, T seconds

x [ 𝑛 ]= 𝑥(𝑡)|𝑡=𝑛𝑇 =𝑥(𝑛𝑇)
𝑛→𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑟
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Step and Ramp Functions

discrete-time unit-step function

discrete-time unit-ramp function

Discrete-time unit-step and unit ramp functions

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Discrete-Time Signals

• Unit Pulse

( is not a sampled version of the unit impulse )

Unit pulse function

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Discrete-Time Signals
• Periodic Discrete-Time Signals
A discrete-time signal is periodic if there exists a positive
integer r such that

Fundamental period is the smallest value of r for which the

signal repeats.
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Example

The signal is periodic if

function repeats every so

Therefore, the signal is periodic if and only if there exists a

positive integer such that for some integer .
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Discrete-time sinusoids
with
• - discrete-time frequency
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Discrete-time Rectangular Pulse

Let L be a positive odd integer.
Discrete-time rectangular pulse function of length L,
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Digital Signals
Let be a set of N real numbers.
A digital signal is a discrete-time signal whose values
belong to the finite set that is, at each time
instant ,

So, a digital signal can have only a finite number of different

values.

A sampled continuous-time signal is not neccessarily a digital

signal.

A binary signal is a digital signal.

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Discrete-Time Signals

• Digital Signals
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Time-Shifted Signals
• discrete-time signal
a positive integer

Example:
𝑝 3 [ 𝑛 −2 ] → 2- step right shift of the discrete-time
rectangular pulse
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Discrete-Time Signals

• Discrete-Time Signals Defined Interval by Interval

• may be specified by
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Examples of Systems

 Signals and Systems

 Continuous-Time Signals
 Discrete-Time Signals
 Examples of Systems
 Basic System Properties
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Examples of Systems
• RC Circuit

Input/Output differential
equation of the circuit.
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Examples of Systems
• Step response of RC circuit.
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Basic System Properties

 Signals and Systems

 Continuous-Time Signals
 Discrete-Time Signals
 Examples of Systems
 Basic System Properties
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Basic System Properties

• The extent to which a system can be studied using

analytical techniques depends on the properties of the
system.
• Two of the most important fundamental properties are
linearity and time-invariance.
• Single-Input Single-Output systems
• The system may be continuous-time or discrete-time.
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Basic System Properties

• Causality
• A system is said to be causal or nonanticipatory if for any time , the
output response at time resulting from input does not depend on
values of the input for .
• It is not possible to get an output before an input is applied to the
system.
• A system is noncausal if it is not causal.
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Basic System Properties

• Example:
• Ideal predictor
Consider the continuous-time system given by the input/output
relationship

The system is noncausal

Since the value of the output at time depends on the value of the
input at time .
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Basic System Properties

• Example:
• Ideal time delay
Consider the system with input/output relationship

The system is causal since the value of the output at time depends
only on the value of the input at time

The system delays the input pulse by 1 second.

RC Circuit is causal
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Basic System Properties

• Memoryless systems and systems with memory

• A causal system is memoryless or static if for any time , the value of
the output at time depends only on the value of the input at time .

• Example: Ideal Amplifier/Attenuator

,
→ 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠

• A causal system that is not memoryless is said to have memory.

• A system has memory if the output at time depends in general on
the past values of the input for some range of values of up to
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Basic System Properties

• Example: RC Circuit does have memory

output at time depends on the values of the input for .
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Basic System Properties

• Linearity
• A system is said to be additive if for any two inputs , the response
to the sum of inputs is eqaul to the sum of the responses to the
inputs.
𝑥1 ( 𝑡 ) 𝑦1 (𝑡 )

𝑥2 ( 𝑡 ) 𝑦2 ( 𝑡 )

• A system is said to be homogeneous if for any input and any real

scalar , the response to the input is equal to times the response to
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Basic System Properties

• A system is linear if it is both additive and homogeneous.

• A system that is not linear is said to be nonlinear.

• A Circuit containing diodes.

• Example: Amplifier

An ideal amplifier (Linear) Nonideal amplifier

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Basic System Properties

• Time Invariance
• The system is said to be time invariant or constant if for any input
and any , the response to the shifted input is equal to where is
the response to with zero initial energy.

𝑥(𝑡) 𝑥(𝑡 − 𝑡 1)

• The response to a left or right shift of the input is equal to a

corresponding shift in the response to .
• No changes in the system structure as a function of time .
• A system is time varying or time variant if it is not time invariant.
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Basic System Properties

• Example: Amplifier
Suppose that 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟

For any , 𝑦 ( 𝑡 −𝑡 1 )=( 𝑡 − 𝑡 1 ) 𝑥 (𝑡 −𝑡 1)

𝑥 ( 𝑡 −𝑡 1) → 𝑡𝑥 (𝑡 −𝑡 1 )≠ ( 𝑡 −𝑡 1 ) 𝑥 (𝑡 −𝑡 1)

The system is time varying.

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Basic System Properties

• Finite Dimensionality
• Continuous-time system with input - and output -

- derivative of the output

- derivative of the input
(when )

The system is said to be finite dimensional or lumped if for some

positive integer the derivative of the output at time is equal to a
function of and at time for .

input/output differential equation of the system.

N- is called order of the differential equation

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Basic System Properties

• Finite Dimensionality
• Hence a system has an input/output differential equation
representation if and only if the system is finite dimensional.
• A continuous-time system with memory is infinite dimensional if it is
not finite dimensional.
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Basic System Properties

• Finite Dimensionality
• Example: System with Time Delay
A continuous-time system,
𝑑𝑦 (𝑡 )
+𝑎𝑦 ( 𝑡 − 1 )=𝑥 (𝑡 )
𝑑𝑡

Due to the term it is not possibel to write in the form of

input/output differential equation for any positive integer

The system is infinite dimensional.

Systems with time delay are always infinite dimensional.

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Basic System Properties

• Finite Dimensionality
• Discrete-time system with input - and output -

The system is finite dimensional if for some positive integer and

nonnegative integer , can be written in the form

𝑦 [ 𝑛 ] = 𝑓 ( 𝑦 [ 𝑛−1 ] , 𝑦 [ 𝑛− 2 ] , …, 𝑦 [ 𝑛− 𝑁 ] , 𝑥 [ 𝑛 ] , 𝑥 [ 𝑛− 1 ] , …, 𝑥 [ 𝑛− 𝑀 ] , 𝑛)

input/output difference equation.

N – is order of the system.

• A discrete-time system has an input/output difference equation

representation if it is finite dimensional.
• Hence does not depend on future values of and therefore the system
is causal.
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Basic System Properties

• Linear finite-dimensional systems.

• Suppose that the system is finite-dimensional continuous-time system
with the input/output differential equation

The system is linear if and only if this equation is a linear differential

equation, which is the case if and only if there exist scalar functions
𝑎0 (𝑡 ) , 𝑎1 ( 𝑡 ) , …, 𝑎𝑁 − 1 ( 𝑡 ) , 𝑏 0 ( 𝑡 ) , 𝑏1 ( 𝑡 ) , …, 𝑏 𝑀 (𝑡)
such that

Thus the system is linear if and only if the derivative of the output
can be expressed in the form 𝑁 −1 𝑀
𝑦 ( 𝑁 ) ( 𝑡 ) =− ∑ 𝑎𝑖 ( 𝑡 ) 𝑦 (𝑖 ) ( 𝑡 )+ ∑ 𝑏𝑖 (𝑡) 𝑥( 𝑖) (𝑡)
𝑖=0 𝑖=0
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Basic System Properties

• Linear finite-dimensional systems.

• Finite dimensional discrete-time system with input/output difference
equation
𝑦 [ 𝑛 ] = 𝑓 ( 𝑦 [ 𝑛−1 ] , 𝑦 [ 𝑛− 2 ] ,…, 𝑦 [ 𝑛− 𝑁 ] , 𝑥 [ 𝑛 ] , 𝑥 [ 𝑛− 1 ] , …, 𝑥 [ 𝑛− 𝑀 ] , 𝑛)

The system with this equation is linear if and only if it is a linear difference
equation which is the case if and only if it can be written in the form
𝑁 𝑀
𝑦 [ 𝑛 ] =− ∑ 𝑎𝑖 (𝑛 ) 𝑦 [ 𝑛−𝑖 ] + ∑ 𝑏 𝑖 ( 𝑛 ) 𝑥 [𝑛− 𝑖]
𝑖=1 𝑖=0