Communication

Systems

Types of
Signals
By
Engr. Dr. Jawwad Ahmad

1
 Today’s Goal
 Analog Vs Digital

 Continuous Vs Discrete

 Periodic Vs Aperiodic

 Composite Signals

Engr. Dr. Jawwad Ahmad 2

 Basic Communication Model

Tx Media
Transmitter Receiver

Tx Rx Information
Information

Sender Sinker

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 Introduction
 Information can be in the form of data ,voice, picture and so on –
anything that is readable by and has meaning to the destination
user ,whether human or machine.

 Transmission media work by conducting energy along a physical

path. So a stream of 1s and 0s must be turned into energy.

 To be transmitted information must be transformed into

electromagnetic signals.

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 Signal Propagation
 Information – Encode-energy
 Exp: Steel Rod
 Exp: Telephone
 Electrical signals – conductor
 Optical signals- optic
 Electromagnetic signals – radio, infrared

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 Signals
 Analog signal is a continuous wave that changes smoothly over
time. It includes an infinite number of values along its path.

 A digital signal have a limited number of defined values

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 Signals
 Amplitude: value at any point.
 Period: amount of time to complete one cycle – sec, milli sec,
micro sec, nano sec
 Frequency: number of periods in one second –Hz. KHz, MHz,
GHz

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Signals

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A=Amplitude
g(t)=Asin(2ft+) Signals Half Amplitude
1.0 1.0
0.5 0.5
-0.0 -0.0
-0.5 -0.5
-1.0 -1.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5ms 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5ms
A=1, f=1, =0 A=0.5, f=1, =0
Double Frequency p/4 out of Phase
1.0 1.0

0.5 0.5

-0.0 -0.0

-0.5 -0.5

-1.0 -1.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5ms 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5ms
A=1, f=2, =0 Engr. Dr. Jawwad Ahmad A=1, f=1, = p/4 9
 Signals
 Periodic- A signal is periodic if it completes a pattern within a
measurable time frame, called a period and repeats the pattern over
identical subsequent periods.

 Period- amount of time required to complete one full cycle. The

duration of period represented by T may be different for each
period, but it is constant for a given periodic signal.

 Aperiodic- Signal changes constantly without exhibiting a

pattern or cycle that repeats over time.

 A technique called Fourier Transform stated as: any aperiodic

signal can be decomposed in an infinite number of periodic
signals.
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Periodic Signals

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Aperiodic Signals

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 Composite Signals
 Many periodic signals are
not sine waves.

 Any periodic signals can be

decomposed into a collection
of sine waves using Fourier
analysis.

 For an exact digital signal,

we need infinite number of
odd harmonics f, 3f, 5f, 7f,
9f,…,each with a different
amplitude .

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 Composite Signals

We can add
g1(t)
sines together
to make new

+ g2(t)
functions...

= g3(t)
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 Time Vs. Frequency Domain
 Time domain plot- changes in amplitude with respect to time
 A sine wave can also be shown using a frequency-domain plot
i.e. amplitude with respect to frequency

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Time Vs. Frequency Domain

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Complex Waveform

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Complex Waveform

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Thank you

Engr. Dr. Jawwad Ahmad 19