DHANALAKSHMI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

IT6502 – DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
UNIT - I : SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS
PART – A (2 MARKS)

1. Define Signal and Signal Processing.

A signal is defined as any physical quantity that varies with time, space, or any other independent
variable.
Signal processing is any operation that changes the characteristics of a signal. These characteristics
include the amplitude, shape, phase and frequency content of a signal.

2. What are the classifications of signals? (Nov/Dec 2010)

There are five methods of classifying signals based on different features:
(a) Based on independent variable.
(i) Continuous time signal.
(ii) Discrete time signal.
(b) Depending upon the number of independent variable.
(i) One dimensional signal,
(ii) Two dimensional signal.
(iii) Multi dimensional signal.
(c) Depending upon the certainty by which the signal can be uniquely described as
(i) Deterministic signal.
(ii) Random signal.
(d) Based on repetition nature.
(i) Periodic signal.
(ii) Non – Periodic signal.
(e) Based on reflection
(i) Even signal.
(ii) Odd signal

3. Define discrete system.

A discrete time system is defined as a device or algorithm that operates on a discrete time input signal
x(n) , according to some well defined rule , to produce another discrete – time signal y(n) called the
output signal.