Digital Signal Processing

EL569
Continuous-Time Signals and
Systems

Systems and Models

Input
x(t)

Output
h(t)
System

y(t)

Continuous Time (CT)

Continuous-time signals are
defined at every instant of time
over a specified duration.
Example of Matlab Plot

5
4
3
2

s(t)

x(t)

1
0
-1
-2
-3

notice
parentheses

-4
-5

50

100

150

200
250
300
Time(seconds)

350

400

450

500

Analogue Signals
Infinite Length

Periodic Signals
Sinusoids

One-Sided (e.g. t>0)

Unit Step: u(t)

Finite Length
Square Pulse
Impulse Signal

One-Sided
unit step signal

u(t)

u(t) = 1 for t 0
= 0 otherwise

u(t)
1

V(t)=e-tu(t)

e-1

Finite Length
p(t)=u(t-2)-u(t-4)

The Impulse Function or

Dirac Delta Function
Intuitively

the limit of a pulse of fixed area as its

width tends to zero
area taken as equal to one
unit impulse function

1/A

Area = 1/A . A = 1
A

The Impulse Function or

Dirac Delta Function
Mathematical Definition of unit
impulse function

t 0
t

t dt 1

t0
t 0

unit refers to the area or weighting of the

impulse
5 t has a weighting/area of 5

The Impulse Function or

Dirac Delta Function
Graphical Representation

Delayed & scaled

Impulse
K

K t a

Scaling and Delaying of

Impulse Functions
Note that K t a is an impulse of area K
delayed by time a

K t a dt K

t0

Sampling Property

f (t ) (t t )dt f (t ),
0

f (t ) continuous

This follows since

t=t0

is zero everywhere except at

Sampling Property
(t-t0)

f(t)

x
0

t0

f(t0).(t- t0)
f(t0)
=
0

t0

Properties of the Impulse

t t 0
t t
Concentrated at one time
Unit area t t dt 1
f (t ) (t t ) f (t ) (t t )
Sampling property
f (t ) (t t )dt f (t )
Extracts one value of f(t)
Derivative of unit step
0

du (t )
(t )
dt

Continuous-Time Systems
Examples:

Delay

Modulator

y (t ) x(t td )
y (t ) [ A x(t )] cos t
t

Integrator

y (t )

x( )d

Ideal Delay
System equation:

y (t ) x(t td )

To find the Impulse Response, h(t)

x(t ) (t )
h(t ) (t td )

Output of Ideal Delay

t

x(t ) e u (t )
1

e-1

t d 1sec

y (t ) x(t 1) e ( t 1)u (t 1)
1

e-1

Integrator
System equation:

y (t )

x
(

)
d

To find the Impulse Response, h(t)

x(t ) (t )
t

h(t ) ( )d u (t )

Integrator
h(t)=u(t) for integrator

du (t )
t
dt

1 t 0
u (t ) ( )d
0 t0

Integrator Example
x(t ) e 0.8t u (t )

e-0.8

y (t ) e 0.8 u ( )d

t 0

0.8
(
e
.1)d

t0

1.25(1 e 0.8t )u (t )

1.25

Linear & Time-Invariant

Systems (LTI)
If a continuous-time system is both linear and
time-invariant, then the output y(t) is related
to the input x(t) by a convolution integral,

y (t )

x( )h(t )d x(t ) h(t )

where h(t) is the impulse response of the system.

Testing Linearity
System

x1(t)
x2(t)

System

y1(t)
y2(t)

x2(t)

w(t)

X
w(t) must equal y(t)
for a linear system

x1(t)

x(t)

y(t)
System

Time-Invariance
Time-shifting the input will cause
the same time-shift in the output.

x(t)

Delay
by t0
System

x(t)

x(t-t0)

System

y(t)
w(t) = y(t-t0)

Delay
by t0

w(t)

y(t-t0)

y (t )

Integrator

x( )d

Linear
t

[ax ( ) bx ( )]d ay (t ) by (t )
1

And Time-Invariant
t

w(t )

x( t )d
0

let t0
w(t )

t t0

x( )d y(t t )
0

Modulator

y (t ) [ A x(t )] cos t

NOT linear

[ A ax1 (t ) bx2 (t )] [ A ax1 (t )] [ A bx2 (t )]

NOT time-invariant

w(t ) [ A x(t t0 )] cos t y (t t0 )

Reading Assignments
Signal Processing First

Chapter 9, Sections 9-1 to 9-5

Next Lecture
Continuous-Time Convolution