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Q: What is ECE 438 about?

A: Digital signals and systems.

Q: What is a digital signal?

A: A signal that can be represented by a sequence of 0's and 1's. The signal must be discrete time (D.T.): x[n], n e Z The signal values must come from a discrete and finite signal. e.g. x[n] e {0,1}

    x[n] e {0,1,2,3,...,255} (grayscale values)

The Digital System

digital signal -> system -> digital signal

Three main types

  1. Software (MATLAB, C program)
  2. Firmware
  3. Hardware

Advantages of Digital Signals & Systems Digital Systems are:

  • Precise
  • Reproducible
  • Easy to build
  • Adaptable
  • Easy to upgrade/fix
  • Can be saved on a bistable storage device

x(t) CT World -------------------> x[n] DT World

The Continuous Time (C.T.) World

  • Most natural signals live here
  • Things are intuitive
  • Easy Math

The Discrete Time (D.T.) World

  • Digital lives here, along with computers, MATLAB, and digital circuits.

Back to ECE438 (BoutinFall2009)

Alumni Liaison

has a message for current ECE438 students.

Sean Hu, ECE PhD 2009