Signals and Systems

Continuous-Time Signals (C-T

Signals)
Lecture 2
Continuous-Time Signals (C-T
Signals)
Some Important C-T Signals:
 Unit-Step Function
 Unit-Impulse (Dirac Delta) Function
 Ramp Function
 Exponential Signals
 Sinusoidal Signals
 Unit-Step Function

 The continuous-time unit step function u(t) shown in

figure below is defined by:

1 𝑡>0
𝑢 𝑡 = ቊ
0 𝑡<0

 Note that 𝑢(𝑡) is discontinuous at t=0.

 Similarly, the shifted unit step function 𝑢(𝑡 − 𝑡0 ) is defined as

1 𝑡 > 𝑡0
𝑢 𝑡 − 𝑡0 = ቊ
0 𝑡 < 𝑡0
 Unit-Step Function
Unit step function Shifted unit step function
 Rectangular pulse
The rectangular pulse shown in Fig.1 can be
expressed as: p(t) = u(t) - u(t-T)

Fig.1: Rectangular pulse

 Unit Impulse Function
The unit-impulse (Dirac delta) function is defined as
follows:

Note: The “1” written beside the arrow indicates that the
“area” of the impulse is unity
 Relationship between u (t ) and 𝛿(𝑡)

 𝛿(𝑡) is the first derivative of u(t):

 And u(t ) can be expressed as the running

integral:
 Example: A given signal x(t) and its derivative.
𝑥 𝑡 = 2𝑢 𝑡 + 3 + 3𝑢 𝑡 − 2 − 4𝑢(𝑡 − 6)

The derivative of x(t) is zero except at the discontinuities

 Ramp Function

The continuous-time unit ramp function shown in figure is

defined by:

Equivalently, we may write:

Relationship between r (t ) and u (t ):

The unit step function is the first derivative of the ramp function:

And the ramp function is obtained by integrating the unit step

function:
 Exponential Signals:

The exponential signal is given by:

where A and  are generally complex numbers.

Special cases of exponential signals:

 Real exponential: (A and  are real)
Three cases can be distinguished in the real exponential
If  > 0, x(t) increases exponentially with t (Fig 1.a)
Example:
If  < 0, x(t) decreases exponentially with t (Fig 1.b)
Example:

If  = 0, x(t) is a constant ( dc) signal ( Fig 1.c)

Example:
Real Exponential Signals

Fig 1: Real Exponential Signals

Real Exponential Signals

Fig. 2 Examples of Real Exponential Signals

 Sinusoidal Signals:
• Complex exponential or sinusoidal:
( is purely imaginary)
Fig 1: Real sinusoid
 Periodic signals:
• Any continuous-time signal x(t) that satisfies
the condition

• where the smallest positive value of T known

as the fundamental period of the signal x(t), is
classified as a periodic signal.
• A signal x(t) that is not periodic is referred to
as an aperiodic signal.
• In the case of sinusoidal signal,x(t) is a periodic
signal, that is x(t+T) = x(t) for all t
• where the smallest positive value of T is called
the period of the signal x(t)
• The period T is given by:

where 𝑓0 is the frequency of the signal in Hertz.

Examples:
Complex exponential or damped
sinusoid: