Signal (electronics)
hideIn the fields of communications, signal processing, and in electrical engineering more generally, a signal is any time-varying or spatial-varying quantity.
In the physical world, any quantity measurable through time or over space can be taken as a signal. Within a complex society, any set of human information or machine data can also be taken as a signal. Such information or machine data (for example, the dots on a screen, the ink making up text on a paper page, or the words now flowing into the reader's mind) must all be part of systems existing in the physical world – either living or non-living.
Despite the complexity of such systems, their outputs and inputs can often be represented as simple quantities measurable through time or across space. In the latter half of the 20th century, electrical engineering itself separated into several disciplines, specializing in the design and analysis of physical signals and systems, on the one hand, and in the functional behavior and conceptual structure of the complex human and machine systems, on the other. These engineering disciplines have led the way in the design, study, and implementation of systems that take advantage of signals as simple measurable quantities in order to facilitate the transmission, storage, and manipulation of information.
For more information about Signal (electronics), read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with electrical signal
The Link Between Birdsong And Human Language
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 10, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (7) |
0
Scientists studying how Bengalese finches use sets of syllables to communicate are a step closer to understanding how humans develop and use vocabulary. After studying the neural networks in finch brains, ...
Brain responds to human voice in one fifth of a second
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 28, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Psychology researchers have found the sound of the human voice can be recognised by the brain in less than one fifth of a second.
Researchers can precisely manipulate polarization in nanostructures
Oct 22, 2009 |
not rated yet |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, working with American researchers, have succeeded in using an electrical signal to control ...
Fish Sense Other Fish Via Ripples
Oct 15, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
Although humans experience their world through vision, touch and the other senses, many creatures gather information about their surroundings through unique sensory mechanisms that humans don’t have.
New method reveals all you need to know about 'waveforms'
Oct 07, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
1
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has unveiled a method for calibrating entire waveforms -- graphical shapes showing how electrical signals vary over time -- rather than just parts of waveforms as is current ...
Scientists hope tiny tubes can help repair damaged nerves
Aug 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Glasgow are hoping to use tiny fabricated tubes to help damaged nerves heal themselves.
Micromuscles: Micrometer-Sized Actuators from Liquid-crystal Elastomers (w/ Video)
Aug 11, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
1
To move your arm or leg, certain muscles need to change shape, to either lengthen or contract. Now scientists have made liquid-crystalline particles that can change shape in a similar way, but which are only ...
Optical chip detects blood molecules
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Jul 15, 2009 |
not rated yet |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- A portable 'lab on a chip' that can identify target molecules in blood samples has been created by European researchers. It is being used to measure fertility hormones and detect the genes ...
'Singing brains' offers epilepsy and schizophrenia clues
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
May 19, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Studying the way a person's brain 'sings' could improve our understanding of conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia and help develop better treatments, scientists at Cardiff University have discovered.
Abnormal EKG can predict death in stroke patients
Mar 20, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
People who suffer an ischemic stroke and also have an abnormality in the heart's electrical cycle are at a higher risk of death within 90 days than people who do not have abnormal electrical activity at the time of emergency ...
Novel electric signals in plants
Mar 09, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
1
Using ion-selective micro-electrodes electrical signals in plants moving from leaf to leaf could be measured. The speed of the signals spreading as voltage changes over cell membranes ranged from 5 to 10 cm ...
