Signal

Article

In information theory and signal processing, a signal is a varying quantity that conveys information about a phenomenon, message, or system. Signals may represent sound, images, measurements, symbols, commands, or physical conditions.

Signals can be continuous or discrete in time and amplitude. Analogue signals vary continuously, while digital signals use sampled and quantised values or encoded symbols.

Important properties include amplitude, frequency, phase, bandwidth, duration, energy, power, and statistical structure. Noise and distortion can alter the received signal and reduce the reliability of the information it carries.

Signals are generated, transmitted, stored, filtered, analysed, and reconstructed in communications, computing, instrumentation, medicine, control systems, astronomy, geophysics, and many other fields.

Source details and credits

• Source / publisher: Wikipedia
• URL type: WWW
• Credits: Wikipedia
• URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(information_theory)