analogue and digital signals

what is a analogue signal

a analogue signal is a signal that has different frequencies and amplitudes

what is a digital signal

a digital signal is a signal that uses binary or bitswhich are 0 and 1 and only has one amplitude which is 1

what is a ADC and what does it do?

a ADC is a analogue to digital converter it takes a analogue signal looks at the amount of voltage and converts it into binary (bits) so that a computer can understand.

what is sampling

sampling is measuring the value of an analogue signal at regular intervals and each measurement is called a sample. for example taking photos of a moving object the smoother the video same for sampling the more samples the better the digital signal

properties of analogue signal

they are continuous and the value can be within of any range, they also have different amplitudes and frequency’s.

properties of digital signals

they could be a volatage that can be high or low 0=low 1=high

how can a digital signal carry info

they can be transmitted through fiber optics and information or stored as computer memory

advantages of digital signals

• Are less affected by noise

• Can be regenerated without losing quality

• Allow error detection and correction

• Can be compressed

• Are compatible with computers

• Can be encrypted (more secure)

disadvantages of digital signals

• Require more bandwidth.

• More complex and expensive equipment (need ADC/DAC).

• Sampling can cause loss of information. the sampling rate can affect the quality of the signal which means there are fewer samples taken per second so the signal loses detail and quality gets affected and it also takes time processing more data so there are delays when transmitting or processing the signal

how can digital signals be used for fiber optics

A fiber optic can carry information as a broadband signal a broadband signal is lots of info that can be transmitted at the same time