This course is a breadth course that also is a prerequisite for most courses in communications, signal processing and control systems. The objective of this course is to provide students with an integrated understanding of the relationships between mathematical tools and properties of real signals and systems. This is accomplished by motivating lectures and recitation problems using demonstrations and laboratory assignments which cover such topics as radio transmission and reception, audio synthesizers, CDs, image processing, and prosthetic devices. In the course of the semester, students are introduced to industry-standard computing and simulation tools that will be used in subsequent courses. Continuous and discrete-time signals and systems are treated in a unified manner through the concept of sampling. The course covers the basic concepts and tools needed to perform time and transform domain analyses of signals and linear time-invariant systems, including: unit impulse response and convolution; Fourier transforms and filtering; Laplace transforms, feedback and stability; and a brief introduction to z-transforms in the context of digital filtering.
