Digital & Analogue Signals | Physics for GCSE/IGCSE - Year 11 PDF Download

Digital & Analogue Signals

• Types of Signals:
  • Analogue Signals
  • Digital Signals
• Analogue Signals: Analogue signals vary continuously, representing a range of values.

• Digital Signals: Digital signals can only be in one of two discrete states, typically represented as 1s and 0s, or high and low, on and off.
  

Transmission of Sound

• Sound waves that can be transmitted as a digital or analogue signal
  • Sound waves can be sent as either digital or analogue signals
• Signals for speech or music consist of various frequencies. To ensure clear information transmission, the signal must be sent with minimal interference.
  • Speech or music signals comprise different frequencies. To ensure clarity, the signal should be transmitted with minimal disruption.
• The signal undergoes conversion both before transmission and after reception:
  • Before Transmission: Conversion from analogue to digital
  • After Reception: Conversion from digital to analogue

Benefits of Digital Signalling

• An analogue signal involves varying frequency or amplitude. For instance, technologies like telephone transmission and certain broadcasting methods rely on analogue signals.
• Digital signals are represented and processed using two states: 1 or 0, corresponding to high or low states, respectively.

• The advantages of transmitting data in digital form over analogue include:
  • Digital signals can be regenerated, resulting in minimal noise interference.
  • The range of digital signals is typically larger than that of analogue, enabling them to cover greater distances.
  • Digital transmission allows for a higher rate of data transfer compared to analogue methods.
  • Additional data can be incorporated into digital signals to facilitate error checking.