M2 – Explain the need for signal conversion
Why do they need to be converted?
Analogue signals are common in the real world because all humans speak it and even some sensors
use this kind of signal. However sometimes these signals needs to be converted so they can be used
in computer systems, TV’s and generally all electronic devices. This is important otherwise we
wouldn’t be able to use the signal as it would be pointless. To convert analogue to signal a method
called sampling is used.
How are they converted?
To convertor is used to normally digitalize analogue signals are store them in a number format
(binary) so the computer can process this data and create a signal from it. When these signals are
being converted there are a few things that need to be checked such as the sampling rate (How many
samples are taken for the signal) and sampling precisions (controls the number of different gradations
for the sampling process). However one thing to note is that sampling analogue does not alter any of
the content in the signal. The chart below shows a simple analogue signal.
This is the analogue signal on a chart and you see the signal has many high and low pitched sounds.
This signal needs to be converted to a digital signal, normally a DAC convertor would be used, which is
something like this:
This chart shows the analogue signal having large time division samples. Along the bottom X axis it
shows the different samples taken and along the Y axis it shows the precision of these samples being
taken. Every bar represents a new sample, overall there are around 10 samples in this chart. In the
first sample you can see the sample precision is around 5 and 7 however this is very vague, to avoid
this more samples need to be taken to obtain accurate results the chart below shows this process
better.
Why do they need to be converted?
Analogue signals are common in the real world because all humans speak it and even some sensors
use this kind of signal. However sometimes these signals needs to be converted so they can be used
in computer systems, TV’s and generally all electronic devices. This is important otherwise we
wouldn’t be able to use the signal as it would be pointless. To convert analogue to signal a method
called sampling is used.
How are they converted?
To convertor is used to normally digitalize analogue signals are store them in a number format
(binary) so the computer can process this data and create a signal from it. When these signals are
being converted there are a few things that need to be checked such as the sampling rate (How many
samples are taken for the signal) and sampling precisions (controls the number of different gradations
for the sampling process). However one thing to note is that sampling analogue does not alter any of
the content in the signal. The chart below shows a simple analogue signal.
This is the analogue signal on a chart and you see the signal has many high and low pitched sounds.
This signal needs to be converted to a digital signal, normally a DAC convertor would be used, which is
something like this:
This chart shows the analogue signal having large time division samples. Along the bottom X axis it
shows the different samples taken and along the Y axis it shows the precision of these samples being
taken. Every bar represents a new sample, overall there are around 10 samples in this chart. In the
first sample you can see the sample precision is around 5 and 7 however this is very vague, to avoid
this more samples need to be taken to obtain accurate results the chart below shows this process
better.
