Digital signal

A signal that represents information using values from a finite set of discrete levels, commonly encoded as binary digits. Its levels distinguish symbols rather than varying continuously.

Sampling (signal processing): The process of measuring a continuous-time signal at discrete time intervals. Sampling converts a continuous-time input into a sequence of values that can be represented digitally.
Analog signal: A signal whose values vary continuously over time or another continuous domain. Its continuously varying values differ from the finite levels used by digital signals.
Digital communication: The transmission of information encoded as discrete symbols over a communication channel. Digital signals carry encoded messages through wired and wireless communication systems.
Digital-to-analog conversion: The reconstruction of a continuous signal from discrete digital values. It shows how digital representations can produce analog outputs without making the underlying representation continuous.
Quantization (signal processing): The mapping of a range of possible values to a finite set of discrete levels. Quantization gives each sampled value one of the signal's permitted levels.
Binary number: A number expressed using the two digits 0 and 1. Binary numbers provide the common symbols used to encode digital signal levels.
Digital audio: Sound represented as discrete numerical samples of its waveform. Digital audio stores and transmits sound using sequences of signal values.
Signal-to-noise ratio: The ratio of signal power to background noise power, commonly expressed in decibels. Digital systems can recover discrete states despite some noise, but only while signal margins remain adequate.
Pulse-code modulation: A method that represents sampled signal amplitudes as coded numerical values. It combines sampling, quantization, and binary encoding to represent analog waveforms digitally.
Bit: A unit of information that can take one of two values, commonly written 0 or 1. A digital signal often carries information as sequences of bits.

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