A pulse in

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as sound, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniques are used to optimize transmissions, d ...

is a rapid, transient change in the amplitude of a signal from a baseline value to a higher or lower value, followed by a rapid return to the baseline value.

Pulse shapes

Pulse shapes can arise out of a process called pulse-shaping. Optimum pulse shape depends on the application.

Rectangular pulse

These can be found in

pulse wave A pulse wave or pulse train is a type of non-sinusoidal waveform that includes square waves (duty cycle of 50%) and similarly periodic but asymmetrical waves (duty cycles other than 50%). It is a term used in synthesizer programming, and is ...

s, square waves,

boxcar function In mathematics, a boxcar function is any function which is zero over the entire real line except for a single interval where it is equal to a constant, ''A''. The boxcar function can be expressed in terms of the uniform distribution as \operato ...

s, and rectangular functions. In digital signals the up and down transitions between high and low levels are called the rising edge and the falling edge. In digital systems the detection of these sides or action taken in response is termed edge-triggered, rising or falling depending on which side of rectangular pulse. A

digital timing diagram A digital timing diagram represents a set of signals in the time domain. A timing diagram can contain many rows, usually one of them being the clock. It is a tool commonly used in digital electronics, hardware debugging, and digital communications. ...

is an example of a well-ordered collection of rectangular pulses.

Nyquist pulse

A Nyquist pulse is one which meets the

Nyquist ISI criterion In communications, the Nyquist ISI criterion describes the conditions which, when satisfied by a communication channel (including responses of transmit and receive filters), result in no intersymbol interference or ISI. It provides a method for con ...

and is important in data transmission. An example of a pulse which meets this condition is the sinc function. The sinc pulse is of some significance in signal-processing theory but cannot be produced by a real generator for reasons of causality. In 2013, Nyquist pulses were produced in an effort to reduce the size of pulses in optical fibers, which enables them to be packed 10x more closely together, yielding a corresponding 10x increase in bandwidth. The pulses were more than 99 percent perfect and were produced using a simple laser and modulator.

Dirac pulse

A Dirac pulse has the shape of the

Dirac delta function In mathematics, the Dirac delta distribution ( distribution), also known as the unit impulse, is a generalized function or distribution over the real numbers, whose value is zero everywhere except at zero, and whose integral over the entire ...

. It has the properties of infinite amplitude and its integral is the Heaviside step function. Equivalently, it has zero width and an area under the curve of unity. This is another pulse that cannot be created exactly in real systems, but practical approximations can be achieved. It is used in testing, or theoretically predicting, the impulse response of devices and systems, particularly filters. Such responses yield a great deal of information about the system.

Gaussian pulse

A Gaussian pulse is shaped as a Gaussian function and is produced by the impulse response of a

Gaussian filter In electronics and signal processing mainly in digital signal processing, a Gaussian filter is a filter whose impulse response is a Gaussian function (or an approximation to it, since a true Gaussian response would have infinite impulse res ...

. It has the properties of maximum steepness of transition with no overshoot and minimum

group delay In signal processing, group delay and phase delay are delay times experienced by a signal's various frequency components when the signal passes through a system that is linear time-invariant (LTI), such as a microphone, coaxial cable, amplifier, ...

References

{{Authority control Signal processing Optical communications