Wave Communication - 3/25/18

Summary: There are two types of signals, analog and digital. An analog signal changes in frequency and amplitude all the time in a way that matches the changes in the voice or music being transmitted. A digital signal has just two values, which we represent as 0 and 1. An analog signal varies in frequency and amplitude. A digital signal has two values, 0 and 1 (or ‘on’ and ‘off’). The signal is converted into a code using only the values 0 and 1. The signal becomes a stream of 0 and 1 values. These pulses are added to the electromagnetic wave and transmitted. The signal is received and then decoded to recover the original signal. Both analogue and digital signals can pick up unwanted signals that distort the original signal. Digital signals can be cleaned up in a process known as regeneration because each pulse must be a 0 or a 1, so other values can be removed. Analogue signals can be amplified, but the noise is amplified too. This is why digital signals give a better-quality reception.

SP2 - Using Models: I used models this week to help me understand how wave communication works. This activity was done during the first two days with my table group. We did two activities, one modeling digital communication and one modeling analog communication. The first activity we modeled digital waves. Using a slinky, we sent a message. The receiver either said the code was a 1 or 0. The second activity we did, we modeled analog waves. Using a slinky, we sent another message. The receiver was trying to see the amplitude of the waves, and that was the message. In our third and fourth activity, we used both zeroes and ones as series of waves to transmit a letter.

XCC-Cause and Effect: While gathering evidence to answer the debate which form of signal is better, I noticed a cause and effect relationship. These relationships involve the equipment and the editing process of the two. When editing with digital technology, you can easily edit and fix background noises. However, this has caused musicians to rely on a computer rather than on their ears and talent. As well as when you add auto-tune, you may be able to get rid music of unwanted sound, but it makes music sound "too clean and perfect." Even though the equipment takes up less space making it easier to store, it makes it quite costly. As you can see, there are many things that give digital music the advantage, but those benefits have some expensive drawbacks.