There are 2 types of signals:

• Analog Signals
• Digital Signals

Analog signals

The analog signals can be described as the continuous waves. These continuous waves changes with respect to the time. The analog signals are represented by the sinusoidal waves.

Digital signals

The digital signals can be described as discrete waves. These discrete waves have only two phases, that is, 0 or 1. The digital signals are represented by the square waves.

Difference between Analog and Digital Signals are given below:

Key Differences

• GENERIC

An analog signal can be defined as the continuous wave that always changes with respect to time; whereas; The digital signal can be defined as the discrete wave that always has a binary nature (0 or 1).

• GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION

The sinusoidal wave correctly represents the nature of an analog signal; whereas; The square wave correctly represents the essence of the digital signal.

• TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

Frequency, Amplitude, Phase and Period completely describes the nature as well as the technical aspect of the analog signal; whereas; The Bit intervals, Bit rate, etc. efficiently describes the technical aspect as well as the nature of digital signals.

• SIGNAL RANGE

When it comes to signal range for the analog signals then, they do not have any kind of fixed range; whereas; When it comes to the signal range for the digital signals then, they have fixed and finite numbers, which are 0 and 1 specifically.

• SIGNAL DISTORTION

For analog signals the concept of signal distortion is directly proportional to the nature of the signal, that is, the analog signals are usually more prone to distortion; whereas; For the digital signals the concept of signals distortion is also directly related to the nature of the signal, that is, the digital signals are mostly less prone to distortion.

• DATA TRANSMISSION

The data transmission is one of the most important factors for the signals; the analog signals always transmit the data in the form of waves; whereas; the digital signals always transmit the data in the binary form, namely 0s and 1s.

• EXAMPLE

The most suitable example for the analog signals could be the human voice; whereas; the most suitable example for the digital signals could be the transmission in a computer.