Digital and analog Flashcards
Analog
Analog transmission and storage of information involve making an exact copy of the original information in a new medium.
Examples of analog
- Painting medium 1: persons face medium 2: canvas
- AM and FM radio
- Printing press
Digital
Digital transmission and storage of information involve converting information first into numbers, then sending or storing it.
Samples
- Analog technology copies the whole wave and all of the original information
- Digital technology converts certain points of the original information, called samples, so some information is always lost.
Samples-analog-advantage
Copies the whole wave, information isn’t lost
Samples-analog-disadvantage
Size cannot be made smaller by sampling.
Samples-digital-advantage
Size can be made smaller by sampling
Samples-digital-disadvantage
Copies only parts of waves
Noise
Anytime information is copied from one form to another, errors appear. This is called noise.
Analog and noise
- Analog tries to copy all information exactly.
- Since all copies have some noise, this mean’s making a copy of an analog copy will also copy the noise.
- Therefore, every time you make an analog copy, you also copy the noise.
Digital and noise
- Digital signals also have noise, but they are converted to numbers, which don’t have noise.
- When there is only a small amount of noise, digital signals do not lose any information (it’s perfect)
- When there is a large amount of noise, digital signals can be completely lost.
Noise-digital-advantage
If small amount of noise, copy is perfect.
Noise-digital-disadvantage
If large amount of noise, copy loses all information.
Noise-analog-advantage
If small amount of noise, copy is poor but understandable
Noise-analog-disadvantage
Noise builds on noise when copies are made of copies
Compression
- Digital signals can be compressed or shrunk so that they take up less space
- Compressed information is easier to store and is quicker to transmit
Compression and analog
Analog signals cannot be easily compressed.