1 July 2018

Difference between energy and power signals

An energy signal has zero average power, whereas a power signal has infinite energy. Here this article gives the information about difference between energy and power signal to know more details about it.
  • The signal having finite non zero power are called as power signal while the signal having a finite non zero energy are called as energy signal.
  • On the other hand a signal is refered as a energy signal, if and only if energy of the signal satisfies the condition 0 < E < ∞ and same way also referred to as a power signal, if and only if the average power of the signal satisfies the condition 0 < P < ∞. 
  • Example of power signal is sinusoidal, unit step etc while in energy signal are to be exponentially decaying or increasing signal.
  • Almost all the periodic signals in practice are power signals and almost all the non periodic signals are energy signals.
  • Power signals can exist over an infinite time. They are not time limited while  in energy signal exist over a short period of time. They are time limited.
  • Energy of a power signal is infinite but in power of an energy signal is zero.