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Fall 2026 ECE 265: Continuous-Time and Discrete-Time Signals and Systems (Units: 1.5)


Territory Acknowledgement

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm/Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.

Withdrawal without reduction of tuition fees: 2026-09-22
Withdrawal with 50% reduction of tuition fees: 2026-10-13
Last day for withdrawal (no fees returned): 2026-10-31

Specification of Dates/Times

Unless explicitly indicated otherwise, all dates and times are specified using local time in Victoria, BC, Canada (i.e., Pacific Time), and times are expressed using 24-hour format (e.g., 09:00 is 9 o’clock in the morning and 21:00 is 9 o’clock at night). This statement applies in totality to all written and verbal communication for the course, including but not limited to: assignment submission deadlines, the dates/times for exams, lecture and tutorial times, office hours, and any dates/times specified on handouts, the course website, and the Brightspace site.

Instructor

Name: Michael Adams
Office: EOW 311
Email: mdadams at ece dot uvic dot ca (or frodo at uvic dot ca)
Web: https://www.ece.uvic.ca/~mdadams
YouTube: iamcanadian1867
GitHub: mdadams
Mastodon: mdadams@mastodon.social

Office Hours: The schedule for office hours will be determined at the start of the term, and subsequently posted on the course website. For more details, refer to the section of this document titled “Office Hours”.

Course Website

Home Page: https://www.ece.uvic.ca/~mdadams/courses/ece265
Username: ece265-202609
Password: as announced on the Brightspace site at https://bright.uvic.ca/d2l/le/news/505412/452538/view

The course website is the primary online source of information for the course. Most information for the course (e.g., handouts and textbook information) is available from this website.

Brightspace Site

Home Page: https://bright.uvic.ca/d2l/home/505412

Although the course has a Brightspace site, the primary online source of information for the course is the course website (introduced above), not the Brightspace site. The Brightspace site is mainly intended to be used for:

  1. posting important course announcements and other information, such as the username and password to be used for accessing password-protected areas of the course website;
  2. submitting (and grading) assignments; and
  3. providing students with a means to review their grades in the course.

Students are responsible for reading all announcements posted on the Brightspace site in a timely fashion. Students should enable notifications (via email) for new announcements and other events on the Brightspace site in order to stay abreast with what is happening in the course.

Office Hours

Office-hour sessions will be held by the instructor in order to provide extra help with the course materials as well as discuss other course-related matters with students. These sessions will be offered online only.

For more information regarding office-hour sessions, including the schedule for these sessions, refer to the section of the course website titled “Office Hours”. (For details on how to attend online meetings, see the section of this document titled “Online Meetings”.)

Teaching Assistant (TAs) Information

The tutorial and marker teaching assistants (TAs) are listed on the course website along with their contact information. In particular, this information can be found in the section of the course website titled “Teaching Assistants”.

Course Prerequisites and Corequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Complete all of:
      • MATH101 - Calculus II (1.5)
    • Complete 1 of:
      • MATH110 - Matrix Algebra for Engineers (1.5)
      • MATH211 - Matrix Algebra I (1.5)

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of continuous-time (CT) and discrete-time (DT) signals and systems. The course is intended to teach students mathematical techniques for the design and analysis of systems.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, a student should be able to:

  1. classify signals based on fundamental properties such as CT/DT, symmetry, and periodicity; and classify systems based on fundamental properties such as linearity, time invariance, causality, and BIBO stability;
  2. determine the output of CT and DT LTI systems by performing convolution using graphical, analytical, and tabular methods; and characterize LTI systems in terms of their impulse response;
  3. transform signals between the time and frequency domains using CTFS/DTFS and CTFT/DTFT in order to analyze spectral content; and characterize LTI systems in the Fourier domain;
  4. explain the relationship between CT and DT signals arising from sampling and interpolation, including the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem and the effects of aliasing;
  5. transform signals between the time and complex-frequency domains using the Laplace and Z transforms; and characterize LTI systems in the complex-frequency domain (e.g., to study system behavior and assess stability).

Course Topics

The topics covered by the course are as follows:

  1. CT and DT signals and systems (6 hours):
    • basic definitions/concepts
    • signal properties
    • system properties
    • basic signal transformations
    • elementary signals
    • signal representations using elementary signals
  2. CT and DT LTI systems (5 hours):
    • definition of CT and DT convolution
    • properties of CT and DT convolution
    • representation of signals using impulses
    • impulse response and convolution representation of LTI systems
    • relationship between impulse response and LTI system properties
    • response of LTI systems to complex exponential signals
  3. CT Fourier series (CTFS) and DT Fourier series (DTFS) (4 hours):
    • definition of CTFS and DTFS
    • finding Fourier series representations of CT and DT signals
    • basic properties of CTFS and DTFS
    • CTFS/DTFS and frequency spectra
    • CTFS/DTFS and LTI systems
  4. CT Fourier transform (CTFT) and DT Fourier transform (DTFT) (8 hours):
    • definition of CTFT and DTFT
    • properties of CTFT and DTFT
    • CTFT/DTFT of periodic signals
    • frequency spectra of CT and DT signals
    • frequency response of CT and DT LTI systems
    • sampling
    • applications of the CTFT and DTFT
  5. Laplace transform (LT) and Z transform (ZT) (7 hours):
    • definition of unilateral and bilateral LT/ZT
    • relationship between LT/ZT and CTFT/DTFT
    • properties of the LT and ZT
    • finding the inverse LT and ZT
    • analysis of systems using the LT and ZT

Textbooks and Other Materials

The following references are required for the course:

  1. Textbook
    • Michael D. Adams, Signals and Systems, Edition 7.0.0-beta.x, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, 2026.
  2. Lecture Slides
    • Michael D. Adams, Lecture Slides for Signals and Systems [Unified Continuous-Time/Discrete-Time Coverage], Edition 7.0.0-beta.x, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, 2026.
  3. Companion archive (which contains supplemental files for the textbook)
    • Michael D. Adams, Companion Archive for Signals and Systems, Edition 7.0.0-beta.x, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, 2026.

For more information on the textbook and its supporting materials, see the section of the course website titled “Required Texts/Materials”.

Course Delivery

Lecture Sessions

Time/Location: The time/location of the lecture sessions is given in the information provided at the beginning of this document.

The lecture sessions are required attendance. Students are responsible for all material covered in the lecture sessions.

Normally, the lecture sessions will not be recorded. Some reasons for this include:

  • recording any interactions with students raises many privacy concerns which are best avoided whenever possible; and
  • some students are much less likely to participate (or may not participate at all) in lecture sessions if they are being recorded.

For more information on lecture sessions, see the section of the course website titled “Lecture Sessions”.

Tutorial Sessions

Time/Location: The time/location of tutorial sessions is given in the information provided at the beginning of this document.

The tutorial time slots will be used by the tutorial TAs to hold sessions in order to help students with course materials. These sessions are to be held face-to-face.

For more information on tutorial sessions, see the section of the course website titled “Tutorial Sessions”.

Learning and Teaching Technologies

Computer and Software Requirements

Each student is required to have access to a computer with the following software installed:

  • Zoom. The Zoom software is required for participating in any online meetings held in the course.
  • MATLAB. Students will need to use the MATLAB software in order to complete some assignments.

For additional information on how to obtain the MATLAB software, refer to the section of the course website titled “MATLAB”.

AI Position Statement

Students may use AI tools for the purposes of assisting in their understanding of course materials. Students, however, may not use AI tools to complete work that will be submitted for grading.

Assessment

Weight (%)Component
15Assignments (†)
35Midterm Exams (‡, ♣)
50Final Exam (♠, ♣)

Course-Materials Bug-Bounty Program (CMBBP) Bonus (★): 2% (of course grade)

(†) Note: The assignments are equally weighted. The submission deadlines for assignments will be posted on the course website and/or Brightspace site. Late assignments will not be accepted and will receive a grade of zero.

(♣) Note: All exams in the course are written face-to-face. All exams are closed book. Calculators are not permitted in exams.

(‡) Note: There are two midterm exams. The midterm exams are equally weighted.

All midterm exams are scheduled during the lecture time slots. The dates of the midterm exams are as follows:

  • Midterm Exam 1: (Tue) Oct 20, 2026
  • Midterm Exam 2: (Wed) Nov 18, 2026

(★) Note: See the handout titled “Course-Materials Bug-Bounty Program” for more details.

Notes on Various Course Policies

Final Grade and GPA Calculation

The final grade obtained from the assessment scheme for the purpose of GPA calculation will be based on the percentage-to-grade point conversion table as listed in the Undergraduate Calendar.

Grading Appeals

If a student would like to appeal the grade assigned for a particular graded item in the course (such as a midterm exam or an assignment), the student is required to do so in a timely manner. Unless an alternative deadline is explicitly stated (in writing) by the instructor, an appeal of a grade must be made within 7 calendar days of the grade being released to the student. An appeal must be made in writing. The reconsideration of a grade may result in the grade being raised, lowered, or remaining unchanged.

Requests for Academic Concessions

Any request for an academic concession must be made in writing and in a timely manner. If an exam is missed due to circumstances that may warrant an academic concession, the student must notify the instructor of this (in writing) within 10 calendar days of the exam unless physically unable to due so (e.g., due to hospitalization).

Supplemental Exams

There will be no supplemental examination for this course.

Email Correspondence

All email to the instructor should be sent from a UVic email account. Due the University’s increasingly aggressive spam filtering, the instructor cannot guarantee that he will receive any email sent from non-UVic email accounts.

Online Meetings

Some meetings in the course may be held online. For details on how to attend online meetings, see the section of the course website titled “Online Meetings”.

Course Announcements and Other Important Course Information

Important course announcements are often sent to students via email. Therefore, students are responsible for checking their email regularly.

Many important documents for the course are available from the course website. Some of these documents include the following:

General Information

Note to students: Students who have issues with the conduct of the course should discuss them with the instructor first. If these discussions do not resolve the issue, then students should feel free to contact the Chair of the Department by email, or the Chair's Assistant to set up an appointment.

Course Lecture Notes

Unless otherwise noted, all course materials supplied to students in this course have been prepared by the instructor and are intended for use in this course only. These materials are not to be recirculated, whether by emailing, uploading, copying to websites, or to others not enrolled in this course. Violation of this policy may in some cases constitute a breach of academic integrity as defined in the UVic Calendar.

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity requires commitment to the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. It is expected that students, faculty members and staff at the University of Victoria, as members of an intellectual community, will adhere to these ethical values in all activities related to learning, teaching, research and service. Any action that contravenes this standard, including misrepresentation, falsification or deception, undermines the intention and worth of scholarly work and violates the fundamental academic rights of members of our community. This policy is designed to ensure that the university’s standards are upheld in a fair and transparent fashion.

Attendance

Students are expected to attend all classes in which they are enrolled. An academic unit may require a student to withdraw from a course if the student is registered in another course that occurs at the same time.

  • An instructor may refuse a student admission to a lecture, laboratory, online course discussion or learning activity, tutorial or other learning activity set out in the course outline because of lateness, misconduct, inattention or failure to meet the responsibilities of the course set out in the course outline. Students who neglect their academic work may be assigned a final grade of N or debarred from final examinations.
  • Students who do not attend classes must not assume that they have been dropped from the course by an academic unit or an instructor. Courses that are not formally dropped will be given a failing grade; students may be required to withdraw and will be required to pay the tuition fee for the course.

See further information on attendance in the Undergraduate Academic Calendar.

Centre for Accessible Learning (CAL)

The University of Victoria is committed to creating a learning experience that is as accessible as possible. If you are registered with the Centre for Accessible Learning and anticipate or experience any barriers to learning in this course, please feel welcome to discuss your concerns with me. If you are a student with a disability or chronic health condition, you can meet with a CAL advisor to discuss access and accommodations.

Academic Concession

The University recognizes its responsibility to offer academic concessions to students whose ability to complete course requirements is interrupted by unexpected and unavoidable circumstances or conflicting responsibilities.  Review the Academic Concession Regulation in the Undergraduate Academic Calendar and website.

Grading System

The University of Victoria follows a percentage grading system in which the instructor will submit grades in percentages. The University will use the following Senate approved standardized grading scale to assign letter grades. Both the percentage mark and the letter grade will be recorded on the academic record and transcripts.

FDCC+B-BB+A-AA+
0-4950-5960-6465-6970-7273-7677-7980-8485-8990-100
GradesDescription
A+, A, A-Exceptional, outstanding or excellent performance. Normally achieved by a minority of students. These grades indicate a student who is self-initiating, exceeds expectation and has an insightful grasp of the subject matter.
B+, B, B-Very good, good or solid performance. Normally achieved by the largest number of students. These grades indicate a good grasp of the subject matter or excellent grasp in one area balanced with satisfactory grasp in the other areas.
C+, CSatisfactory, or minimally satisfactory. These grades indicate a satisfactory performance and knowledge of the subject matter.
DMarginal Performance. A student receiving this grade demonstrated a superficial grasp of the subject matter.
FUnsatisfactory performance. Wrote final examination and completed course requirements; no supplemental.

Student Experience of Learning (SEL)

I value your feedback on this course. Towards the end of term you will have the opportunity to complete a confidential Student Experience of Learning (SEL) survey regarding your learning experience. The survey is vital to providing feedback to me regarding the course and my teaching, as well as to help the department improve the overall program for students in the future. When it is time for you to complete the survey, you will receive an email inviting you to do so. If you do not receive an email invitation, you can go directly to the SEL site

You will need to use your UVic NetLink ID to access the survey, which can be done on your laptop, tablet or mobile device. I will remind you closer to the time, but please be thinking about this important activity, especially the following three questions, during the course.

  • What strengths did your instructor demonstrate that helped you learn in this course?
  • Please provide specific suggestions as to how the instructor could have helped you learn more effectively.
  • Please provide specific suggestions as to how this course could be improved.

Equality

This course aims to provide equal opportunities and access for all students to enjoy the benefits and privileges of the class and its curriculum and to meet the syllabus requirements. Reasonable and appropriate accommodation will be made available to students with documented disabilities (physical, mental, learning) in order to give them the opportunity to successfully meet the essential requirements of the course. The accommodation will not alter academic standards or learning outcomes, although the student may be allowed to demonstrate knowledge and skills in a different way. It is not necessary for you to reveal your disability and/or confidential medical information to the course instructor. If you believe that you may require accommodation, the course instructor can provide you with information about confidential resources on campus that can assist you in arranging for appropriate accommodation. Alternatively, you may want to contact the Centre for Accessible Learning located in the Campus Services Building.

The University of Victoria is committed to promoting, providing, and protecting a positive, and supportive and safe learning and working environment for all its members.

Resources for students

a. UVicLearn is the primary learning resource for students that offers many learning workshops and resources to help students with academics and learning strategies.
b. Library resources
c. Indigenous Student Services (ISS)
d. Academic Skills Centre (ASC)
e. Math & Stats Assistance Centre (MSAC)
f. Learning Assistance Program (LAP)
g. Community-Engaged Learning (CEL)
h. Learning in Motion - Co-op and Career Portal
i. Academic concession
j. Academic accommodation
k. Academic accommodation & access for students with disabilities
l. Student groups and resources
m. Student wellness
n. Ombudsperson

University statements and policies

a. University Calendar - Information for all students
b. Accommodation of Religious Observance
c. Student Conduct
d. Non-academic Student Misconduct
e. Academic Accommodations and Accessibility
f. Diversity / EDI – VPAC commitment
g. Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response
h. Discrimination and Harassment

Copyright Statement

All course content and materials are made available by instructors for educational purposes and for the exclusive use of students registered in their class. The material is protected under copyright law, even if not marked with a ©. Any further use or distribution of materials to others requires the written permission of the instructor, except under fair dealing or another exception in the Copyright Act. Violations may result in disciplinary action under the Resolution of Non-Academic Misconduct Allegations policy (AC1300).