Robotics & Automation

Module - 3
Sensor Classification, Internal Sensors,
External Sensors, Vision, Signal
Conditioning.
 Steps in a Vision System
• As depicted in Fig. 4.21, vision sensing has two steps, namely, image acquisition
and image processing. They are explained below.
• Image Acquisition
• Image Processing
• Image Analysis
 Image Acquisition
• In image acquisition, an image is acquired from a vidicon which is digitized or
from a digital camera (CCD or CID).
• The image is stored in computer memory (also called a frame buffer) in the
format such as TIFF, JPG, Bitmap, etc.
• The buffer may be a part of the frame grabber card or in the computer itself.
• Note that the image acquisition is primarily a hardware function, however,
software can be used to control light intensity, focus, camera angle,
synchronization, field of view, read times, and other functions.
 Image Acquisition
• Image acquisition has four principle elements, namely,
• a light source, either controlled or ambient,
• a lens that focuses reflected light from the object on to the image sensor,
• an image sensor that converts the light image into a stored electrical image, and
• the electronics to read the sensed image from the image sensing element, and after
processing, transmit the image information to a computer for further processing.
• A typical acquired image is shown in Fig. 4.22.
 Image Processing
• Image-processing techniques are used to enhance, improve, or otherwise alter
an image and to prepare it for image analysis.
• Usually, during image processing, information is not extracted from the image.
• The intention is to remove faults, trivial information, or information that may be
important, and to improve the image.
• Image processing examines the digitized data to locate and recognize an object
within the image field. It is divided into several sub-processes, which are
discussed below: Image Data Reduction, Histogram Analysis, Thresholding,
Masking
 Image Data Reduction
• The objective is to reduce the volume of data. As a preliminary step in the data
analysis, the schemes like digital conversion or windowing can be applied to
reduce the data.
• While the digital conversion reduces the number of gray levels used by the
vision system, windowing involves using only a portion of the total image stored
in the frame buffer for image processing and analysis.
• For example, in windowing, to inspect a circuit board, a rectangular window is
selected to surround the component of interest and only pixels within that
window are analysed.
 Histogram Analysis
• A histogram is a representation of the total number of pixels of an image
at each gray level.
• Histogram information is used in a number of different processes,
including thresholding.
• For example, histogram information can help in determining a cut-off
point when an image is to be transformed into binary values.
 Thresholding
• It is the process of dividing an image into different portions or levels by
picking a certain grayness level as a threshold.
• Comparing each pixel value with the threshold, and then assigning the
pixel to the different portions or level, depending on whether the pixel’s
grayness level is below the threshold (‘off’ or 0, or not belonging) or
above the threshold (‘on’ or 1, or belonging).
 Masking
• A mask may be used for many different purposes, e.g., filtering
operations and noise reduction, and others.
• It is possible to create masks that behave like a lowpass filter such that
higher frequencies of an image are attenuated while the lower
frequencies are not changed very much.
• Thereby, the noise is reduced.
• Masking an image considers a portion of an imaginary image shown in
Fig. 4.23(a), which has all the pixels at a gray value of 20 except the one at
a gray level of 100.
• The one with 100 may be considered noise. Applying the 3 × 3 mask
shown in Fig. 4.23(b) over the corner of the image yields the following
value: between the noisy pixel and the surrounding pixels
• i.e., 100 vs. 20, becomes much smaller, namely, 29 vs. 20, thus reducing
the noise.
• With this characteristic, the mask acts as a low-pass filter.
• Note that the above reduction of noise has been achieved using what is
referred as neighborhood averaging, which causes the reduction of the
sharpness of the image as well.
 Edge Detection
• Edge detection is a general name for a class of computer programs and
techniques that operate on an image and result in a line drawing of the
image.
• The lines represent changes in values such as cross section of planes,
intersections of planes, textures, lines, etc.
• In many edge-detection techniques, the resulting edges are not
continuous.
 Edge Detection
• However, in many applications, continuous edges are preferred, which
can be obtained using the Hough transform.
• It is a technique used to determine the geometric relationship between
different pixels on a line, including the slope of the line.
• Consider a straight line in the xy-plane, as shown in Fig. 4.24, which is
expressed as y = mx + c -----------------------(4.15)
• where m is the slope and c is the intercept.
• The line represented by Eq. (4.15) can be transformed into a Hough plane
of m – c with x and y as its slope and intercept, respectively.
• Thus, a line in the xy-plane with a particular slope and intercept will
transform into a point in the Hough plane.
• For the Hough or m-c plane,
if a line passes through (m1,
c1 ), as shown in Fig. 4.24(b),
it represents a point (x1, y1)
in the x-y plane of Fig.
4.24(a).
• In that way, all lines through
a point in the Hough plane
will transform into a single
line in the x-y plane.
• Alternatively, if a group of points is collinear, their Hough transform will
all intersect.
• By examining these properties in a particular case, it can be determined
whether a cluster of pixels is on a straight line or not, where upon the
orientation of an object in a
plane can be determined by
calculating the orientation of a
particular line in the object.
 Segmentation
• Segmentation is a generic name for a number of different techniques that divide the image
into segments of its constituents.
• The purpose of segmentation is to separate the information contained in the image into
smaller entities that can be used for other purposes.
• Segmentation includes edge detection, region growing and splitting, and others.
• While region growing works based on the similar attributes, such as gray-level ranges or
other similarities, and then try to relate the regions by their average similarities, region
splitting is carried out based on thresholding in which an image is split into closed areas of
neighborhood pixels by comparing them with thresholding value or range.
 Morphology Operations
• Morphology operations are a family of operations which are applied on
the shape of subjects in an image.
• They include many different operations, both for binary and gray images,
such as thickening, dilation, erosion, skeletonization, opening, closing,
and filing.
• These operations are performed on an image in order to aid in its
analysis, as well as to reduce the ‘extra’ information that may be present
in the image.
• For example, Fig. 4.25(a) shows the object which after skeletonization is
shown in Fig. 4.25(b).
 Image Analysis
• Image analysis is a collection of operations and techniques that are used
to extract information from images.
• Among these are feature extraction; object recognition; analysis of the
position, size, orientation; extraction of depth information, etc.
• Some techniques can be used for multiple purposes.
• For example, moment equations may be used for object recognition, as
well as to calculate the position and orientation of an object.
 Image Analysis
• It is assumed that image processing has already been performed to the
image and available for the image analysis.
• Some of the image analysis techniques are explained.
• Feature Extraction
• Object Recognition
 Feature Extraction
• Objects in an image may be recognized by their features that uniquely
characterize them.
• These include, but are not limited to, gray-level histograms,
morphological features such as perimeter, area, diameter, number of
holes, etc., eccentricity, cord length, and moments.
• As an example, perimeter of an object may be found by first applying an
edge-detection routine and then counting the number of pixels on the
perimeter.
 Feature Extraction
• Similarly, the area can be calculated by region growing techniques,
whereas diameter of a non circular object is obtained by the maximum
distance between any two points on any line that crosses the identified
area of the object.
• In order to know the thinness of an object, it can be calculated using
either of the two ratios:
 where x and y are the coordinates of each pixel that is turned on within an image, and p and q are
their respective powers, as illustrated in Fig. 4.26
• The coordinates x and y are measured either from a
designated coordinate frame located at the edge of the
image or are measured from the frame formed by the first
row and column of the image.
• As an example, in Fig. 4.26, the first ‘on-pixel’ appears in the
second row and fourth column. As per xy coordinate frame,
it is at (4, 2) location, whereas the x distance of the pixel
with respect to the first column is 3.
• For calculation purposes, only one coordinate frame should
be used.
• Similarly, one can find n0,1 as the summation of y-coordinates which is
same as the summation of each pixel area multiplied by its distance from
the x-axis.
• Hence, it is similar to the first moment of the area relative to the x-axis.
Then, the location of the center of the area relative to the x-axis can be
calculated immediately as
• Following Eq. (4.19a), one can also find the location of the center of the
area relative to the y-axis as
• In a similar manner, one can also find the second moment of area with
respect to x and y axes by putting p = 2; q = 0, and p = 0; q = 2,
respectively.
• Note here that the first moments are independent of orientation,
whereas the second moments are not.
 Object Recognition
• The next in image analysis is to identify the object that the image
represents based on the extracted features.
• The recognition algorithm should be powerful enough to uniquely
identify the object.
• Typical techniques used in the industries are template matching and
structural technique. In template matching, the features of the object in
the image, e.g., its area, diameter, etc., are compared to the
corresponding stored values. These values constitute the stored
template.
 Object Recognition
• When a match is found, allowing for certain statistical variations in the comparison
process, the object has been properly classified.
• For example, the area of an image given by the moment n0,0 can be used to
determine nature of the object, and to distinguish it from other objects that have
different areas
• Similarly, the first and second moments can be used to identify an object’s position
and orientation so that it can be picked up by the robot.
• Note that, instead of calculating the moment values which change as the object
moves, a look-up table can be prepared.
• For example, the moment of inertia of an object varies significantly as the
object rotates about its center. Hence, the values of n2,0 and n0,2 will also
change.
• Since each orientation creates a unique value, a look-up table that contains
these values can later be used to identify the orientation of the object.
• An important aspect here is that similar shapes, as
shown in Fig. 4.27 cannot be distinguished with their
first and second moments, as they are similar or close
to each other.
• In such a situation, a small difference between the
two objects may be exaggerated through higher-
order moments, making identification of the object
possible.
 Structural techniques
• Structural techniques of recognition rely on the relationship between features
or edges of an object.
• For example, if the image of an object can be subdivided in four straight lines
connected at their end points, and the connected lines are at right angles then
the object is a rectangle.
• This kind of technique is known as syntactic pattern recognition.
• In case depth information of an object is required, it can be obtained either by
using a range finder in conjunction with a vision system, or using a stereo vision.
 Hierarchy of a Vision System
• The collection of processes involved in visual perception are often perceived as a
hierarchy spanning the range from ‘low’ via ‘intermediate’ to ‘high-level’ vision.
• The notion of ‘low’ and ‘high’ vision are used routinely, but there is no clear
definition of the distinction between what is considered ‘high’ as opposed to ‘low-
level’ vision.
• As shown in Fig. 4.28, a vision is classified as ‘low’, ‘intermediate’ or ‘high-level’
vision based on specific activities during the image-processing stage.
 Low-level Vision
• Along with the extraction of certain physical properties of the visible
environment, such as depth, three-dimensional shape, object boundaries,
or surface-material properties, can be classified as a process of low-level
vision.
• Activity in the low-level vision is to process images for feature extraction
(edge, corner, or optical flow).
• Operations carried out on the pixels in the image to extract the above
properties with respect to intensity or depth at each point in the image.
 Low-level Vision
• One may, for example, be interested in extracting uniform regions, where
the gradient of the pixels remains constant, or first-order changes in
gradient, which would correspond to straight lines, or second-order
changes which could be used to extract surface properties such as peaks,
pits, ridges, etc.
• A number of characteristics that are typically associated with low-level
vision processes are as follows:
• They are spatially uniform and parallel, i.e., with allowance for the
decrease in resolution from the center of the visual field outwards,
similar process is applied simultaneously across the visual field. For
example, processing involved in edge detection, motion, or stereo vision,
often proceed in parallel across the visual field, or a large part of it.
• Low-level visual processes are also considered ‘bottom-up’ in nature. This
means that they are determined by the data, i.e., data driven, and are
relatively independent of the task at hand or knowledge associated with
specific objects. As far as the edge detection is concerned, it will be
performed in the same manner for images of different objects, with no
regard to whether the task to do with moving around, looking for a
misplaced object, or enjoying the landscape.
 Intermediate-level Vision
• In this level, objects are recognized and 3D scenes are interpreted using the features
obtained from the low-level vision. The intermediate-level processing is fundamentally
concerned with grouping entities together.
• The simplest case is when one groups pixels into lines. One can then express the line in a
functional form. Similarly, if the output of the low-level information is a depth map, one
may further need to distinguish object boundaries, or other characteristics.
• Even in the simple case where one is trying to extract a single sphere, it is not an easy
process to go from a surface-depth representation to a center-and radius representation. In
contrast to higher-level vision, the process here does not depend on the knowledge about
specific object.
 High-level Vision
• High-level vision, which is equivalent to image understanding, is concerned mainly
with the interpretation of scene in terms of the objects in it, and is usually based
on knowledge of specific objects and relationships.
• It is concerned primarily with the interpretation and use of information in the
image rather than the direct recovery of physical properties. In high-level vision,
interpretation of a scene goes beyond the tasks of line extraction and grouping.
• It further requires decisions to be made about types of boundaries, such as which
are occluding, and what information is hidden from the user
• Further grouping is essential at this stage since one may still need to be
able to decide which lines group together to form an object.
• To do this, it is necessary to further distinguish lines which are part of the
object structure, from those which are part of a surface texture, or
caused by shadows.
• High-level systems are, therefore, object oriented, and sometimes called
‘top-down’. High-level visual processes are applied to a selected portion
of the image, rather than uniformly across the entire image, as done in
low- and intermediate-level visions.
• They almost always require some form of knowledge about the objects of
the scene to be included.
 Difficulties in Vision and Remedies
• A vision system cannot uniquely represent or process all available data because
of computational problem, memory, and processing-time requirements imposed
on the computer. Therefore, the system must compromise.
• Other problems include variation of light, part-size, part placement, and
limitations in the dynamic ranges available in typical vision sensors.
• A vision system requires specialized hardware and software. It is possible to
purchase just the hardware with little or no vision application programming. In
fact, a few third-party programs are available.
 Difficulties in Vision and Remedies
• A hardware-only approach is less expensive and can be more flexible for
handling usual vision requirements.
• But, since this approach requires image processing expertise, it is only of
interest to users who wish to retain the responsibility of image
interpretation.
• It is usual practice to obtain the hardware and application software
together from the supplier. However, the user might still need custom
programming for an application.
• Major vision system suppliers specialize in providing software for only a few application
areas.
• Every vision system requires a sensor to cover the visual image into an electronic signal.
• Several types of video sensors are used, including vidicon cameras, vacuum tube devices,
and solid-state sensors.
• Many of these vision systems were originally designed for other applications, such as
television so the signal must be processed to extract the visual image and remove
synchronization information before the signal is sent to the computer for further
processing.
• The computer then treats this digital signal as the array pixels, and processes this data to
extract the desired information. Image processing can be very time consuming.
• For a typical sensor of 200,000 or more pixels, a vision system can take many seconds,
even minutes, to analyze the complete scene and determine the action to be taken. The
number of bits to be processed is quite large,
• for example, a system with 512 × 512 pixels array and an 8-bit intensity
per pixel yields over two million of bits to be processed.
• If continuous image at a 30 FPS frame rate were being received, data
bytes would be received at an 8 MHz rate.
• Few computers can accept inputs at these data rates and, in any case,
there would be no time left to process the data. When higher resolution
system, color system, or multiple camera systems are considered, data-
handling requirements become astronomical.
• Several methods can be used to reduce the amount of data handled and,
therefore, the processing time. They are explained as follows:
• (a) One approach is the binary vision, which is used when only black-and-white
information is processed (intensity variations and shades of gray are ignored). In
binary vision, a picture is converted into a binary image by thresholding, as
illustrated in Fig. 4.29.

• In thresholding, a brightness
level is selected. All data with
intensities equal to or higher
than this value are considered
white, and all other levels are
considered black.
• (b) Another method of shortening process time is to control object placement so
that objects of interest cannot overlap in the image. Complicated algorithms to
separate images are then not necessary, and the image-processing time is
reduced.
• (c) A third approach reduces data handling by processing only a small window of
the actual data; that is, the object is located in a predefined field of view. For
example, if the robot is looking for a mark on the printed circuit board, the
system can be held in such a way that the mark is always in the upper right
corner.
• (d) A fourth approach takes a statistical sample of data and makes decisions on
this data sample. Unfortunately, all of these approaches ignore some of the
available data and, in effect, produce a less robust system. Processing time is
saved, but some types of complex objects cannot be recognized.
 SIGNAL CONDITIONING
• The basic information or data generated by the transducers (or sensors)
generally requires ‘conditioning’ or ‘processing’ of one sort or another
before they are presented to the observer as an indication or a record, or
to be used by a robot controller for further action.

NOTE: Sensor and transducer are used interchangeably to denote a sensor transducer unit. They are the
functional stages of sensing. First, a measurand is felt or sensed before it is transduced or converted from
one type of energy to another for various purposes including the measurement of physical parameters like
position, velocity, etc.
 Amplifiers
• Since the electrical signals produced by most transducers of a sensor are at a low
voltage, generally they require amplification before they are suitably recognized by
a monitoring system like a data processor, controller, or data logger.
• The operational amplifier (op-amp) is the most widely utilized analog electronic
sub-assembly. It is the basis of instrumentation amplifier, filters, and a myriad of
analog and digital data-processing equipment.
• An op-amp could be manufactured in the discrete-element form using, say, ten
bipolar junction transistors and as many discrete resistors or alternatively (and
preferably) in the monolithic form as in IC (Integrated Circuit) chip that may be
equivalent to over 100 discrete elements
• In any form, the device has an input impedance Zi, an output impedance Zo and a
gain K, as indicated in Fig. 4.30(a).
• A common 8-pin dual in-line package (DIP) or V-package is shown in Fig. 4.30(b).

• From Fig. 4.30(a), the open-loop condition yields

where the input voltage Vi is the differential input voltage defined as the
algebraic difference between the voltages at the +ve and –ve leads. Thus,
 Filters
• A filter is a device that allows through only the desirable part of a signal, rejecting
the unwanted part. Unwanted signals can seriously degrade the performance of a
robotic system.
• External disturbances, error components in excitations, and noise generated
internally within system components and instrumentation are such spurious
signals, which may be removed by a filter.
• There are four broad categories of filters, namely, low-pass filters, high pass filters,
band-pass filters, and band-reject (or notch) filters, which are shown in Fig. 4.31.
• An analog filter contains active components like transistors or op-amps. It
is a physical dynamic system, typically an electric circuit, whose dynamics
will determine which (desired) signal components would be allowed
through and which (unwanted) signal components would be rejected.
• In a way, output of the dynamic system is the filtered signal. An analog
filter can be represented as a differential equation with respect to time.
• Filtering can be achieved through digital filters as well which employ
digital signal processing.
• Digital filtering is an algorithm by which a sampled signal (or sequence of
numbers), acting as an input, is transformed to a second sequence of
numbers called the output.
• It is a discrete-time system and can be represented as a difference
equation. Digital filtering has the usual digital benefits of accuracy,
stability, and adjustability by software (rather than hardware) changes
 Modulators and Demodulators
• Signals are sometimes deliberately modified to maintain the accuracy during their
transmission, conditioning, and processing.
• In modulation, the data signal which is referred to as modulating signal is used to
vary a property, say, amplitude or frequency, of a carrier signal. Thus, the carrier
signal is modulated by the data signal.
• After transmitting or conditioning, the data signal is recovered by removing the
carrier signal from the modulated signal. This step is known as demodulation. The
carrier signal can be either sine or square wave, and its frequency should be 5–10
times the highest frequency of the data signal.
• Figure 4.32 shows some typical modulation techniques in which the amplitude of a high-
frequency sinusoidal carrier signal is varied according to the amplitude of the data signal.
• Figure 4.32(a) shows the data signal which needs to be transmitted.
• The carrier signal’s frequency is kept constant, while amplitude is same as that of the data
signal.
• This is called Amplitude Modulation (AM),
and the resulting amplitude modulated signal
is shown in Fig. 4.32(b).
• In Fig. 4.32(c), however, the frequency of the
carrier signal is varied in proportion to the
amplitude of the data signal (modulating
signal), while keeping the amplitude of the
carrier signal constant. This is called
Frequency Modulation (FM).
• An FM is less susceptible to noise than AM.
• In Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM), the carrier signal is a pulse sequence, and its
width is changed in proportion to the amplitude of the data signal, while keeping
the pulse spacing constant. This is shown in Fig. 4.32(d).
• The PWM signals can be used directly in controlling a process without having to
demodulate them.
• There also exists Pulse-Frequency Modulation (PFM), where the carrier signal is a
pulse sequence. Here, the frequency of the pulses is changed in proportion to the
value of the data signal, while keeping the pulse width constant. It has the
advantages of ordinary FM.
• Demodulation or detection is the process of extracting the original data signal
from a modulated signal. A simple and straightforward method of demodulation
is by detection of the envelope of the modulated signal.
 Analog and Digital Conversions

• Most sensors have analog output while much data processing

is done using digital computers. Hence, devices for conversion
between these two domains have to be performed.
• These can be achieved using
• An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and
• A digital-to-analog converter (DAC)
 Digital-to-Analog Converter ( DAC)
• The function of a digital-to-analog convertor or DAC is to convert a sequence of digital
words stored in a data register, typically in the straight binary form, into an analog signal.
• A typical DAC unit is an active circuit in the integrated circuit (IC) form and consists of a
data register (digital circuits), solid-state switching circuits, resistors, and op-amps
powered by an external power supply.
• The IC chip that represents the DAC is usually one of many components mounted on a
Printed Circuit Board (PCB), which is the I/O board or card. This board is plugged into a slot
of the PC having DAQ.
 Analog-to-Digital Converter ( ADC)
• An analog-to-digital converter or ADC, on the other hand, converts an analog
signal into the digital form, according to an appropriate code, before the same is
used by a digital processor or a computer.
• The process of analog-to-digital conversion is more complex and time consuming
than the digital-to-analog conversion.
• ADCs are usually more costly, and their conversion rate is slower than DACs.
• Several types of ADCs are commercially available. However, their principle of
operation may vary depending on the type.
 Analog-to-Digital Converter ( ADC)
• Note that the most fundamental property of any DAC or ADC is their
number of bits for which it is designed, since this is a basic limit on
resolution.
• Units of 8 to 12 bits are most common even though higher bits are also
available.
• Both DAC and ADC are elements in typical input/output board (or I/O
board, or data acquisition and control card, i.e., DAC or DAQ), which are
usually situated on the same digital interface board.
 Bridge Circuits
• Various bridge circuits are employed widely for the
measurement of resistance, capacitance, and
inductance, as many transducers convert physical
variables to these quantities.
• Figure 4.33 shows a purely resistive (Wheatstone)
bridge in its simplest form.
• The basic principle of the bridge may be applied in
two different ways, namely, the null method and the
deflection method
• If the resistances are adjusted so that the bridge is balanced then there is no
voltage across AC, i.e., VAC = 0. This happens when R1/R4 = R2/R3.
• Now if one of the resistors, say, R1, changes its resistance then there will be
unbalance in the bridge and a voltage will appear across VAC causing a meter
reading.
• This meter reading is an indication of the change in R1 of the transducer element,
and can be utilized to compute the change. This method of measurement is called
the deflection method.
• In the null method, one of the resistors is adjustable manually.
• Thus, if R1 changes causing a meter deflection, R2 can be adjusted manually till its
effect just cancels that of R1 and the bridge is returned to its balanced position.
• Here, the change in R1 is directly related to the change in R2 required to effect the
balance.
• Note that both the deflection and null methods require a calibration curve so that
one knows the numerical values of R1 or R2 that has caused the imbalance or
balance, respectively.
• Note that the measurements of rapid dynamic phenomenon can be done using the
deflection method. Moreover, based on the alternate current (ac) and direct
current (dc) excitations in the bridge, there are ac bridges and dc bridges,
respectively.
 Signal Analyzer
• Modern signal analyzers employ digital techniques of signal analysis to extract useful
information that is carried by the signal.
• Digital Fourier analysis using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is perhaps the single most
common procedure that is used in the vast majority of signal analyzers.
• Fourier analysis produces the frequency spectrum of a time signal, which is explained here
in brief. Any periodic signal f(t) can be decomposed into a number of sines and cosines of
different amplitudes, an and bn, and frequencies nωt, for n = 1, 2, …•, which is expressed
as
• If one adds sine and cosine functions together, the original signal can be
reconstructed. Equation (4.25) is called a Fourier series, and the collection of
different frequencies present in the equation is called the frequency spectrum or
frequency content of the signal.
• Even though the signal is in amplitude-time domain, the frequency spectrum is in
the amplitude-frequency domain.
• For example, for the function, f(t)
= sin(t) of Fig. 4.34(a), which
consists of only one frequency
with constant amplitude, the
plotted signal would be
represented by a single line at the
given frequency, as shown in Fig.
4.34(b).
• If the plot with given frequency and
amplitude is represented by the
arrow in Fig. 4.34(b), the same sine
function can be reconstructed.
• The plots in Fig. 4.35 are similar and
represent the following:
• The frequencies are also plotted in the frequency-amplitude domain.
• Clearly, when the number of frequencies contained in f(t) increases, the
summation becomes closer to a square function.
• Theoretically, to reconstruct a square wave from sine functions, an
infinite number of sines must be added together. In practice, however,
some of the major frequencies within the spectrum will have larger
amplitudes.
• These major frequencies or harmonics are used in identifying and
labeling a signal, including recognizing shapes, objects, etc.