Communications Blockset

Technical Conventions

This section discusses the terminology that this document uses to describe the signal types that the Communications Blockset supports. To learn how the blockset processes each kind of signal, see Signal Support.

Scalars, Vectors, and Matrices

This document uses the unqualified words scalar and vector in ways that emphasize a signal's number of elements, not its strict dimension properties:

• A scalar signal is one that contains a single element. The signal could be a one-dimensional array with one element, or a matrix of size 1-by-1.
• A vector signal is one that contains one or more elements, arranged in a series. The signal could be a one-dimensional array, a matrix that has exactly one column, or a matrix that has exactly one row. The number of elements in a vector is called its length or, sometimes, its width.

In cases when it is important for a description or schematic to distinguish among different types of scalar signals or different types of vector signals, this document mentions the distinctions explicitly. For example, the terms one-dimensional array, column vector, and row vector distinguish among three types of vector signals.

The size of a matrix is the pair of numbers that indicate how many rows and columns the matrix has. The orientation of a two-dimensional vector is its status as either a row vector or column vector. A one-dimensional array has no orientation.

A matrix signal that has more than one row and more than one column is called a full matrix signal.

Using the Blockset

Frame-Based and Sample-Based Signals