Delay

Figure 2.14 A delay.  

 

Here, τ is the delay. The way to understand this system is to focus on the time origin: The output at time t = τ equals the input at time t =0. Thus, if the delay is positive, the output emerges later than the input, and plotting the output amounts to shifting the input plot to the right. The delay can be negative, in which case we say the system advances its input. Such systems are difficult to build (they would have to produce signal values derived from what the input will be), but we will have occasion to advance signals in time.