A self-contained discussion of discrete-time lossless systems and their properties and relevance in digital signal processing is presented. The basic concept of losslessness is introduced, and several algebraic properties of lossless systems are studied. An understanding of these properties is crucial in order to exploit the rich usefulness of lossless systems in digital signal processing. Since lossless systems typically have many input and output terminals, a brief review of multiinput multioutput systems is included. The most general form of a rational lossless transfer matrix is presented along with synthesis procedures for the FIR (finite impulse response) case. Some applications of lossless systems in signal processing are presented
