DATA COMMUNICATION

Module II
Data Transmission

By
V SHIVA PRASAD
➢ CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY
• Transmission Terminology
➢data transmission occurs between a transmitter & receiver via some
medium.

➢Guided Medium: Communication is done by using physical path.

⚫Eg: twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber,…..

➢Unguided / Wireless Medium: Communication is done without

physical path.
⚫Eg: air, water, vacuum
• Line configuration:
➢Point-to-point:

⚫direct link
⚫only 2 devices share link

➢Multi-point:

⚫more than two devices share the link

• Data Flow
➢Simplex
⚫Communication is done in only one direction
• eg. Television
➢Half Duplex
⚫Communication is done in either direction, but only one way at a time
• eg. police radio

➢Full Duplex
⚫Communication is done in both directions at the same time
• eg. telephone
➢ ANALOG AND DIGITAL
• Signals can be analog or digital.
Analog signal: An analog signal is one in which the signal intensity
(Amplitude) varies in a smooth fashion over time.
Digital Signals: An digital signal is one in which the signal intensity
(Amplitude) maintains a constant level for some period of time abruptly
changes to another constant level.
• Example Of Analog And Digital Signals:
A sine wave:

The general sine wave can be written

S(t) = A sin (2𝝅𝒇𝒕 + 𝝋)
➢peak amplitude (A):
⚫maximum strength of signal (or) it is the absolute value of highest intensity.
⚫Volts

Ex: Two signals with the same phase and frequency, but different amplitudes.
➢Period(T) and Frequency (f):
• Period(T): It is the amount of time, a signal needs to complete 1cycle.
• units : seconds
• Frequency (F): Number of cycles per sec.
Units : Hertz (Hz) or cycles per second
• Frequency and period are the inverse of each other.

❖ If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is zero.

❖ If a signal changes instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.
Ex : Two signals with the same amplitude and phase, but different frequencies.

❖ Frequency is the rate of change with respect to time.

❖ Change in a short span of time means high frequency.
❖ Change over a long span of time means low frequency.
• phase (): Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to
time 0 (or) relative position in time.
Ex: Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency, but different phases.
• Varying Sine Waves
s(t) = A sin(2ft +)
• Periodic Signal: pattern repeated over time.

• Aperiodic Signal : pattern not repeated over time.

➢Time and Frequency domains
➢Time Domains: A Sine wave is comprehensively defined by its
amplitude , frequency, and phase. We have been showing a sine wave
by using what is called a Time Domain plot.
➢It is an amplitude- versus- time plot.
➢Frequency Domain: To show the relationship between amplitude and
frequency , we can use what is called a Frequency Domain
➢It is an amplitude- versus- Frequency plot.

❖A complete sine wave in the time domain can be represented by one

single spike in the frequency domain.
➢ The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave
➢ The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves
➢ The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal
➢ Bandwidth :
• The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the
highest and the lowest frequencies contained in that signal.

▪ The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

• Example :
If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves with frequencies of 100,
300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz, what is its bandwidth? Draw the spectrum, assuming
all components have a maximum amplitude of 10 V.
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the bandwidth. Then

▪ The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz
➢Bit Rate:
▪ It is the number of bits sent in 1s, expressed in bits per second(bps).
➢Bit Length:
▪ It is the distance one bit occupies on the transmission medium.
Bit length = propagation speed x bit duration
Acoustic Spectrum (Analog)
Audio Signals
➢freq range 20Hz-20kHz (speech 100Hz-7kHz)
➢easily converted into electromagnetic signals
➢varying volume converted to varying voltage
➢can limit frequency range for voice channel to 300-
3400Hz
Digital Data
➢as generated by computers etc.
➢has two dc components
➢bandwidth depends on data rate
Analog Signals
Digital Signals
Advantages & Disadvantages of Digital Signals
➢cheaper
➢less susceptible to noise
➢but greater attenuation
➢digital now preferred choice
 3-4 Transmission Impairment

Three causes of impairment are attenuation, distortion,

and noise.

3.27
 Attenuation
➢where signal strength falls off with distance
➢Attenuation depends on medium
➢received signal strength must be:
⚫strong enough to be detected
⚫sufficiently higher than noise to receive without error
➢so increase strength using amplifiers/repeaters
 Example 3.26

Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and

its power is reduced to one-half. This means that P2 is
(1/2)P1. In this case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be
calculated as

A loss of 3 dB (–3 dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the

power.
3.29
 Example 3.27

A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is

increased 10 times. This means that P2 = 10P1 . In this case,
the amplification (gain of power) can be calculated as

3.30
Delay Distortion
➢Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape.
➢Delay distortion Occurs because of the velocity propagation delay of
a signal through the guided medium.
➢only occurs in guided media.
Noise
➢Noise is the additional unwanted signals inserted between transmitter and
receiver

➢Noise may be divided into four categories:

i. Thermal noise
ii. Intermodulation noise
iii. Cross talk
iv. Impulse noise
Thermal Noise

• It is due to the random motion of electrons in a wire which creates

an extra signal .
• is a function of Temperature
• It is also called white noise.
• Thermal Noise N= KTB
• k=Boltzmann’s constant = 1.380649×10−23 J/K.
• T = temperature , in kelvin
• B= Bandwidth
Intermodulation Noise

• It is the Noise generated when signals at different frequencies share

the same transmission medium.
• When different frequencies share the same medium Interference
caused by a signal produced at a frequency that is the sum or
difference of original frequencies Source.
• Interemodulation noise is produced by nonlinearities in the
transmitter , receiver and transmission medium.
Crosstalk Noise
• Crosstalk noise has been experienced by anyone who, while using the
telephone , has been able to hear another conversation.
• It is an unwanted coupling between signal paths.
• It can occur by electrical coupling between nearby twisted pairs or,
coax cable lines carrying multiple signals.
• Crosstalk can also occur when microwave antennas pick up unwanted
signals.
Impulse Noise
➢It consisting of irregular pulses or spikes created by to
external sources.
➢eg. external electromagnetic disturbances such as Lightining , fautls
and flaws in the communication systmes.
➢It occurs for short duration
➢high amplitude
➢a minor annoyance for analog signals
➢but a major source of error in digital data
➢a noise spike could corrupt many bits
 Example 3.16

A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are needed
per level? We calculate the number of bits from the formula

Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

3.37
 Example 3.18

Assume we need to download text documents at the rate of

100 pages per minute. What is the required bit rate of the
channel?
Solution
A page is an average of 24 lines with 80 characters in each
line. If we assume that one character requires 8 bits, the bit
rate is

3.38
Signal to Noise Ratio ( SNR or S/N)
• The signal to Noise ratio is defined as the ratio of signal power to
the noise power, often expressed in decibels.

Figure: Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR

 Example 3.31

The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the noise is

1 μW; what are the values of SNR and SNRdB ?

Solution
The values of SNR and SNRdB can be calculated as follows:

3.40
 Example 3.32

The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel are

We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.

3.41
Channel Capacity
• The Maximum rate at which data can be transmitted over a given
communication path or channel, under given conditions is referred to
as the channel capacity.

➢Channel capacity is a function of

⚫Data rate
⚫Bandwidth
⚫Noise on communication link
⚫Error rate
Shannon Capacity Formula for Noisy Channel

➢Channel Capacity C=B log2(1+SNR)

➢SNR= signal to noise ratio.

➢channel capacity (C) is expressed in bits per second.
 Example 3.34

Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz

transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The maximum bit
rate can be calculated as

3.44
 Example 3.37

Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value of

the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. In other words, the
noise is so strong that the signal is faint. For this channel the
capacity C is calculated as

This means that the capacity of this channel is zero

regardless of the bandwidth. In other words, we cannot
receive any data through this channel.

3.45
 Example 3.38

We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular

telephone line. A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of
3000. The signal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. For this
channel the capacity is calculated as

This means that the highest bit rate for a telephone line is
34.860 kbps. If we want to send data faster than this, we can
either increase the bandwidth of the line or improve the
signal-to-noise ratio.

3.46
 Example 3.39

The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels. Assume

that SNRdB = 36 and the channel bandwidth is 2 MHz. The
theoretical channel capacity can be calculated as

3.47
 Example 3.40

For practical purposes, when the SNR is very high, we can

assume that SNR + 1 is almost the same as SNR. In these
cases, the theoretical channel capacity can be simplified to

For example, we can calculate the theoretical capacity of the

previous example as

3.48
 Example 3.41

We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR for

this channel is 63. What are the appropriate bit rate and
signal level?

Solution
First, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper limit.

3.49
 Example 3.41 (continued)

The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, the upper limit. For

better performance we choose something lower, 4 Mbps, for
example. Then we use the Nyquist formula to find the number
of signal levels.

3.50
 Transmission Media
➢Guided Medium: Communication is done by using
physical path.
⚫Eg: twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber,…..

➢Unguided / Wireless Medium: Communication is done

without physical path.
⚫Eg: air, water, vacuum
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Twisted Pair

Physical Description : A twisted pair consists of two insulated

copper wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern.

▪The least expensive and most widely used guided

transmission medium.
 Twisted Pair
Applications
➢By far the most common guided medium for both analog and digital signals.
➢ the most commonly used medium in the telephone network .
➢Used within a building for Local area networks.
Transmission Characteristics
➢analog
⚫ needs amplifiers every 5km to 6km
➢digital
⚫ needs a repeater every 2-3km
➢limited distance
➢limited bandwidth (1MHz)
➢limited data rate (100MHz)
➢susceptible to interference and noise
Unshielded vs Shielded TP
➢unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
⚫ordinary telephone wire
⚫cheapest
⚫easiest to install
⚫suffers from external Electro Magnetic interference
➢shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
⚫Metallic braid or sheathing that reduces interference
⚫more expensive
⚫harder to handle (thick, heavy)
Coaxial Cable
Coaxial Cable - Transmission Characteristics
➢superior frequency characteristics to TP
➢performance limited by attenuation & noise
➢analog signals
⚫amplifiers every few km
⚫closer if higher frequency
⚫up to 500MHz
➢digital signals
⚫repeater every 1km
⚫closer for higher data rates
Optical Fiber
Optical Fiber - Benefits
➢greater capacity
⚫data rates of hundreds of Gbps
➢smaller size & weight
➢lower attenuation
➢electromagnetic isolation
➢greater repeater spacing
⚫10s of km at least
Optical Fiber - Transmission Characteristics
➢uses total internal reflection to transmit light
⚫effectively acts as wave guide for 1014 to 1015 Hz
➢can use several different light sources
⚫Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• cheaper, wider operating temp range, lasts longer
⚫Injection Laser Diode (ILD)
• more efficient, has greater data rate
➢relation of wavelength, type & data rate
Optical Fiber Transmission Modes
Frequency Utilization for Fiber Applications

Wavelength (in Frequency Band Fiber Type Application

vacuum) range Range (THz) Label
(nm)
820 to 900 366 to 333 Multim ode LAN
1280 to 1350 234 to 222 S Single mode Various
1528 to 1561 196 to 192 C Single mode WDM
1561 to 1620 192 to 185 L Single mode WDM
Transmission Characteristics of Guided Media

Frequency Typical Typical Repeater

Range Attenuation Delay Spacing
Twisted pair 0 to 3.5 kHz 0.2 dB/km @ 50 µs/km 2 km
(with loading) 1 kHz

Twisted pairs 0 to 1 MHz 0.7 dB/km @ 5 µs/km 2 km

(multi-pair 1 kHz
cables)
Coaxial cable 0 to 500 MHz 7 dB/km @ 10 4 µs/km 1 to 9 km
MHz
Optical fiber 186 to 370 0.2 to 0.5 5 µs/km 40 km
THz dB/km
Wireless Transmission Frequencies
➢2GHz to 40GHz
⚫microwave
⚫highly directional
⚫point to point
⚫satellite
➢30MHz to 1GHz
⚫omnidirectional
⚫broadcast radio
➢3 x 1011 to 2 x 1014
⚫infrared
⚫local
Antennas
➢electrical conductor used to radiate or collect
electromagnetic energy
➢transmission antenna
⚫radio frequency energy from transmitter
⚫converted to electromagnetic energy byy antenna
⚫radiated into surrounding environment
➢reception antenna
⚫electromagnetic energy impinging on antenna
⚫converted to radio frequency electrical energy
⚫fed to receiver
➢same antenna is often used for both purposes
Radiation Pattern
➢power radiated in all directions
➢not same performance in all directions
⚫as seen in a radiation pattern diagram
➢an isotropic antenna is a (theoretical) point in space
⚫radiates in all directions equally
⚫with a spherical radiation pattern
Parabolic Reflective Antenna
Antenna Gain
➢measure of directionality of antenna
➢power output in particular direction verses that produced by an
isotropic antenna
➢measured in decibels (dB)
➢results in loss in power in another direction
➢effective area relates to size and shape
⚫related to gain
Terrestrial Microwave
➢used for long haul telecommunications
➢and short point-to-point links
➢requires fewer repeaters but line of sight
➢use a parabolic dish to focus a narrow beam onto a
receiver antenna
➢1-40GHz frequencies
➢higher frequencies give higher data rates
➢main source of loss is attenuation
⚫distance, rainfall
➢also interference
Satellite Microwave
➢satellite is relay station
➢receives on one frequency, amplifies or repeats signal
and transmits on another frequency
⚫eg. uplink 5.925-6.425 GHz & downlink 3.7-4.2 GHz
➢typically requires geo-stationary orbit
⚫height of 35,784km
⚫spaced at least 3-4° apart
➢typical uses
⚫television
⚫long distance telephone
⚫private business networks
⚫global positioning
Satellite Point to Point Link
Satellite Broadcast Link
Broadcast Radio
➢radio is 3kHz to 300GHz
➢use broadcast radio, 30MHz - 1GHz, for:
⚫FM radio
⚫UHF and VHF television
➢is omnidirectional
➢still need line of sight
➢suffers from multipath interference
⚫reflections from land, water, other objects
Infrared
➢modulate noncoherent infrared light
➢end line of sight (or reflection)
➢are blocked by walls
➢no licenses required
➢typical uses
⚫TV remote control
⚫IRD port
Wireless Propagation
Ground Wave
Wireless Propagation
Sky Wave
Wireless Propagation
Line of Sight
Refraction
➢velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of density of material
~3 x 108 m/s in vacuum, less in anything else
➢speed changes as move between media
➢Index of refraction (refractive index) is
⚫sin(incidence)/sin(refraction)
⚫varies with wavelength
➢have gradual bending if medium density varies
⚫density of atmosphere decreases with height
⚫results in bending towards earth of radio waves
⚫hence optical and radio horizons differ
Line of Sight Transmission
➢Free space loss
⚫loss of signal with distance
➢Atmospheric Absorption
⚫from water vapour and oxygen absorption
➢Multipath
⚫multiple interfering signals from reflections
➢Refraction
⚫bending signal away from receiver
Free Space Loss
Multipath Interference
Summary
➢looked at data transmission issues
➢frequency, spectrum & bandwidth
➢analog vs digital signals
➢transmission impairments