Physical Layer:

Data and Signals

01204325: Data Communication

and Computer Networks

Asst. Prof. Chaiporn Jaikaeo, Ph.D.

chaiporn.j@ku.ac.th
http://www.cpe.ku.ac.th/~cpj
Computer Engineering Department
Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
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 Outline
 Analog and digital data/signals
 Time and frequency domain views of signals
 Bandwidth and bit rate
 Transmitting digital signals as analog
 Theoretical data rate
 Signal impairment

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 Analog vs. Digital Data
 Analog data
 Data take on continuous values
 E.g., human voice, temperature reading
 Digital data
 Data take on discrete values
 E.g., text, integers

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 Analog vs. Digital Signals
To
To be
be transmitted,
transmitted, data
data must
must be
be
transformed
transformed toto electromagnetic
electromagneticsignals
signals
 Analog signals value

 have an infinite number of

values in a range time

 Digital signals value

 Have a limited number of

values time

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 Data and Signals

Analog Data Analog Signal

Telephone

Digital Data Analog Signal

Modem

Analog Data Digital Signal

Codec

Digital Data Digital Signal

Digital
transmitter
 Periodic Signals
 A periodic signal completes a pattern
within a timeframe, called a period
 A signal x(t) is periodic if and only if

x(t) = x(t+T) - < t < 

value
period

time

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 Sine Waves
 Simplest form of periodic signal
signal strength

period
T = 1/f
peak
amplitude

time

 General form: x(t) = A×sin(2ft + )

phase / phase shift

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 Varying Sine Waves
3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
-1 -1

-2 -2

-3
A = 1, f = 1,  = 0 -3
A = 2, f = 1,  = 0

3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
-1 -1

-2 -2

-3
A = 1, f = 2,  = 0 -3
A = 1, f = 1,  = /4

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 Time vs. Frequency Domains
 Consider the signal
1
x(t )  sin( 2  t )  sin( 2  3t )
3

1.5 1.5 1.5

1 1 1

0.5 0.5 0.5

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
+ 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
= 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
-0.5 -0.5 -0.5

-1 -1 -1

-1.5 -1.5 -1.5

Demo: sine.py 9
 Time vs. Frequency Domains

signal strength signal strength

1 1

0 0
2 4 time 2 4 frequency

-1 -1

Time Domain Representation Frequency Domain Representation

 plots amplitude as a function  plots each sine wave’s peak
of time amplitude against its frequency

Demo: Equalizer 10
 Fourier Analysis
 Any periodic signal can be represented
as a sum of sinusoids Joseph Fourier
(1768-1830)
 known as a Fourier Series
 E.g., a square wave:

+ + + +…

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 Fourier Analysis
 Every periodic signal consists of
 DC component
 AC components
 Fundamental frequency (f0)
 Harmonics (multiples of f0)

fundamental 3rd harmonic 5th harmonic

frequency

DC component

AC components

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Fourier Series: Representations
 Amplitude-phase form

x(t )  c0    cn cos( 2f 0 nt  n )
n 1

 Sine-cosine form

x(t )  a0    an cos( 2f 0 nt )  bn sin( 2f 0 nt )
n 1

 Complex exponential

form (Euler formula)
Note:
x(t )  n
c e j 2f 0 nt
cn are complex
n  
j = -1
ejx = cos x + j sin x
Demo: Falstad 13
The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

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 Frequency Spectrum
 Frequency domain representation shows
the frequency spectrum of a signal
 E.g., square wave

...
0 0 f0 3f0 5f0 7f0 9f0 11f0

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 Bandwidth
 A property of a medium
 Indicates the difference between the highest and the
lowest frequencies allowed to pass
 <highest freq allowed> – <lowest freq allowed>

Cutoff
Cutofffrequency
frequency
(half
(half ofpower
of powerisislost)
lost)

 Also a property of a single spectrum

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 Bandwidth of a Medium
gain (low-pass channel)
1

freq

...
Transmission medium
0 f0 3f0 5f0 7f0 9f0 f 0 f0 3f0 5f0 f

t t

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 Example
 What is the bandwidth of this signal?
1
x(t )  2  sin( 2000t )  sin( 6000t )
3

 A medium can pass frequencies from 4000

to 7000 Hz. Can the above signal pass
through?

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 Digital Signals
 Properties:
 Bit rate – number of bits per second
 Bit interval – duration of 1 bit
amplitude
1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0

...

time
bit interval

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Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels

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The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic
digital signals

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Baseband transmission

 Baseband transmission
 Sending a digital signal over a channel
without changing it to an analog signal

 Baseband transmission requires a low-

pass channel

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Note

A digital signal is a composite analog

signal with an infinite bandwidth.

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Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium

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 Digital vs. Analog
 Using one harmonic
Digital Analog

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 sec

Bit rate = 6 f=0

Digital Analog

1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

Bit rate = 6 f=3

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 Digital vs. Analog
 Using more harmonics
 Adding 3rd harmonic to improve quality

Digital Analog

1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

Bit rate = 6 f0 = 3, fmax = 9

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Table 3.2 Bandwidth requirements

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 Digital vs. Analog Bandwidth
 Digital bandwidth
 Expressed in bits per second (bps)
 Analog bandwidth
 Expressed in Hertz (Hz)

Bit
Bit rate
rate and
and bandwidth
bandwidth are
are proportional
proportional to
to each
each other
other

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Low-Pass and Band-Pass Channels
 Low-pass channel
gain

f1 frequency

 Band-pass channel
gain

f1 f2 frequency

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Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass channel

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 Transmission Impairment
 Attenuation
 Distortion
 Noise

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 Signal Attenuation
 Attenuation  Loss of energy
 Signal strength falls off with distance

Transmission medium

 Attenuation depends on medium

 Attenuation is an increasing function of
frequency

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 Relative Signal Strength
 Measured in Decibel (dB)
dB
dB==10
10log
log1010(P
(P2/P 1)
2/P1)

 P1 and P2 are signal powers at points 1 and 2,

respectively
Point 1 Point 2

 Positive dB  signal is amplified (gains strength)

 Negative dB  signal is attenuated (loses strength)
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 Example

Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power

in milliwatts. In this case, it is referred to as dBm and is
calculated as dBm = 10 log10 Pm , where Pm is the power
in milliwatts. Calculate the power of a signal with dBm =
−30.

Solution
We can calculate the power in the signal as

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 Example

The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per

kilometer (dB/km). If the signal at the beginning of a
cable with −0.3 dB/km has a power of 2 mW, what is the
power of the signal at 5 km?
Solution
The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) = −1.5 dB.
We can calculate the power as

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 Signal Distortion
 Distortion  Change in signal shape
 Only happens in guided media
 Propagation velocity varies with frequency

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 Noise
 Noise  Undesirable signals added
between the transmitter and the receiver

 Types of noise
 Thermal
 Due to random motion of electrons in a wire

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 Noise
 Types of noise (cont’d)
 Crosstalk
 Signal from one line picked up by another

Wire 1

Wire 2

 Impulse
 Irregular pulses or spikes
 E.g., lightning
 Short duration
 High amplitude
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 Signal-to-Noise Ratio
 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

Powersignal
SNR 
Powernoise

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 Example

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:

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 Data Rate: Noiseless Channels
 Nyquist Theorem

Bit
BitRate
Rate==22××Bandwidth
Bandwidth××log
log22LL
Harry Nyquist
(1889-1976)
 Bit rate in bps
 Bandwidth in Hz
 L – number of signal levels

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 Example

We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with

a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal levels do we
need?
Solution
We can use the Nyquist formula as shown:

Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either

increase the number of levels or reduce the bit rate. If we
have 128 levels, the bit rate is 280 kbps. If we have 64
levels, the bit rate is 240 kbps.
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 Data Rate: Noisy Channels
 Shannon Capacity
Capacity
Capacity==Bandwidth
Bandwidth××log
log22(1+SNR)
(1+SNR)

 Capacity (maximum bit rate) in bps

 Bandwidth in Hz
 SNR – Signal-to-Noise Ratio Claude Elwood Shannon
(1916-2001)

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 Example

A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3000. The

signal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. Calculate the
theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line.

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.
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 Example

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, use the Shannon capacity

followed by the Nyquist formula

6 8

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Note

The Shannon capacity gives us the

upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us
how many signal levels we need.

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 Network Performance
 Bandwidth
 Hertz
 Bits per second (bps)
 Throughput
 Actual data rate
 Latency (delay)
 Time it takes for an entire message to
completely arrive at the destination

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 Latency
 Composed of
 Propagation time
 Transmission time
 Queuing time
 Processing time
Entire
message

propagation
time

transmission
time
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 Latency
Sender Receiver

First bit leaves

Propagation time
First bit arrives

Data bits
Last bit leaves Transmission time

Last bit arrives

Time Time
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 Bandwidth-Delay Product
 The link is seen as a pipe
 Cross section = bandwidth
 Length = delay
 Bandwidth-delay product defines the
number of bits that can fill the link

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Figure Filling the link with bits for case 1

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 Summary
 Data need to take form of signal to be
transmitted
 Frequency domain representation of signal
allows easier analysis
 Fourier analysis
 Medium's bandwidth limits certain
frequencies to pass
 Bit rate is proportional to bandwidth
 Signals get impaired by attenuation,
distortion, and noise

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