Chapter 3 – Data Transmission:

Concepts and Terminology

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 Transmission Terminology

 data transmission occurs between a transmitter

& receiver via some medium
 guided medium
 eg. twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber
 unguided / wireless medium
 eg. air, water, vacuum

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 Transmission Terminology

 direct link
 no intermediate devices
 point-to-point
 direct link
 only 2 devices share link
 multi-point
 more than two devices share the link

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 Transmission Terminology

 Simplex transmission
 one direction
• eg. television
 Half-duplex transmission
 either direction, but only one way at a time
• eg. police radio (walkie-talkie: push-to-talk and
release-to-listen)
 Full-duplex transmission
 both directions at the same time
• eg. telephone

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 Time domain concepts of signals

 time domain concepts

 analog signal
• varies in a smooth way over time
 digital signal
• maintains a constant level then changes to another
constant level
 periodic signal
• pattern repeated over time
 aperiodic signal
• pattern not repeated over time

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Analog and digital signals

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 Periodic signals

 The signal period T is the

inverse of signal frequency f :
1
T
f
T in sec onds ( s )
f in Hertz ( Hz )

 The signal s(t) is periodic if:

s (t  T )  s (t )  t  

 The signal amplitude is

denoted by A

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 Sine wave
 Mathematically, the sine wave is given by :
s(t )  A sin(2 ft   )
 Three parameters :
1. Peak amplitude (A)
 maximum strength of signal
 usually measured in volts
2. Frequency ( f )
 rate of change of signal
 measured in Hertz (Hz) or cycles per second
 period = time for one repetition ( T )
 T = 1/f
3. Phase (  )
 relative position in time
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Varying Sine Waves
s (t )  A sin(2 ft   )

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 Wavelength (λ)

 is the distance occupied by one cycle

 assuming signal velocity v, then  = vT
 or equivalently f = v, since T=1/f
 for the special case when v=c
 c = 3*108 m/s (speed of light in free space)
 c=λf

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 Frequency Domain Concepts

 signal are made up of many frequencies

 components are sine waves
 Fourier analysis can shown that any signal
is made up of component sine waves
 Fourier series of a square wave with
amplitudes A and –A :
4  sin(2 kft )
s (t )  A  
 k 1, k odd k

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 Fourier Transform
 Mathematical tool that relates the frequency-domain
description of the signal to its time-domain description

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Time-domain vs frequency-domain

Figure 3.5a: frequency domain function for the

signal of Figure 3.4c.

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 Time-domain vs frequency-domain

Time-domain

Frequency- domain

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 Spectrum and bandwidth

 Spectrum
 range of frequencies contained in signal
 Absolute bandwidth
 width of spectrum
 effective bandwidth
 often just bandwidth
 narrow band of frequencies containing most energy
 DC Component
 component of zero frequency

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Acoustic Spectrum

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 Analog and digital data transmission

 data
– entities that convey meaning
 signals & signalling
– electric or electromagnetic representations of
data, physically propagates along medium
 transmission
– communication of data by propagation and
processing of signals

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 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

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 Digital Data

 as generated by computers etc.

 has two dc components
 bandwidth depends on data rate

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Analog Signals

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Digital signals

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Advantages and disadvantages of digital signals

 cheaper
 less susceptible to noise
 but greater attenuation
 digital now preferred choice

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 Transmission Impairments

 signal received may differ from signal

transmitted causing:
 analog - degradation of signal quality
 digital - bit errors
 most significant impairments are
 attenuation and attenuation distortion
 delay distortion
 noise

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 Attenuation

 where signal strength falls off with distance

 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
 is also an increasing function of frequency
 so equalize attenuation across band of
frequencies used

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 Delay distortion
 propagation velocity varies with frequency
 hence various frequency components
arrive at different times
 particularly critical for digital data
 since parts of one bit spill over into others
 causing InterSymbol Interference (ISI)
Signal on first path

Signal on second
path
ISI
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 Noise
 Additional unwanted signals inserted
between transmitter and receiver
 Thermal
 due to thermal agitation of electrons
 uniformly distributed
 white noise
N 0  kT (W / Hz )
N 0  noise power density in watts per 1Hz of bandwidth
k  Boltzmann' s cons tan t  1.38  10  23 J / K
T  Temprature in Kelvins
 Interference from other users in a multi-user
environment (e.g., mobile environment)
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 Noise

 crosstalk
 a signal from one line is picked up by another
 impulse
 irregular pulses or spikes
• eg. external electromagnetic interference
 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

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 Noise: example
0 +5V
1 -5V

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 Data-rate

 Data rate: is the rate, in bits per second (bps), at

which data can be communicated

1 1 1
data Rate  R     50 kbps
bit duration Tb 0.02m sec
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 Spectrum, bandwidth and Data-rate

 Spectrum of a signal: is the range of frequencies that it

contains
 Absolute bandwidth: is the width of the spectrum
 Effective bandwidth: is a relatively narrow band that contains
most signal energy
 Any transmission system has a limited bandwidth
 Square wave have infinite components and hence infinite
bandwidth, but most energy in first few components
 Limited bandwidth increases distortion
 Limited bandwidth also limit the data rate that can be carried

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Bandwidth

Bandwidth  B  3 f  1 f  2 f
Assume f  1KHz ,
then Bandwidth  B  2 KHz

Absolute B  
Effective B  width of main lobe
1

X
Assume X  1 m sec,
then effective B  1KHz
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Data-rate and bandwidth

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 Channel Capacity

 Channel Capacity: max possible rate at which data

can be transmitted over a given communication
path, under given conditions
 Channel capacity is a function of :
 data rate - in bits per second [bps]
 bandwidth - in Hertz [Hz]
 noise - on communication link
 error rate - the rate at which errors occur, reception of 1
when 0 is transmitted, and visa versa

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 Nyquist Bandwidth
 Consider noise free channels
 If rate of signal transmission is 2B then we can
carry signal with frequencies no greater than B
 i.e., given bandwidth B, highest signal rate is 2B
 For binary signals (0,1), 2B bps need bandwidth B Hz
 Can increase rate by using M signal levels or M
symbols (e.g. M=4, Quaternary: 00, 01, 10,11)
 Nyquist formula is: C  2 B log 2 M [bps ]
 So increase rate by increasing signal levels
 at cost of receiver complexity
 limited by noise & other impairments
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 Shannon Capacity Formula
 Consider relation of data rate, noise & error rate
 faster data rate shortens each bit so bursts of noise affects more bits
 higher rates means higher errors

signal power
 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR): SNR 
noise power

 SNR in decibles (dB): SNRdB  10 log10 SNR

 Shannon’s channel capacity (C) in bits/s is related to the

channel bandwidth (B) in Hertz and SNR by:
C  B log 2 (1  SNR )
 theoretical maximum capacity
 get lower in practise
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Nyquit bandwidth and Shannon Capacity
 Example: Suppose that the spectrum of a channel is
between 3MHz and 4MHz and the SNRdB=24dB. Find:
1. The channel bandwidth (B)
2. The channel capacity (C)
3. Based on Nyquist formula, how many signalling levels are
required to achieve the max capacity
Solution:
1. B = 4MHz - 3MHz = 1MHz
2. SNRdB  24dB  10 log10 SNR
 SNR  251
C  B log2 (1  SNR)  106 log 2 (1  251)  8  106  8Mbps
C  2 B log 2 M
3.
8  10 6  2  106 log 2 M  M  16
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 Decibels and signal strength
 It is customary to express gain or loss (attenuation) in decibels:
 Logarithmic unit (compressed scale)
 Multiplication and division reduce to addition and subtraction

Pout
 The decibel power gain (GdB): GdB  10 log10
Pin
Pin : input power level
Pout : output power level
Pout Pin
 The decibel power loss (LdB): LdB  10 log10  10 log10
Pin Pout
Pin Vin2 / R Vin
L
 The decibel voltage loss: dB  10 log10  10 log10 2
 20 log10
Pout Vout /R Vout
where V is the voltage across resistor R
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 Decibels and signal strength
 Example 1: if a signal with a power level of 10mW is inserted
onto a transmission line and the measured power some
distance away is 5mW, then the loss can be expressed as:
Pin 10mW
LdB  10 log10  10 log10  3dB
Pout 5mW
 Example 2: Consider a series of transmission elements in which
the input is at a power level of 4mW, the first element is a
transmission line with 12dB loss, the second element is an
amplifier with 35dB gain, and the third element is a transmission
line with 10dB loss.
1. The net gain is -12 + 35 – 10= 13dB
Pout
2. The output power (Pout): GdB  13dB  10 log10
4mW
Pout  4 101.3 mW  79.8mW
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 Decibels and signal strength
 The dBW=dB (decibel-Watt):
 powerW 
powerdBW  10 log10    10 log10 ( powerW )
 1W 
 Example: a power of 1W is 0dBW=0dB,
a power of 1000W is 30dBW=30dB,
a power of 1mW is –30dBW=-30dB

 The dBm (decibel-milliWatt):

 powermW 
powerdBm  10 log10  
 1mW 
 Example: a power of 1mW is 0dBm,
a power of 30dBm is 0dBW
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 Example
 Given a receiver with an effective noise temperature of 294K
and a 10 MHz bandwidth. Find the thermal noise power at the
receiver’s output in units of dBW?
N 0  kT [W / Hz ]
N  kTB [W ],
k  Boltzmann' s const.  1.38 10 23 J / K
T  Temprature in Kelvins
B  Bandwidth
kTB
N dBW  10 log10  10 log10 kTB  10 log10 k  10 log10 T  10 log10 B
1W
 10 log10 (1.38 10 23 )  10 log10 (294)  10 log10 (107 )
 228.6  24.7  70
 133.9dBW
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 The expression Eb/N0
 The expression Eb/N0 : is the ratio of signal energy per bit (Eb) to
noise power density per Hz (N0)
Eb  STb , where S : signal power
Tb : bit duration
N 0  kT , where k : Boltzmann const.
T :Temprature
1
data Rate  R 
Tb
Eb S / R S
  
N0 N0 kTR
in decibel notation,
 Eb 
   S dB  10 log10 R  10 log10 k  10 log10 T
 N 0  dB
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 Example

 For Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation, Eb/N0 = 8.4

dB is required for a bit error rate of 10-4 (one bit error out of
every 10000 bits). If the effective noise temperature is 290 K
(room temperature) and the data rate is 2400 bps, what
received signal power level is required?
 Eb 
   S dB  10 log10 R  10 log10 k  10 log10 T
 N 0  dB
8.4  S dB  10 log10 2400  (228.6)  10 log10 290
8.4  S dB  (10)(3.38)  228.6  (10)( 2.46)
 S dB  161.8 dB

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 Eb/N0 versus SNR
 We can relate Eb/N0 to the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR):
Eb S / R

N0 N0
Noise power N  N 0 B, where B is the bandwidth
Eb S/R S B S
  , where is the Signal to Noise Ratio ( SNR )
N0 N / B N R N
S
The Shannon channel capacity : C  B log 2 (1  SNR )  B log 2 (1  )
N
S
  2C / B  1
N
  2  1   2  1
Eb S B B B
  C/B C/B

N0 N R R C
where C / B is the spectral efficiency
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 Example

 Suppose we want to find the minimum Eb/N0 required to achieve

a spectral efficiency C/B of 6bps/Hz

Eb
N0
  B
C
 1
 2C / B  1  2 6  1  10.5  10.21 dB
6

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