MODULE 2

Digital Transmission
 Digital to digital conversion
How we can represent digital data to digital signals.
Line coding
Block coding
Scrambling
Line Coding
Polar
Bipolar
Manchester coding
 Line Coding

• Line coding is the process of converting digital data to digital

signals.
• Data is stored in the form of text,numbers,graphical
images,audio or video are stored in computer memory as
sequence of bits.
• Line coding coverts a sequence of bits to a digital signal.
• Fig: Line coding and decoding
 Characteristics
Signal Element Versus Data Element
• A data element is the smallest entity that can represent a piece of
information;ie bit
• In digital data communications, a signal element carries data
elements.
• A signal element is the shortest unit of a digital signal
• Data elements are what we need to send;signal elements are what we
can send.
Fig: Signal Element versus Data Element
Relationship between data rate and signal rate

• Data Rate Versus Signal Rate

• The data rate defines the number of bits sent per sec - bps. It is often
referred to the bit rate.
• The signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in a second and
is measured in bauds. It is also referred to as the modulation rate OR
baud rate or pulse rate.
• Goal is to increase the data rate while reducing the baud rate.
• Relationship between datarate and signal rate is given as,
S = c x N x (1/r) bauds
where N is data rate ,c is the case factor (worst, best & avg.)
r is the ratio between data element & signal element
• Bandwidth
• The baud rate determines the required bandwidth for a digital signal
• The bandwidth is proportional to the signal rate (baud rate).
• The minimum bandwidth can be given as
= c x N x (1/r)
• We can solve for maximum data rate if the bandwidth of the channel
is given.
= (1/c) x B x r
• Baseline Wandering
• In decoding a digital signal, the receiver calculates a running average
of the received signal power.
• This average is called the baseline.
• The incoming signal power is evaluated against this baseline to
determine the value of the data element.
• A long string of 0s or 1s can cause a drift in the baseline (baseline
wandering) and make it difficult for the receiver to decode correctly.
• A good line coding scheme needs to prevent baseline wandering.
• DC Components
• When the voltage level in a digital signal is constant for a while, the
spectrum creates very low frequencies (results of Fourier analysis).
• These frequencies around zero, called DC (direct-current)
components.
• Self synchronization - the clocks at the sender and the receiver must
have the same bit interval.
• If the receiver clock is faster or slower it will misinterpret the
incoming bit stream.
Fig: Effect of lack of synchronization
Built-in Error Detection
• It is desirable to have a built-in error-detecting capability in the
generated code to detect some of or all the errors that occurred
during transmission.
• Immunity to Noise and Interference
• Another desirable code characteristic is a code I that is immune to
noise and other interferences.
• Complexity
• A complex scheme is more costly to implement than a simple one.
• For example, a scheme that uses four signal levels is more difficult to
interpret than one that uses only two levels.
 Line Encoding
Schemes
 Unipolar
• All signal levels are on one side of the time axis - either above or
below
• NRZ - Non Return to Zero scheme is an example of this code.
• The positive voltage defines bit 1 and the zero voltage defines bit 0.
• The signal level does not return to zero during a symbol transmission.
• Scheme is prone to baseline wandering and DC components. It has no
synchronization or any error detection. It is simple but costly in power
consumption.
• Fig: Unipolar NRZ scheme
 Polar - NRZ
• The voltages are on both sides of the time axis.
• Polar NRZ scheme can be implemented with two voltages. E.g. 0 can
be positive and 1 can be negative.
NRZ(Non-Return to Zero) – uses 2 levels of voltage amplitude
2 versions of Polar NRZ
– NRZ - Level (NRZ-L) – the level of the voltage determines the value of
the bit.
– NRZ - Inversion (NRZ-I) - the change or lack of change in level of the
voltage determines the value of bit. If there is no change ,the bit is 0;if
there is a change, the bit is 1.
• Fig: Polar NRZ-L and NRZ-I schemes
• Note:
In NRZ-L the level of the voltage determines the value
of the bit.
In NRZ-I the inversion or the lack of inversion
determines the value of the bit.
• Note
NRZ-L and NRZ-I both have a DC component
problem and baseline wandering, it is worse for
NRZ-L.
Both have no self synchronization &no error
detection. Both are relatively simple to
implement.
• Example Problems
 Polar - RZ
• The Return to Zero (RZ) scheme uses three voltage values. +, 0, -.
• Each symbol has a transition in the middle. Either from high to zero or
from low to zero.
• This scheme has more signal transitions (two per symbol) and
therefore requires a wider bandwidth.
• No DC components or baseline wandering.
• Self synchronization - transition indicates symbol value.
• More complex as it uses three voltage level. It has no error detection
capability.
• Fig: Polar RZ scheme
Polar - Biphase: Manchester and
Differential Manchester
• Manchester coding consists of combining the NRZ-L and RZ schemes.
– Every symbol has a level transition in the middle: from high to low or
low to high. Uses only two voltage levels.
• Differential Manchester coding consists of combining the NRZ-I and
RZ schemes. – Every symbol has a level transition in the middle. But the
level at the beginning of the symbol is determined by the symbol value.
One symbol causes a level change the other does not.
Figure :Polar biphase: Manchester and differential Manchester schemes
• Note
In Manchester and differential Manchester encoding,
the transition at the middle of the bit is used for
synchronization.
• Note
The minimum bandwidth of Manchester and differential
Manchester is 2 times that of NRZ. The is no DC component
and no baseline wandering. None of these codes has error
detection.
Bipolar - AMI and Pseudoternary
• Code uses 3 voltage levels: - +, 0, -, to represent the symbols (note
not transitions to zero as in RZ).
• Voltage level for one symbol is at “0” and the other alternates
between + & -. • Bipolar Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI) - the “0”
symbol is represented by zero voltage and the “1” symbol alternates
between +V and -V.
• Pseudoternary is the reverse of AMI.
• Fig: Bipolar schemes: AMI and pseudoternary
 Bipolar C/Cs
• It is a better alternative to NRZ.
• Has no DC component or baseline wandering.
• Has no self synchronization because long runs of “0”s results in no
signal transitions.
• No error detection.
 (Physical Layer 2)
• ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION
Pulse Code Modulation
Delta Modulation
 PCM
• PCM consists of three steps to digitize an analog signal:
1. Sampling
2. Quantization
3. Binary encoding
Fig: Components of PCM encoder
• A PCM Encoder has 3 processes,
1. The analog signal is sampled
2. The sampled signal is quantized.
3. The quantized values are encoded as streams of bits.
 Sampling
• Sampling is a process of finding a sufficient number of samples so that
original signal can be represented by those samples completely and it
should be possible to reconstruct the original signal.
 Sampling
• Analog signal is sampled every secs.
• Ts is referred to as the sampling interval or period
• = 1/Ts is called the sampling rate or sampling frequency(Hertz).
• There are 3 sampling methods:
– Ideal - an impulse at each sampling instant or pulses from the analog
signal is sampled.
– Natural - a pulse of short width with varying amplitude
– Flattop - sample and hold, like natural but with single amplitude
value.
• The process is referred to as pulse amplitude modulation PAM and
the outcome is a signal with analog (non integer) values .
• Fig: Three different sampling methods for PCM
• Note
• Fig: Nyquist sampling rate for low-pass and bandpass signals.
 Quantization
• Sampling results in a series of pulses of varying amplitude values
ranging between two limits: a min and a max.
• The amplitude values are infinite between the two limits.
• We need to map the infinite amplitude values onto a finite set of
known values.
2 steps in quantization:
1. We assume that the original analog signal has instantaneous
amplitudes between and
2. We divide the range into L zones, each of height
= (max - min)/L
3. We assign quantized values 0 to L-1 to the midpoint of each zone.
4. We approximate the value of the sample amplitude to the quantized
levels.
 Quantization Levels
• The midpoint of each zone is assigned a value from 0 to L-1 (resulting
in L values)
• Each sample falling in a zone is then approximated to the value of the
midpoint.
 Quantization Zones
• Assume we have a voltage signal with amplitudes Vmin=-20V and
Vmax=+20V.
• We want to use L=8 quantization levels.
• Zone width = (20 - -20)/8 = 5
• The 8 zones are: -20 to -15, -15 to -10, -10 to -5, -5 to 0, 0 to +5, +5 to
+10, +10 to +15, +15 to +20
• The midpoints are: -17.5, -12.5, -7.5, -2.5, 2.5, 7.5, 12.5, 17.5
 Assigning Codes to Zones
• Each zone is then assigned a binary code.
• The number of bits required to encode the zones, or the number of
bits per sample as it is commonly referred to, is obtained as follows
:nb = log2 L
• Given our example, nb = 3
• The 8 zone (or level) codes are therefore: 000, 001, 010, 011, 100,
101, 110, and 111
• Assigning codes to zones: – 000 will refer to zone -20 to -15 – 001 to
zone -15 to -10, etc.
Fig: Quantization and encoding of a sampled signal
 Quantization Error
• When a signal is quantized, we introduce an error - the coded signal is
an approximation of the actual amplitude value.
• The difference between actual and coded value (midpoint) is referred
to as the quantization error.
• The more zones, the smaller which results in smaller errors.
• But, the more zones the more bits required to encode the samples ->
higher bit rate
• It can be proven that the contribution of the quantization error to the
of the signal depends on the number of quantization levels L, or the
bits per sample as,
= 6.02 + 1.76 dB
Uniform Versus Nonuniform Quantization

• Changes in amplitude often occur more frequently in the lower

amplitudes then the higher ones.
• For those types of applications it is better to use nonuniform zones.
• T is greater near the lower amplitudes and less near the higher
amplitudes.
• Non-uniform quantization can also be achieved by using a process
called companding and expanding.
• The signal is companded at the sender before conversion;it is
expanded at the receiver after conversion.
• Companding means reducing the instantaneous voltage amplitude for
large values; expanding is the opposite process.
 PCM Decoder
• To recover an analog signal from a digitized signal we follow the
following steps:
– We use a hold circuit that holds the amplitude value of a pulse till the
next pulse arrives.
– We pass this signal through a low pass filter with a cutoff frequency
that is equal to the highest frequency in the pre-sampled signal.
• The higher the value of L, the less distorted a signal is recovered.
Encoding
• After each sample is quantized and the number of bits per sample is
decided, each sample can be changed to an bit code word.
• Note that, the number of bits for each sample is determined from the
number of quantization levels.
• The bit rate can be calculated from the formula,
Bit rate = sampling rate x number of bits per sample
= x
Original Signal Recovery
• The recovery of the original signal requires the PCM decoder.
• The decoder first uses circuitry to convert the code words into a pulse
that holds the amplitude until the next pulse.
• After the staircase signal is completed, it is passed through a low-pass
filter to smooth the staircase signal into an analog signal.
• The filter has the same cutoff frequency as the original signal at the
sender.
• Fig: Components of a PCM decoder
PCM Bandwidth
• The minimum bandwidth is

This means the minimum bandwidth of the digital signal is nb times greater than the
bandwidth of the analog signal.
Maximum Data Rate of a Channel
Minimum Required Bandwidth
TRANSMISSION MODES
• The transmission of binary data across a link can be accomplished in
either parallel or serial mode.
• In parallel mode, multiple bits are sent with each clock tick.
• In serial mode, 1 bit is sent with each clock tick.
• While there is only one way to send parallel data, there are three
subclasses of serial transmission: asynchronous, synchronous, and
isochronous.
• Topics Discussed in this section
Parallel Transmission
Serial Transmission
• Fig: Data transmission and modes
• Fig: Parallel transmission
• Fig: Serial transmission
• Note
• Note
• Figure: Asynchronous transmission
• Note
• Fig: Synchronous transmission
 Isochronous
• In isochronous transmission we cannot have uneven gaps between
frames.
• Transmission of bits is fixed with equal gaps.
• Example: Multimedia transmission
• ANALOG TRANSMISSION
DIGITAL TO ANALOG
CONVERSION
• • Digital-to-analog conversion is the process of changing one of the
characteristics of an analog-signal based on the information in digital-
data.
Fig: Digital-to-analog conversion
• A sine wave can be defined by 3 attributes:
1) Amplitude
2)Frequency &
3) Phase.
• When anyone of the 3 attributes of a wave is varied, a different
version of the wave will be created.
• So, by changing one attribute of an analog signal, we can use it to
represent digital-data.
• Four methods of digital to analog conversion (Figure 5.2):
1) Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
2) Frequency shift keying(FSK)
3) Phase shift keying (PSK)
4) Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).
• QAM is a combination of ASK and PSK i.e. QAM combines changing
both the amplitude and phase.
• QAM is the most efficient of these 4 methods.
• QAM is the method commonly used today.
Aspects of Digital-to-Analog Conversion

1) Data Element vs. Signal Element

• A data-element is the smallest piece of information to be exchanged
i.e. the bit.
• A signal-element is the smallest unit of a signal that is transmitted.
2) Data Rate vs. Signal Rate
Data rate (Bit rate) is the number of bits per second.
Signal-rate (Baud rate) is the number of signal elements per second.
The relationship between data-rate(N) and the signal-rate(S) is

where r = number of data-elements carried in one signal-

element.
• Problem:
• An analog signal carries 4 bits per signal element.If 1000 signal
elements are sent per second,find the bit rate?
• The value of r is given by r = log 2L or 2r=L where L = type of signal-
element (not the level)
• (In transportation, a baud is analogous to a vehicle, and → a bit is
analogous to a passenger.We need to maximize the number of people
per car to reduce the traffic).
3) Carrier Signal
• The sender produces a high-frequency signal that acts as a base for
the information-signal. This base-signal is called the carrier-signal (or
carrier-frequency).
• The receiver is tuned to the frequency of the carrier-signal that it
expects from the sender. Then, digital-information changes the
carrier-signal by modifying its attributes (amplitude, frequency, or
phase).
• This kind of modification is called modulation (shift keying).
4) Bandwidth
• In both ASK & PSK, the bandwidth required for data transmission is
proportional to the signal-rate.
• In FSK, the bandwidth required is the difference between the two
carrier-frequencies.
 Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
•The amplitude of the carrier-signal is varied to represent different
signal-elements.
• Both frequency and phase remain constant for all signal-elements.
• Binary ASK (BASK)
• BASK is implemented using only 2 levels.
• This is also referred to as OOK (On-Off Keying).
Fig: Binary ASK
Implementation of BASK
• Here, line coding method used = unipolar NRZ.
• The unipolar NRZ signal is multiplied by the carrier-frequency coming
from an oscillator.
1) When amplitude of the NRZ signal = 0, amplitude of the carrier-
signal = 0.
2) When amplitude of the NRZ signal = 1, the amplitude of the carrier-
signal is held.
• Fig: Implementation of Binary ASK
• Bandwidth for ASK
• Here, the bandwidth (B) is proportional to the signal-rate (S)
• The bandwidth is given by
B = (1+d) x S
where d(0<d<1)= this factor depends on modulation and filtering-
process.

Example Problem
We have an available bandwidth of 100 kHz which spans from 200 to
300 KHZ.Calculate the data rate (N) if we modulated our data by using
ASK with d=1?(Assume r=1)?
• Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
• The frequency of the carrier-signal is varied to represent different
signal-elements.
• The frequency of the modulated-signal is constant for the duration of
one signal-element, but changes for the next signal-element if the data-
element changes.
• Both amplitude and phase remain constant for all signal-elements.
• Binary FSK (BFSK)
• This uses 2 carrier-frequencies: f1 and f2.
1) When data-element = 1, first carrier frequency(f1) is used.
2) When data-element = 0, second carrier frequency(f2) is used.
Fig: Binary FSK
Implementation
• Here, line coding method used = unipolar NRZ.
• Two implementations of BFSK: i) Coherent and ii) Non-Coherent.

Fig: Implementation of BFSK

Coherent BFSK Non Coherent BFSK

The phase continues through the boundary of There may be discontinuity in the phase when
two signal-elements. one signal-element ends and the next begins.

This is implemented by using one voltage- controlled This is implemented by

oscillator (VCO). VCO changes frequency according to → treating BFSK as 2 ASK modulations and
the input voltage. → using 2 carrier-frequencies

When the amplitude of NRZ signal = 0, the VCO

keeps its regular frequency.
When the amplitude of NRZ signal = 1, the VCO
increases its frequency.
Bandwidth for BFSK
• FSK has two ASK signals, each with its own carrier-frequency f1 or f2.
• The bandwidth is given by

2∆f is the difference between

f1 and f2.
Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
• The phase of the carrier-signal is varied to represent different signal-
elements.
• Both amplitude and frequency remain constant for all signal-
elements.
Binary PSK (BPSK)
• We have only two signal-elements:
1) First signal-element with a phase of 0°.
2) Second signal-element with a phase of 180° (Figure 5.9).
ASK vs. PSK
• In ASK, the criterion for bit detection is the amplitude of the signal. In
PSK, the criterion for bit detection is the phase.
Advantages:
• 1) PSK is less susceptible to noise than ASK.
• 2) PSK is superior to FSK because we do not need 2 carrier-frequencies.
Disadvantage:
• 1) PSK is limited by the ability of the equipment to distinguish small differences in
phase.
Fig: Binary Phase Shift Keying
Implementation
• The implementation of BPSK is as simple as that for ASK.
• The signal-element with phase 180° can be seen as the complement
of the signal-element with phase 0°.
• Here, line coding method used: polar NRZ.
• The polar NRZ signal is multiplied by the carrier-frequency coming
from an oscillator.
1) When data-element = 1, the phase starts at 0°.
2) When data-element = 0, the phase starts at 180°.
• Fig: Implementation of BASK
Bandwidth for BPSK
• The bandwidth is the same as that for BASK, but less than that for
BFSK.
• No bandwidth is wasted for separating 2 carrier-signals.
Quadrature PSK (QPSK)
• The scheme is called QPSK because it uses 2 separate BPSK modulations
1) First modulation is in-phase,
2) Second modulation is quadrature (out-of-phase).
• A serial-to-parallel converter
→ accepts the incoming bits
→ sends first bit to first modulator and
→ sends second bit to second modulator.
• The bit to each BPSK signal has one-half the frequency of the original signal.
• Advantages:
1) Decreases the baud rate.
2) Decreases the required bandwidth.
• Fig: QPSK and its implementation
• As shown in Figure , the 2 composite-signals created by each
multiplier are 2 sine waves with the same frequency, but different
phases.
• When the 2 sine waves are added, the result is another sine wave,
with 4 possible phases: 45°, -45°, 135°,and -135°.
• There are 4 kinds of signal-elements in the output signal (L=4), so we
can send 2 bits per signalelement (r=2).
Constellation Diagram
• A constellation diagram can be used to define the amplitude and
phase of a signal-element.
• This diagram is particularly useful
→ when 2 carriers (one in-phase and one quadrature) are used.
→ when dealing with multilevel ASK, PSK, or QAM.
• In a constellation diagram, a signal-element type is represented as a
dot.
• Fig: Concept of Constellation Diagram
• The diagram has 2 axes:
1) The horizontal X axis is related to the in-phase carrier.
2) The vertical Y axis is related to the quadrature carrier.
For each point on the diagram, 4 pieces of information can be deduced.
1) The projection of point on the X axis defines the peak amplitude of the in-phase
component.
2) The projection of point on Y axis defines peak amplitude of the quadrature
component.
3) The length of the line that connects the point to the origin is the peak amplitude of
the signal-element(combination of the X and Y components);
4) The angle the line makes with the X axis is the phase of the signal-element.
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
This is a combination of ASK and PSK.
• Main idea: Using 2 carriers, one in-phase and the other quadrature,
with different amplitude levels for each carrier.
• Fig: Constellation diagrams for some QAMs
There are many variations of QAM.
A) Figure 5.14a shows the 4-QAM scheme using a unipolar NRZ signal.
This is same as BASK.
B) Figure 5.14b shows another QAM using polar NRZ. This is the same
as QPSK.
C) Figure 5.14c shows another 4-QAM in which we used a signal with 2
positive levels to modulate each of the 2 carriers.
D) Figure 5.14d shows a 16-QAM constellation of a signal with 8 levels,
4 positive & 4 negative.
Bandwidth for QAM
• The bandwidth is same as in ASK and PSK transmission.
• QAM has the same advantages as PSK over ASK.
• S=N x (1/r)
S=1000
N=8000
r=N/S