Data Communication & Networks Notes for 2st phase test

Using digital signals to build analogue signals

Jean Baptiste Fourier is responsible for one of the greatest mathematical discoveries.
He proved that a spatial sum of sine waves, of harmonically related frequencies which
are multiples of some basic frequency, could be added together to create any wave
pattern.

His is how voice recognition devices work.

Complex waves can be built out of simple waves.

A square wave or a square pulse can be built using the right combination of sine waves
(digital waves).

Data Rate Limits

A very important consideration in data communication is how fast we can send data, in
bps, over a channel. Data rate depends on 3 factors:

1) Bandwidth available,
2) Level of signals used,
3) The quality of the channel (quality of channel is affected by the level of noise).

Two theoretical formulae were developed to calculate the data rate:

a) By Nyquist, for noiseless channel,

b) By Shannon, for a noisy channel.

Noiseless channel: Nyquist bit rate

For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula defines the theoretical maximum
bit rate.

Bit rate = 2 x bandwidth x Log2 L,

where bandwidth [Hz] is the bandwidth of the channel, and L is the number of signal
levels used to represent data and bit rate is the bit rate in [bps].

N.B: From the formula, we might think that given a specific bandwidth we can have any
bit rate we want by increasing the number of signal levels. Although the idea is
theoretically orrect, practically there is a limit. When we increase the number of levels,
we impose a burden on the receiver. If the number of levels in a signal is just 2, the
Data Communication & Networks Notes for 2st phase test

receiver can easily distinguish between a logic 0 [zero] and a logic 1. If the level of a
signal is 64, the receiver must be very sophisticated to distinguish between 64 different
levels. In other word, increasing the levels of a signal reduces the reliability of the
system.

For example, consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz, transmitting a
signal with two signal levels, calculate the maximum bit rate.

Bit rate= 3000 x 2 x Log2 2 = 6000 bps