Air Interface - Baseband Radio Transmission

Air Interface-
Baseband Radio
Transmission
(AI-BRT)
August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 1

AI-BRT
© Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium
All rights reserved. This module, comprising presentation slides with notes,
exercises, projects and Instructor Guide, may not be duplicated in any way
without the express written permission of the Global Wireless Education
Consortium. The information contained herein is for the personal use of the
reader and may not be incorporated in any commercial training materials or for-
profit education programs, books, databases, or any kind of software without the
written permission of the Global Wireless Education Consortium. Making copies
of this module, or any portion, for any purpose other than your own, is a violation
of United States copyright laws.
Trademarked names appear throughout this module. All trademarked names

have been used with the permission of their owners.

AI-BRT
■ Partial support for this curriculum material

was provided by the National Science Foundation's Course,
Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Program under
grant DUE-9972380 and Advanced Technological Education
Program under grant DUE‑9950039.
■ GWEC EDUCATION PARTNERS: This material is subject to

the legal License Agreement signed by your institution.
Please refer to this License Agreement for restrictions of use.

Table of Contents
Overview 5
Learning Objectives 6
Baseband Signaling 7
Analog to Digital Conversion 13
Digital Speech Coding 16
Channel Coding and Error Correction 21
Modulation and Demodulation 25
Baseband Filtering for Digital Signals 32
Multiplexing and Multiple Access 36
Digital Signal Processing 40
Summary 44
Contributors 47

Overview
This module covers the following topics:

■ Baseband Signaling
■ Analog to Digital Conversion
■ Digital Speech Coding
■ Channel Coding and Error Correction
■ Modulation/Demodulation
■ Multiplexing and Multiple Access Techniques
■ Digital Signal Processing
■ Summary of Baseband Signaling

Learning Objectives
After completing this module participants will be able to:
■ Describe the functions performed in baseband signal
processing for analog and digital transmission
■ Describe the conversion of analog to digital signals
■ Characterize the differences among speech coders
■ Summarize the methods of channel coding and error
correction
■ Summarize the basic techniques used in modulation
and demodulation of baseband signals
■ Describe the techniques used for channel multiplexing
and multiple access for different wireless technologies

Baseband Signaling

Baseband Signaling
What is the baseband signal?
■ The original band of frequencies produced by a
transducer, such as a microphone, telegraph key, or
other signal-initiating device, prior to initial modulation.
❑ Note 1: In transmission systems, the baseband signal is usually
used to modulate a carrier.
❑ Note 2: Demodulation re-creates the baseband signal.
❑ Note 3: Baseband describes the signal state prior to
modulation, prior to multiplexing, following demultiplexing, and
following demodulation.
❑ Note 4: Baseband frequencies are usually characterized by
being much lower in frequency than the frequencies that result
when the baseband signal is used to modulate a carrier or
subcarrier.

Steps in Baseband
Signal Processing
Multiple Access
Transmit/Receive
Channel Channel
A/D Coding Mux Mod Demod Demux Decoding D/A
•Analog to Digital Conversion •Multiple Access
•Channel Coding n •Demodulation

issio
m
•Multiplexing rans •Demultiplexing
•T
•Modulation •Channel Decoding
•Multiple Access •Digital to Analog Conversion

Transmit versus Receive
■ Baseband processing takes place at both the mobile station and the base
station
1
2
4
3
5
7
6
8
* 1
9
Base
0 2
Base
4
# 3
5
7
6
8
*
9
0
#
Mobile Station Station

Mobile
Station
■ The unmodified (baseband) signal can be: Station
❑ Analog voice: human speech received at the mobile station and delivered from the
mobile station on the receiving end
❑ Analog data: (i. e., modem data) transmitted from a mobile station to a base station
or from a base station to a mobile station
❑ Digital voice: the signal received by a base station from another base station or from
the PSTN to be transmitted to a mobile station may already be digitally encoded
voice
❑ Digital data: transmitted from a mobile station to a base station or from a base
station to a mobile station

Analog versus Digital
Technologies
Baseband Analog Technology Digital Technology
Processing (e. g., AMPS, NAMPS) (e. g., GSM, IS-136
Function TDMA, IS-95 CDMA)
Baseband Signal Analog Analog Digital Digital Analog Analog Digital Digital
Type Voice Data Voice Data Voice Data Voice Data
Analog to Digital,
Digital to Analog No No N/A N/A Yes N/A No No
Conversion
Channel Coding, No No N/A N/A Yes N/A Yes Yes
Channel Decoding
Multiplexing, Yes Yes N/A N/A Yes N/A Yes Yes
Demultiplexing
Modulation, Yes Yes N/A N/A Yes N/A Yes Yes
Demodulation
Multiple Access
Combining, Multiple Yes Yes N/A N/A Yes N/A Yes Yes
Access Separation

Baseband Processing
(Analog Technologies)
■ In an analog radio technology such as AMPS, baseband processing does
very little conditioning to the raw audio (baseband) signal for voice before
sending it to modulation
■ AMPS baseband processing functions include:
❑ Compression/Expansion
❑ Pre-emphasis/De-emphasis
❑ Limiting
■ Modulation and demodulation of analog signals takes place as described
in the Modulation and Demodulation Section
■ Multiplexing and Multiple Access techniques are applied as appropriate
(e. g., AMPS uses Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) after
modulation)

Analog to Digital
Conversion

Analog to Digital
Conversion
■ Conversion of an analog (continuous) signal to a digital
(discrete) signal at the transmitting end requires the
following:
❑ Initial analog signal (for example, analog voice)
❑ Sampling
❑ Quantization
❑ Encoding
❑ Transmission of the digital signal
■ At the receiving end, the original analog signal is
reconstructed by decoding the digital signal

Analog to Digital
Conversion
Analog Signal
7.0
7 6.2
Amplitude
Sampling
4.8
5
3.8 4.2
2.9
3.1 3.1 2.4 3.2 2.5
3
Quantizing
1.1 1.3
1
Time
T
111 110 100 001 001 011 101 100 011 010 011 011 011
1
Encoding
0
Digital Signal

Digital Speech
Coding

Digital Speech Coding
■ Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is a form of speech coding known
as “waveform coding”, and is commonly used to convert analog
voice and data to digital transmission in the wireline network
■ In a wireless network, due to air interface (between the mobile
station and the base station):
❑ PCM (which requires a transmission rate of 64 Kbps) is an inefficient
use of scarce bandwidth resources
❑ Higher error rates for wireless versus wireline transmission require the
adoption of error recovery techniques as part of digital transmission
■ Classes of speech coders (coders/decoders, or “codecs”) that may
be used on the air interface in wireless networks include:
❑ Waveform coding algorithms
❑ Linear predictive coding algorithms (known as “vocoders”)
❑ Hybrid coders (combining waveform coding techniques and vocoder
techniques)

Digital Speech Coding
Techniques
■ Waveform codec:
❑ Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
❑ Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM)
❑ Adaptive Predictive Coding (APC)
■ Linear Predictive codec (LPC):
❑ Models speech by encoding and transmitting a few key parameters,
which are used at the receiver to synthesize the original speech signal
■ Hybrid codec:
❑ Residual-Excited LPC (RELP)
❑ Code-Excited LPC (CELP)
❑ Algebraic Code-Excited LPC (ACELP)
❑ Vector-Sum Excited LPC (VSELP)
❑ Multi-pulse, multi-level quantization (MP-MLQ)

Standardization of
Coding Techniques
■ ITU-T G-series standards:
❑ G.711: Describes 64 Kbps PCM voice coding, including A-law and µ -
law encoding laws
❑ G.726: Describes ADPCM coding at 40, 32, 24, and 16 Kbps
❑ G.728: Describes 16 Kbps low-delay variation of CELP (LD-CELP)
❑ G.729: Describes 8 Kbps CELP (CS-ACELP) (G.729 and G.729
Annex A are similar standards that differ in computational complexity)
❑ G.723.1: Describes a compression technique for speech or audio
signal components at very low bit rates (5.3 Kbps (based on ACELP)
or 6.3 Kbps (based on MP-MLQ))
■ ETSI standards for GSM:
❑ GSM EFR: Compresses 8 KHz sampled speed to 13 Kbps (based on
ACELP algorithm)

Comparison of Codecs
Codec Advantages Disadvantages
G.711 (PCM) – Highest speech quality – High bit rate
– Very low delay
G.726 (ADPCM) – Simple to implement – Relatively high bit rate
– Very low delay
G.728 (LD-CELP) – Relatively low delay – Lossy compression
technique
G.729 (CS-ACELP) – Low complexity in
compression algorithm
– Low bit rate
G.729a (CS-ACELP) – Low complexity in
– Low bit rate
G.723.1 (MP-MLQ) – Low bit rate
G.723.1 (ACELP) – Low complexity in
– Low bit rate
GSM EFR (ACELP) – Low complexity in – Lossy compression
compression algorithm technique
– Low bit rate
Channel Coding
and Error
Correction

Channel Coding
■ The purpose of channel coding in digital transmission of voice or data is
to introduce additional bits into the information bit stream that will allow
errors to be detected and, in some cases, corrected at the receiving end
■ The radio air interface is more “hostile” than wireline: errors in
transmission occur due to noise, co-channel interference (from users in
adjacent cells), multipath fading (cancellation of the signal due to
interference by multiple reflections of the signal)
■ Shannon’s Channel Capacity Theorem indicates that it is possible, in
principle, to devise a coding technique such that the probability of error of
information transmitted at a rate R less than the channel capacity C can
be made “arbitrarily small”
■ In practice, there is a tradeoff: Reduction in error rate generally means a
reduction in throughput as well, increasing the cost per subscriber in a
capacity-limited network

Types of Channel Coding
■ The digital bit stream (voice, data, or call control) is typically
segmented into blocks
■ Channel coding is used to add redundancy to each individual block
■ Categories of channel coding:
❑ Block Codes:
■ Input block is mapped into output block containing parity bits
■ Considered “memoryless”, i. e., dependent only on the individual code
❑ Convolutional Codes:
■ Incorporates “memory” - output is based on the previous m memory blocks
❑ Interleaving:
■ Corrects for “bursts” of errors
■ May be used in conjunction with block codes or convolutional codes

Error Detection and
Correction
■ Two main approaches exist for error correction and detection:
❑ Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ)
❑ Forward Error Correction (FEC)

Modulation and
Demodulation

Modulation
■ Modulation allows the overlay of a signal containing “information”
(speech, data, or signaling) on a carrier wave in a different
frequency band from the original signal
■ There are multiple reasons for modulating a signal prior to
transmission on a radio network:
❑ Higher frequency transmission allows the use of a smaller antenna:
for example, radio signals in the range of audible speech (about 3
KHz) would require an antenna on the order of 50 kilometers in length
❑ Licensing and/or statutory requirements constrain wireless service
providers to transmit and receive in specific frequency bands.
Transmission by the subscribers of one service provider is separated
by frequency from all other radio transmission in the same geographic
area

Modulation Techniques
■ Modulation techniques vary with the technology supported:
❑ Analog radio technology (e. g., AMPS) uses analog modulation
techniques
■ Amplitude Modulation (AM)
■ Frequency Modulation (FM)
■ Phase Modulation (PM) (considered a variation of Frequency Modulation)
❑ Digital radio technology (digitized voice or digital data input) such as
GSM, IS-95 CDMA, or IS-136 TDMA uses digital modulation
techniques:
■ Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
■ Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
■ Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
■ Modulation techniques, including more complex forms of digital
modulation, are discussed in detail in a separate module (AI-MOD)

Analog Modulation
Baseband Voice Signal
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Amplitude
Time
Amplitude
Time
Frequency Modulation (FM)

Carrier Wave
Amplitude
Amplitude
Time
Time

Digital Modulation
Binary Digits Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
1
0 1 1 0 1
Amplitude
0 Time
Digital Signal -1
1
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Amplitude
0 Time 1
Amplitude
-1 0 Time
-1
Carrier Wave
Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
1
1
Amplitude
0
Amplitude
Time
0 Time
-1
-1

Intermediate Frequency
■ An Intermediate Frequency is defined as a frequency to
which a carrier frequency is shifted as an intermediate
step in transmission or reception
❑ Intermediate frequencies in a wireless system are generally in the
tens or low hundreds of MHz range
❑ The purpose of modulating a signal to an Intermediate Frequency
prior to modulation to the carrier frequency at the transmitter, and
prior to demodulation to voiceband frequencies at the receiver, is
that amplification of the signal can be accomplished more
efficiently than if the same functions were performed at carrier
frequencies
❑ Intermediate Frequencies are used in modulation and
demodulation in both analog and digital wireless technologies

Demodulation
■ Demodulation of a carrier wave to recover the original
signal involves several stages:
❑ Intermediate Frequency
❑ Amplification
❑ Demodulation
❑ Filtering

Baseband Filtering
for Digital Signals

Filtering in Digital
Baseband Processing
■ Filters can be applied at both the transmit and receive
end, for analog and digital radio technologies
■ Depending on whether the signal at the receiver has
been sampled and converted to digital, filtering can be
done using Digital Signal Processing as well as with an
analog filter
■ Equalization involves application of a filter to the
received signals in order to reverse the time dispersion
caused by multi-path effects
■ Time dispersion causes inter-symbol interference (ISI),
or, more generally, distortion of the received signal

Effects of Filtering
■ Allows the transmitted bandwidth to be significantly

reduced without losing the content of the digital data
■ Eliminates much of the distortion of the received signal,
Intersymbol Interference (ISI)
■ Removes high frequency replicas of the signal that arise
due to modulation
■ Removes as much noise as possible, while affecting the
information signal as little as possible

Types of Filters in
Digital Transmission
■ Raised Cosine filter
■ Square Root Raised Cosine filter (IS-136 TDMA)
■ Gaussian filter (GSM)
■ Chebyshev lowpass Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter
(IS-95 CDMA)

Multiplexing and
Multiple Access

Multiplexing and Multiple
Access
■ Channel multiplexing is used to merge speech with call
control signaling, synchronization, etc. into a single
digital bit stream prior to modulation
■ Multiple Access techniques multiplex active calls from
multiple users onto a single frequency channel by using:
❑ Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
❑ Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
❑ Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Multiple Access
■ Multiple Access techniques may be applied before or
after modulation, depending on the technique used:
❑ FDMA: applied after the signals have been modulated up to the
carrier frequencies to be used for transmission
❑ TDMA: applied before modulation, so that the combined bit
stream for all active calls on a given frequency channel can be
modulated onto the same carrier frequency
❑ CDMA: applied before modulation, so that all active calls on a
given frequency channel can be modulated onto the same
carrier frequency

Multiple Access
Multiplexing
f1
Combiner
FDMA: Modulator f1
f1
f2
Call 1
Modulator f2 f2
Call 2
Call n fn
Modulator fn fn
TDMA: f1
Call 1
Time Division f1
Call 2 Modulator f1
Call i
Multiplexer 1
f2
f2
Modulator f2
Call 1 Time Division Modulator fn fn
Call 2 Multiplexer 2 fn
Call i
CDMA: f1
Call 1 Code Division f1
Call 2 Modulator f1
Multiplexer 1 f2
Call j f2
Modulator f2
Call 1 Code Division fn
Modulator fn
Call 2
Multiplexer 2 fn
Call j
Digital Signal
Processing

Digital Signal Processing
■ Digital Signal Processing operates on signals of interest
(speech or data) as sequences of binary numbers, using
numeric techniques
■ “Digital” radio technologies are still partly analog
■ The result is selected applicability of Digital Signal
Processing

Hardware Options for
Digital Signal Processing
■ Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
■ Digital Signal Processor (DSP)
■ Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)

Software Defined Radio
(SDR)
■ Software defined radio (SDR) or “soft radio”:
❑ Will use Digital Signal Processing to allow service providers to
reprogram base stations as standards change or to develop
mobile stations that will be able to communicate with any wireless
technology base station in any frequency band
■ SDRs currently use a combination of DSP, ASIC, and
FPGA technology with hardware support
❑ Ultimate goal is to have all processing done by software
❑ Battery power, size, weight, and cost requirements are all issues,
especially in handheld mobile stations
❑ The closer to the antenna that an incoming signal can be
sampled and converted back to a digital data stream, the more
baseband processing functions can be programmed into software

Summary

Summary of Baseband
Processing by Technology
AMPS IS-136 IS-95 GSM
N-AMPS TDMA CDMA
Voice Analog Digital Digital Digital
Transmission
Codec None VSELP QCELP GSM EFR
(Qualcomm (ACELP)
CELP)
Coding Rate Analog 8 Kbps 9.6 Kbps, 14.4 13 Kbps
Kbps
Modulation Frequency Phase Shift Direct Phase Shift
Modulation Keying Sequence Code Keying
(FM) (specifically, Modulation (specifically,
DQPSK) and QPSK GMSK)
Multiple Frequency Time Division Code Division Time Division

Access Division Multiple Multiple Multiple
Multiple Access Access Access
Access (TDMA) (CDMA) (TDMA)
(FDMA)
Digital Filter None Square Root Chebyshe v FIR Gaussian

Raised Cosine

Summary of Baseband
Radio Transmission
■ Analog to Digital Conversion
■ Speech Coding
■ Channel Coding and Error Detection
■ Modulation, Demodulation, and Filtering
■ Multiplexing and Multiple Access
■ Digital Signal Processing/Software Defined Radio

Industry Contributors
The following companies provided materials and
resource support for this module:
■ Telcordia Technologies, Inc (http://www.telcordia.com)

Individual Contributors
The following individuals and their organization or
institution provided materials, resources, and development
input for this module:
■ Dr. Cheng Sun
❑ Cal Poly
❑ http://www.calpoly.edu
■ Dr. David Voltmer
❑ Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
❑ http://www.rose-hulman.edu


Air Interface - Baseband Radio Transmission

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Air Interface - Baseband Radio Transmission

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Air Interface-

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 1

Trademarked names appear throughout this module. All trademarked names

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 2

■ Partial support for this curriculum material

■ GWEC EDUCATION PARTNERS: This material is subject to

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 3

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 4

This module covers the following topics:

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 5

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 6

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 7

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 8

•Analog to Digital Conversion •Multiple Access

•Channel Coding n •Demodulation

•Multiple Access •Digital to Analog Conversion

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 9

Mobile Station Station

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 10

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 11

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 12

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 13

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 14

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 15

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 16

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 17

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 18

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 19

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 21

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 22

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 23

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 24

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 25

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 26

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 27

Frequency Modulation (FM)

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 28

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 29

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 30

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 31

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 32

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 33

■ Allows the transmitted bandwidth to be significantly

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 34

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 35

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 36

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 37

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 38

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 40

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 41

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 42

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 43

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 44

Multiple Frequency Time Division Code Division Time Division

Digital Filter None Square Root Chebyshe v FIR Gaussian

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 45

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 46

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 47

August 2001 Copyright 2001 Global Wireless Education Consortium AI-BRT ● 48

You might also like