Communication Systems

Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Department of Telecommunication, Room # 215
Institute of Information & Communication Technologies (IICT),
Mehran UET, Jamshoro
https://sites.google.com/a/faculty.muet.edu.pk/fau/cs
Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Multiplexing
 Multiplexing is a set of techniques that allows
the simultaneous transmission of multiple
signals across a single data link.
 Multiplexer combines the incoming lines into
one [single stream].
 De-multiplexer (DEMUX) separates the stream
back into its component transmissions (one to
many) and directs them to their
corresponding lines.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Differences between Multiplexing & Multiple Access

 A communication resource (CR) represents the time and bandwidth

that is available for communication signaling associated with a
given system.
 The terms “multiplexing” and “multiple access” refers to the
sharing of Communication resource.
 With multiplexing, the sharing of CR is fixed, or at most, slowly
changing. The resource allocation is assigned a priori, and the
sharing is usually a process that takes place within the confines of a
local site (e.g., a circuit board).
 Multiple access, however, usually involves the remote sharing of a
resource.
 Multiplexing involves an algorithm that is known a priori; usually, it
is hard-wired into the system. Multiple-access, on the other hand, is
generally adaptive, and may require some overhead to enable the
algorithm to operate.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Multiple Access
 Users share a common pool of radio channels,
and user can access to any channel.
 A channel is portion of limited radio resource
which is temporarily allocated for a specific
purpose (e.g. phone call).
 It is a technique to divide radio spectrum into
channels, and to allocate channels to number
channels
of users,
users simultaneously.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Types of multiplexing
 There are three basic types of multiplexing in use:
 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM).
 Code Division Multiplexing (CDM)
 Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is one special
kinds of FDM used in fiber optical transmission.
 TDM can be further divided into
 Synchronous TDM and
 Asynchronous TDM.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Frequency Division Multiplexing

 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) is the
technique to combine signals from different
bands.
 Each signal modulates a separate carrier
frequency.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Concept of Guard Band

 Due to the dispersive nature of channel, the transmission is
impaired by Inter-symbol Interference. In order to avoid the
problem of ISI, guard bands are used between the channels.
 Guard band is wastage of bandwidth as no data is transmitted
over them.

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Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

 The whole frequency band is divided into C non-overlapping channels
 Each user is allocated a dedicated channel to use upon request
 Selection of the channel is based on particular channel assignment
scheme
 Transmission is continuous (FDD)

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Features of FDMA
 In FDMA all users share the system (e.g., satellite) simultaneously
but each user transmits at single frequency.
 FDMA can be used with both analog and digital signal.
 FDMA requires high-performing filters in the radio hardware, in
contrast to TDMA and CDMA.
 FDMA is not vulnerable to the timing problems that TDMA has.
Since a predetermined frequency band is available for the entire
period of communication, stream data (a continuous flow of data
that may not be packetized) can easily be used with FDMA.
 Due to the frequency filtering, FDMA is not sensitive to near-far
problem which is pronounced for CDMA.
 Each user transmits and receives at different frequencies as each
user gets a unique frequency slot

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Example
Problem: Five channels, each with a 100-KHz
bandwidth, are to be multiplexed together. What is
the minimum bandwidth of the link if there is a
need for a guard band of 10 KHz between the
channels to prevent interference?

Solution: For five channels, we need at least four

guard bands. This means that the required
bandwidth is at least
5 x 100 + 4 x 10 = 540 KHz,
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Example 2
Problem: The Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS)
uses two bands. The first band, 824 to 849 MHz, is used
for sending; and 869 to 894 MHz is used for receiving.
Each user has a bandwidth of 30 KHz in each direction.
The 3-KHz voice is modulated using FM, creating 30 KHz
of modulated signal. How many people can use their
cellular phones simultaneously?

Solution: Each band is 25 MHz. If we divide 25 MHz into

30 KHz, we get 833.33. In reality, the band is divided into
832 channels.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Example 3
Problem: Four 1-Kbps connections are multiplexed
together. A unit is 1 bit. Find (1) the duration of 1 bit
before multiplexing, (2) the transmission rate of the link,
(3) the duration of a time slot, and (4) the duration of a
frame?

Solution:
1. The duration of 1 bit is 1/1 Kbps, or 0.001 s (1 ms).
2. The rate of the link is 4 Kbps.
3. The duration of each time slot 1/4 ms or 250 ms.
4. The duration of a frame 1 ms.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

FDMA vs FDD & FDM

 FDMA is distinct from frequency division duplexing
(FDD).
 While FDMA allows multiple users simultaneous access to
a transmission system, FDD refers to how the radio
channel is shared between the uplink and downlink (for
instance, the traffic going back and forth between a
mobile-phone and a mobile phone base station).

 Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) is also distinct from

FDMA. FDM is a physical layer technique that combines
and transmits low-bandwidth channels through a high-
bandwidth channel. FDMA, on the other hand, is an access
method in the data link layer.

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Channel assignment in FDMA

 Channel assignment in FDMA can be
Fixed assignment
Demand assignment

 Demand assignment allows all users

apparently continuous access of the radio
spectrum by assigning carrier frequencies on a
temporary basis using a statistical assignment
process.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

 Time Division Multiplex (TDM) is the process
of combining signals together in the time
domain.

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Communication Systems By Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani

TDM Basics
 The basic principle of
TDM is Sampling Theorem.
 The basic unit in TDM is
Time Slot.
 The data in TDM is
grouped into Frames,
which consists of one
cycle of time slots.

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Example
Problem: A multiplexer combines four 100-Kbps channels using a
time slot of 2 bits. Show the output with four arbitrary inputs.
What is the frame rate? What is the frame duration? What is the
bit rate? What is the bit duration?
Solution:
frame rate? 50,000 frames/s
frame duration? 20 ms
bit rate? 400 kbps
bit duration? 2.5 ms

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Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

 The whole frequency band is divided into C channels. Each
channel is divided into N time slots which comprises a frame.
 Each user is allowed to transmit Tx or Rx in a particular time
slot in each frame and the user repeats transmission in the
frame.
 Share a channel with several users.
 Can be user with FDD and TDD.
 Transmission is not continuous.
 Synchronization is required between MS and BS.

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TDMA Features
 Shares single carrier frequency with multiple users
 Non-continuous transmission makes handoff simpler
 Slots can be assigned on demand in dynamic TDMA
 Less stringent power control than CDMA due to
reduced intra cell interference
 Higher synchronization overhead than CDMA
 Advanced equalization may be necessary for high data
rates if the channel is "frequency selective" and creates
Inter-symbol interference

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TDMA Example
 Consider a TDMA system with a peak bit rate
of 1 Mbps. Given that the number of users is
10, the frame length is 2 ms and the guard
time is 10 µs. Find (a) Total bit rate per frame
and (b) bit rate per user per frame.

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TDMA Example
Consider a TDMA system with a peak bit rate of 1 Mbps. Given that the number of
users is 10, the frame length is 2 ms and the guard time is 10 µs. Find (a) Total bit rate
per frame and (b) bit rate per user per frame.
Solution:
Total Guard time = 10 x 10 x 10–6 = 100 µs Guard interval = 10 µs
Total useful time = 2 ms – 100 µs = 1900 µs
We assume that for this useful time we always #1 #2 #10
transmit at peak bit rate, therefore,
# of bits per frame = 1900 x 10–6 x 1 x 106
= 1900 bits = 1.9 x 103 bits Frame length = 2 ms
3 –3
(a) Total bit rate per frame = 1.9 x 10 bits/2 x 10 s = 0.95 Mbps
# of bits per frame per user = (2 x 10–3 s – 100 x 10–6 s)/10 = 190 x 10–3 s/user
190 x 10–3 s/user x 1 x 10–6 = 190 bits/user/frame
(b) Bit rate per user per frame = (190 bits/frame/user)/(2 x 10–3 s/frame) = 95 kbps

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Multiple Access Techniques

 Three major MA techniques:
 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) – specified bands of
frequency are allocated.
 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) – periodically recurring time
slots are allocated.
 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) - specified members of a set of
orthogonal or nearly orthogonal spread spectrum codes (each using
the full channel bandwidth) are allocated.
 Other techniques include:
 Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) or multiple beam frequency
reuse – spot beam antennas are used to separate radio signals by
pointing in different directions. It allows for reuse of same frequency.
 Polarization Division (PD) or dual polarization frequency reuse –
Orthogonal polarizations are used to separate signals, allowing for
reuse of the same frequency band.

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CDMA
 The narrowband signal is multiplied
by a very large BW signal called
spreading signal, which is a pseudo-
noise (PN) code sequence.
 Each user can transmit information on
same frequency channel at any time.
 The receiver needs to know the exact
codeword of the desired transmitter.
 Can be user with FDD and TDD.
 Soft capacity and soft handover are
two features.
 Near-far problem occurs

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Orthogonal Signals
 The key to all multiplexing or multiple access schemes is that various
signals sharing a CR does not create unmanageable interference.
 Orthogonal signals on separate channels will avoid interference.
 Signal waveforms xi(t), where i = 1, 2, …, are defined to be orthogonal if
they can be described as:

Time domain

 where K is a nonzero constant.

frequency domain

 Where the function Xi(f) are the Fourier transform of the signal waveform
xi(t).

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A Comparison

Power Density
Power Density

FDMA
TDMA

Frequency Frequency

CDMA
Power Density

Frequency
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