3.

5 DATA RATE LIMITS

send data, in
communicaions is how fast we can
A very important consideration in data
on three factors:
bits per second, over a channel. Data rate depends

1. The bandwidth available

2. The level of the signals we use
3. The quality of the channel (the level of noise)

Two theoretical formulas were developed to calculate the data rate: one by Nyquist ior
noisy channel.
a noiseless channel, another by Shannon for a

3.5.1 Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

rate formula defines the theoretical maximumn
For à noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit
bit rate
BitRate = 2 x bandwidth x log2L

the channel, L is the number of signal

In this formula, bandwidth is the bandwidth of
the bit rate in bits per second.
levels used to represent data, and BitRate is
According to the formula, we might think that, given specific bandwidth,
a we can

the number of signal levels. Although the idea

have any bit rate we want by increasing
limit. When we increase the number of sig-
is theoretically corect, practically there is a
nal levels, we impose a burden on the receiver. If the number of levels in a signal is just 2,
the receiver can easily distinguish between a 0 and a 1. If the level of a signal is 64, the
receiver must be very sophisticated to distinguish between 64 different levels. In other
words, increasing the levels of a signal reduces the reliability of the system.

Increasing the levels of a signal may reduce the reliability of the system.
 Evan1ple 3.33

theorem bit rate agree with the intuitive

bit rate described in baseh.
Does the Nyquist and
transmission?

Solution transmission. the bit

only two lecvels. We said, in baseband is rate
match u hen we have
They
harmonic in the worst case. However, the Nyquist
imes the bandwid1h if we use only the first
it can be applied to baschand tran mis
formula is more general than what we derived intuitively:
have two or more levels of signals.
sion and modulation. Also, it can be applied when we

Example 3.34
transmitting a signal with two signal
Consider noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz
evels. The maximum bit rate can be calculated as
BitRate 2 x 3000x log22 = 6000 bps

Example 3.35
Consider the same noiseless channel transmitting a signal with four signal levels (for each level,
we send 2 bits). The maximum bit rate can be calculated as

BitRate = 2 x 3000 x log,4 = 12,000 bps

Example 3.36
We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many sig-
nal levels do we need?

Solution
We can use the Nyquist fomula as shown:
265,000= 2 x 20,000 x logl log,LlogL = 6.625 L= 26.025 = 98.7 levels

Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either increase the number of levels or reduce
the bit rate. If we have 128 levels. the bit rate is 280 kbps. If we have 64 levels, the bit rate is
240 kbps.

3.5.2 Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

In reality. we cannot have a noiseless channel; the channel is always noisy. In 1944,
Claude Shannon introduced a formula, called the Shannon capacity, to determine the
theoretical highest data rate for a noisy channel:

Capacity = bandwidth x log2(1 + SNR)

In
this formula, bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, SNR is the signal-to-
noise ratio, and capacity is the capacity of the channel in bits per second. Note that in uc
Shannon formula there is no indication of the signal level, which means that no matier
how many levels we
have, we cannot achieve a data rate higher than the capacity Or
channel. In other words, the formula defines a
u
characteristic of the channel, not the meuo
of transmission.
 Example 3.37
Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value of the signal-to-noise ratio is almost
zero. In other words, the noise is so strong that the signal is faint. For this channcl the capacity C
is calculated as

C=Blogz (1 +SNR) B log2(1 +0)=Blog21

= = B x0 =0
This means that the capacity of this channel is zero regardless of the bandwidth. In other
Words. we cannot receive any data through this channel.

Example 3.38
We can caiculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line. A telephone line nor-
mally has a bandwidth of 3000 Hz (300 to 3300 Hz) assigned for data communications. The
Signal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. For this channel the capacity is calculated as
C=Blog2 (1 + SNR) 3000log21 + 3162) = 3000 x 11.62 = 34,860 bps

This means that the highest bit rate for a telephone line is 34.860 kbps. If we want to send data
1aster than this, we can either increase the bandwidth of the line or improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

Example 3.39
The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels. Assume that SNRiB = 36 and the channel

bandwidth is 2 MHz. The theoretical channel capacity can be calculatedas

SNRB 10 log1SNR SNR = 10SNRan/10 SNR = 103:6 = 3981

C B log(1 + SNR) = 2 x 10°x log23982 24 Mbps

=

Example 3.40
When the SNR is very high. we can assume that SNR + 1 is almost the same as SNR. In these
cases, the theoretical channel capacity can be simplified to C = B x SNRdB. For example, we
can calculate the theoretical capacity of the previous example as
C 2 MHz x (36/3) = 24 Mbps

3.5.3 Using Both Limits

In practice, we need to use both methods to find the limits and signal levels. Let us show
this with an example.

Example 3.41
We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63. What are the appro-

priate bit rate and signal level?

Solution to find the upper limit.

First, we use the Shannon formula

C=Blog(1 +SNR)= 10°log2(1 +63) 10°log.64 6 Mbps = =

we choose
gives us 6 Mbps, the upper limit. For better performance
The Shannon formula to find the number of
lower. 4 Mbps. for example. Then we use the Nyquist fosmula
something
signal levels.
TII PHYsICAL LAYER

L = 4
4Mbps=2 x 1 MHz x log:l.

The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit;

the Nyquist formula tells us how many signal levels we need.