BIT ERROR RATE (BER) AND

PROBABILITY OF ERROR (Pe)

Probability of Error and Bit Error Rate
• Probability of error[P(e)]
– Theoretical (mathematical) expectation of the bit
error rate for a given system.

• Bit Error Rate(BER)

– An empirical (historical) record of a system’s
actual bit error performance.
• Example :
• If a system has a P(e) of 10^-5, this means mathematically, you can expect one bit error
In every 100,000 bits transmitted ( 1/10^5 = 1/100,000).

• If a system has a BER of 10^-5, this means that in the past there was one bit error for every
100,000 bits transmitted.

• A bit error rate is measured, then compared to the expected probability of error to evaluate a
system’s performance
Probability of Error and Bit Error Rate

• Probability of error is a function of the carrier-to-noise

power ratio (or specifically, the average energy
per bit- to-noise power density ratio) and the number
of possible encoding conditions used.
Probability of Error and Bit Error Rate
• Carrier Power
C(dBm) = 10 log [C(watts) /0.001]

• Thermal Noise Power

N = kTB Where:
N = thermal noise power (watts)
k = Boltzmann’s constant (1.38 x 10-23 J/K)
T =absolute temperature (K)
B = bandwidth (Hz)
Probability of Error and Bit Error Rate
• Carrier –to-noise ratio

C/N = C/kTB (unitless ratio)

• Energy per bit

Where:
Eb = CTb (J/bit) Eb = energy of a single bit
Tb = time of a single bit (seconds)
Eb = C/fb C = carrier power (watts)
Probability of Error and Bit Error Rate

• Noise power density

• – Thermal noise power normalized to a 1-Hz bandwidth

• No = N/B (W/Hz)

• where: No = noise power density

• N = thermal noise power (watts) B= bandwidth (hertz)
Probability of Error and Bit Error Rate

• Energy per bit-to-noise power density ratio

• – Used to compare two or more digital modulation systems that use different
transmission rates, modulation schemes or encoding techniques.

• Eb/No = [C/fb] / [N/B]

• = CB / Nfb
• = (C/N) x (B/fb)
Probability of Error and Bit Error Rate
• Problem
– For a QPSK system and the given parameters, determine
a. Carrier power in dBm
b. Noise power in dBm
c. Noise power density in dBm
d. Energy per bit in dBJ
e. Carrier-to-noise power ratio in dB
f. Eb/No ratio

C = 10-13 W fb = 30 kbps
N = 0.06 x 10-15 W B = 60 kHz
 • Problem
Probability of Error • – Determine the minimum bandwidth required
and Bit Error Rate to achieve a P(e) of 10-6 for an 8-PSK system
operating at 20 Mbps with a carrier-to-noise power
ratio of 11 dB. The minimum Eb/No ratio to achieve
a probability of error of 10-6 for an 8-PSK system is 14
dB.