EE462: AI Enabled

Digital Communications
Week # 4

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 Contents

• Review of Random Variables

• Examples of Threshold Detection
• Characteristic Function

The contents of this material are based on

• Chapter 7, Lathi, B.P., Ding, z., 2019. Modern digital and analog communication systems. Oxford
university press. 5th Edition
• Chapter3, Review of Probability and Random Variables, Lecture notes of M. Wickert,
http://ece.uccs.edu/~mwickert/ece5630/
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 Random Variables
Definition
A random variable is a rule that assigns a Example: Toss with Head and Tail as outcome
numerical value to outcomes of a In the case of tossing a coin, for example, we may
chance experiment assign the number 1 for the outcome heads and
the number −1 for the outcome tails

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Random Variables
CDF & PDF

The CDF and PDF both provide a

complete description of an rv, but
the pdf is often more convenient to
work with

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Random Variables
Statistical Averages

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 Random Variables
Example of Tossing 2 Fair Coins

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 Random Variables
Example of Tossing 2 Fair Coins

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Random Variables
Important PDFs

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Random Variables
Gaussian or Normal PDF

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Random Variables
Q(.) Table

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 Binary Communication Channel
Example: Threshold Detection
• Over a binary channel, messages m= 0 and 1 are transmitted
with equal probability using a positive and a negative pulse,
respectively.
• The received pulse corresponding to 1 is p(t), and the received
pulse corresponding to 0 is −p(t).
• Let the peak amplitude of p(t) be Ap at 𝑡 = 𝑇𝑝 .
• The pulses are transmitted in the presence of Noise.

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Transmitted pulse;
 Threshold Detection of Binary
Communication Channel
Example

• Because of the channel noise n(t), the received pulses will be ±p(t)+n(t)
• To detect the pulses at the receiver, each pulse is sampled at its peak amplitude.
• Because of the channel noise, the sampler output is ±Ap + n, where n, the noise
amplitude at the sampling instant, is an RV. 12
 Threshold Detection of Binary
Communication Channel
Example

• Due to the symmetry of the situation, the optimum detection threshold is zero.
• Because noise amplitudes range from −∞ to ∞, the sample value −Ap + n can
occasionally be positive, causing the received 0 to be read as 1, and vice versa.
• If 0 is transmitted, it will be detected as 1 if −Ap +n > 0, that is, if n > Ap 13
 Threshold Detection of Binary
Communication Channel
Example
If 𝑃(𝜖|𝟎) is the error probability given that 0 is transmitted, then
𝑃(𝜖|𝟎) = P(n > Ap)
Here, the noise PDF is zero mean, hence,
∞ 𝑛2
1
𝑃 𝜖𝟎 = න 𝑒 2𝜎2 𝑑𝑛
2𝜋𝜎 𝐴𝑝
𝑛 1
𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝜇 = ; 𝑑𝜇 = 𝑑𝑛
𝜎 𝜎
1 ∞ 𝜇2 Total error probability
𝑃 𝜖𝟎 = න𝐴 𝑒 2 𝑑𝜇
2𝜋𝜎 𝜎𝑝
𝐴𝑝
=𝑄
𝜎𝑛
Also, 𝑃(𝜖|𝟏) is the error probability given that 1 is transmitted
𝐴𝑝
𝑃 𝜖 𝟎 =𝑄 14
𝜎𝑛
Two-Dimensional Random Variables
CDF and PDF

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Two-Dimensional Random Variables
Dependencies

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Two-Dimensional Random Variables
Bayes’ Theorem

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Two-Dimensional Random Variables
Correlated Gaussian RVs

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Two-Dimensional Random Variables
Correlated Gaussian RVs

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Multi-Dimensional Random Variables
Dependencies

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N-Dimensional Random Variables
Jointly Gaussian RVs

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