Note: these slides are adopted and modified

from Dr. Huseyin Bilgekul slides on the course

Eeng360 Communication Systems I
Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering
Eastern Mediterranean University
Line Codes and Their Spectra

➢ Types of Line Codes

➢ Comparison of Line Codes
➢ PSD of Line Codes
 Line Codes in PCM
• The output of an ADC can be transmitted over a baseband channel.
• The digital information must first be converted into a physical signal.
• The physical signal is called a line code. Line coders use the terminology mark to
mean binary one and space to mean binary zero.

Analog
Input
Signal
Sample

X
Quantize ADC
XQ

Encode

Xk
Line
Code
x(t) PCM signal
 Line codes
1 1 0 1 0 0 1 BINARY DATA

(a) Punched Tape Mark Mark space Mark space space Mark
(hole) (hole) (hole) (hole)
Volts
A

0
(b) Unipolar NRZ
Tb Time
(Non-return to zero)
A

(c) Polar NRZ 0

-A

0
(d) Unipolar RZ
(Return to zero)
A
(e) Bipolar RZ 0
-A

A
(f) Manchester NRZ 0
-A

Binary Signaling Formats

Goals of Line Coding
• A line code is designed to meet several goals:

• Self-synchronization.
• The ability to recover timing from the signal itself.
• Long series of ones and zeros could cause a problem.

• Low probability of bit error.

• The receiver needs to be able to distinguish the waveform associated
with a mark from the waveform associated with a space, even if
there is a considerable amount of noise and distortion in the
channel.

• Spectrum that is suitable for the channel.

• In some cases DC components should be avoided if the channel has a
DC blocking capacitance.
• The transmission bandwidth should be minimized.
Line Coder

Digital
Data ak Line Coder
Physical x(t ) =
Waveform

k =−
ak p (t − kTb )

• The input to the line encoder is a sequence of values ak that is

a function of a data bit or an ADC output bit.
• The output of the line encoder is a waveform:

x(t ) = a
k =−
k p (t − kTb )
• Where p(t) is the Pulse Shape and Tb is the Bit Period
• Tb =Ts/n for n bit quantizer (and no parity bits).
• Rb =1/Tb=nfs for n bit quantizer (and no parity bits).
• The operational details of this function are set by the particular
type of line code that is being used.
Types of Line Codes
• Each line code is described by a symbol mapping function ak and
a pulse shape p(t):

x(t ) = a
k =−
k p (t − kTb )

• Categories of line codes:

• Symbol mapping functions (ak).
• Unipolar
• Polar
• Bipolar (a.k.a. alternate mark inversion, pseudoternary)

• Pulse shapes p(t).

• NRZ (Nonreturn-to-zero)
• RZ (Return to Zero)
• Manchester (split phase)

Eeng 360 7
 Unipolar NRZ Line Code
• The unipolar nonreturn-to-zero line code is defined by the
unipolar mapping:
+ A when X k = 1
ak = 
 0 when X k = 0
• where Xk is the kth data bit.
• In addition, the pulse shape for unipolar NRZ is:

 t 
p(t ) =    NRZ pulse shape
• Where Tb is the bit period.
Tb 

Hard to recover symbol timing

Note the DC component when long string of 0s or 1s.
This means wasted power!
1 0 1 1 0 1
A

0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 4Tb 5Tb

 Unipolar RZ Line Code
• The unipolar return-to-zero line code has the same symbol
mapping but a different pulse shape than unipolar NRZ:

+ A when X k = 1
ak = 
 0 when X k = 0

 t 
p(t ) =    RZ pulse shape
 Tb / 2 
Long strings of 1’s no longer a problem.
Pulse of half the duration of NRZ
However strings of 0’s still problem.
requires twice the bandwidth!
1 0 1 1 0 1
A

0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 4Tb 5Tb

 Polar Line Codes
• Polar line codes use the antipodal mapping:
+ A when X k = 1
ak = 
 − A when X k = 0
• Polar NRZ uses NRZ pulse shape.
• Polar RZ uses RZ pulse shape.
No DC component,
so more energy efficient.
1 0 1 1 0 1
A

Polar NRZ
Now we can handle
long strings of 0’s, too.
A

Polar RZ

−A
Manchester Line Codes
• Manchester line codes use the antipodal mapping
and the following split-phase pulse shape:
p (t )

 t + Tb / 4   t − Tb / 4 
p (t ) =    −   
 b T / 2   b T / 2 

1 0 1 1 0 1

• Easy synchronization and better spectral characteristics than polar RZ.

Bipolar Line Codes
• With bipolar line codes a space is mapped to zero and a mark is
alternately mapped to -A and +A:

0 when X k = 0

ak = − A when X k = 1 and last mark → + A
+ A when X k = 1 and last mark → − A

• Also called pseudoternary signalling and alternate mark
inversion (AMI).
• Either RZ or NRZ pulse shape can be used.

1 0 1 1 0 1
A

Bipolar (RZ)

−A
Comparison of Line Codes
• Self-synchronization:
• Manchester codes have built in timing information because
they always have a zero crossing in the center of the pulse.
• Polar RZ codes tend to be good because the signal level
always goes to zero for the second half of the pulse.
• NRZ signals are not good for self-synchronization.

• Error probability:
• Polar codes perform better (are more energy efficient) than
Unipolar or Bipolar codes.

• Channel characteristics:
• We need to find the PSD of the line codes to answer this ...
 Power Spectra for Binary Line Codes
➢ PSD can be calculated using the autocorrelation function:

 t 
➢ A digital signal is represented by s (t ) =  an f (t = nTs ) ; f (t ) =    for unipolar NRZ
n =−  Ts 

f(t) - Symbol Pulse shape; Ts - Duration of one symbol;

Binary signaling : Ts= Tb , Multilevel signaling: Ts= lTb
➢ PSD depends on:
(1) The pulse shape used
(2) Statistical properties of data expressed by the autocorrelation function
➢ The PSD of a digital signal is given by:
2
−
F( f )
Ps ( f ) =
Ts
 R ( k )e
k =
− j 2 kfTs
Where { f (t )} = F ( f )
I
R(k ) =  (an an + k )i Pi The autocorrelation function of data
i =1

an and an + k are levels of the data pulses at the n ' th and (n + k )'th symbol positions
Pi Probability of having the ith an an + k product
Eeng 360 14
 PSD for Polar NRZ Signaling
Possible levels for the a’s : +A and -A
I
R (k ) =  (an an + k )i Pi an and an + k are the level of the pulses at the nth and ( n + k )th symbols
i =1

2
1 1
R (0) =  ( an an )i Pi = A2 + (− A) 2 = A2
i =1 2 2
4
For k  0, R(k ) =  (an an + k ) Pi = A21/ 4 + ( − A)( A)1/ 4 + ( A)( − A)1/ 4 + ( − A) 21/ 4 = 0
i =1

 A2 , k = 0
 R polar (k ) = 
0, k  0
F( f )
2
sin  fTb 
2 kfTs
f (t ) =  (t / Tb )  F ( f ) = Tb
 fTb
Ps ( f ) =
Ts

k =−
R (k ) e

2
 sin  fTb 
PPolar NRZ ( f ) = A Tb 
2

  fTb 
 PSD for line codes
Unipolar NRZ

2
A2Tb  sin  fTb   1 
PUni. NRZ ( f ) =   1 +  ( f ) 
4   fTb   Tb 

Polar NRZ

2
 sin  fTb 
PPolar NRZ ( f ) = A Tb 
2

  fTb 

Bit rate: R=1/Tb

 PSD for line codes 2
A2Tb  sin  fTb / 2   1 
n 
Unipolar RZ PUni. RZ ( f ) = 
16   fTb / 2 
 1 +   ( f − T )
 Tb n =− b 

Bipolar RZ 2
A Tb  sin  fTb 
2
PBipolar RZ ( f ) =  sin ( fTb )
2

4   fTb 

Manchester
NRZ
2
 sin  fTb / 2 
PManch. NRZ ( f ) = A2Tb   sin ( fTb / 2 )
2

  fTb / 2 

Bit rate: R=1/Tb