Chapter 3 Data Transmission:

Concepts and Terminology

1/45

Transmission Terminology

data transmission occurs between a transmitter

& receiver via some medium
guided medium
eg. twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber
unguided / wireless medium
eg. air, water, vacuum

2/45

Transmission Terminology

direct link
no intermediate devices

point-to-point
direct link
only 2 devices share link

multi-point
more than two devices share the link

3/45

Transmission Terminology
Simplex transmission
one direction
eg. television

Half-duplex transmission
either direction, but only one way at a time
eg. police radio (walkie-talkie: push-to-talk and
release-to-listen)

Full-duplex transmission
both directions at the same time
eg. telephone

4/45

Time domain concepts of signals

time domain concepts
analog signal
various in a smooth way over time

digital signal
maintains a constant level then changes to another
constant level

periodic signal
pattern repeated over time

aperiodic signal
pattern not repeated over time
5/45

Analog and digital signals

6/45

Periodic signals
The signal period T is the
inverse of signal frequency f :

1
f
T in sec onds ( s )
f in Hertz ( Hz )
T

The signal s(t) is periodic if:

s (t T ) s (t )

The signal amplitude is

denoted by A
7/45

Sine wave
Mathematically, the sine wave is given by :

s (t ) A sin( 2 ft )
Three parameters :
1. Peak amplitude (A)

maximum strength of signal

usually measured in volts

2. Frequency ( f )

rate of change of signal

measured in Hertz (Hz) or cycles per second
period = time for one repetition ( T )
T = 1/f

3. Phase ( )

relative position in time

8/45

Varying Sine Waves

s (t ) A sin( 2 ft )

9/45

Wavelength ()
is the distance occupied by one cycle
assuming signal velocity v, then = vT
or equivalently f = v, since T=1/f
for the special case when v=c
c = 3*108 m/s (speed of light in free space)
c=f

10/45

Frequency Domain Concepts

signal are made up of many frequencies
components are sine waves
Fourier analysis can shown that any signal
is made up of component sine waves
Fourier series of a square wave with
amplitudes A and A :
4 sin( 2 kft )
s (t ) A

k 1, k odd
k
11/45

12/45

Fourier Transform
Mathematical tool that relates the frequency-domain
description of the signal to its time-domain description

13/45

Time-domain vs frequency-domain

Figure 3.5a: frequency domain function for

the signal of Figure 3.4c.

14/45

Time-domain vs frequency-domain
Timedomain

Frequencydomain

15/45

Spectrum and bandwidth

Spectrum
range of frequencies contained in signal

Absolute bandwidth
width of spectrum

effective bandwidth
often just bandwidth
narrow band of frequencies containing most energy

DC Component
component of zero frequency

16/45

Acoustic Spectrum

17/45

Analog and digital data transmission

data
entities that convey meaning

signals & signalling

electric or electromagnetic representations of
data, physically propagates along medium

transmission
communication of data by propagation and
processing of signals

18/45

Audio Signals

freq range 20Hz-20kHz (speech 100Hz-7kHz)

easily converted into electromagnetic signals
varying volume converted to varying voltage
can limit frequency range for voice channel to
300-3400Hz

19/45

Digital Data
as generated by computers etc.
has two dc components
bandwidth depends on data rate

20/45

Analog Signals

21/45

Digital signals

22/45

Advantages and disadvantages of digital

signals
cheaper
less susceptible to noise
but greater attenuation
digital now preferred choice

23/45

Transmission Impairments
signal received may differ from signal
transmitted causing:
analog - degradation of signal quality
digital - bit errors

most significant impairments are

attenuation and attenuation distortion
delay distortion
noise

24/45

Attenuation
where signal strength falls off with distance
depends on medium
received signal strength must be:
strong enough to be detected
sufficiently higher than noise to receive without error

so increase strength using amplifiers/repeaters

is also an increasing function of frequency
so equalize attenuation across band of
frequencies used
25/45

Delay distortion
propagation velocity varies with frequency
hence various frequency components
arrive at different times
particularly critical for digital data
since parts of one bit spill over into others
causing intersymbol interference

26/45

Noise
Additional unwanted signals inserted
between transmitter and receiver
Thermal
due to thermal agitation of electrons
uniformly distributed
white noise

N 0 kT (W / Hz )
N 0 noise power density in watts per 1Hz of bandwidth
k Boltzmann' s cons tan t 1.38 10 23 J / K
T Temprature in Kelvins

Interference from other users in a multi-user

environment (e.g., mobile environment)
27/45

Noise
crosstalk
a signal from one line is picked up by another

impulse
irregular pulses or spikes
eg. external electromagnetic interference

short duration
high amplitude
a minor annoyance for analog signals
but a major source of error in digital data
a noise spike could corrupt many bits
28/45

Noise: example
0

+5V

-5V

29/45

Data-rate
Data rate: is the rate, in bits per second (bps), at
which data can be communicated

1
1
1
data Rate R

50 kbps
bit duration Tb 0.02m sec
30/45

Spectrum, bandwidth and Data-rate

Spectrum of a signal: is the range of frequencies that it
contains
Absolute bandwidth: is the width of the spectrum
Effective bandwidth: is a relatively narrow band that contains
most signal energy
Any transmission system has a limited bandwidth
Square wave have infinite components and hence infinite
bandwidth, but most energy in first few components
Limited bandwidth increases distortion
Limited bandwidth also limit the data rate that can be carried

31/45

Bandwidth
Bandwidth B 3 f 1 f 2 f
Assume f 1KHz ,
then Bandwidth B 2 KHz

Absolute B
Effective B width of main lobe
1

X
Assume X 1 m sec,
then effective B 1KHz
32/45

Data-rate and bandwidth

33/45

Channel Capacity
Channel Capacity: max possible rate at which data
can be transmitted over a given communication
path, under given conditions
Channel capacity is a function of :
data rate - in bits per second [bps]
bandwidth - in Hertz [Hz]
noise - on communication link
error rate - the rate at which errors occur, reception of 1
when 0 is transmitted, and visa versa

34/45

Nyquist Bandwidth
Consider noise free channels
If rate of signal transmission is 2B then we can
carry signal with frequencies no greater than B
i.e., given bandwidth B, highest signal rate is 2B

For binary signals (0,1), 2B bps need bandwidth B Hz

Can increase rate by using M signal levels or M
symbols (e.g. M=4, Quaternary: 00, 01, 10,11)
Nyquist formula is:
C 2 B log 2 M
[bps ]
So increase rate by increasing signal levels
at cost of receiver complexity
limited by noise & other impairments
35/45

Shannon Capacity Formula

Consider relation of data rate, noise & error rate
faster data rate shortens each bit so bursts of noise affects more bits
given noise level, higher rates means higher errors

signal power
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR): SNR
noise power

SNR in decibles (dB):

SNRdB 10 log10 SNR

Shannons channel capacity (C) in bits/s is related to the

channel bandwidth (B) in Hertz and SNR by:
C B log 2 (1 SNR )
theoretical maximumcapacity
get lower in practise
36/45

Nyquit bandwidth and Shannon

Capacity
Example: Suppose that
the spectrum of a channel is
between 3MHz and 4MHz and the SNRdB=24dB. Find:
1. The channel bandwidth (B)
2. The channel capacity (C)
3. Based on Nyquist formula, how many signalling levels are
required to achieve the max capacity
Solution:
1. B = 4MHz - 3MHz = 1MHz
2. SNRdB 24dB 10 log10 SNR
SNR 251

C B log 2 (1 SNR ) 10 6 log 2 (1 251) 8 10 6 8Mbps

3.

C 2 B log 2 M
8 10 6 2 106 log 2 M

M 16
37/45

Decibels and signal strength

It is customary to express gain or loss (attenuation) in decibels:
Logarithmic unit (compressed scale)
Multiplication and division reduce to addition and subtraction

The decibel power gain (GdB):

Pout
GdB 10 log10
Pin
Pin : input power level
Pout : output power level

The decibel power loss (LdB):

Pout
Pin
LdB 10 log10
10 log10
Pin
Pout

Pin
Vin2 / R
Vin
L

10
log

10
log

20
log
10
10
10
2
The decibel voltage loss: dB
Pout
Vout
/R
Vout
where V is the voltage across resistor R
38/45

Decibels and signal strength

Example 1: if a signal with a power level of 10mW is inserted
onto a transmission line and the measured power some
distance away is 5mW, then the loss can be expressed as:
LdB 10 log10

Pin
10mW
10 log10
3dB
Pout
5mW

Example 2: Consider a series of transmission elements in

which the input is at a power level of 4mW, the first element is a
transmission line with 12dB loss, the second element is an
amplifier with 35dB gain, and the third element is a
transmission line with 10dB loss.
1. The net gain is -12 + 35 10= 13dB
Pout
2. The output power (Pout): GdB 13dB 10 log10
4mW
Pout 4 101.3 mW 79.8mW

39/45

Decibels and signal strength

The dBW (decibel-Watt):
powerdBW

powerW
10 log10
10 log10 ( powerW )
1W

Example: a power of 1W is 0dBW,

a power of 1000W is 30dBW,
a power of 1mW is 30dBW
The dBm (decibel-milliWatt):
powerdBm

powermW
10 log10

1mW

Example: a power of 1mW is 0dBm,

a power of 30dBm is 0dBW
40/45

Example
Given a receiver with an effective noise temperature of 294K
and a 10 MHz bandwidth. Find the thermal noise level (N0) at
the receivers output in units of dBW?
N 0 kT
[W / Hz ]
N kTB [W ],
k Boltzmann' s const. 1.38 10 23 J / K
T Temprature in Kelvins
B Bandwidth
kTB
N dBW 10 log10
10 log10 kTB 10 log10 k 10 log10 T 10 log10 B
1W
10 log10 (1.38 10 23 ) 10 log10 (294) 10 log10 (107 )
228.6 24.7 70
133.9dBW
41/45

The expression Eb/N0

The expression Eb/N0 : is the ratio of signal energy per bit (Eb) to
noise power density per Hz (N0)
Eb STb ,
where S : signal power
Tb : bit duration
N 0 kT ,
where k : Boltzmann const.
T :Temprature
1
data Rate R
Tb
Eb S / R
S

N0
N0
kTR
in decibel notation,
Eb

N0

S dB 10 log10 R 10 log10 k 10 log10 T

dB

42/45

Example
For Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation, Eb/N0 = 8.4
dB is required for a bit error rate of 10-4 (one bit error out of
every 10000 bits). If the effective noise temperature is 290 K
(room temperature) and the data rate is 2400 bps, what
received signal power level is required?
Eb

N0

S dB 10 log10 R 10 log10 k 10 log10 T

dB

8.4 S dB 10 log10 2400 (228.6) 10 log10 290

8.4 S dB (10)(3.38) 228.6 (10)(2.46)
S dB 161.8 dB

43/45

Eb/N0 versus SNR

We can relate Eb/N0 to the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR):
Eb S / R

N0
N0
Noise power N N 0 B, where B is the bandwidth
Eb
S/R S B
S

, where
is the Signal to Noise Ratio ( SNR )
N0 N / B N R
N
S
The Shannon channel capacity : C B log 2 (1 SNR ) B log 2 (1 )
N
S

2C / B 1
N
Eb
S B
B
B
C/B
C/B

2 1 2 1
N0 N R
R
C
where C / B is the spectral efficiency
44/45

Example
Suppose we want to find the minimum Eb/N0 required to achieve
a spectral efficiency C/B of 6bps/Hz

Eb
B
1
2C / B 1 2 6 1 10.5 10.21 dB
N0
C
6

45/45