DATA AND SIGNAL

CHAPTER 3
Lesson Outcomes

• At the end of this lesson, the students should be able

to:
– Differentiate between analog and digital
information and signal terms
– Discuss about the concepts of analog and digital
signals
– Perform the basic calculation related to the signals
– Illustrate the signals diagram
Analog and Digital Information

Analo • Information that is

continuous
g • Human voice

• Information that has

discrete states
Digital • Data stored in the
memory of computer in
the form of 0s and 1s
Analog Signals

• Analog signals can have an infinite number of values

in a range
• Analog signals can be in two form: periodic and non-
periodic.

Periodic
• Consists of continuous
repetitive pattern within a
time frame called period
• The completion of one full
pattern is called cycle
Non-periodic
• Has no repetitive pattern
• Can be decomposed into
infinite number of periodic
signals
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Analog signal
 Periodic signals
Non-periodic signals

Image source: Data Communications

And Networking, Forouzan
Periodic Analog Signals

Simple (sine wave)

• Cannot be
decomposed into
simpler signals

Composite

• Composed of multiple
sine waves
Sine wave

Composite Image source: Data Communications

And Networking, Forouzan
Sine Wave

Peak
amplitude

Characteristic

Period or
Phase
Frequency
Sine Wave Peak amplitude

The value of its

highest intensity,
Measured by volts
proportional to the
energy it carries

Image source: Data Communications

And Networking, Forouzan
Sine Wave

Period (P)

The amount of time (in Inverse of frequency

seconds) needs to complete
one cycle P = 1/f

Frequency (f)

Inverse of period Also can be defined as rate

The number of cycles in a
of signal change with
second (in Hertz) f = 1/P respect of time
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Period and frequency

 Table source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency

Example 1

• Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds, and

express the corresponding frequency in kilohertz.
 Solution

• From Table 3.1 we find the equivalent of 1 ms. We make the

following substitutions:
100 ms = 100  10-3 s = 102  10-3 = 10-1 s
10-1 s  106 μs = 105 μs

• Now we use the inverse relationship to find the frequency,

changing hertz to kilohertz
100 ms = 100  10-3 s = 10-1 s
f = 1/10-1 Hz = 10  10-3 KHz = 10-2 KHz
Sine Wave

Phase

Measured in degrees
The position of the Four types – 0 degrees,
or radians [360° is 2π
waveform relative to 90 degrees, 180
rad; 1° is 2π/360 rad,
time zero degrees, 270 degrees
and 1 rad is 360/(2π)]
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Four sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency, but different
phases
Sine Wave

Time and Frequency Domain

The time-domain plot shows changes in signal amplitude with

respect to time

The frequency-domain plot shows the peak value and the frequency

A sine wave can be shown using a time-domain plot

To show relationship between amplitude and frequency, use

frequency domain plot
The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

Image source: Data Communications

And Networking, Forouzan
Example 2

Draw the time domain plot and frequency domain plot

for a periodic composite signal that can be decomposed
into the following sine-wave components: 8V peak
amplitude, 4Hz frequency and 180 degrees phase.
 Solution
a) Time domain plot
A

8V

b) Frequency domain plot

A

8V

4Hz F
Exercise

Draw the time domain plot and frequency domain plot for a
periodic composite signal that can be decomposed into the
following sine-wave components: 4V peak amplitude, 0.2
second period and 270 degrees phase.
 Solution
a) Time domain plot
A

4V

b) Frequency domain plot

A

4V

5Hz F
Composite Signal

• A signal made of many simple sine waves

• A composite signal can be periodic or nonperiodic
• A periodic composite signal can be decomposed into
a series of simple sine waves with discrete
frequencies
• A nonperiodic composite signal can be decomposed
into a combination of an infinite number of simple
sine waves with continuous frequencies
A composite periodic signal

The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan
Composite Signal

Bandwidth

• The range of frequencies contained

in a composite signal is its
bandwidth
• B = highest frequency – lowest
frequency
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

 Bandwidth
Terms

Bandwidth
Bandwidth
in bits per
in hertz
second

The range of frequencies

in a composite signal or The speed of bit
the range of frequencies transmission in a
that a channel can pass channel or link
Example 3

A signal has a bandwidth of 20 Hz. The highest

frequency is 60 Hz. What is the lowest frequency? Draw
the spectrum if the signal contains all integral
frequencies of the same amplitude.
Solution

B = fh - fl
20 = 60 - fl
fl = 60 - 20 = 40 Hz
Digital Signals

• Digital signals can have only a limited number of

values
• Most digital signals are non-periodic – period and
frequency is not appropriate
• Can be described by bit interval (instead of period) and
bit rate (instead of frequency).
• Digital signal can be decomposed into an infinite
number of sine waves
• Digital signal is a composite signal with an infinite
bandwidth
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Digital signal
Two digital signals Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan
 Signal levels Data levels Bit interval (s) Bit rate (bps)

• The number • The number • The time • The number

of values of values required to of bit
allowed in a used to send one intervals
particular represent single bit per second
digital data in a
signal particular
digital
signal
Data Rate Limits

• How fast we can send data

• Depends on three factors:
– The bandwidth available
– The level of signals
– The quality of the channel
Data Rate Limits

• Two theoretical formulas were developed to

calculate data rate:
– Nyquist Bit Rate– a noiseless channel
– Shannon Capacity – a noisy channel
Data Rate Limits

Noiseless channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

•Nyquist bit rate formula defines theoretical maximum bit rate:
BitRate = 2 x Bandwidth x log2 L
Bandwidth = BW of the channel
L = number of signal level used to represent data
BitRate = bit rate per second
Example 1

Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz

transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The maximum bit
rate can be calculated as

Bit Rate = 2  3000  log2 2 = 6000 bps

Example 2

Consider the same noiseless channel, transmitting a signal

with four signal levels (for each level, we send two bits). The
maximum bit rate can be calculated as:

Bit Rate = 2 x 3000 x log2 4 = 12,000 bps

Data Rate Limits

Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

• Highest data rate for noisy channel
Capacity = BW x log2 ( 1 + SNR )
BW = bandwidth of the channel
SNR = signal to noise ratio( statistical ratio of the power of the signal to the
power of noise)
Capacity = capacity in channel in bit persecond
Example 1

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 channel the
capacity is calculated as

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

= B log2 (1) = B  0 = 0
Example 2

We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular

telephone line. A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of
3000 Hz (300 Hz to 3300 Hz). The signal-to-noise ratio is
usually 3162. For this channel the capacity is calculated as

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 3000 log2 (1 + 3162)

= 3000 log2 (3163)
C = 3000  11.62 = 34,860 bps
 Transmission Impairment
• The signal at the beginning
of the medium is not the
same as the signal at the
What? end of the medium

A signal changes its form or

A signal losses some of its shape at the receiver
energy
• Attenuation
• Distortion

Types? • Noise

• Unwanted electrical or electromagnetic energy that

degrades the quality of data and signals
• 4 types: thermal noise, induced noise, crosstalk and
impulse noise
Transmission Impairment

• Signal-to-Noise Ration (SNR)

– Ratio of what is wanted (signal) to what is not
wanted (noise)
– High SNR  the signal is less corrupted by noise
– Low SNR  the signal is more corrupted by noise

𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟

SNR=
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
Example 1

The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the

noise is 1 μW; what are the values of SNR?

Solution

The values of SNR can be calculated as follows:

Performance of Network

• Measured by:
– Bandwidth
– Throughput
– Latency (delay)
• Propagation time
• Transmission time
• Queuing time
• Processing delay
Review Questions

• Give TWO (2) types of signal.

• State THREE (3) characteristics of sine wave.
• Define bandwidth in composite signal.
• Give THREE (3) types of transmission impairment.
End of Chapter 3