Correlative Encoding Modulation (Section 4.

6 Haykin)


In the previous section we considered a class of pulse shaping and receiver filters that
satisfied both the Nyquist zero ISI filter and provided a means of realizing a practical
matched filter. It was noted that for a symbol rate of 1/T, the minimum two sided
bandwidth is 1/T. However, the resulting pulse shape and matching filter were
impossible to realize. Even approximate implementations are very processing/hardware
intensive. Hence a family of filters was introduced that allowed the tradeoff of slightly
more bandwidth for an easier to implement filter. In this section we look at correlative
encoding schemes that look at the tradeoff from another perspective. The optimum
minimum two sided bandwidth of 1/T is maintained however, the data signal is encoded
such that for a binary transmission, 3 level PAM results. Consequently the modulation
complexity is increased. This has consequences when the BER as a function of Eb/No is
considered. Hence the actual tradeoff is a small increase in E
b
/N
o
requirement for a
target BER for an easier to realize pulse shape and receiver filter.


Given that a bit rate of 1/T is required in a bandlimited baseband channel of 1/2T to 1/2T
then the sinc(t/T) pulse shape can be used as ) / ( sin ) ( T t c t g = such that the transmitted
signal is

) / ( sin ) ( T t c I t x
m
n

=
=

However, the sinc() function is not implementable and therefore we look at a precoding
scheme. In a Duobinary modulation scheme, the data is pre-encoded to effectively
generate a new pulse shape that is not a sinc() function. This is shown below:

binary
source

r=1/T
+
delay

T
sinc(t/T)

Trect(fT)


The source symbol rate is at r=1/T. This is processed by two cascaded filters

fT j
e f H
2
1
1 ) (

+ = and ) ( ) (
2
fT Trect f H =

duobinary_intro.doc 1
Let the overall filter shape be

H(f) = H
1
(f) H
2
(f)

such that

( ) ) cos( 2 1 ) (
2
fT Te T e f H
fT j fT j

= + = for |f|<1/2T

which is plotted below


H(f)
-1/2T 0 1/2T f

Note that H(f) would be implemented directly and not with the partition of H
1
(f) and
H
2
(f) as shown above. Due to the tapered edges this filter shape is easier to approximate
accurately. The impulse response can be found directly from the first diagram as

) / ) (( sin ) / ( sin ) ( T T t c T t c t h + =

which reduces to

) / 4 1 (
) / cos( 4
) (
2 2
T t
T t
t h

-3T -2T -T 0 T 2T 3T 4T t
Note it is non-zero at the sampling points of t=0 and t=T.

duobinary_intro.doc 2
The duobinary encoding correlates adjacent bits. Consequently an immediate issue is
how do we decode the individual bits.

Consider the encoder sketched below:


x
k


input
data

+-1
+
delay

T
sinc(t/T)

Trect(fT)
y
k
= {-2,0,2}



Note that the encoder output y
k
is tri-level {-2,0,2}. This is the penalty paid by going to
duobinary. As will be seen in future lecture, this increases the BER for a given transmit
power level.

Below is a table of the encoding

x
k
x
k-1
y
k

-1 -1 -2
-1 1 0
1 -1 0
1 1 2

Based on the comments made previously regarding the sinc filter maintining
independence of samples at nT, we can ignore its presence in the decoding operation as
it does not influence the encoding.

Decoding rule based on previous table is

if y
k
= 2 then decode x
k
=1
if y
k
= -2 then decode x
k
=-1
if y
k
= 0 and x
k-1
= -1 then decode x
k
=1
if y
k
= 0 and x
k-1
= 1 then decode x
k
=-1


duobinary_intro.doc 3
The condition for y
k
=0 depends on the previous decoding of x
k-1
which can lead to
problems of error propagation. This can be fixed by pre-coding as will be described later.

Another form of Duobinary encoding is Modified Duobinary Coding which has the
advantage of zero PSD at low frequencies. This would be important in cases where the
communications channel does not allow DC connectivity.
The modified duobinary is shown below:

binary
source

r=1/T
+
delay

2T
sinc(t/T)

Trect(fT)
-
+


Again we have two cascaded filters

fT j
e f H
4
1
1 ) (

=

and

) ( ) (
2
fT Trect f H =

Let the overall filter shape be

H(f) = H
1
(f) H
2
(f)

such that

( ) ) sin( 2 1 ) (
2 4
fT jTe T e f H
fT j fT j

= = for |f|<1/2T

which is plotted below

duobinary_intro.doc 4

|H(f)|
-1/2T 0 1/2T f



The impulse response of the modified Duobinary coding is easily derived from the initial
diagram such that

) / ) 2 (( sin ) / ( sin ) ( T T t c T t c t h =

Which can be written in the form

) 2 (
2
sin
/ ) 2 (
sin
/
sin
) (
2
t T t
T
T
t
T T t
T
t
T t
T
t
t h

|
.
|

\
|
=

|
.
|

\
|

|
.
|

\
|
=

which looks as follows

-T
T

duobinary_intro.doc 5

Pre-coding the Duobinary Signal

In the decoding of the duobinary signal it is noticed that the decoding of the present bit
value depends on the correct decoding of the previous bit value. This is a problem as
decoding errors tend to propagate. For this reason a pre-coder is added such that the
overall modulation encoding scheme is as shown in the following diagram

x
0

d
+
z
-1

z
-1

+ +
pulse
shape
filter
offset
baseband
signal
precoder
duobinary modulator
s
mod-2 sum
x
1


In this diagram "d" represents the input binary data of {0,1} and s represents the state of
the pre-coder which is either 0 or 1. The state diagram of the modified encoder is shown
below:


d=0
S=0
S=1
d=1
d=0
d=1
As observed when the input data bit is 1 there is a state change and when it is zero there
is no state change. When d=0 such that there is no state change then x
0
=x
1
in the
previous diagram. This implies that the output will be either +2 or 2 depending on if the
encoder is in state 0 or state 1. If d=1 then there is a state change such that x
0
is not
equal to x
1
. In this case the output of the duobinary encoder is 0. Hence the decoding of
duobinary_intro.doc 6
the pre-coded duobinary depends only on the present bit value, ie is d=0 or d=1. If the
output is +-2 then d=0 is decoded and if the output is 0 then d=1 is decoded.



Example
Consider the following correlative encoder


+
T s inc ( t / T )
d e la y
3 T


which can be regarded as a pulse shaping filter given by

) ( ) ( ) (
2 1
t h t h t g =

where

( T t t t h 3 ) ( ) (
1
+ = ) and ) / ( sin
1
) (
2
T t c
T
t h =


Let G . Find an expression for G(f). ) ( ) ( t g f

( ) ( )
T f j fT j T f j T f j
e e e fT rect e fT rect f G
3 3 3 3 2
) ( 1 ) ( ) (

+ = + =



) 2 / 3 2 cos( ) ( 2 ) (
3
fT e fT rect f G
T f j

=

Sketch the energy spectral density of g(t) which is |G(f)|
2
.

|G(f)|
2


4
-1/2T -1/6T 0 1/6T 1/2T t


duobinary_intro.doc 7
Does g(t) satisfy the Nyquist criteria for zero ISI? Why?

In the time domain g(t) does not satisfy the Nyquist zero ISI condition as it is not
possible to find an offset sampling time Ts such that

C T g
s
= ) ( and I n nT T g
s
= + 0 ) ( where C is any constant

In the frequency domain the Nyquist zero ISI is not satisfied as

=
+
n
const T n f G ) / (



Calculation of BER of the Duobinary Link


Consider the duobinary link in the block diagram below:


Xk={-d,d}
+
Delay T
h(t) = T
-
sinc(t/T)
z
k
={2d,0,-2d}
y(t)
+
AWGN
h(t) = T
-
sinc(t/T)


The k
th
symbol of the binary input, x
k
, is part of the alphabet {-d,d}. Hence the input to the
Nyquist pulse shaping filter h(t) for the k
th
symbolis one of three signals:

S1
k
(t) = 2d (t-kT)
S2
k
(t) = 0
S3
k
(t) = -2d (t-kT)

This propagates through the channel with AWGN at a PSD of N
o
/2. The receiver has a filter
matched to the transmitter pulse shaping filter h(t). As h(t) is symmetric then the matched filter is
simply h(t). At the output of the matched filter, the signal is sampled at kT resulting in z
k
.
Assuming ideal sampling, the signal component of z
k
will be one of the values of {2d,0,2d}. The
decision thresholds are such that

)
) ( 1 t S S
k k
= if z
k
>d

)
) ( 3 t S S
k k
= if z
k
<-d
duobinary_intro.doc 8

)
) ( 2 t S S
k k
= if d < |z
k
| < d

Now we can proceed to determine the probability of bit error. A bit error will occur if the
noise in the sample at kT has a magnitude of more than d. Consider that S1
k
(t) was sent
then the probability of error is denoted as

)) ( 1 | ) ( 2 ( t S t S S P
k k k
=
)


ie this is the probability that the estimate of the signal that was sent is S2
k
(t) given that
actually S1
k
(t) was sent. Note also that S1
k
(t) is sent with probability of , S2
k
(t) with
probability of and S3
k
(t) with a probability of . Hence the overall probability of error
is given by

)) ( 3 | ) ( 2 ( )) ( 2 | ) ( 3 (
)) ( 2 | ) ( 1 ( )) ( 1 | ) ( 2 (
4
1
2
1
2
1
4
1
t S t S S P t S t S S P
t S t S S P t S t S S P P
k k k k k k
k k k k k k e
= + =
+ = + = =
) )
) )


The noise component at the output of the matched filter of the receiver is zero mean and
has a variance of

( )
2 2
2
2 o o
N
df f H
N

= =

Using this we can write the conditional probability of error directly as

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
= =
o o
k k k
N
d
erfc
N
d
Q t S t S S P
2
1
2 /
)) ( 1 | ) ( 2 (
)


Also from symmetry

|
|
.
|

\
|
= = = =
o
k k k k k k
N
d
erfc t S t S S P t S t S S P
2
1
)) ( 1 | ) ( 2 ( )) ( 3 | ) ( 2 (
) )


Also


|
|
.
|

\
|
= = = =
o
k k k k k k
N
d
erfc t S t S S P t S t S S P
2
1
)) ( 2 | ) ( 3 ( )) ( 2 | ) ( 1 (
) )


Hence referring to the expression for probability of decoding error for P
e
the probability
of error reduces to
duobinary_intro.doc 9

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
o
e
N
d
erfc P
4
3


Remaining is to convert this expression into a practical useful expression in terms of

E
avg
- the average energy transmitted per bit


The energy per unit pulse is

= = 1 ) / ( sin
1
2
df T t c
T
E
g


Hence the average energy per duobinary symbol is

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 2 2 2 2
2
2
1
0
4
1
2
4
1
2 d d E
avg
=
)
`

+ + =

Consequently

2
avg
E
d =

and finally
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
o
avg
o
avg
o
e
N
E
erfc
N
E
erfc
N
d
erfc P
2 4
3
2
4
3
4
3


Compare this with NRZ bipolar where it was derived previously that

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
o
avg
e
N
E
erfc P
2
1


Consequently, duobinary is more than 3 dB worse in terms of BER performance
compared to NRZ bipolar. The reason for the worse performance of duobinary is that
the correlation of the successive symbols is not taken into account in the receiver. To
fully utilize this correlation, a Viterbi demodulator is used which basically unravels this
correlation and utilizes it such that each transmitted bit is finally decoded in the absence
duobinary_intro.doc 10
of influence from any other bits. Viterbi demodulators are beyond the scope of this
lecture material.

Q1 An analog signal is sampled quantized and encoded into a binary PCM waveform.
Sampling rate is 8 kHz and 64 quantization levels are used. What is the minimum
bandwidth if the PCM symbols are generated with 2, 4 or 8 levels?

The bit rate generated is 8*64=512 kbps.

With 2 levels, we can represent 1 bit per PAM symbol and therefore the symbol rate is
512 ksps. The minimum bandwidth is then 1/T or 512 kHz.

With 4 levels, we can represent 2 bits per symbol and therefore the symbol rate is 256
ksps. The minimum bandwidth is then 1/T or 256 kHz.

With 8 levels, we can represent 3 bits per symbol and therefore the symbol rate is 170
ksps. The minimum bandwidth is then 1/T or 170 kHz.


Q2 In the previous example for 4 PAM levels, suppose that a raised cosine filter was
used with an excess bandwidth factor of 0.4. What is the bandwidth required to send the
signal.

From the previous question the minimum bandwidth corresponding to =0 is 256 kHz.
The bandwidth required when >0 is (+1)*(minimum bandwidth). Consequently the
bandwidth required is 358.4 kHz.

Q3 A binary source of 100kbps is propagated using a 4 level PAM symbol with a raised
cosine pulse shape. The signal has to fit inside a one-sided bandwidth of 40 kHz. What
is the required excess bandwidth factor.

As the symbol rate is 50 ksps, the required two sided bandwidth is

( ) 40 50 1
2
1
= + = BW

Consequently, = 0.6.

Q4 A transmitter uses a pulse shape of

) ( ) (
/
t u Ae t g
T t
=

where u(t) is the unit step function and T is the symbol period. Assume that the receiver
uses a correlating function of ( ) ( ) T n t rect t d / ) (
2
1
+ = to demodulate the n
th
symbol
value.

duobinary_intro.doc 11
a) If the signal isolated pulse of g(t)is transmitted in isolation, what is the signal level at
the output of the correlator assuming n=0?
( )
1
0
1 ) (

= =

e AT dt t g s
T


b) Now consider the symbol epoch corresponding to the next symbol for n=1. How
much interference does the transmitted pulse of g(t) generate in this interval?

( ) s e e e AT dt t g s
T
T
1 2 1
2
) (

= = =



c) Repeat part b for any n>0

( )
s e dt t g s
n
nT
T n

= =

1
) (

d) Now consider the binary signal demodulated with the previously described
demodulator, what is the ISI noise?

The binary signal is given as

=
=
k
n
kT t g I t v ) ( ) (

Consider the demodulation of the symbol corresponding to k=0. The ISI noise at the
correlator output would correspond to the signal

=
=
1
) (
n
n
n
se I t x

assuming that we have { 1 , 1
n
I }
0
1 1
= = =


=

= n
n
n
n
n
n
se I se I x

and the second moment

( ) 16 . 0
86 . 0
14 . 0
1
2 2
2
2
2 4 2 2
1
2 2
2
1
2
s s
e
e
s e e s se I se I x
n
n
n
n
n
n
= =

= + + = = |
.
|

\
|
=

=

L

The SNR due to the ISI interference is then


duobinary_intro.doc 12


18 . 6
16 . 0
2
2
= =
s
s
SNR

Note that as the ISI is not gaussian noise we cannot directly state that the probability of
error is given by

( ) ( ) 18 . 6 Q SNR Q P
e
= =

However, it is generally a reasonable approximation when the AWGN is added in.


Q5 Suppose a digital communicaiton system employs a Gaussian shaped pulse of the
form

( )
2 2
exp ) ( t a t x =

To reduce the level of intersymbol interference to a relatively samll amount, we impose
the condition that x(T)=0.01 whee T is the symbol interval. The bandwidth W of the
pulse x(t) is definedas that value of W for which


( )
( )
01 . 0
0
=
X
W X


where X(f) is the Fourier transform of x(t). Determine the value of W and compare this
value to that of the raised cosine spectrum with =1.


( ) ( )
2 2 2 2
/ exp
1
) ( exp ) ( a f
a
f X t a t x = =

( )
( )
( ) 01 . / exp 01 . 0
0
2 2
= = a W
X
W X


Therefore

( ) 01 . 0 ln
2
2

a
W

=

Next due to the time domain specification we have
( ) 01 . 0 exp ) (
2 2
= = T a T x

Hence
duobinary_intro.doc 13

2
2
) 01 . 0 ln(
a
T

=

Hence the product of the bandwidth and symbol period is

) 01 . 0 ln(
= WT
From which

T
W
466 . 1
==

Hence the gaussian pulse shape with the aformentioned criteria requires a bandwidth that
is 46% larger than a raised cosine with =1.




duobinary_intro.doc 14