Discrete Time Bit

Waveforms

Bit Sequences to Bit Waveforms

Continuous time
1

b0=1

b1=0

b2=1

b3=0

b4=0

b5=0

b6=1

b7=0

b6=1

b7=0

bit time

time

Discrete time
1
0

b0=1

b1=0

b2=1

b3=0

4 samples per bit

b4=0

b5=0

Bit Rate, Sampling Frequency, SPB

The bit time measures the
length of time it takes to
send one bit.
The bit rate measures the
number of bits we can send
in a given unit of time.

We generally want:
- the bit rate to be large
- the bit time to be small

bit time SPB Ts

bit rate

SPB
Fs

1
bit time

Fs
1

SPB Ts SPB
bit time
(SPB = 4)

Ts

Example Bit Rate Calculation

Fs 1MHz 1MegaHertz

Sample rate

1,000,000 samples / second

106 samples / second

If we use 4 samples per bit (SPB = 4),

then

The bit time

The bit rate

Ts Fs

106 second

1s 1 microsecond

SPB Ts 4s
Fs

SPB
1,000,000
250kHz

Hz 250Hz
4

bit time

Ts