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Lecture 2
Application
Transport
Network
Link
Physical
Scope of the Physical Layer
• Concerns how signals are used to transfer message bits over a link
– Wires etc. carry analog signals
– We want to send digital bits
10110… …10110
Signal
Topics
• Signal propagation
– Bandwidth, attenuation, noise
• Transmission media
– Wires, fiber optics, wireless
• Modulation schemes
– Representing bits
Signals
• Signals encode digital bits. We want to know what happens as
signals propagate over media
Signal
10110… …10110
Frequency Representation
• Fourier analysis can be used to represent a time signal by its
frequency components
amplitude
=
Signal over time
weights of harmonic frequencies
Data Rate and Bandwidth
• Bandwidth of media: range of signal frequencies that it can pass through
– In EE: Bandwidth is the width of frequency band, measured in Hz
– In CS: Bandwidth is the capacity of the media in bits/sec
• Any given waveform may contain frequencies over a very broad range
• Practical transmission systems (transmitter + medium + receiver) can only
support a limited range of frequencies (limited bandwidth)
– This limits the data rate that can be carried on the transmission medium
Effect of Less Bandwidth
• Fewer frequencies (=less bandwidth) degrades signal
Lost!
Bandwidth
Lost!
Lost!
Signals over a Wire
• What happens to a signal as it passes over a wire?
1. The signal is delayed (propagates at ⅔c)
2. The signal is attenuated (signal power decreases)
3. Frequencies above a cutoff are highly attenuated
4. Noise is added to the signal ( causes errors)
Signals over a Wire (2)
• Example: Received signal
Sent signal 2: Attenuation:
3: Bandwidth:
4: Noise:
Signals over Fiber
• Light propagates with very low loss in three very wide frequency
bands
– Use a carrier to send information
Attenuation
(dB/km)
1,5 um
=0,2 dB/km
Signals over Wireless
• Signals transmitted on a carrier frequency, like fiber (more later)
Signals over Wireless (2)
• Travel at speed of light, spread out and attenuate faster than
1/dist2
Signal
strength
A B Distance
Signals over Wireless (3)
• Multiple signals on the same frequency interfere at a receiver
Signal
strength
A C B Distance
Signals over Wireless (4)
• Interference leads to notion of spatial reuse (of same freq.)
Signal
strength
A C B Distance
Signals over Wireless (5)
• Various other effects too!
– Wireless propagation is complex, depends on environment
Optical fiber
• Multi-mode
– Light can bounce (50um core)
– Used with LEDs for cheaper, shorter
distance links
Fibers in a cable
Wireless Transmission
• Sender radiates electromagnetic signal over a region
– In many directions, unlike a wire, to potentially many receivers
– Nearby signals (same freq.) interfere at a receiver; need to
coordinate use
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
– Range of frequencies that can be used for
communication
Electromagnetic Spectrum (1)
• Different bands have different uses:
• Radio: wide-area broadcast; Infrared/Light: line-of-sight
• Microwave: LANs and 3G/4G; Networking focus
Microwave
WiFi
WiFi
Electromagnetic Spectrum (3)
• Fortunately, there are also unlicensed (“ISM”) bands:
– Free for use at low power; devices manage interference
– Widely used for networking; WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc.
802.11 802.11a/g/n
b/g/n
Radio Transmission
• Radio signals penetrate buildings well and propagate for
long distances with path loss
In the VLF, LF, and MF bands, radio In the HF band, radio waves bounce off
waves follow the curvature of the earth the ionosphere.
Microwave Transmission
• Microwaves have much bandwidth and are widely used indoors
(WiFi) and outdoors (3G, satellites)
– Signal is attenuated/reflected by everyday objects
– Strength varies with mobility due multipath fading, etc.
– Amount of Path loss is random, not fixed!
Wireless vs. Wires/Fiber
• Wireless:
+ Easy and inexpensive to deploy
+ Naturally supports mobility
+ Naturally supports broadcast
- Transmissions interfere and must be managed
- Signal strengths hence data rates vary greatly
• Wires/Fiber:
+ Easy to engineer a fixed data rate over point-to-point links
- Can be expensive to deploy, esp. over distances
- Doesn’t readily support mobility or broadcast
Wired/Wireless Perspective
• Wires, and Fiber
– Engineer link to have the required SNR and Bandwidth
→ Can fix data rate
• Wireless
– Given Bandwidth B, the SNR varies greatly, e.g., up to 60 dB!
→ Can’t design for worst case, must adapt data rate
Wired/Wireless Perspective
• Wires, and Fiber Engineer the SNR for data rate
– Engineer link to have the required SNR and Bandwidth
→ Can fix data rate
• Wireless
– Given Bandwidth B, the SNR varies greatly, e.g., up to 60 dB!
→ Can’t design for worst case, must adapt data rate
Adapt the data rate to SNR
Topics
• Signal propagation
– Bandwidth, attenuation, noise
• Transmission media
– Wires, fiber optics, wireless
• Modulation schemes
– Representing bits
Modulation
• We’ve talked about signals representing bits. How, exactly?
– This is the topic of modulation
Signal
10110… …10110
A Simple Modulation
• Let a high voltage (+V) represent a 1, and low voltage (-
V) represent a 0
– This is called NRZ (Non-Return to Zero)
Bits 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
+V
NRZ
-V
A Simple Modulation (2)
• Let a high voltage (+V) represent a 1, and low voltage (-
V) represent a 0
– This is called NRZ (Non-Return to Zero)
Bits 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
+V
NRZ
-V
Many Other Schemes
• Can use more signal levels, e.g., 4 levels is 2 bits per symbol