Networking 2

Communications Channel

 What is the difference between analog

and digital?
 why use digital?

 How do we describe and characterize signals?

 Characteristics of a communication channel

 noise and bandwidth constraints

Communications Channel Page 1 of 21

 What is Communications
Channel?

 physical or non-physical connection between

a transmitter and receiver

 moves electromagnetic energy between a

source and one or more destination points while
retaining the information contained in the
energy when it leaves the source
 Characteristics of an
Ideal Channel

1. It is a perfect vacuum. Therefore, there are

no physical objects that can reduce the level
of energy sent out by the transmitter. In
other words, there is no loss of signal
strength.

2. There are no errors.

3. Signals would travel at the speed of

light (300,000 km per second).
 Characteristics of Analog
Signal

+5

V
T ime
–5

 values vary over a broad range continuously

 slight error in input yields large error in output

 Characteristics
of Digital Signal

+5
1 0 1
V
Time

–5

 only assumes discrete values

 digital systems are more accurate and reliable

- can deal better with degraded signals

 digital signals are generally easier to process

Advantages of Digital Signals

 high fidelity - better error control (detection

and correction)

 time independence - transmission rate is not

equal to recording/capture rate

 source independence - anything can

be digitized

 encoding - security and compression

 Types of Channel

Analog channels
 These channels can carry analog or
continuous signals. An analog signal goes
through all values within its range.

v v

t t
 Types of Channel

Digital channels
 These channels can carry digital or discrete
signals. A digital signal can not assume all
of the possible values within its range.

v v

t t
 Communications Channel
Characteristics

Signal attenuation
- fading of an electrical signal or decrease
in signal strength

Electronic noise
- any unwanted signal or voltage that tends to
interfere with the proper and easy reception
and reproduction of wanted signals

Channel capacity
- refers to the quantity of information the
channel can convey over a given period
 Analog Channel Capacity

 A cycle is the part of the signal that

repeats itself. Not all signals have
cycles.
v

cycle

 The period () of a periodic signal is the

length of time of its cycle.
 Frequency

 The frequency (f) of a signal is the number of

cycles per unit time of the signal. Frequency is
measured in cycles per second or hertz (Hz).

 The frequency of a signal is therefore

the reciprocal of its period ( f = 1 /  ).
 Examples

I. Calculate the period of the

following frequencies:
a. 1800 Hz
b. 750 KHz

II. Calculate the frequency of the

following periods:
a. 6 s
b. 10 ns
 Frequency

The frequency of a signal can also be computed by

fv


where:

v velocity of signal movement through

the channel in meters per second

 wavelength or the length of one cycle

in meters
 Frequency Components

 An aperiodic analog signal actually has

several periodic (sinusoidal) component
signals called frequency components.

 The frequency of a component is

inversely proportional to its signal
strength.
 Capacity of
an Analog Channel

 The bandwidth of a signal is the

difference between the lowest and highest
significant frequency of a single analog
signal.

 The bandwidth of a channel is the difference

between the lowest and highest frequency an
analog channel can convey to a distant
receiver that the receiver can understand.

 A broadband channel is a channel with a

wide bandwidth while a baseband channel is
a channel with a narrow bandwidth.
 Case Study:
The Human Voice

The graph shows that the human voice is mainly

composed of analog periodic signals ranging
from 0 Hz to 12,000 Hz.

power

shows the sound power a

human vocal system can
produce at various frequencies

freq
2000 4000 6000 8000 12000
 The Telephone
System Bandwidth

 Because of technology limitations and cost

trade-offs made during the design of the public
telephone system, this system can only handle
a small part of the total bandwidth of the
human voice.

 Telephone system bandwidth

= 300 Hz to 3,400 Hz

 The 300 to 3,400 Hz range is sufficient

to convey messages to distant listeners.
 Digital Channel Capacity

In general, digital signals have two states (bits):

1. Logic 1 (mark) -5 volts
2. Logic 0 (space) -0 volt or -5 volts

A communications channel that conveys a digital

signal has limitations that determine how often the
signal can change state over a given period.
 Channel Bit Rate

 The capacity of a digital channel is the number

of digital values the channel can convey in
one second. It is usually measured in bits per
second (bps).

 The bit period (or bit time) of a digital signal is

the length of 1 bit in seconds.
 Examples

 What is the bit rate of the digital signal if the

bit period is 0.208 ms?

 What is the bit period of the digital signal if

the bit rate is 8192 bps?
 Relationship Between
Bandwidth and Data Rate

01100010
1

rms amplitude
0
1234567 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
e
1 Tim
1 Component

0
1

1
2 Components

0
12

1
4 Components

0
1234

1
8 Components

0
12345678