TE312: Introduction to Digital Telecommunications

BASEBAND DIGITAL TRANSMISSION

Lecture #10 Digital Transmission Over Bandlimited Channels -I

PART II

Introduction
Points to be discussed in this lecture
System Model Intersymbol Interference (ISI) Signal Design for Zero ISI Eye Diagram

Introduction
Reading Assignment Simon Haykin, Digital Communications, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1988, Chapter 6, Sec. 6.3, 6.4 and 6.6. Simon Haykin, Communication Systems, 4 Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2001, Chapter 4, Sec. 4.4 and 4.5.
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Introduction
The AWGN channel model assumes an infinite-bandwidth channel.
s (t )
hC ( t ) = s (t ) + n (t )

r ( t ) = s ( t ) hC ( t ) + n ( t )

(t )
n (t )

Apart from additive noise, the channel causes no further distortion to the transmitted signal.

Introduction
Most practical channels are band-limited. Twisted copper wires used as telephone channels have bandwidth in kHz. Band limitation can also be imposed by the regulatory requirements (e.g. TCRA). Effect of band limitation is to disperse or spread out a finite time signal transmitted through the channel.

Introduction
Successive finite-time signals for transmitting success digital symbols will interfere, resulting in ISI, which degrades the system performance.
r ( t ) = s ( t ) hC ( t ) + n ( t ) s (t )
s(t)

hC ( t )
(t )

= y (t ) + n (t )
y(t)

n (t )
A t 0 T

A t 0 T

x (t )
Input binary data Pulse Amplitude Modulator

System Model
s (t )
Transmit Filter
Bandlimited

y (t )
t=iTb

{bk }

HT ( f )

Channel

Receive Filter

HC ( f )

HR ( f )

Decision Device

Output binary data

n (t )

The transmitted signal is given by

s (t ) =

k =

a h ( t kT )
k T b

Note: x ( t ) =

k =

a ( t kT )
k b

Amplitude ak depends on the input binary data bk and the format (polar etc.) used and is a sample value of a random variable Ak .

System Model
hT ( t ) is the impulse response of the transmit filter. Tb is the bit interval and Rb = 1/ Tb is the transmission bit rate.

Receive filter output signal y ( t ) is expressed as

y (t ) =

k =

a p ( t kT ) + n ( t )
k b o

where p ( t ) = hT ( t ) hC ( t ) hR ( t )

System Model
hC ( t ) is impulse response of the channel. hR ( t ) is impulse response of receive filter. p ( t ) is the pulse shape at the receive filter output in response to input binary data due to the cascade of hT ( t ), hC ( t ) , and hR ( t ) . no ( t ) is the output of the receiving filter H R ( f ) due to the channel AWGN n ( t ) no ( t ) = n ( t ) hR ( t )

Intersymbol Interference (ISI)

If s ( t ) is a line code, the absolute bandwidth is infinite. This can cause interference to adjacent channels (assuming an ideal channel with infinite bandwidth). If the channel is band-limited, the pulses in a line code s ( t ) will spread in time beyond the bit interval Tb and interfere with neighboring pulses at the sampling instant. Such interference is called InterSymbol Interference (ISI). Refer to the introduction.

Signal Design for Zero ISI

To detect the amplitude ai the receive filter output y ( t ) is sampled at t = iTb such that
y ( iTb ) = ai +

k = k i

a p ( iT
k

kTb ) + no ( iTb ) , p (0) = 1.0 normalization

ai is the required information symbol at the sampling instant t = iTb .

k = k i

a p ( iT
k

kTb )

is the ISI term which introduces errors in the decision of the transmitted data bit.

Signal Design for Zero ISI

The pulse shape p ( t ) depends on the combination of transmit, channel, and receive filters H T ( f ) , H C ( f ) and H R ( f ) , respectively. Assuming that the channel is known and is ideal i.e.
H C ( f ) = H C ( f ) exp ( j ( f ) ) H C ( f ) is constant within the bandwidth occupied by y ( t ) and ( f ) is a linear function of f.

Signal Design for Zero ISI

The problem is to design H T ( f ) and H R ( f ) such that (no ISI)
1, i = k p ( iTb kTb ) = 0, i k

Let { p ( nTb )} n = 0, 1, 2,... be a sequence of samples obtained by instantaneously sampling

p ( t ) to obtain p ( t ) = p ( t ) ( t nTb ) . Then
1 P ( f ) = Tb n P f T = Rb n P ( f nRb ) = n = b

n =

Signal Design for Zero ISI

Alternatively, for zero ISI,
p ( t ) =

n =

p ( nT ) ( t nT ) = p ( 0 ) ( t )
b b

P ( f ) =

p ( 0 ) ( t ) exp ( j 2 ft ) dt = p ( 0 ) = 1.0

Therefore for zero ISI at sampling instants

n =

P ( f nR ) = T
b

Nyquist Criterion for distortionless baseband transmission

Signal Design for Zero ISI

Ideal Solution: T
B

1/TB=2W=Rb

f
-3W -W 0 W 3W

Tb , P( f ) = 0,

f W = Rb / 2 elsewhere

W = Rb / 2 is the bandwidth of p ( t ) , Tb = 1/ 2 B . Note that W is the minimum overall bandwidth of the system. It is impossible to have zero ISI at the sampling instances if the system bandwidth is below W .

Signal Design for Zero ISI

p ( t ) = sinc ( 2 Bt ) is the Nyquist pulse.
P( f ) p (t )

Tb

f
B = Rb / 2 2Tb Tb Tb 2Tb

Signal Design for Zero ISI

Advantage of ideal Nyquist pulse: Achieves zero ISI with minimum transmission bandwidth BT =W = Rb / 2 Hz. Rb = 2W is the Nyquist rate and W is the Nyquist bandwidth. The system results in the bandwidth efficiency of = 2 bits/s/Hz. Disadvantage Physically unrealizable. This is due to a sharp transition at W Hz . Moreover timing errors will result in significant ISI.

Signal Design for Zero ISI

Practical Solution:

Extend the bandwidth of the pulse P ( f ) (or p ( t ) ) to (1 + ) W Hz where 0 1 is the roll-off factor and W = Rb / 2 . A raised cosine spectrum P ( f ) satisfies the conditions for zero ISI at the sampling instants with the above condition where
cos ( 2 Bt ) p ( t ) = sinc ( 2 Bt ) 1 16 2 B 2t 2

Signal Design for Zero ISI

1 0< f Tb , 2Tb Tb 1 1 1+ Tb P ( f ) = 1 + cos < f f , 2Tb 2Tb 2Tb 2 1+ f > 0, 2Tb
P( f )
Tb

= 0.0 = 0.5 = 1.0

f /W
1

3/ 2

Signal Design for Zero ISI

Signal Design for Zero ISI

Advantages of the Raised Cosine Pulse Shape: Gradual transition in frequency domain makes the pulse shapes realizable. Robust to timing errors as the pulse decreases much faster in time domain. Disadvantage: The required transmission bandwidth increases to 1 + times that required for the ideal Nyquist pulse.

Eye Diagram
Effects of ISI and channel noise in a digital communication system can be viewed on an eye diagram of the signal, which is a superposition of several pulses in a pulse stream p ( t ) . The eye diagram is the display of the pulse stream y ( t ) (receive filter output) on the vertical input of the oscilloscope with the horizontal sweep rate set to the bit rate Rb = 1/ Tb .

The effect of ISI is to narrow the opening of the eye horizontally and vertically.

Eye Diagram
Horizontal narrowing due to the distortion of the zero crossings reduces the time-interval over which the received signal can be sampled without ISI error (width of the eye opening). Vertical narrowing reduces the height of the eye opening at the sampling time, which defines the noise margin of the system. The presence of the channel noise closes the eye further.

Eye Diagram
Distortion at sampling time

Noise margin

Best sampling time

Distortion of zero crossing

Time interval over which the received signal can be sampled without ISI error

Eye Diagram

Eye Diagram