Fundamentals of Digital

Communication
 Digital communication system
Analog Digital
Input Low
Signal Source Channel
Pass Sampler Quantizer Multiplexer
Analog/ Encoder Encoder
Filter
Digital
Carrier

Pulse
Twisted Pair To Channel Modulator Shaping
Line
Encoder
Filters
Co-axial Cable
Optical Fiber
Wireless De- Receiver
From Channel Detector
Space Modulator Filter

Carrier Symbol timing

Recovery Recovery

Signal
at the Digital-to-Analog Channel De-
user end Converter Decoder Multiplexer

Analog Digital
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 Digital Modulation
• cost effective because of advances in digital technology
(VHDL, DSP, FPGA…)
• advantages/disadvantages vs analog
- better noise immunity
- robustness to channel impairments
- ability to multiplex information
- error control: detect & correct corrupt bits
- able to encrypt data
- flexible software modulation & demodulation
- requires complex signal conditioning
modulating signal (message) represented as pulses
• n bits represented by m finite states
• n = log2m
3
Factors in Digital Modulation

• efficiency: low BER at low SNR

• channel: multipath & fading conditions
• minimize bandwidth required
• cost-effective & easy implementation

Performance Measures for Modulation Schemes

(i) p = power efficiency
(ii)B = bandwidth efficiency

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 (i) Power Efficiency, p
Ability to preserve signal fidelity at low power
• increasing signal power  increases noise immunity
• specifics depend on modulation technique
• measures trade-off between fidelity & signal power

p often expressed as ratio of Eb to N0 at receiver input to achieve

specified BER
p =Eb / N0

Eb = bit energy
N0 = noise power spectral density
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 (ii) Bandwidth Efficiency, B
Ability to accommodate data in limited bandwidth
• increasing data rate  requires increased bandwidth
• direct relationship to system capacity
• measured in terms of bit rate, Rb & RF bandwidth, B

B =Rb/B 6.36
Fundamental Upper Bound on achievable Bit Rate per given
Bandwidth (aka Shannon Bound)

Bmax = C/B
 S
Bmax = log2 1  6.37
 N
• C = maximum channel capacity (bps) 6
 typically there is a tradeoff between B & p

e.g
addition of error control codes increases p and decreases B
- increases bandwidth for given data rate
- reduces required received power for specified BER

use of M-ary keying increases B and decreases p

- decreases bandwidth for given data rate
- requires increased receive power for specified BER
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 Additional factors in digital modulation
• cost & complexity  simplicity is better
• channel impairments (Rayleigh, Ricean fading)
- multipath dispersion
- interference
• detection sensitivity to timing jitter – time varying channel

 typically system is simulated & all factors are analyzed prior t

selection of methods and specification of parameters

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 Analog vs. Digital
x(t)
 Analog signals
 Value varies continuously
t
 Digital signals x(t)
 Value limited to a finite set

t
 Binary signals x(t) 1 1 1
 Has at most 2 values
 Used to represent bit values 0 T 0 0 0
 Bit time T needed to send 1 bit
 Data rate R=1/ T bits per second t

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Performance Metrics
 In analog communications we want,
ˆ (t)  m(t)
m

 Digital communication systems:

 Data rate (R bps)  Limited by Channel Capacity

 Probability of error

 Without noise, there are no bit errors

 Bit Error Rate (BER): Number of bit errors that occur for a

given number of bits transmitted.

 What’s BER if Pe=10-6 and 107 bits are transmitted?

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 Analog versus Digital

• Harder to separate noise from an analog

signal than from a digital signal

• If there is too much noise cannot

discern a high voltage from a low
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voltage
 Analog versus Digital

 Regenerator receiver

Original Regenerated
pulse pulse

Propagation distance

 Different kinds of digital signal are treated identically.

Voice
Data A bit is a bit!
Media

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 Analog versus Digital

 Stability of components: Analog hardware change

due to component aging, heat, etc.

 Flexibility:
 Perform encryption

 Compression

 Error correction/detection

 Reliable reproduction

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 Bandwidth of signal
 Baseband versus bandpass:

Baseband Bandpass
signal signal
Local oscillator

 Bandwidth dilemma:
 Bandlimited signals are not realizable!
 Realizable signals have infinite bandwidth!
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 Different definition of bandwidth:
a) Half-power bandwidth d) Fractional power containment bandwidth
b) Noise equivalent bandwidth e) Bounded power spectral density
c) Null-to-null bandwidth f) Absolute bandwidth

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
15
(e)50dB
 Sampling
Time domain Frequency domain
xs (t )  x (t )  x(t ) X s ( f )  X ( f )  X ( f )
x (t )
| X(f )|

x (t ) | X ( f ) |

xs (t )
| Xs( f )|

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Aliasing effect

LP filter

Nyquist rate

aliasing

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 Sampling theorem

Analog Sampling Pulse amplitude

signal process modulated (PAM) signal

 Sampling theorem: A bandlimited signal with no

spectral components beyond , can be uniquely
determined by values sampled at uniform intervals of

 The sampling rate,

is called Nyquist rate.
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 Quantization
 Amplitude quantizing: Mapping samples of a continuous
amplitude waveform to a finite set of amplitudes.
Out

In
 Average quantization noise power
Quantized

 Signal peak power

values

 Signal power to average

quantization noise power

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 Encoding (PCM)

 Pulse code modulation (PCM): Encoding the

quantized signals into a digital word (PCM word
or codeword).
 Each quantized sample is digitally encoded into an l
bits codeword where L in the number of quantization
levels and

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 Quantization example
amplitude
x(t)
111 3.1867

110 2.2762 Quant. levels

101 1.3657

100 0.4552

011 -0.4552 boundaries

010 -1.3657

001 -2.2762 x(nTs): sampled values

xq(nTs): quantized values
000 -3.1867
Ts: sampling time
PCM t
codeword 110 110 111 110 100 010 011 100 100 011 PCM sequence

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 Quantization error
 Quantizing error: The difference between the input and output
of a quantizer e(t )  xˆ (t )  x(t )
Process of quantizing noise
Qauntizer
Model of quantizing noise
y  q (x)
AGC x(t ) xˆ (t )
x(t ) xˆ (t )
x
e(t )

+
e(t) 
ˆ(t)x(t)
x
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 Quantization error …
 Quantizing error:
 Granular or linear errors happen for inputs within the

dynamic range of quantizer

 Saturation errors happen for inputs outside the dynamic

range of quantizer
 Saturation errors are larger than linear errors

 Saturation errors can be avoided by proper tuning of AGC

 Quantization noise variance:

 2
q 
E
{[
xq
(
x
)]
}
e(
x
)
p(
x
)
dx
22
Lin
Sat

2 2




12
q L/2
q2

2
2
p
Lin(
xl)
q l
l Uniform q. 2
Lin
12 l
0 12

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 Uniform and non-uniform
quant.
 Uniform (linear) quantizing:
 No assumption about amplitude statistics and correlation properties of the
input.
 Not using the user-related specifications
 Robust to small changes in input statistic by not finely tuned to a specific
set of input parameters
 Simply implemented
 Application of linear quantizer:
 Signal processing, graphic and display applications, process control
applications
 Non-uniform quantizing:
 Using the input statistics to tune quantizer parameters
 Larger SNR than uniform quantizing with same number of levels
 Non-uniform intervals in the dynamic range with same quantization noise
variance
 Application of non-uniform quantizer:
 Commonly used for speech

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 Non-uniform quantization
 It is done by uniformly quantizing the “compressed” signal.
 At the receiver, an inverse compression characteristic, called
“expansion” is employed to avoid signal distortion.

compression+expansion companding

y  C (x) x̂
x(t ) y (t ) yˆ (t ) xˆ (t )

x ŷ
Compress Quantize Expand
Transmitter Channel Receiver
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 Pulse Code Modulation (continued)
• Binary values are later converted to an analog signal
• Waveform similar to original results

26
 Pulse Code Modulation (continued)

• The more snapshots taken in the same amount of time,

or the more quantization levels, the better the resolution

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 Pulse Code Modulation (continued)

• Because the human voice has a fairly narrow

bandwidth
• Telephone systems digitize voice into either 128
levels or 256 levels
• Called quantization levels
• If 128 levels, then each sample is 7 bits (2 ^ 7 = 128)
• If 256 levels, then each sample is 8 bits (2 ^ 8 = 256)

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 Pulse Code Modulation (continued)

• How fast do you have to sample an input

source to get a fairly accurate representation?

• Nyquist says 2 times the bandwidth

• Thus, if you want to digitize voice (4000 Hz),

you need to sample at 8000 samples per
second

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 Delta Modulation
• An analog waveform is tracked using a binary 1 to
represent a rise in voltage and a 0 to represent a drop

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 Source Coding
 To eliminate redundancy
 Huffman Coding
 Shannon-Fano Coding

 To maximize information rate in a

transmission

 What is Information Rate ?

 Information per bit  Entropy

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 Channel Coding
 Error Control Coding
 To reduce the impact of channel errors by controlled
introduction of redundancy
 Decrease in effective data rate
 Increased coding gain

 Forward Error Correcting Codes

 Linear Block Codes
 Convolutional Codes

 ARQ methods
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 Line Coding Formats
(Converting Data into Signals)

• Numerous techniques –
• NRZ-L
• NRZ-I
• Manchester
• Differential Manchester
• Bipolar AMI

33
Converting Data into Signals
(continued)

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 Pulse Shaping Filters
 Bandlimiting signals in frequency domain 
spreads signal in time domain

 Inter-Symbol Interference  ISI

 Nyquist Criterian to overcome ISI

 Pulse Shaping Filters 

 Raised Cosine Filters
 Gaussian shaping filters

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  t/Ts)
sin(
Consider: heff(t) =  t/Ts
6.44

Assume that for n > 0  heff(nTs) = 0

xNYQ(t)
1
0.8
t /Ts)
sin(
0.6
t /Ts
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-6T -4T -2T 0 2T 4T 6T

heff(nTs) = 0
Transfer function of Nyquist Pulse Shaping Filter

HNYQ(f)
1

1  1 1 1 1 1

2T 2T 2T 2T 2T 2T

scaling factor , 0 ≤  ≤ 1
=0
Guassian filter has narrow absolute bandwidth
• not as narrow as RC filter
• sharp cut-off frequency & low overshoot
• smooth transfer function & no zero crossings

good design choice when

• cost & power efficiency are most important
• BER from ISI is less critical issue

Nyquist (RRC) filters have

• zero crossings at adjacent symbol peaks
• truncated transfer function
• assume flat channel response (equalized)
 Baseband RC Filter Baseband Gaussian Filter
• impulse response plotted • impulse response plotted for
for 0   1 different B3dBTs
hG(t)
=0 hRC(t)
 = 0.5  = 0.5
=1 1/Ts  = 0.75
 = 1.0
 = 2.0


3Ts Ts

Ts 3Ts t
-4T -3T -2T -T 0 T 2T 3T 4T 2 2 2 2

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What is modulation
 Modulation is the process of encoding
information from a message source in a
manner suitable for transmission
 It involves translating a baseband message
signal to a bandpass signal at frequencies
that are very high compared to the baseband
frequency.
 Baseband signal is called modulating signal
 Bandpass signal is called modulated signal

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Modulation Techniques
 Modulation can be done by varying the
 Amplitude
 Phase, or
 Frequency
of a high frequency carrier in accordance with the
amplitude of the message signal.
 Demodulation is the inverse operation:
extracting the baseband message from the
carrier so that it may be processed at the
receiver.

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 Fundamentals of Signals

Amplitude
• Height of the wave above or
below a given reference point

Frequency
• Number of times a signal
makes complete cycle within a
given time frame
• Spectrum - Range of frequencies that a
signal spans from minimum to
maximum
• Bandwidth - The absolute value of the
difference between the lowest and
highest frequencies of a signal
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• For example, voice spectrum 300 - 3100 Hz
 Fundamentals of Signals (continued)

Phase
• Position of the waveform
relative to a given moment
of time or relative to time
zero
• A change in phase can be
any number of angles
between 0 and 360 degrees
• Phase changes often occur
on common angles, such as
45, 90, 135, etc.

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Where do you need modulation ?

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing ADSL

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 Formatting and transmission
of baseband signal
Digital info.

Textual Format
source info.
Pulse
Analog Transmit
Sample Quantize Encode modulate
info.

Pulse
Bit stream waveforms Channel
Format
Analog
info. Low-pass
Decode Demodulate/
filter Receive
Textual Detect
sink
info.

Digital info.

45
 Modulation
-Transmitting Digital Data with Analog Signals

Three basic techniques:

• Amplitude shift keying

• Frequency shift keying

• Phase shift keying

46
 Amplitude Shift Keying

• One amplitude encodes a 0 while another amplitude

encodes a 1 (a form of amplitude modulation)

47
Amplitude Shift Keying (continued)

• Some systems use multiple amplitudes

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 Amplitude Shift Keying (continued)

Multiple Signal Levels

• Why use multiple signal levels?
• We can represent two levels with a single bit, 0 or 1
• We can represent four levels with two bits: 00, 01, 10, 11
• We can represent eight levels with three bits: 000, 001, 010,
011, 100, 101, 110, 111
• Note that the number of levels is always a power of 2

49
 Frequency Shift Keying

• One frequency encodes a 0 while another frequency

encodes a 1 (a form of frequency modulation)

50
 Phase Shift Keying

• One phase change encodes a 0 while another phase

change encodes a 1 (a form of phase modulation)

51
 Goal of Advanced Modulation and
Coding Techniques
 Modulation is difficult task in hostile channels
like the mobile radio channels

 Small-scale fading and multi-path conditions.

 The goal of a modulation scheme is:

 To transport the message signal through the radio channel

with best possible quality.
 To occupy least amount of radio (RF) spectrum.

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Multipath Propagation
multipath
LOS pulses pulses

signal at sender
signal at receiver

power long term

fading

t
short term fading

53
 Wireless channel

Effective channel depends on both physical environment and bandwidth!

54
 Channel Classification

 Flat
SlowFading
FadingChannel
Channel


 Channel
Channel Coherence
Coherence bandwidth >> Signal
time >> Symbol bandwidth
duration


 Frequency
Fast FadingSelective
Channel Fading Channel

 Channel Coherence bandwidth << Signal bandwidth

 Channel Coherence time >> Symbol duration

55
 Phase Shift Keying (continued)

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

• Four different phase angles are used:
• 45 degrees
• 135 degrees
• 225 degrees

• 315 degrees

56
Phase Shift Keying (continued)

57
 Phase Shift Keying (continued)

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

• 12 different phases are combined with two
different amplitudes
• Since only 4 phase angles have 2 different
amplitudes, there are a total of 16 combinations.
• With 16 signal combinations, each baud equals 4
bits of information (2 ^ 4 = 16)

58
Phase Shift Keying (continued)

59
 Spread Spectrum Technology

• A secure encoding technique that uses

multiple frequencies or codes to transmit data

• Two basic spread spectrum technologies:

• Frequency hopping spread spectrum

• Direct sequence spread spectrum

60
Spread Spectrum Technology (continued)

61
Spread Spectrum Technology (continued)

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum

• This technology replaces each binary 0 and
binary 1 with a unique pattern, or sequence, of 1s
and 0s
• For example, one transmitter may transmit the sequence
10010100 for each binary 1, and 11001010 for each
binary 0
• Another transmitter may transmit the sequence
11110000 for each binary 1, and 10101010 for each
binary 0
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 OFDM
 OFDM = Orthogonal FDM
 Carrier centers are put on orthogonal frequencies
 ORTHOGONALITY - The peak of each signal coincides
with trough of other signals
 Subcarriers are spaced by 1/Ts

63
Thank you

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