Data Communications and Networking

Chapter 2 Data Transmission

Prepared by: A. A. Waseem & Waleej Haider

Transmission Terminology
Transmission
communication of data by propagation and processing of signals

Data transmission occurs between a transmitter & receiver via some medium Transmission media is classified as Guided or Unguided Data must be transformed to electromagnetic waves, in bot h cases Guided medium
The waves are guided along a physical path eg. twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber

Unguided / wireless medium

The waves are not guided eg. air, seawater, vacuum, outer space

Data
Data can be analog or digital Analog data are continuous and take continuous v alues Analog data can be converted to an analog or mod ulated into a digital signal Digital data have discrete states and take discrete v alues (0s and 1s) Digital data can be converted to a digital signal or modulated into an analog signal for transmission a cross a medium

Signals
Signal is the electric or electromagnetic representation of data An electromagnetic signal is generated by the transmitter and then tra nsmitted over a medium Signals can also be analog or digital Analog signal
Signal intensity varies in a smooth way over time It has infinitely many levels of intensity (values) along its path over a per iod of time There are no breaks or discontinuities in the signal e.g; speech

Digital signal
Signal intensity maintains a constant level for some period of time and th en changes to another constant level e.g; binary 1s and 0s A digital signal can have only a limited number of defined values (often 0 and 1)

A Signal is a function of time, but it can also be expressed as a functi on of frequency There are two concepts of data transmission Time domain view and frequency domain view of a signal

Analog Data
Analog data take on continuous values in some interval E.g. voice, video, temperature, and pressure are continuously varying pattern s of intensity freq range of sound wave is 20Hz-20kHz human speech spectrum range is 100Hz-7kHz Audio signals are easily and directly converted into electromagnetic signals All sound freqs, whose amplitude is measured in terms of loudness, are conv erted into electromagnetic freqs, whose amplitude is measured in volts The standard spectrum for a voice channel is 300-3400Hz

Digital Data
Digital data take on discrete values e.g. text, integers, etc Textual data cannot be easily stored or transmitted by data processi ng and communication systems Communication systems are designed for binary data Therefore some text codes have been devised by which characters a re represented by a sequence of bits Commonly used text code: IRA (international reference alphabet) IRA-encoded characters are using 8 bits per character 8th bit is a parity bit used for error detection Thus binary data is generated by terminals and computers etc and t hen converted into digital voltage pulses for transmission The signal uses two constant dc components (voltage levels) 0 or 1

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Analog Signals

Digital Signals

Time Domain Concepts

Time Domain Concepts:
Electromagnetic signals are viewed as a function of tim e The time-domain plot shows changes in signal amplitud e with respect to time It is an amplitude-versus-time plot

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Analogue & Digital Signals

(continuous)

(discrete)

Analog and Digital Waveforms

Periodic and Non-periodic Signals

Periodic signal
A signal completes a pattern within a measurable time frame c alled a Period one full pattern is called a cycle If same signal pattern repeats over subsequent identical period s called periodic signal

Non-periodic signal
pattern not repeated over time Both analog and digital signals can be periodic or non-periodic (a) shows periodic continuous signal (sine wave) (b) shows periodic discrete signal (square wave) In data comm., we commonly use periodic analog signals and no n-periodic digital signals

Cont.. example

Sine Wave
1) Sine wave is the fundamental periodic analog signal Its change over the course of a cycle is smooth and consistent It is a continuous rolling flow Each cycle consists of a single are above the time axis followed by a single are below it (shown in previous fig.) It is represented by three parameters: Peak amplitude (A)
Highest intensity (value) of a signal over time Proportional to the energy it carries Measured in volts Number of cycles per second Rate of change of signal (rate at which signal repeats) Measured in Hertz (Hz) period = time required for one repetition (one cycle) =T T = 1/f or f = 1/T Period and frequency are the inverse of each other

2)

frequency (f)

Cont..
Frequency is the rate of change with respect to time Change in a short span of time means high freq Change over a long span of time means low freq If signal does not change at all, its freq is zero Any electromagnetic signal consists of a collection of periodic analog signals (sine waves) at different amplitude, frequencies, and phases

Cont..
3) Phase ()
Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to time 0 Measure of the relative position in time within a single period of signal Phase is the fractional part t/T of the period T through which t has adva nced relative to an arbitrary origin If we think of the wave as something that can be shifted backward or f orward along the time axis, phase describes the amount of that shift The origin is usually taken as the last previous passage through zero is sometimes referred to as a phase-shift, because it represents a "shif t" from zero phase. Phase shift is any change that occurs in the phase of one signal, or in t he phase difference between two or more signals.

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Cont..
Phase is measured in degrees or radians 360 is 2 rad; 1 is 2/360 rad; and 1 rad is 360/( 2 ) A phase shift of 360 corresponds to a shift of a co mplete period a phase shift of 180 corresponds to a shift of onehalf of a period; and a phase shift of 90 corresponds to a shift of one-q uarter of a period (see Figure).

Varying Sine Waves

s(t) = A sin(2ft +)

Wavelength ()
Wavelength of a signal is the distance traveled by one cycle Distance between two points of corresponding phase of two consecutive cycles Wavelength can be calculated if one is given the propagatio n speed and the period of the signal. Assume signal is traveling with velocity v then = vT or equivalently = v/ f wavelength is normally measured in micrometers (m)

Frequency Domain Concept

Time-domain plot shows changes in signal amplitude with respect to time A frequency-domain plot is concerned with only the peak value and the frequency of the signal as a whole. Changes of amplitude during one period are not shown. A complete sine wave in the time domain can be represent ed by one single spike in the frequency domain. (see fig) The position of the spike shows the frequency and its heigh t shows the peak amplitude

Cont..
The frequency domain is more compact and useful when we are dealing with more than one sine wave. Figure below shows three sine waves, each with different amplitude and f requency. All can be represented by three spikes in the frequency domain

Composite Signals

A single frequency sine wave is not useful in data communications If we had only one single sine wave to convey a conversation over the phone, it would make no sense and carry no information. We would just hear a buzz we need to send a composite signal to communicate data. Any composite signal is a combination of simple sine waves with different freq uencies, amplitudes, and phases as shown in fig (c) The fig (a) fig (b) shows the components of fig (c) which are just simple sine w aves of frequencies f and 3f Their sine waves are: Fig (a): s(t) = sin(2ft) Fig (b): s(t) = (1/3) sin(2(3f)t) The second freq is the integer multiple of the first freq. Thus first freq component is called Fundamental freq. The period of the composite signal is equal to the period of the fundamental fre q as in fig (c) The composite signal generated from fig (a) & (b) will be: Fig (c): s(t) = (4/ ) [sin(2ft) + (1/3) sin(2(3f)t)]

Decomposition of a composite signal in time domain

Frequency Domain Representations

Fig (d): Frequency-domain decomposition of the comp osite signal of Fig (c)

Periodic/ Non- Periodic Composite signals

A composite signal can be periodic or non-periodic A periodic composite signal can be decomposed into a seri es of simple sine waves with discrete frequencies. Discrete Frequencies have integer values (1, 2, 3, ) A non-periodic composite signal can be decomposed into a combination of an infinite number of simple sine waves wi th continuous frequencies Continuous Frequencies have real values. For composite periodic signal see previous fig (c) Fig (a) & (b) shows decomposition of fig (c) For its freq-domain decomposition see fig (d), it shows dis crete frequencies

Example: Non-periodic Composite Signal

Example (Cont..)
There are an infinite number of simple sine frequencies (wa ves) in a non-periodic composite signal created by a microp hone A normal human being can create a continuous range of freq uencies between 0 and 4 kHz Frequency decomposition of this signal produces a continuo us curve. There are an infinite number of frequencies between 0.0 and 4000.0 (real values). The height of the vertical line is the amplitude of the corresp onding frequency

Spectrum & Bandwidth

Spectrum of a signal
range of frequencies contained in a composite signal For the signal of fig (c), the spectrum extends from f to 3f

Bandwidth of a signal
Width of the spectrum (diff. b/w max & min freq of the spectrum) In case of fig (c), the bandwidth is 2f

Effective bandwidth
Most of the composite signal energy is contained in a relatively nar row band of frequencies

This band is called effective bandwidth often called bandwidth

Fig. shows the spec trum and bandwidth

(a) All integer freq uencies between 100 0 and 5000

(b) frequencies are continuous between 1000 and 5000 High amplitude at the center of both fig s shows effective ba ndwidth

Digital Signal
An electronic signal transmitted as binary code that can be either the presence or absence of current, high and low voltages or short pulses at a particular fre quency An arbitrary bit stream; 1 can be encoded as a high (positive) voltage and 0 a s low (non-positive) voltage Digital format is ideal for electronic communication as the string of 1s and 0s can be transmitted by a series of "on/off" signals represented by pulses of ele ctricity or light. A pulse "on" can represent a 1, and the lack of a pulse "off" can represent a 0 Most digital signals are non periodic A digital signal can have more than two levels In this case, we can send more than 1 bit for each level (see fig) (a) shows 1 bit per level (b) shows 2 bits per level If a signal has L levels then no. of bits per level = log2 L

Signal Element Versus Data Element

In data communications, our goal is to send data elements A data element is the smallest entity that can represent a p iece of information: this is the bit. In digital data communications, a signal element carries dat a elements. A signal element is the shortest unit (time wise) of a digita l signal. data elements are what we need to send; signal elements ar e what we can send. Data elements are being carried; signal elements are the car riers.

Data Rate or Bit Rate

The data rate defines the number of data elements (bits) sent in 1 sec. The unit is bits per second (bps) The data rate is sometimes called the bit rate Frequency is not appropriate characteristic for digi tal signal The term-bit rate is used to describe digital signals

Bit Length
The concept of wavelength is for an analog signal: that is the distance one cycle occupies on the trans mission medium. For a digital signal Bit length is used instead of wa velength. Bit length is the distance one bit occupies on the tr ansmission medium.

Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal

Based on Fourier analysis, a digital signal is a composite analog signal. Having only infinite bandwidth A digital signal, in the time domain (see fig), comprises connected vert ical and horizontal line segments. A vertical line in the time domain means a frequency of infinity (sudde n change in time) A horizontal line in the time domain means a frequency of zero (no cha nge in time). Going from a frequency of zero to a frequency of infinity (and vice ver sa) implies all frequencies in between are part of the domain. Hence inf inite bandwidth If the digital signal is periodic, which is rare in data communications, t he decomposed signal has a frequency domain representation with an i nfinite bandwidth and discrete frequencies (see fig). If the digital signal is non-periodic, the decomposed signal still has an i nfinite bandwidth, but the frequencies are continuous (see fig)

Transmission of Digital Signals

Thus a digital signal, periodic or non-periodic, is a composite analog signal with frequencies between zero and infinity. In data communications, we consider the case of a non-periodic digital signal. A digital signal can be transmitted by using one of two different approaches:
baseband transmission or broadband transmission (using modulation).

Baseband Transmission
Means sending a digital signal over a channel without changing to an analog signal. See Fig below Baseband transmission requires a low-pass channel It is a channel with a bandwidth that starts from zero freq.. This is, the entire bandwidth of a cable connecting two computers is one single channel (a dedicated medium) Baseband transmission of a digital signal that preserves the entire sha pe (bandwidth) of the digital signal is possible only if we have a lowpass channel with an infinite or very wide bandwidth e.g; coaxial cabl e or fiber optic It will also be needed to send bits faster

Broadband Transmission (Using Modulation)

Broadband transmission means changing the digital signal to an analog signal for transmission. Modulation allows us to use a Bandpass channel It is a channel with a bandwidth that does not start from zer o freq. we cannot send the digital signal directly to this channel; w e need to convert the digital signal to an analog signal befo re transmission

Example

Relationship b/w Data Rate and Bandwidth

Any transmission system ( transmitter + medium + receiver) a ccommodates only a limited band of frequencies This limits the data rate that can be carried on the medium A square waveform (digital) has an infinite no. of frequency c omponents and hence an infinite bandwidth Furthermore, the greater the bandwidth of a channel, the greate r the cost On the other hand limiting the bandwidth of a channel increase s distortion The higher the data rate of a signal, the greater is its required e ffective bandwidth There is a direct relationship between data rate & bandwidth

Bandwidth
Used in two context 1) Bandwidth in hertz, refers to the range of frequencies in a c omposite signal or the range of frequencies that a channel c an pass. If a telephone channel can transmit frequencies from 300 Hz to 3400Hz, it has a BW of 3100 Hz. 2) Bandwidth in bits per second, refers to the speed of bit trans mission in a channel or link The bandwidth of a Fast Ethernet network is a maximum of 100 Mbps. This means that this network can send 100 Mbps. An increase in bandwidth in hertz means an increase in ban dwidth in bits per second
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Channel and Channel Capacity

A path that connects the sender and recipient, and could take the form of cabl es, circuits or even satellite transmission links is called a Channel Max bit rate at which data can be transmitted on communication channel/path is called Channel Capacity Channel capacity is a function of data rate: rate in bits per second (bps) Bandwidth: bandwidth in hertz or in bps noise : average noise over communications path error rate: rate at which errors occur Error is the reception of 1 when 0 transmitted or 0 when 1 transmitted We want the most efficient use of the capacity Because the greater the bandwidth of a facility, the greater the cost

Bandwidth categories of a Channel

Narrowband:
This is for the channels with BW less than 4000 Hz. E.g. a telegraph channel has a BW of 200 Hz.

Voiceband:
This is the range of frequencies transmitted over a norm al telephone network channel i.e. 4000 Hz.

Wideband:
Channels which have a BW exceeding 4000 Hz are usu ally placed under this category.

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Other Terms
Pass Band:
a particular range of frequencies which can be passed through the transmission equipment. e.g a telegraph circuit could have a pass band between 1200 to 14 00Hz, and a BW of 200Hz.

Cut-off frequencies:
The cut-off frequencies of the telegraph channel above are 1200 H z and 1400 Hz. A frequency at which the attenuation of a device begins to increas e sharply, such as the limiting frequency below which a traveling wave in a given mode cannot be maintained in a waveguide, or the frequency above which an electron tube loses efficiency rapidly. Also known as critical frequency or corner frequency.
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Throughput
It is a measure of how fast we can actually send data t hrough a network. Although, bandwidth in bits per second and throughpu t seem the same, but they are different. In other words, the bandwidth is a potential measurem ent of a link; the throughput is an actual measurement of how fast we can send data. E.g; we may have a link with a bandwidth of 1 Mbps, but the devices connected to the end of the link may h andle only 256 kbps. This means that we cannot send more than 256 kbps through this link.
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Transmission Impairments
Signals travel through transmission media, which are not perf ect Thus signal received may differ from signal transmitted causi ng:
For analog signals - degradation of signal quality For digital signals - bit errors (1becomes 0 or 0 becomes1)

Called Transmission Impairments Most significant impairments are

Attenuation (weak signals) Delay distortion (delay due to distortion) Jitters (variation in delay) Noise (unwanted signals)

Attenuation
When signal strength falls off with distance due to medium imp erfection is called Attenuation received signal strength must be: strong enough to be detected sufficiently higher than noise to be received without error Solution: Strength can be increased using amplifiers/repeaters To show that a signal has lost or gained strength, engineers use the unit of the decibel. The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths of two signals or one signal at two different points (P1 & P2). Note that the decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and po sitive if a signal is amplified.

Delay Distortion or Distortion

Distortion means the signal changes its form or shape Distortion can occur in a composite signal made of differ ent frequencies. Each signal component has its own propagation speed thr ough a medium Hence various components arrive at the receiver at different times Resulting in phase shifts between the different frequencie s if the received signal is distorted due to varying delays experienced at its component frequencies Differences in delay may create a difference in phase if t he delay is not exactly the same as the period duration.

Cont..
The shape of the composite signal is therefore not the same. (See Figure) It only occurs in guided media It is particularly critical for digital data Because some signal components of one bit position will run over into oth er bit positions, causing inter-symbol interference

Jitters
Due to variation in phase delay We can roughly say that jitter is a problem if different pack ets of data encounter different delays and the application us ing the data at the receiver site is time-sensitive (audio and video data) For example, If the delay for the first packet is 20 ms, for t he second is 45 ms, and for the third is 40 ms, then the real -time application that uses the packets suffers jitter Attenuation, distortion and the modulation of the telephone channel causes variation in the propagation delay at any sin gle signal This is known as Jitter.
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Noise
Additional undesired signals added between transmitter and receiver Thermal noise
Due to random motion of electrons in a wire which creates an extra signal It is a function of temperature Uniformly distributed across the bandwidth Present in all electronic devices and transmission media Also called white noise Particularly significant for satellite communication

Noise
Intermodulation noise
When signal at different frequencies share the same transmis sion medium Produce new signals at a freq that is the sum, difference, or multiple of the two original frequencies sharing the same me dium

Crosstalk noise
Crosstalk is the interference of one wire on the other. A signal from one line is picked up by another Unwanted coupling between signal paths Due to electrical coupling between nearby twisted pairs

Noise
Impulse noise
It is an irregular noise spike (a signal with high energy in a ve ry short time) Such as short clicks and crackles with no loss of intelligibility Due to the fault in system, external electromagnetic interferen ce e.g; power lines, lightning, and so on It is of short duration and high amplitude A minor annoyance for analog data But a major source of error in digital data a noise spike could corrupt many bits

Noise
Echo noise
On some very long circuits, mismatching of the lines ca uses the signals to be reflected back to the speaker after a slight delay. To overcome this, echo suppressors or echo cancellers a re fitted to the line so that speech is being transmitted o nly in one direction at a time.

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BIT and BAUD RATES

Transmission speed is measured in terms of bits per second (BPS) The higher the BW, the greater the data carrying capacity of a channel. The Baud rate is the no. of distinct signals (signal elements) sent in one sec. It indicates the no. of signal elements per second or no. of pulses per second A signal element is represented by a change in a particular characteristic (Am plitude , frequency & phase) of a Sine wave form. Therefore , the Baud rate i ndicates how many changes of phase, frequency or amplitude there will be in one second. The baud rate is sometimes called the pulse rate, the modulation rate, or the si gnal rate The term Modulation Rate is used in preference to Baud rate when talking about modems. Nyquists law states that maximum theoretical Baud or Bit rate of the telepho ne channel is twice the BW: Max. Baud Rate = 2 x Bandwidth ; or Max. Bit Rate = (Max. Bd) x log2 L where L is the number of signal levels
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Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Capacity

Usually bit rate (bps) and baud rate (Bd) are the same exce pt when a baud represents more than one bit of information For a Noise free channel the limitation on bit rate is only th e BW of the signal Nyquists theorem states that given a BW (W) the highest data rate that can be carried is 2W. Which means if you are using a voice grade telephone of a BW of 3000 Hz to trans mit your data, then the capacity of the channel is 2W=6000 bps. (when log2 L= 1).

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Cont..
However if multilevel coding (modulation) is used, the capacity of the link becomes: C= 2W log2L Where L= no. of discrete signals or voltage levels. If we use 3-bit encoding scheme , 23=8=L;and W=3000; then C = 2 (3000) (log28) = 6000(3) = 18000bps But we know that increasing the levels of a signal may reduce the reliability of the system.
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Example:
Data is to be transmitted over the PSTN (public s witched telephone network) using a transmission s cheme with 16 levels per signaling element. If the BW of the PSTN is 3000 Hz, work out the Nyquis t maximum data transfer rate (C) Solution: L=16 means we use 4-bit encoding sche me and W=3000; then C = 2 (3000) (log2 16) = 6000(4) = 24000bps
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Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

But communication channels are always affected by noise a nd distortions. To find the theoretical bit rate limit, we need to know the rat io of the signal power to the noise power If signal-to-noise ratio is:
S/N = Average signal power / Average noise power

S/N is actually the ratio of what is wanted (signal) to what is not wanted (noise). A high S/N means the signal is less corrupted by noise; a lo w S/N means the signal is more corrupted by noise. Because S/N is the ratio of two powers, it is often described in decibel units and is called Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) as:
SNR = l0logl0 (S/N ) dB
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Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

For a noisy channel, the data rate is related to the s ignal to noise ratio, and we use the formula given by Shannon and Hartley: C = W x log2(1+ S/N) bps C = data rate in bps; W is the BW of the line in Hz ; S is the average signal power in Watts; N is the a verage noise power in Watts.

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Example:
Assuming that a PSTN has a BW of 3000Hz and a typical signal to noise power ratio of 20 dB, deter mine the maximum data rate that can be achieved.

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Solution:
SNR = signal-to-noise-ratio=10 log10(S/N) therefore: 20 = 10 log10(S/N) 2 = log10(S/N) 102 = S/N; Hence: S/N = 100; now : C = W log2(1+ S/N) bps Therefore: C = 3000 x log2(1+ 100) bps C = 3000 [ log2 (101)] bps C = 19,976 bps
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Summary
Looked at:
Analog vs Digital signals Simple vs Composite signals Periodic vs Non-Periodic signals Frequency, wavelength, spectrum & bandwidth Transmission of digital signals Bit rate, bit length, Baud rate Channel Capacity Transmission impairments Noiseless and Noisy channels

 A sine wave is offset 1/6 cycle with r espect to time 0. What is its phase in degrees and radians?

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 If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine wave s with frequencies of 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz, what is its bandwidth? Draw the spectrum, assuming all components have a maxi- mum amplitude of 10 V

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 Solution Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the bandwidth . Then B =fh - it = 900 - 100 =800 Hz

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