OBSERVATIONS

Section A
SNR = 5 SNR = 10

SNR = 15 SNR = 20
SNR = 25 SNR = 30

QAM Block with M-ary =8

SNR = 5 SNR = 15
SNR = 10 SNR = 20

SNR = 25 SNR = 30
 Section B When SNR=60dB

SNR = 100 SNR =102

SNR = 104 SNR = 105

SNR = 106 SNR = 110

SNR = 116 SNR = 120

 M-ary=8 in QAM

a=100 a=105

a=110 a=120

a=110
 DISCUSSION

The use of eye diagrams for evaluating communication systems.

In order to eliminate effects caused by interference and noise on digital signals, communication
channels are made band limited. The transmitted signals will undergo a procedure of pulse shaping to
fit into the band which they are supposed to traverse through. Once the shaped digital signal is
repetitively sampled and overlapped on each other, the graph will result in an eye diagram of the
monitored signal.

The eye diagram allows a qualitative analysis of a transmitted signal and various points of the
diagram give an insight to the type of imperfection in the channel. The time interval inside the
opening of the eye gives the possible duration which sampling can be done successfully on the
received signal. As the opening gets wider more reliable the sampling process will be. The center
position of the opening as shown in the figure is considered as the best position for sampling since at
that point the SNR is higher. The height of the eye gives the noise margin for the signal. Higher the
noise margin lesser the signal be sensitive to noise. The sensitivity of the system for timing error is
given by the rate of closure of the eye. Higher the rate more sensitive the system be for timing errors.
The width of the diagram at the point of zero crossing occurs gives the amount of jitter involved
during the transmission of the signal. Higher the width higher the jitter will be.

Depending on the instance the eye diagram is generated, it can be used to monitor and troubleshoot
the various stages in transmitters and receivers.
Factors that can cause reduction of the eye diagram

The top figure of the above diagram shows an undistorted eye diagram of a signal while the latter
shows the eye diagram after the effects by noise and timing errors are taken into account. As
mentioned earlier pulse shaping is done on a signal for it to be transmitted through a band limited
channel. One such widely used pulse shaping technique uses Raised – cosine filters to eliminate the
higher order harmonics which cause Inter Symbolic Interference. Depending on the amount of
bandwidth offered by the channel certain factors of the filter ( α) can be changed to increase the

immunity of the signal to noise. As α gets closer to 1 the eye will be more widely opened. The

diagram below shows how the eye is increased as α is increased from 0 to 1. As α gets closer to 1 the

amount of bandwidth needed to transmit the signal is also increased.

Noise introduced by the channel will also reduce the eye of a signal. As the level of noise in the
channel increases the noise margin will degrade and eventually will result in a closed eye.

The jitter associated with the system will cause inconsistent transition of symbols around the
required instance. This will be displayed in the eye diagram at the zero transition location making the
opening of the eye smaller.

ISI will also result a reduced eye opening since interference caused will vary the signal level by adding
a noise on to the signal.
Nyquist criterion for ISI free baseband transmission

Nyquist ISI criterion offers the chance for a communication channel to overcome the effects caused
by Inter – Symbol Interference. The criterion allows signals to be transmitted along band limited
channels without ISI.
A signal which has not gone through any pulse shaping filter will have a wide range of frequency
spectrum while the channel it is supposed to travel through has a limited bandwidth which will
eventually surpass the higher order harmonics of the signal resulting a broadened signal in the time
axis. This broadening effect will make adjacent symbols to overlap with each other to introduce ISI.
Since ISI will change the overall shape of the signal the error rate will eventually rise up.
Nyquist criterion for ISI describes the minimum amount of bandwidth needed in a channel for it to be
ISI free.
Transmitting a specific form of signal in an ideal channel, when the symbol transmission rate is Rb
symbols per second, the criterion is as described in the following expression

B>Rb/2, where B-Hz and Rb-Symbols/s

 B0, referred as the Nyquist bandwidth, is the minimum transmission bandwidth required for
zero ISI
 The overall system Popt(f) is referred to as the Nyquist channel
 The pulse popt(t) has a peak value at the origin, and zeros at integer multiples of Tb = 1/2B 0
Thus adjacent pulses do not interfere at the sampling instants
Ideal Nyquist channel and Raised cosine channel

For distortion less baseband transmission in the absence of noise channel should satisfy following
equation:

Frequency function P(f) will eliminate ISI for samples taken at intervals Tb provided that R b = 2B.
Where B is called the Nyquist rate(B- Nyquist bandwidth). The ideal baseband pulse transmission
system in the frequency domain or in the time domain is called the ideal Nyquist channel.

Although the ideal Nyquist channel is not practically implementable the channel bandwidth (B) gives
the minimum bandwidth of a channel to be ISI free.

As mentioned earlier, in-order to overcome ISI pulse shaping is carried out. Raised – cosine is a one
widely used filter for pulse shaping.

The ideal raised cosine filter frequency response consists of unity gain at low frequencies, a raised
cosine function in the middle, and total attenuation at high frequencies. The bandwidth of the mid
range frequencies are defined by the roll off factor Alpha which has a value between 0 and 1.
In Filter Solutions, the pass band frequency is defined as the 3dB signal attenuation point. The group
delay must remain constant at least out to 15 to 20 dB of attenuation.

When the pass band frequency of a raised cosine filter is set to half the data rate, then the impulse
response Nyquist's first criteria is satisfied in that the impulse response is zero for T = nTb, where n is
an integer, and T is the data period.

Higher the order of the filter, the greater the raised cosine approximation. High order raised cosine
filters also produce longer time delays. The lower alpha values use less bandwidth, however, they
also produce more ISI due to element value errors and design imperfections as mentioned earlier.

Plot y=rcosine(1,a,[],0.5,3)
With the values 100, 102, 104, 105, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 and 120 given to a, all the plots
were drawn on the same graph.

As shown by the graph as the value of a changes the signal will move along the time axis and will
affect the adjacent symbols resulting ISI.