Computer Communication Networks

Data Transmission, Media

Signal Encoding Techniques
Data Communication Techniques
Data Link Control, ATM
Multiplexing, Switching, Routing
Spread Spectrum, Wireless Networks
Local and Wide Area Networks

Physical Layer

Lecture
Goals
Transmission of data over Physical Layer:
Analog and Digital Data

Transmission of data

Data must be transformed to electromagnetic signals to

be transmitted.

Data : Analog or Digital

Analog data : human voice, chirping of birds etc ,

converted to
Analog or digital signals
Digital : data stored in computer memory, converted to
Analog or digital signals

Examples
Analog data as analog signal : Human voice from our

houses to the telephone exchange.

Analog data as digital signal : most of the systems
today : Say Human voice, images sent on digital
lines .. New telephone system (digital exchanges)
Digital data as analog signal : computer data sent
over internet using analog line .. Say telephone line
( say our house to the exchange)
Digital data as digital signal : say from one digital
exchange to another

Signals : Analog or digital

Analog signal has infinitely many levels of intensity

(infinitely many values, continuous values) over a

period of time.
Digital signal has only a limited number of defined

values(discrete values) say, 0,1.

Figure 3.1

Comparisonofanaloganddigitalsignals

Figure 3.2

A sine wave

Figure 3.3

Amplitude

Figure 3.4

Period and frequency

 If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is

zero.
If it changes instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.

 An analog signal is best represented in the frequency

domain.

Figure 3.7

Time and frequency domains

Figure 3.7

Time and frequency domains (continued)

Figure 3.7

Time and frequency domains (continued)

Single-frequency sine wave is not useful

for data communication
A single sine wave can carry electric energy from one

place to another. For eg., the power company sends a

single sine wave with a frequency of say 60Hz to
distribute electric energy to our houses.

Contd..
If a single sine wave was used to convey

conversation over the phone, we would always hear

just a buzz.
If we sent one sine wave to transfer data, we would
always be sending alternating 0s and 1s, which does
not have any communication value.

Composite Signals
If we want to use sine wave for communication, we

need to change one or more of its characteristics. For

eg., to send 1 bit, we send a maximum amplitude,
and to send 0, the minimum amplitude.
When we change one or more characteristics of a
single-frequency signal, it becomes a composite
signal made up of many frequenies.

Figure 3.9

Three harmonics

Figure 3.10

Adding first three harmonics

Fourier Analysis
In early 1900s, French Mathematician Jean-Baptiste

Fourier showed that any composite signal can be

represented as a combination of simple sine waves
with different frequencies, phases and amplitudes.
More is the number of components included better is
the approximation
For eg., let us consider the square wave

Time-Voltage graph
Time on x-axis in msec, Voltage on y-axis

 The first trace in the above figure is the

sum of 2 sine waves with amplitudes

chosen to approximate a 3 Hz square
wave (time base is msec). One sine wave
has a frequency of 3 Hz and the other has
a frequency of 9 Hz.
The second trace starts with the first but
adds a 15 Hz sine wave and a 21 Hz sine
wave. It is clearly a better approximation.

Figure 3.8

Square wave

 It can be shown (ref Kreyzsig) that this signal

consists of a series of sine waves with frequencies f,

3f, 5f, 7f, and amplitudes 4A/pi, 4A/3Pi, 4A/5Pi,
4A/7Pi, where f is the fundamental frequency(1/T,
T the time period) and A the maximum amplitude.
The term with frequency f, 3f .. are called the first
harmonic, 3rd harmonic, respectively.

Frequency spectrum of a signal

The description of a signal using the frequency

domain and containing all its components is called

the frequency spectrum of the signal.

Figure 3.11 Frequency spectrum

comparison

Composite Signal and Transmission

Medium
A signal needs to pass thru a transmission medium. A

transmission medium may pass some frequencies,

may block few and weaken others.
This means when a composite signal, containing
many frequencies, is passed thru a transmission
medium, we may not receive the same signal at the
other end.

Figure 3.12

Signal corruption

Bandwidth of a channel
The range of frequencies that a medium can pass

without loosing one-half of the power contained in

that signal is called its bandwidth.

Figure 3.13

Bandwidth

Representing data as Digital Signals

1 can be encoded as a positive voltage say 5 volts, 0

as zero voltage (or negative voltage say 5 volts)

Most digital signals are aperiodic. Thus we use
Bit interval (instead of period) : time required to send
one bit = 1/ bit rate.
Bit rate (instead of frequency) :number of bits per
second.

Figure 3.17

Bit rate and bit interval

Digital signal as Composite Signal

Digital signal is nothing but a composite analog

signal with an infinite bandwidth.

A digital signal theoretically needs a bandwidth

between 0 and infinity. The lower limit 0 is fixed.

The upper limit may be compromised.

Relationship b/w bit rate and reqd. channel

b/w (informal)
Imagine that our computer creates 6bps
In 1 second, the data created may be 111111, no

change in the value, best case

In another, 101010, maximum change in the values,
worst case
In another, 001010, change in between the above two
cases
We have already shown .. More the changes higher
are the frequency components

Figure 3.18

Digital versus analog

Using single harmonic just to get the

intuition
The signal 111111 (or 00000 ) can be simulated by

sending a single-frequency signal with frequency 0.

The signal 101010 (010101) can be simulated by

sending a single-frequency signal with frequency 3

Hz. (3 signals or sine waves per second)

 All other cases are between the best and the worst

cases. We can simulate other cases with a single

frequency of 1 0r 2 Hz (using appropriate phase).
I.e. to simulate the digital signal at data rate 6bps,
sometimes we need to send a signal of frequency
0, sometimes 1,sometimes 2 and sometimes 3. We
need that our medium should be able to pass
frequencies of 0-3 Hz.

Generalizing the example above

Bit rate = n bps
Best case ---- frequency 0 Hz
Worst case ----- frequency n/2 Hz
Hence B (bandwidth) = n/2

Using more harmonics

However, as said earlier, one harmonic does not

approximate the digital signal nicely and more

harmonics are required to approximate the digital
signal.
As shown earlier, such a signal consists of odd
harmonics
When we add 3rd harmonic to the worst case, we need
B = n/2 + 3n/2 = 4n/2
When we add 5th harmonic to the worst case, we need
B = n/2 + 3n/2 + 5n/2= 9n/2 and so on.
In other words, B >= n/2 or n <= 2B

Relationship b/w bit rate and reqd. channel

b/w (informal)
Hence we conclude that bit rate and the bandwidth of

a channel are proportional to each other.

Analog vs Digital
Low-pass channel : has a bandwidth with frequencies

between 0 and f (f could be anything including

infinity).

Band-pass channel : has a bandwidth with

frequencies between f1 (>=0) and f2

A band-pass channel is more easily available than a

low-pass channel.

Figure 3.19

Low-pass and band-pass

Digital Rate limits

Data rate depends on 3 factors:
The bandwidth available
Number of levels of signals
Quality of the channel (noise level)

Figure 3.18

Digital versus analog

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit rate

b = 2 B log L (log is to base 2)

b : bit rate
B : Bandwidth
L : number of levels

Noisy channel : Shannon Capacity

C = B log (1 + SNR)

C = capacity of the channel in bps

B = Bandwidth
SNR = signal to noise ratio

Digital vs Analog contd

Digital signal needs a low-pass channel

Analog signal can use a band-pass channel.

Moreover, bandwidth of a signal can always be

shifted ( a property required for FDM The

bandwidth of a medium can be divided into several
band-pass channels to carry several analog
transmissions at the same time.)

Example 1
Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the
value of the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. In
other words, the noise is so strong that the signal is
faint. For this channel the capacity is calculated as

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = B log2 (1 + 0)

= B log2 (1) = B 0 = 0

Example 2
We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a
regular telephone line. A telephone line normally has
a bandwidth of 3000 Hz (300 Hz to 3300 Hz). The
signal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. For this
channel the capacity is calculated as
C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 3000 log2 (1 + 3162)
= 3000 log2 (3163)
C = 3000 11.62 = 34,860 bps

Using both the limits

In practice we use both the limits to determine, given

the channel bandwidth, what should be the number

of levels a signal should have.

Acknowledgement

http://www.mhhe.com/engcs/compsci/forouzan/

Q&A
?