Concepts

of
PCM, Digital MUX

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Pulse Code Modulation System

PCM systems use TDM technique to provide a number of
circuits on the same transmission medium viz open wire
or underground cable pair or a channel provided by
carrier, coaxial, microwave or satellite system.
To develop a PCM signal from several analogue signals,
the following processing steps are required

Filtering

Sampling

Quantization

Encoding

Line Coding
(i). Filtering: Filters are used to limit the speech signal to
the frequency band 300-3400 Hz.

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Pulse Code Modulation

(ii). Sampling: The amplitude of the sample depends upon the

amplitude of the input signal at the instant of sampling. The duration
of these sampled pulses is equal to the duration for which the switch
S is closed.
Minimum number of samples are to be sent for any band limited
signal to get a good approximation of the original analogue signal
and the same is defined by the Nyquist sampling Theorem.
Mathematically, if fH is the highest frequency in the signal to be
sampled then the sampling frequency Fs needs to be atleast greater
than or equal to 2 fH.i.e. Fs>=2fH
Since the voice signals are band limited to 4 KHz the sampling
frequency be 8 KHz.
Time period of sampling Ts = 1 sec or Ts = 125 micro seconds
8000

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Pulse Code Modulation contd..

(iii). Quantizing: The process of measuring the
numerical values of the samples and giving them a table
value in a suitable scale is called "Quantizing". Of
course, the scales and the number of points should be
so chosen that the signal could be effectively
reconstructed after demodulation.
In practice, non-uniform quantization is achieved using
segmented quantization (also called companding).
The A-law companding rules for the 30 chl. E1 PCM
system used in India & Europe and -law used for 24
chl. T1 PCM in USA/Canada and Japan.

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Pulse Code Modulation contd..

(iv). Encoding:Conversion of quantized analogue levels to
binary signal is called encoding. To represent 256 steps, 8
level code is required. The eight bit code is also called an
eight bit "word".
The 8 bit word appears in the form
P
ABC
WXYZ
Polarity bit 1
Segment Code
Linear encoding
for + ve & 0' for - ve.
in the
segment
The first bit gives the sign of the voltage to be coded. Next 3
bits gives the segment number. There are 8 segments for the
positive voltages and 8 for negative voltages. Last 4 bits give
the position in the segment. Each segment contains 16
positions.
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Pulse Code Modulation contd..

(v). Line Coding: For distortion free transmission, the
PCM output signal should be converted into a suitable
line code which will match the characteristics of the
medium

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Synchronization & Signaling in PCM

In PCM System, a frame of 125 microseconds duration has 32 time

slots. These slots are numbered Ts 0 to Ts 31.
Information for providing synchronization between trans and receive
ends is passed through a separate time slot. Usually the slot Ts 0
caries the synchronization signals. This slot is also called Frame
Alignment Word (FAW).
The FAW is transmitted in the Ts 0 of every alternate frame. Frames
which do not contain the FAW, are used for transmitting
supervisory and alarm signals.
The signaling information is transmitted through time slot Ts 16.
Ts 1 to Ts 15 are utilized for voltage signal of channels 1 to 15
respectively.
Ts 17 to Ts 31 are utilized for voltage signal of channels 16 to 30
respectively.

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Pulse Code Modulation System contd..

The time slot 16 of each frame carries the
signaling data corresponding to two VF channels only.
Therefore, to cater for 30 channels, we must transmit 15
frames, each having 125 microseconds duration. For
carrying synchronization data for all frames, one
additional frame is used.
Thus a group of 16 frames (each of 125 microseconds)
is formed to make a "multiframe". The duration of a
multiframe is 2 milliseconds.

The multiframe has 16 major time slots of 125

microseconds duration. Each of these (slots) frames has
32 time slots carrying the encoded samples of all
channels plus the signaling and synchronization data.
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Concept of Digital Multiplexing

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In analogue system, multiplex equipment uses F.D.M.

to assemble individual channels into groups, super
group etc. Similarly, in digital systems, hierarchical
levels have been defined using T.D.M. and are
identified by their digit rate
measured in No. of bits/sec.

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