DIGITAL TRANSMISSION

Digital transmission : the transmittal of digital signals

between two or more points in a communications system.
The signals can be binary or any other form of discretelevel digital pulses.
The original source may be in digital form, or it could be
analog signals that have been converted to digital pulses
prior to transmission and converted back to analog
signals in the receiver.
With digital transmission systems, a physical facility (pair
of wires, coaxial cable, optical fiber cable) is required to
interconnect the various points within the system. The
pulses are propagate down the cable. Digital pulses
cannot be propagated through a wireless transmission
system (Earths atmosphere or free space (vacuum).

Advantages of Digital
Transmission
Noise immunity

Digital signals are less susceptible than analog

signals to interference caused by noise. With
digital signals it is not necessary to evaluate the
precise amplitude, frequency, or phase to as
certain its logic condition. Instead, pulses are
evaluated during a precise time interval
Suitable for signal processing

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) - processing of

signals using digital methods and includes
bandlimiting the signal with filters, amplitude
equalization, and phase shifting
Suitable for multiplexing

Multiplexing is a signal combining technique. It is

the transmission of information (in any form) from
one or more source to one or more destination
over the same transmission medium (facility).

Advantages of Digital
Transmission
Simple storage

Digital signals are much simpler to be stored than analog

signals. The transmission rate of digital signals can be
easily changed to adapt to different environments and to
interface with different types of equipment.
Resistant to additive noise

Digital transmission systems are more resistant to additive

noise than analog signals because they use signal
regeneration rather than signal amplification. Noise
produced in electronic circuits is additive (i.e., it
accumulates); therefore, the signal-to-noise ratio
deteriorates each time an analog signal is amplified.
Further transmission distance

Digital regenerators sample noisy signals and then

reproduce an entirely new digital signal with the same
signal-to-noise ratio as the original transmitted signal.
Conversely, the number of circuits the signal must past
through limits the total distance analog signals can be
transmitted. Therefore, digital signals can be transported
for longer distance than analog signals.

Advantages of Digital
Transmission
Simple to measure and evaluate

Digital signals are simpler and easier to measure

and evaluate than analog signals. Therefore, it is
easier to compare the error performance of one
digital system to another digital system
Easy error detection and correction

Digitals signals allow transmission errors to be

detected and corrected more easily and accurately
than is possible with analog signals.

Disadvantages of Digital
Transmission
Higher bandwidth requirement

The transmission of digitally encoded analogs

signals requires significantly more bandwidth than
simply transmitting the original analog signal.
Bandwidth is one of the most important aspects of
any communications system because it is costly and
limited.
Additional coding circuits requirement

Analog signals must be converted to digital pulses

prior to transmission and converted back to their
original analog form at the receiver, thus
necessitating additional encoding and decoding
circuitry.
Precise time synchronization requirement

Digital transmission requires precise time

synchronization between clocks in the transmitters
and receivers.
System incompatibility

Digital transmission systems are incompatible with

older transmission systems.

PULSE MODULATION
Pulse Modulation consists essentially :
Sampling analog information signal
Converting samples into discrete pulses
Transport the pulses from source to destination
over physical transmission medium.
Four (4) Methods
1.
PAM
Analog Pulse Modulation
2.
PWM
3.
PPM
Digital Pulse Modulation
4.
PCM

Contd...
Analog Pulse Modulation
Carrier signal is pulse waveform and the
modulated signal is where one of the carrier
signals characteristic (either amplitude,
width or position) is changed according to
information signal.

Pulse Amplitude Modulation

(PAM)
The amplitude of pulses
is varied in accordance with the

information signal.
Width & position constant.

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)

Sometimes called Pulse Duration Modulation
(PDM).
The width of pulses is varied in accordance to
information signal.
Amplitude & position constant.
The maximum analog signal amplitude
produces the widest pulse, the minimum
analog signal amplitude produces the
narrowest pulse.

Contd...

Pulse Position Modulation (PPM)

Modulation in which the temporal positions of the pulses
are varied in accordance with some characteristic of the
information signal.
Amplitude & width constant.
The higher the amplitude of the sample, the farther to the
right the pulse is positioned within the prescribed time slot.
The highest amplitude sample produces a pulse to the far
right, and the lowest amplitude sample produces a pulse to
the far left.

Sampling
Sampling : A process of taking samples of information
signal at a rate of Nyquists sampling frequency.
The Nyquist sampling theorem establishes the
minimum sampling rate (fs) that can be used for a
given PCM system.
Nyquists Sampling Theorem :

original information signal can be reconstructed at the recei

h minimal distortion if the sampling rate in the pulse modulat
stem equal to or greater than twice the maximum informatio
signal frequency.

fs 2fm(max)
where:

fs = minimum Nyquist sample rate (hertz)

fm(max) = highest frequency to be sampled

(hertz)

Contd...
Consequently, the minimum sampling rate is
equal to twice the highest audio input
frequency.
If fs is less than two times fm, distortion will
result. This distortion is called aliasing or
foldover distortion.
.

 3 basic conditions of sampling process :

i. Sampling at fs = 2fa(max)
When the modulating signal is sampled
at a minimum sampling
rate, the
frequency spectrum is shown above.
In practice, it is difficult to design a low
pass filter which can pass only the highest
modulating frequency in order to restore the
original modulating signal

 Sampling at fs > 2fa(max)

The sampling rate creates a guard band between
fa(max) and the lowest frequency component (fs 2fa(max)) of the sampling harmonics.
More practical low pass filter can be used to
restore the modulating signal.

 Sampling at fs < 2fa(max)

The side frequencies from one harmonic fold
over into the sideband of another harmonic.
The frequency that folds over is an alias of the
input signal (hence the name aliasing or
foldover distortion). If an alias side
frequency from the first harmonic folds over
into the input audio spectrum, it cannot be
removed through filtering or any other
technique.

Natural Sampling
Tops of the sample pulses retain their
natural shape during the sample interval.
Frequency spectrum of the sampled output
is different from an ideal sample.
Amplitude of frequency components
produced from narrow, finite-width sample
pulses decreases for the higher harmonics
Requiring the use of frequency equalizers

Natural Sampling

Flat-top Sampling
Common used in PCM systems.
Accomplish in a sample-and-hold circuit
To periodically sample the continually
changing analog input voltage & convert to
a series of constant-amplitude PAM voltage
levels.

The input voltage is sampled with a

narrow pulse and then held relatively
constant until the next sample is taken.

Contd
Sampling process alters the frequency
spectrum & introduces aperture error.
The amplitude of the sampled signal
changes during the sample pulse
time.
Advantages:
Introduces less aperture distortion
Can operate with a slower ADC

Flat-top Sampling