Symbol Rate
Symbol Rate
In digital communications,
Symbol rate (also known as baud or modulation rate) is the number of symbol changes (waveform
changes or signalling events) made to the transmission medium per second using a
digitally modulated signal or a line code.
The Symbol rate is measured in baud (Bd) or symbols/second.
In the case of a line code,
a) the symbol rate is the pulse rate in pulses/second.
b) Each symbol can represent or convey one or several bits of data.
c) The symbol rate is related to, but should not be confused with, the gross bitrate expressed in
bit/second.
Contents
[hide]
1 Symbols
2 Modulation
o 2.1 Binary Modulation
3 Significant condition
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Symbols
1. a waveform,
2. a state or
3. a significant condition
There may be
a direct correspondence between a symbol and a small unit of data (for example, each symbol
may encode
The symbol duration time, also known as unit interval, can be directly measured as the time between
transitions by looking into an eye diagram of an oscilloscope. The symbol duration time Ts can be calculated
as:
A simple example:
General case: A baud rate of 1 kBd = 1,000 Bd is synonymous to a symbol rate of 1,000
The term baud rate has sometimes incorrectly been used to mean bit rate, since these rates are
the same in old modems as well as in the simplest digital communication links using only one bit
per symbol, such that binary "0" is represented by one symbol, and binary "1" by another symbol.
In more advanced modems and data transmission techniques, a symbol may have more than two
states, so it may represent more than one binary digit (a binary digit always represents exactly two
states). For this reason, the baud rate value will often be lower than the gross bit rate.
Example of use and misuse of "baud rate": It is correct to write "the baud rate of my COM port is
9,600" if we mean that the bit rate is 9,600 bit/s, since there is one bit per symbol in this case.
It is not correct to write "the baud rate of Ethernet is 100 M baud" or "the baud rate of my modem
is 56,000" if we mean bit rate. since there is not one bit per symbol in this case
If N bits(binary digits) are conveyed per symbol, and the gross bit rate is R, inclusive of
Symbol rate = fs
Gross bit rate = R
No. of bits per symbol = N
In a modem, these may be sine wave tones with unique combinations of amplitude, phase
[edit]
Modems for passband transmission
wave tone with certain frequency, amplitude and phase.Symbolrate The baud rate is the
One symbol can carry one or several bits of information. In voiceband modems for the
Conveying more than one bit per symbol (i.e pulse or tone) has advantages.
Why ?
It reduces the time required to send a given quantity of data over a limited bandwidth.
A high spectral efficiency in (bit/s)/Hz can be achieved, i.e. a high bit rate in bit/s
The maximum baud rate for a passband for common modulation methods such
A V.22bis modem transmits 2400 bit/s using 1200 Bd (1200 symbol/s), where
each quadrature amplitude modulation symbol carries two bits ofinformation. The
(equal to the baud rate). The carrier frequency (the central frequency of the
generated spectrum) is 1800 Hz, meaning that the lower cut off frequency is 1800
-1200/2 = 1200 Hz, and the upper cutoff frequency is 1800 + 1200/2 = 2400 Hz.
A V.34 modem may transmit symbols at a baud rate of 3,420 Bd, and each symbol
can carry up to ten bits, resulting in a gross bit rate of 3420 * 10 = 34,200 bit/s.
However, the modem is said to operate at a net bit rate of 33,800 bit/s, excluding
In case of a baseband channel such as a telegraph line, a serial cable or a Local Area
Network twisted pair cable, data is transferred using line codes, i.e. pulses rather than
sinewave tones. In this case the baud rate is synonymous to the pulse rate in
pulses/second.
The maximum baud rate or pulse rate for a base band channel is called
the Nyquist rate, and is double the bandwidth (double the cut-off frequency).
the RS-232 serial port/COM port) typically have a symbol rate equal to the gross bit
rate.
and FireWire typically have a symbol rate slightly higher than the data bit rate, due to the
overhead of extra non-data symbols used for self-synchronizing code and error
detection.
J. M. Emile Baudot (18451903) worked out a five-level code (five bits per character) for
telegraphs which was standardized internationally and is commonly called Baudot code.
More than two voltage levels are used in advanced techniques such as FDDI and
100/1000 Mbit/s Ethernet LANs, and others, to achieve high data rates.
1000 Mbit/s Ethernet LAN cables use four wire pairs in full duplex (250 Mbit/s per pair in
both directions simultaneously), and many bits per symbol to encode their data payloads.
symbol rate in symbols per second = (Data rate in bits per second * 204) / (188 * bits per symbol)
The 204 is the number of bytes in a packet including the 16 trailing Reed-
Solomon error checking and correction bytes. The 188 is the number of data bytes
The bits per symbol is the (modulation's power of 2)*(Forward Error Correction). So
The Forward Error Correction (FEC) is usually expressed as a fraction, i.e., 1/2,
3/4, etc.
In the case of 3/4 FEC, for every 3 bits of data, you are sending out 4 bits, one of
Example:
FEC = 3/4
then
view to achieve the OFDM symbol rate. See the OFDM system comparison
and other spread spectrum links) have a symbol rate much higher than the data
rate (they transmit many symbols called chips per data bit.
channel, including radio jamming, and is common in military radio and cell
phones.
Despite the fact that using more bandwidth to carry the same bit rate gives
which results in high system spectral efficiency in (bit/s)/Hz per unit of area.
signal rate is called chip rate, which also is the pulse rate of the
However, in spread spectrum systems, the term symbol may also be used at a
higher layer and refer to one information bit, or a block of information bits that
are modulated using for example conventional QAM modulation, before the
CDMA spreading code is applied. Using the latter definition, the symbol rate is
The disadvantage of conveying many bits per symbol is that the receiver has to
distinguish many signal levels or symbols from each other, which may be
difficult and cause bit errors in case of a poor phone line that suffers from low
code, using fewer bits per symbol, in view to reduce the bit error rate.
An optimal symbol set design takes into account channel bandwidth, desired
information rate, noise characteristics of the channel and the receiver, and
[edit]Modulation
transmission system, the tone can only be changed from one frequency to
[edit]Binary Modulation
If the carrier signal has only two states, then only one bit of data (i.e., a 0 or 1)
The bit rate is in this case equal to the symbol rate. For example, a binary FSK
system would allow the carrier to have one of two frequencies, one
binary phase-shift keying, in which the carrier remains at the same frequency,
but can be in one of two phases. During each symbol, the phase either remains
the same, encoding a 0, or jumps by 180, encoding a 1. Again, only one bit of
rather than the symbols themselves (the actual phase). (The reason for this in
transmitter.)
[edit]
can take,
The bit rate can then be greater than the symbol rate.
For example, a differential phase-shift keying system might allow four possible
achieving a data rate of double the symbol rate. In a more complex scheme
such as 16-QAM, four bits of data are transmitted in each symbol, resulting in a
Transmission channels are generally limited in the bandwidth they can carry.
The bandwidth depends on the symbol (modulation) rate (not directly on the bit
rate). As the bit rate is the product of the symbol rate and the number of bits
former is fixed. However, for each additional bit encoded in a symbol, the
This makes the states less distinct from one another which in turn makes it
more difficult for the receiver to detect the symbol correctly in the presence of
The history of modems is the attempt at increasing the bit rate over a fixed
bits per symbol. For example, the V.29 specifies 4 bits per symbol, at a symbol
rate of 2,400 baud, giving an effective bit rate of 9,600 bits per second.
The history of spread spectrum goes in the opposite direction, leading to fewer
and fewer data bits per symbol in order to spread the bandwidth. In the case of
GPS, we have a data rate of 50 bit/s and a symbol rate of 1.023 Mchips/s. If
each chip is considered a symbol, each symbol contains far less than one bit
[edit]Significant condition
information.[2]
significant instants.[2]
Information can be transmitted either during the given time interval, or encoded
received into its intended logical value such as a binary digit (0 or 1), an
BIT RATE
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (sometimes written bitrate, data rate or as a R[1]) is
the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time.
The bit rate is quantified using the bits per second (bit/s) unit, often in conjunction with an SI prefix such
askilo- (kbit/s), mega- (Mbit/s), giga- (Gbit/s) or tera- (Tbit/s).
Note that, unlike many other computer-related units, 1 kbit/s is traditionally defined as 1,000-bit/s, not
1,024-bit/s, etc., also before 1999 when SI prefixes were introduced for units of information in the
standard IEC 60027-2.
Uppercase K as in Kbit/s should never be used.
The formal abbreviation for "bits per second" is "bit/s" (not "bits/s", see writing style for SI units).
In less formal contexts the abbreviations "b/s" or "bps" are sometimes used, though this risks confusion with
"bytesper second" ("B/s", "Bps"), and the use of the abbreviation ps is also inconsistent with the SI symbol
forpicosecond.
1 Protocol layers
2 Prefixes
3 Progress trends
4 Multimedia
o 4.1 Audio
4.1.1 MP3
o 4.3 Notes
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
PROTOCOL LAYERS
The gross bit rate is related to, but should not be confused with, the symbol rate or modulation rate
in baud, symbols/s or pulses/s.
Gross bit rate can be used interchangeably with "baud" only when there are two levels per
symbol, representing 0 and 1 respectively,
meaning that each symbol of a data transmission system carries exactly one bit of data; something
not true for modern modem ---- modulation systems and modern LANs, for example.[citation needed]
For most line codes and modulation methods:
A digital modulation method (or passband transmission scheme) using 2N different symbols, for
example 2Namplitudes, phases or frequencies, can transfer N bit/symbol. This results in:
The physical layer net bit rate is the datarate measured at a reference point in the interface
between the data ink layer and physical layer, and may consequently include data link and
higher layer overhead.
Peak bit rate : In modems and wireless systems, link adaptation (automatic adaption of the data
rate and the modulation and/or error coding scheme to the signal quality) is often applied. In that
context, the term peak bitrate denotes the net bitrate of the fastest and least robust transmission
mode, used for example when the distance is very short between sender and transmitter.[10]
Some operating systems and network equipment may detect the "connection speed"[11] (informal
language) of a network access technology or communication device, implying the current net bit rate.
Note that the term line rate in some textbooks is defined as gross bit rate,[9] in others as net bit rate.
The relationship between the gross bit rate and net bit rate is affected by the FEC code
rate according to the following.
In communications technologies without (a) forward error correction and other (b) physical layer
protocol overhead, there is no distinction between gross bit rate and physical layer net bit rate.
For example, the net as well as gross bit rate of Ethernet 10Base-T is 10 Mbit/s. Due to
the Manchester line code, (A) each bit is represented by two pulses, resulting in a pulse rate of 20
M baud.
The "connection speed" of a V.92 voiceband modem typically refers to the gross bit rate, since
there is no additional error-correction code. It can be up to 56,000-bit/s downstreams and 48,000-
bit/s upstreams.
A lower bit rate may be chosen during the connection establishment phase due toadaptive
modulation - slower but more robust modulation schemes are chosen in case of poor signal-to-noise
ratio.
Due to data compression, the actual data transmission rate or throughput (see below) may be
higher.
The channel capacity, also known as the Shannon capacity, is a theoretical upper bound for the
maximum net bit rate, (a)exclusive of forward error correction coding, that is possible without bit
errors for a certain physical analog node-to-node communication link.
Network throughput
Main article: Throughput
The term throughput, essentially the same thing
as digital bandwidth consumption, denotes the
achieved average useful bit rate in a computer
network over a logical or physical communication
link or through a network node, typically measured at a
reference point above the datalink layer.
This implies that the throughput often excludes data
link layer protocol overhead.
The throughput is affected by the- traffic load from
the data source in question, as well as from other
sources sharing the same network resources. See
also Measuring network throughput.
Goodput (data transfer rate)
: Goodput
Goodput or data transfer rate refers to the achieved average net bit rate that is delivered to
the application layer, exclusive of all protocol overhead, data packets retransmissions, etc.
For example, in the case of file transfer, the goodput corresponds to the achieved file transfer rate.
The file transfer rate in bit/s can be calculated as the file size (in bytes), divided by the file transfer
time (in seconds), and multiplied by eight.
As an example, the goodput or data transfer rate of a V.92
voiceband modem is affected by the modem physical layer and
data link layer protocols. It is sometimes higher than the physical
layer data rate due to V.44 data compression, and sometimes
lower due to bit-errors and automatic repeat
request retransmissions.
If no data compression is provided by the network equipment or protocols, we have the following
relation:
retransmissions.
any retransmission.
For
time.
When data is transferred over a communications medium, such as the Internet or a local area network
(LAN),
the average transfer speed is often described as throughput.
This measurement includes all the
protocol overhead information,
such as packet headers and
other data that is included in the transfer process.
It also includes packets that are retransmitted because of network conflicts or errors.
Goodput, on the other hand, only measures the throughput of the original data.
Goodput can be calculated by
dividing the size of a transmitted file by the time it takes to transfer the file.
Since this calculation does not include the additional information that is transferred between systems,
the goodput measurement will always be less than or equal to the throughput.
For example, the maximum transmission unit MTU of anEthernet connection is 1,500 bytes. Therefore, any
file over 1,500 bytes must be split into multiple packets.
Each packet includes header information (typically 40 bytes), which adds to the total amount of data that
needs to be transferred.
Therefore, the goodput of an Ethernet connection will always be slightly less than the throughput.
While goodput is typically close to the throughput measurement,
For example, network congestion may cause data collisions, which requires packets to be resent. Many
protocols also require acknowledgment that packets have been received on the other end, which adds
additional overhead to the transfer process.
Whenever more overhead is added to a data transfer, it will increase the difference between the throughput
and the goodput.
Multimedia encoding
In digital multimedia, bit rate often refers to the number
of bits used per unit of playback time to represent a
continuous signal such as audio orvideo after source
coding (data compression).
The encoding bit rate of a multimedia file is the size of a
multimedia file in bytes divided by the playback time of
the recording (in seconds), multiplied by eight.
For realtime streaming multimedia, the encoding bit rate is
the goodput that is required to avoid interrupt:
2007: Mobile
WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) 144
Mbit/s upstreams
standards
[edit]Other audio
[edit]Video
[edit]Notes
For technical reasons (hardware/software
protocols, overheads, encoding schemes, etc.)
the actual bitrates used by some of the compared-
to devices may be significantly higher than what is
listed above. For example:
This is an unwanted phenomenon as the previous symbols have similar effect as noise, thus
1. multipath propagation or
"blur" together.
The presence of ISI in the system introduces errors in the decision device at the receiver output.
Therefore, in the design of the transmitting and receiving filters, the objective is
1. To minimize the effects of ISI, and
2. thereby deliver the digital data to its destination with the smallest error rate possible.
Ways to fight intersymbol interference include
1. adaptive equalization and
2. error correcting codes.
Contents
[hide]
1 Causes
3 Countering ISI
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
Causes
1. Multipath propagation
Main article: Multipath propagation
One of the causes of intersymbol interference is what is known as multipath propagation in which a
wireless signal from a transmitter reaches the receiver via many different paths.
2. Bandlimited channels
a bandlimited channel, i.e., one where the frequency response is zero above a certain
Passing a signal through such a channel results in the removal of frequency components
above this cutoff frequency; in addition, the amplitude of the frequency components below
This filtering of the transmitted signal affects the shape of the pulse that arrives at the
receiver.
The effects of filtering a rectangular pulse; not only change the shape of the pulse within the
first symbol period, but it is also spread out over the subsequent symbol periods.
When a message is transmitted through such a channel, the spread pulse of each individual
Bandlimited channels are present in both wired and wireless communications. The limitation is
often imposed by the desire to operate multiple independent signals through the same
For wireless systems, they may be allocated a slice of the electromagnetic spectrum to
transmit in (for example, FM radio is often broadcast in the 87.5 MHz - 108 MHz range). This
allocation is usually administered by a government agency; in the case of the United States this
fiber cable, the allocation will be decided by the owner of the cable.
The bandlimiting can also be due to the physical properties of the medium - for instance, the
cable being used in a wired system may have a cutoff frequency above which practically none of
possible to communicate with no ISI at all. Often the channel response is not known
One way to study ISI in a PCM or data transmission system experimentally is to apply the received wave to
the vertical deflection plates of an oscilloscope and to apply a sawtooth wave at the transmitted symbol rate
R (R = 1/T) to the horizontal deflection plates. The resulting display is called an eye pattern because of its
resemblance to the human eye for binary waves. The interior region of the eye pattern is called the eye
opening. An eye pattern provides a great deal of information about the performance of the pertinent system.
1. The width of the eye opening defines the time interval over which the received wave can be
sampled without error from ISI. It is apparent that the preferred time for sampling is the instant of
2. The sensitivity of the system to timing error is determined by the rate of closure of the eye as the
3. The height of the eye opening, at a specified sampling time, defines the margin over noise.
An eye pattern, which overlays many samples of a signal, can give a graphical representation of the signal
characteristics. The first image below is the eye pattern for a binary phase-shift keying (PSK) system in
which a one is represented by an amplitude of -1 and a zero by an amplitude of +1. The current sampling
time is at the center of the image and the previous and next sampling times are at the edges of the image.
The various transitions from one sampling time to another (such as one-to-zero, one-to-one and so forth)
The noise margin - the amount of noise required to cause the receiver to get an error - is given by the
distance between the signal and the zero amplitude point at the sampling time; in other words, the further
from zero at the sampling time the signal is the better. For the signal to be correctly interpreted, it must be
sampled somewhere between the two points where the zero-to-one and one-to-zero transitions cross. Again,
the further apart these points are the better, as this means the signal will be less sensitive to errors in the
The effects of ISI are shown in the second image which is an eye pattern of the same system when
operating over a multipath channel. The effects of receiving delayed and distorted versions of the signal can
be seen in the loss of definition of the signal transitions. It also reduces both the noise margin and the
window in which the signal can be sampled, which shows that the performance of the system will be worse
The eye diagram of the same system with multipath effects added
Graphical eye pattern showing an example of two power levels in an OOK modulation scheme. Constant
binary 1 and 0 levels are shown, as well as transitions from 0 to 1, 1 to 0, 0 to 1 to 0, and 1 to 0 to 1.
EYE PATTERN
In telecommunication, an eye pattern, also known as an eye diagram, is an oscilloscope display.
In which a digital data signal from a receiver is repetitively sampled and applied to the vertical
input,
while the data rate is used to trigger the horizontal sweep.
It is so called because, for several types of coding, the pattern looks like a series of eyes between a
pair of rails.
Several system performance measures can be derived by analyzing the display.
If the signals are
1. too long,
2. too short,
3. poorly synchronized with the system clock,
4. too high,
5. too low,
6. too noisy, or
7. too slow to change, or
8. too much undershoot or overshoot
this can be observed from the eye diagram.
An open eye pattern corresponds to minimal signal distortion.
Distortion of the signal waveform due to intersymbol interference and noise appears as closure of
the eye pattern.[1][2][3]
The eye diagram of the same system with multipath interference effects added
There are many measurements that can be obtained from an Eye Diagram[4]:
Amplitude Measurements
Eye Amplitude
Eye Crossing Amplitude
Eye Crossing Percentage
Eye Height
Eye Level
Eye SNR
Quality Factor
Vertical Eye Opening
Time Measurements
Deterministic Jitter
Eye Crossing Time
Eye Delay
Eye Fall Time
Eye Rise Time
Eye Width
Horizontal Eye Opening
Peak-to-Peak Jitter
Random Jitter
RMS Jitter
Total Jitter
[edit]Interpreting Measurements
Countering ISI
There are several techniques in telecommunication and data storage that try to work around the
Design systems such that the impulse response is short enough that very little energy from one
Apply an equalizer at the receiver, that, broadly speaking, attempts to undo the effect of the
[edit]
The difference between Hz (Hertz) and bps (bits per second) is both a simple distinction and a
complicated one.
So I'll try to keep it on the simple side: Hz applies to a clock frequency that is used to modulate
the electrical signal on the wire (assuming copper).
The higher the rate of modulation (Hz), the more information that can be transmitted per
second.
It is fundamental to the operation of the communication interface but it doesn't tell the most
useful story.
In the early days of modems, the rate of modulation was typically referred to as "baud."
Baud used to be synonymous with bps however encoding techniques have evolved
considerably and the relationship has changed.
Bps is typically different from the modulation rate and is primarily important with respect to data transfer
rates.
Bit rate is a measure of the number of data bits (that's 0's and 1's) transmitted in one second.
A figure of 2400 bits per second means 2400 zeros or ones can be transmitted in one second,
hence the abbreviation 'bps'.
Baud rate by definition means the number of times a signal in a communications channel
changes state.
For example, a 2400 baud rate means that the channel can change states up to 2400 times per
second.
When I say 'change state' I mean that it can change from 0 to 1 up to 2400 times per second.
If you think about this, it's pretty much similar to the bit rate, which in the above example was 2400
bps.
1. Whether you can transmit 2400 zeros or ones in one second (bit rate), or change the
state of a digital signal up to 2400 times per second (baud rate), it the same thing.
2. So we can conclude that in the above example, the bit rate is the same as the baud rate.
Hence, 1 bit rate = 1 baud rate for this example.
There are cases though where a channel can send 4 bits per baud,
meaning that for every 4 bits, we have one change, and in this case, the baud
rate is 1/4th of the bit rate.
Baud was the prevalent measure for data transmission speed until replaced
by a more accurate term, bps (bits per second).
Since a single state change can involve more than a single bit of data, the
bps unit of measurement has replaced it as a better expression of data
transmission speed.
The measure was named after a French engineer, Jean-Maurice-Emile Baudot. It was first used to measure
the speed of telegraph transmissions.
n data communications, bits per second (abbreviated bps or bit/sec) is a common measure of data speed for
computer modems and transmission carriers. As the term implies, the speed in bps is equal to the number of
bits transmitted or received each second.
Larger units are sometimes used to denote high data speeds. One kilobit per second (abbreviated Kbps in
the U.S.; kbps elsewhere) is equal to 1,000 bps. One megabit per second (Mbps) is equal to 1,000,000 bps
or 1,000 Kbps.
Computer modems for twisted pair telephone lines usually operate at 57.6 Kbps or, with Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL) service, at 512 Kbps or faster. So-called "cable modems," designed for use with TV cable
networks, can operate at more than 1.5 Mbps. Fiber optic modems can send and receive data at many
Mbps.
The bandwidth of a signal depends on the speed in bps. With some exceptions, the higher the bps number,
the greater is the nominal signal bandwidth. (Speed and bandwidth are, however, not the same thing.)
Bandwidth is measured in standard frequency units of kHz or MHz.
Data speed used to be specified in terms of baud, which is a measure of the number of times a digital signal
changes state in one second. Baud, sometimes called the "baud rate," is almost always a lower figure than
bps for a given digital signal because some signal modulation techniques allow more than one data bit to be
transmitted per change state.
In data communications, bits per second (abbreviated bps or bit/sec) is a common measure of data speed
for computer modems and transmission carriers. As the term implies, the speed in bps is equal to the
number of bits transmitted or received each second.
Larger units are sometimes used to denote high data speeds. One kilobit per second (abbreviated Kbps in
the U.S.; kbps elsewhere) is equal to 1,000 bps. One megabit per second (Mbps) is equal to 1,000,000 bps
or 1,000 Kbps.
Computer modems for twisted pair telephone lines usually operate at 57.6 Kbps or, with Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL) service, at 512 Kbps or faster. So-called "cable modems," designed for use with TV cable
networks, can operate at more than 1.5 Mbps. Fiber optic modems can send and receive data at many
Mbps.
The bandwidth of a signal depends on the speed in bps. With some exceptions, the higher the bps number,
the greater is the nominal signal bandwidth. (Speed and bandwidth are, however, not the same thing.)
Bandwidth is measured in standard frequency units of kHz or MHz.
Data speed used to be specified in terms of baud, which is a measure of the number of times a digital signal
changes state in one second. Baud, sometimes called the "baud rate," is almost always a lower figure than
bps for a given digital signal because some signal modulation techniques allow more than one data bit to be
transmitted per change state.
Baud was the prevalent measure for data transmission speed until replaced by a more accurate term, bps
(bits per second). One baud is one electronic state change per second. Since a single state change can
involve more than a single bit of data, the bps unit of measurement has replaced it as a better expression of
data transmission speed.
The measure was named after a French engineer, Jean-Maurice-Emile Baudot. It was first used to measure
the speed of telegraph transmissions.
The difference between Hz (Herz) and bps (bits per second) is both a simple distinction and a
complicated one. So I'll try to keep it on the simple side: Hz applies to a clock frequency that is
used to modulate the electrical signal on the wire (assuming copper). The higher the rate of
modulation (Hz), the more information that can be transmitted per second. It is fundamental to the
operation of the communication interface but it doesn't tell the most useful story. In the early days of
modems, the rate of modulation was typically referred to as "baud." Baud used to be synonymous
with bps however encoding techniques have evolved considerably and the relationship has
changed. Bps is typically different from the modulation rate and is primarily important with respect
to data transfer rates.
The Bottom Line The true measure of modem speed is the number of data bits transmitted per second.
"Baud" refers to changes in state of a modem's signal. All are defined here ...
Do you know what bits, baud and bps really mean? Modem transmission speed is the source of no little
confusion, even among otherwise informed computer and modem users. The root of the problem is the fact
that the terms "baud" and "bits per second" are used interchangeably and indiscriminately. I strongly suspect
this is a result of the fact that it's easier to say "baud" than "bits per second," though misinformation has a
hand in it, too.
If you've ever found yourself confused by the relationship between bits and baud rate, or if you think that a
modem's baud rate is the same as the number of bits or characters it transmits per second, please read this
article carefully. I guarantee to clear up the confusion and disabuse you of any false concepts ... and just
maybe make the whole matter of modem speed a little less intimidating.
Baud rate
Modems transmit data by changing the signal in a communications link (a telephone line). Changes in the
signal (in strength, frequency, or other elements) represent bits. The nature of the signal and how it changes
arent important here; what does matter is the fact that the signal changes in some respect to represent each
bit--one sort of signal change can be a digital 0, another can be a digital 1. Thus, a series of changes
represents each byte (letter, numeral, etc.) transmitted. You dont have to worry about how this is done; your
modem and software take care of that.
Each change is referred to as a baud.
Baud rate is a measure of the number of times per second a signal in a communications link changes. One
baud is one such change. Thus, a 300-baud modem's signal changes state 300 times each second, while a
600-baud modem's signal changes state 600 times per second. This does not necessarily mean that a 300-
baud and a 600-baud modem transmit 300 and 600 bits per second, as you'll learn in a few lines.
Similarly, if a modem operating at 1200 baud were to use one change in state to send each bit, that
modem's bps rate would be 1200. (There are no 1200 baud modems, by the way--nor are there any 2400-
baud modems. Remember that. This is only a demonstrative and hypothetical example.)
Now, consider a hypothetical 300-baud modem using a modulation technique that requires two changes in
state to send one bit, which can also be viewed as 1/2 bit per baud. Such a modem's bps rate would be 150
bps:
300 bauds per second X 1/2 baud per bit = 150 bps
To look at it another way, bits per second can also be obtained by dividing the modem's baud rate by the
number of changes in state, or bauds, required to send one bit:
300 baud
--------------- = 150 bps
2 bauds per bit
Now let's move away from the hypothetical and into reality, as it exists in the world of modulation.
First, lest you be misled into thinking that "any 1200 baud modem" should be able to operate at 2400 bps
with a two-bits-per-baud modulation technique, remember that I said there are no 1200 baud modems.
Medium- and high-speed modems use baud rates that are lower than their bps rates. Along with this,
however, they use multiple-state modulation to send more than one bit per baud.
For example, 1200 bps modems that conform to the Bell 212A standard (which includes most 1200 bps
modems used in the U.S.) operate at 300 baud and use a modulation technique called phase modulation
that transmits four bits per baud. Such modems are capable of 1200 bps operation, but not 2400 bps
because they send only four bits per baud, with 300 bauds per second. So:
or
300 baud
------------------ = 1200 bps
1/4 baud per bit
Similarly, 2400 bps modems that conform to the CCITT V.22 recommendation (virtually all of them) actually
use a baud rate of 600 when they operate at 2400 bps. However, they also use a modulation technique that
transmits four bits per baud:
or
600 baud
------------------ = 2400 bps
1/4 baud per bit
Thus, a 1200-bps modem is not a 1200-baud modem, nor is a 2400-bps modem a 2400-baud modem.
Now let's take a look at 9600-bps modems. Most of these operate at 2400 baud, but (again) use a
modulation technique that yields four bits per baud. Thus:
or
2400 baud
------------------ = 9600 bps
1/4 baud per bit
9600 bps
----------------------- = 960 characters per second
10 bits per character
14,400 bps
----------------------- = 1,440 characters per second
10 bits per character
28,800 bps
----------------------- = 2,880 characters per second
10 bits per character
and so on.
Baud rate is the number of symbols that can be transmitted over a line in a second. This is similar to bit
rate except that each symbol usually consists of more than 1 bit. So in a system with 3 bit symbols operating
at 1000 baud will have a 3000 bit/s bit rate.
Bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies of a given piece of spectrum and is
measured in Hz. This is essentially the amount of space available to transmit data through the air or over a
wire. Think of cable TV; multiple channels are able to be carried over a single wire because each channel
uses its own frequency range, and the width of that frequency range is the channel's bandwidth.
Channel capacity is the maximum data rate that can be carried over a certain medium given several factors
including the amount of bandwidth available. The greater the bandwidth, the greater the channel capacity.
Because of the direct relation between bandwidth and channel capacity, channel capacity and throughput
are often referred to as bandwidth in the computing world.
THROUGHPUT
In communication networks, such as Ethernet or packet radio,
Throughput or network throughput is the average rate of successful message delivery over a
communication channel.
This data may be delivered over a physical or logical link, or pass through a certain network node. The
throughput is usually measured in bits per second (bit/s or bps), and sometimes in data packets per
second or data packets per time slot.
The system throughput or aggregate throughput is the sum of the data rates that are delivered to all
terminals in a network.
The throughput can be analyzed mathematically by means of queueing theory, where the load in packets
per time unit is denoted arrival rate , and the throughput in packets per time unit is denoted departure rate
.
Throughput is essentially synonymous to digital bandwidth consumption.
In computer networking and computer science, the words bandwidth,[1] network bandwidth,[2] data
bandwidth,[3] or digital bandwidth[4][5] are terms used to refer to various bit-rate measures, representing the
available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits per second or multiples of it (bit/s,
kbit/s, Mbit/s, Gbit/s, etc.).
Note that in textbooks on signal processing, wireless communications, modem data transmission, digital
communications, electronics, etc., the word 'bandwidth' is used to refer to analog signal
bandwidth measured in hertz. The connection is that according to Hartley's law, the digital data rate limit
(or channel capacity) of a physical communication link is proportional to its bandwidth in hertz.
Contents
[hide]
2 Network bandwidth
consumption
3 Asymptotic bandwidth
4 Multimedia bandwidth
bandwidths
7 See also
8 References
[edit]Network bandwidth capacity
Bandwidth sometimes defines the net bit rate (aka. peak bit rate, information rate or physical layer useful bit
rate), channel capacity, or the maximum throughput of a logical or physical communication path in a digital
communication system. For example, bandwidth tests measure the maximum throughput of a computer
network. The reason for this usage is that according to Hartley's law, the maximum data rate of a physical
communication link is proportional to its bandwidth in hertz, which is sometimes called frequency
bandwidth, spectral bandwidth, RF bandwidth, signal bandwidthor analog bandwidth.
[edit]Network bandwidth consumption
Bandwidth in bit/s may also refer to consumed bandwidth, corresponding to achieved throughput or goodput,
i.e., the average rate of successful data transfer through a communication path. This sense applies to
concepts and technologies such as bandwidth shaping, bandwidth management,bandwidth
throttling, bandwidth cap, bandwidth allocation (for example bandwidth allocation protocol and dynamic
bandwidth allocation), etc. A bit stream's bandwidth is proportional to the average consumed signal
bandwidth in Hertz (the average spectral bandwidth of the analog signal representing the bit stream) during
a studied time interval.
Channel bandwidth may be confused with data throughput. A channel with x bps may not necessarily
transmit data at x rate, since protocols, encryption, and other factors can add appreciable overhead. For
instance, a lot of internet traffic uses the transmission control protocol (TCP) which requires a three-way
handshake for each transaction, which, though in many modern implementations is efficient, does add
significant overhead compared to simpler protocols. In general, for any effective digital communication, a
framing protocol is needed; overhead and effective throughput depends on implementation. Actual
throughput is less than or equal to the actual channel capacity plus implementation overhead.
[edit]Asymptotic bandwidth
The asymptotic bandwidth for a network is the measure of useful throughput, when the packet size
approaches infinity.[6]
Asymptotic bandwidths are usually estimated by sending a number of very large messages through the
network, measuring the end-to-end throughput. As other bandwidths, the asymptotic bandwidth is measured
in multiples of bits per second.
[edit]Multimedia bandwidth
Digital bandwidth may also refer to: multimedia bit rate or average bitrate after multimedia data
compression (source coding), defined as the total amount of data divided by the playback time.
[edit]Bandwidth in web hosting
In website hosting, the term "bandwidth" is often[citation needed] incorrectly used to describe the amount of data
transferred to or from the website or server within a prescribed period of time, for example bandwidth
consumption accumulated over a month measured in gigabytes per month. The more accurate phrase used
for this meaning of a maximum amount of data transfer each month or given period is monthly data transfer.
[edit]Internet connection bandwidths
This table shows the maximum bandwidth (the physical layer net bitrate) of common Internet access
technologies. For more detailed lists see
10 Mbit/s Ethernet
Contents
[hide]
1 Maximum throughput
throughput
3 Factors affecting throughput
o 3.1 Analog limitations
6 See also
7 Footnotes
8 References
[edit]Maximum throughput
The definitions assume a noiseless channel. Otherwise, the throughput would not be only associated
to the nature (efficiency) of the protocol but also to retransmissions resultant from quality of the
channel.
In a simplistic approach, channel efficiency can be equal to channel utilization assuming that
acknowledge packets are zero-length and that the communications provider will not see any bandwidth
relative to retransmissions or headers. Therefore, certain texts mark a difference between channel
utilization and protocol efficiency.
In a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication link, where only one terminal is transmitting, the
maximum throughput is often equivalent to or very near the physical data rate (the channel capacity),
since the channel utilization can be almost 100% in such a network, except for a small inter-frame gap.
For example, in Ethernet the maximum frame size 1526 bytes (maximum 1500 byte payload + 8 byte
preamble + 14 byte header + 4 Byte trailer). An additional minimum interframe gap corresponding to 12
byte is inserted after each frame. This corresponds to a maximum channel utilization of 1526/
(1526+12)100% = 99.22%, or a maximum channel use of 99.22 Mbit/s inclusive of Ethernet datalink
layer protocol overhead in a 100 Mbit/s Ethernet connection. The maximum throughput or channel
The throughput of a communication system will be limited by a huge number of factors. Some of these
are described below:
[edit]Analog limitations
The maximum achievable throughput (the channel capacity) is affected by the bandwidth in hertz and
signal-to-noise ratio of the analog physical medium.
Despite the conceptual simplicity of digital information, all electrical signals traveling over wires are
analog. The analog limitations of wires or wireless systems inevitably provide an upper bound on the
amount of information that can be sent. The dominant equation here is the Shannon-Hartley theorem,
and analog limitations of this type can be understood as factors that affect either the analog bandwidth
of a signal or as factors that affect the signal to noise ratio. It should be noted that the bandwidth of
wired systems can be in fact surprisingly narrow, with the bandwidth of Ethernet wire limited to
approximately 1 GHz, and PCB traces limited by a similar amount.
Digital systems refer to the 'knee frequency',[2] the amount of time the digital voltage to rise from 10% of
a nominal digital '0' to a nominal digital '1' or vice-verse. The knee frequency is related to the required
bandwidth of a channel, and can be related to the 3 db bandwidth of a system by the equation:
[3]
Where Tr is the 10% to 90% rise time, and K is a constant of proportionality
related to the pulse shape, equal to 0.35 for exponential rise, and 0.338 for Gaussian rise.
RC losses: wires have an inherent resistance, and an inherent capacitance when measured with
respect to ground. This leads to effects calledparasitic capacitance, causing all wires and cables to
act as RC lowpass filters.
Skin effect: As frequency increases, electric charges migrate to the edges of wires or cable. This
reduces the effective cross sectional area available for carrying current, increasing resistance and
reducing the signal to noise ratio. For AWG 24 wire (of the type commonly found in Cat 5ecable),
the skin effect frequency becomes dominant over the inherent resistivity of the wire at 100 kHz. At
1 GHz the resistivity has increased to 0.1 ohms/inch.[4]
Termination and ringing: For long wires (wires longer than 1/6 wavelengths can be considered long)
must be modeled as transmission lines and take termination into account. Unless this is done,
reflected signals will travel back and forth across the wire, positively or negatively interfering with
the information-carrying signal.[5]
Wireless Channel Effects: For wireless systems, all of the effects associated with wireless
transmission limit the SNR and bandwidth of the received signal, and therefore the maximum
number of bits that can be sent.
CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA "backoff" waiting time and frame retransmissions after detected
collisions. This may occur in Ethernet bus networks and hub networks, as well as in wireless
networks.
flow control, for example in the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) protocol, affects the
throughput if the bandwidth-delay product is larger than the TCP window, i.e. the buffer size. In that
case the sending computer must wait for acknowledgement of the data packets before it can send
more packets.
TCP congestion avoidance controls the data rate. So called "slow start" occurs in the beginning of
a file transfer, and after packet drops caused by router congestion or bit errors in for example
wireless links.
[edit]Multi-user considerations
Ensuring that multiple users can harmoniously share a single communications link requires some kind
of equitable sharing of the link. If a bottle neck communication link offering data rate R is shared by "N"
active users (with at least one data packet in queue), every user typically achieves a throughput of
approximately R/N, if fair queuing best-effort communication is assumed.
Packet loss due to Network congestion. Packets may be dropped in switches and routers when the
packet queues are full due to congestion.
Packet loss due to bit errors.
Scheduling algorithms in routers and switches. If fair queuing is not provided, users that send large
packets will get higher bandwidth. Some users may be prioritized in a weighted fair queuing (WFQ)
algorithm if differentiated or guaranteed quality of service (QoS) is provided.
In some communications systems, such as satellite networks, only a finite number of channels may
be available to a given user at a given time. Channels are assigned either through preassignment
or through Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA).[6] In these cases, throughput is quantized
per channel, and unused capacity on partially utilized channels is lost..
[edit]Integrated Circuits
Often, a block in a data flow diagram has a single input and a single output, and operate on discrete
packets of information. Examples of such blocks are FFT modules or binary multipliers. Because the
units of throughput are the reciprocal of the unit for propagation delay, which is 'seconds per message'
or 'seconds per output', throughput can be used to relate a computational device performing a
dedicated function such as an ASIC orembedded processor to a communications channel, simplifying
system analysis.
[edit]Wireless and cellular networks
In wireless networks or cellular systems, the system spectral efficiency in bit/s/Hz/area unit, bit/s/Hz/site
or bit/s/Hz/cell, is the maximum system throughput (aggregate throughput) divided by the analog
bandwidth and some measure of the system coverage ara.
[edit]Over analog channels
Throughput over analog channels is defined entirely by the modulation scheme, the signal to noise
ratio, and the available bandwidth. Since throughput is normally defined in terms of quantified digital
data, the term 'throughput' is not normally used; the term 'bandwidth' is more often used instead
Frame synchronization
While receiving a stream of framed data, frame synchronization or framing is the process by which
incoming frame alignment signals (i.e., a distinctive bit sequences or syncwords),
are identified (that is,
distinguished from data bits), permitting the data bits within the frame to be extracted for
decoding or retransmission.
Contents
[hide]
1 Framing
2 Frame synchronizer
o 2.1 Television
o 2.2 Telemetry
3 See also
4 References
o 4.1 Scientific articles
5 External links
[edit]Framing
If the transmission is temporarily interrupted, or a bit slip event occurs, the receiver must re-synchronize.
The transmitter and the receiver must agree ahead of time on which frame synchronization scheme they will
use.
Framing bit
slot within the frame, a noninformation bit orframing bit that is used for synchronization of the
incoming data with the receiver. In a bit stream, framing bits indicate the beginning or end of a
frame. They occur at specified positions in the frame, do not carry information, and are usually
repetitive.
Syncword framing
CRC-based framing
[edit]Frame synchronizer
[edit]Television
incoming video source to the timing of an existing video system. They are often used to "time
in" consumer video equipment to a professional system but can be used to stabilize any
video. The frame synchronizer essentially takes a picture of each frame of incoming video and
then immediately outputs it with the correct synchronization signals to match an existing video
system. A genlock signal is required to provide a means for video synchronizing with the
house reference.
[edit]Telemetry
In telemetry applications, a frame synchronizer is used to frame align a serial pulse code
The frame synchronizer immediately follows the bit synchronizer in most telemetry
The frame syncronisation pattern is a known binary pattern which repeats at a regular interval
within the PCM stream. The frame synchronizer recognizes this pattern and aligns the data
into minor frames or sub-frames. Typically the frame sync pattern is followed by a counter
(Sub-Frame ID) which dictates which minor or sub frame in the series is being transmitted.
This becomes increasingly important in the decommutation stage where all data is deciphered
In telecommunication, data signaling rate (DSR), also known as gross bit rate, is the aggregate rate at
which data pass a point in the transmissionpath of a data transmission system.
Notes:
2. The data signaling rate is given by where m is the number of parallel channels, ni is
the number of significant conditions of themodulation in the i-th channel, and Ti is the unit interval,
expressed in seconds, for the i-th channel.
3. For serial transmission in a single channel, the DSR reduces to (1/T)log2n; with a two-condition
modulation, i. e. n = 2, the DSR is 1/T, according to Hartley's law.
4. For parallel transmission with equal unit intervals and equal numbers of significant conditions on
each channel, the DSR is (m/T)log2 n; in the case of a two-condition modulation, this reduces
to m/T.
5. The DSR may be expressed in bauds, in which case, the factor log2ni in the above summation
formula should be deleted when calculating bauds.
6. In synchronous binary signaling, the DSR in bits per second may be numerically the same as
the modulation rate expressed in bauds. Signalprocessors, such as four-phase modems, cannot
change the DSR, but the modulation rate depends on the line modulation scheme, in accordance
with Note 4. For example, in a 2400 bit/s 4-phase sending modem, the signaling rate is 2400 bit/s
on the serial input side, but the modulation rate is only 1200 bauds on the 4-phase output side.
Contents
[hide]
1 Maximum rate
4 See also
5 References
[edit]Maximum rate
The maximum user signaling rate, synonymous to gross bitrate or data signaling rate, is the maximum rate,
in bits per second, at which binaryinformation can be transferred in a given direction between users over the
telecommunications system facilities dedicated to a particular information transfer transaction, under
conditions of continuous transmission and no overhead information.
For a single channel, the signaling rate is given by[clarification needed], where SCSR is the single-channel signaling
rate in bits per second, T is the minimum time interval in seconds for which each level must be maintained,
and n is the number of significant conditions of modulation of the channel.
In the case where an individual end-to-end telecommunications service is provided by parallel channels, the
parallel-channel signaling rate is given by[clarification needed], where PCSR is the total signaling rate
for m channels, m is the number of parallel channels, Ti is the minimum interval between significant instants
for the I-th channel, and ni is the number of significant conditions of modulation for the I-th channel.
In the case where an end-to-end telecommunications service is provided by tandem channels, the end-to-
end signaling rate is the lowest signaling rate among the component channels.
[edit]Transmission Data Rate Terminology
Based upon proposal from davisnetworks.com. 1 Mbit/s is defined as 1,000,000 bits per second signal data
rate (OSI Layer 1).
[edit]Data Rate and Standard
ShannonHartley theorem
In information theory, the ShannonHartley theorem tells the maximum rate at which
The theorem establishes Shannon's channel capacity for such a communication link, a
bound on the maximum amount of error-free digital data (that is, information) that can be
assuming that the signal power is bounded, and that the Gaussian noise process is
characterized by a known power or power spectral density. The law is named after Claude
Shannon and Ralph Hartley.
Contents
[hide]
4 Alternative forms
o 4.1 Frequency-dependent (colored noise) case
o 4.2 Approximations
5 Examples
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
Considering all possible multi-level and multi-phase encoding techniques, the Shannon
Hartley theorem states the channel capacity C, meaning the theoretical tightest upper
bound on the information rate (excluding error correcting codes) of clean data- (or
arbitrarily low bit error rate) that can be sent with a given average signal power S through
an analog communication channel subject to additive white Gaussian noise of power N, is:
where
B is the bandwidth of the channel in hertz (passband bandwidth in case of a modulated signal);
S is the average received signal power over the bandwidth (in case of a modulated signal, often
N is the average noise or interference power over the bandwidth, measured in watts (or volts
squared); and
S/N is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the communication
signal to the Gaussian noise interference expressed as a linear power ratio (not as
logarithmic decibels).
[edit]Historical development
During the late 1920s, Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley developed a handful of
concepts were powerful breakthroughs individually, but they were not part of a
of channel capacity, based in part on the ideas of Nyquist and Hartley, and then
[edit]Nyquist rate
In 1927, Nyquist determined that the number of independent pulses that could
be put through a telegraph channel per unit time is limited to twice the
where fp is the pulse frequency (in pulses per second) and B is the
The quantity 2B later came to be called the Nyquist rate, and transmitting
Nyquist rate.
Nyquist published his results in 1928 as part of his paper "Certain topics in
[edit]Hartley's law
its line rate (also known as data signalling rate or gross bitrate inclusive
Specifically,
symbols/second or baud.
rate.
Hartley did not work out exactly how the number M should
followed later.
equal.
[edit]ShannonHartley theorem
pulse levels.
nonzero noise.
So how do bandwidth and noise affect the rate at
analog channel?
used.
Hartley's law
law.
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Frequency-dependent (colored
noise) case
channels in parallel:
where
f is frequency in Hz.
: the theorem only applies
to Gaussian stationary
process noise. This
formula's way of
introducing frequency-
dependent noise cannot
describe all continuous-
time noise processes. For
example, consider a noise
process consisting of
adding a random wave
whose amplitude is 1 or -1
at any point in time, and a
channel that adds such a
wave to the source signal.
Such a wave's frequency
components are highly
dependent. Though such a
noise may have a high
power, it is fairly easy to
transmit a continuous
signal with much less
power than one would
need if the underlying
noise was a sum of
independent noises in
each frequency band.
[edit]Approximations
For large or small and
constant signal-to-noise
ratios, the capacity formula
can be approximated:
If S/N >> 1, then
where
Similarly, if S/N << 1, then
In this low-SNR approximation, capacity is independent of bandwidth if the noise is white,
of spectral density watts per hertz, in which case the total noise power is .
[edit]Examples
If the SNR is 20 dB, and the bandwidth available is 4 kHz, which is appropriate for telephone
communications, then C = 4 log2(1 + 100) = 4 log2 (101) = 26.63 kbit/s. Note that the value of S/N =
100 is equivalent to the SNR of 20 dB.
If the requirement is to transmit at 50 kbit/s, and a bandwidth of 1 MHz is used, then the minimum
S/N required is given by 50 = 1000 log2(1+S/N) so S/N = 2C/B -1 = 0.035, corresponding to an SNR
of -14.5 dB (10 x log10(0.035)).
Lets take the example of W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), the bandwidth = 5
MHz, you want to carry 12.2 kbit/s of data (AMR voice), then the required SNR is given by 212.2/5000 -
1 corresponding to an SNR of -27.7 dB for a single channel. This shows that it is possible to
transmit using signals which are actually much weaker than the background noise level, as
in spread-spectrum communications. However, in W-CDMA the required SNR will vary based on
design calculations.
As stated above, channel capacity is proportional to the bandwidth of the channel and to the
logarithm of SNR. This means channel capacity can be increased linearly either by increasing the
channel's bandwidth given a fixed SNR requirement or, with fixed bandwidth, by using higher-order
modulations that need a very high SNR to operate. As the modulation rate increases, the spectral
efficiency improves, but at the cost of the SNR requirement. Thus, there is an exponential rise in
the SNR requirement if one adopts a 16QAM or 64QAM (see: Quadrature amplitude modulation);
however, the spectral efficiency improves.
In computer networking and computer science, the words bandwidth,[1] network bandwidth,[2] data
bandwidth,[3] or digital bandwidth[4][5] are terms used to refer to various bit-rate measures, representing the
available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits per second or multiples of it (bit/s,
kbit/s, Mbit/s, Gbit/s, etc.).
Note that in textbooks on signal processing, wireless communications, modem data transmission, digital
communications, electronics, etc., the word 'bandwidth' is used to refer to analog signal
bandwidth measured in hertz. The connection is that according to Hartley's law, the digital data rate limit
(or channel capacity) of a physical communication link is proportional to its bandwidth in hertz.
Contents
[hide]
2 Network bandwidth
consumption
3 Asymptotic bandwidth
4 Multimedia bandwidth
6 Internet connection
bandwidths
7 See also
8 References
[edit]Network bandwidth capacity
Bandwidth sometimes defines the net bit rate (aka. peak bit rate, information rate or physical layer useful bit
rate), channel capacity, or the maximum throughput of a logical or physical communication path in a digital
communication system. For example, bandwidth tests measure the maximum throughput of a computer
network. The reason for this usage is that according to Hartley's law, the maximum data rate of a physical
communication link is proportional to its bandwidth in hertz, which is sometimes called frequency
bandwidth, spectral bandwidth, RF bandwidth, signal bandwidthor analog bandwidth.
[edit]Network bandwidth consumption
Bandwidth in bit/s may also refer to consumed bandwidth, corresponding to achieved throughput or goodput,
i.e., the average rate of successful data transfer through a communication path. This sense applies to
concepts and technologies such as bandwidth shaping, bandwidth management,bandwidth
throttling, bandwidth cap, bandwidth allocation (for example bandwidth allocation protocol and dynamic
bandwidth allocation), etc. A bit stream's bandwidth is proportional to the average consumed signal
bandwidth in Hertz (the average spectral bandwidth of the analog signal representing the bit stream) during
a studied time interval.
Channel bandwidth may be confused with data throughput. A channel with x bps may not necessarily
transmit data at x rate, since protocols, encryption, and other factors can add appreciable overhead. For
instance, a lot of internet traffic uses the transmission control protocol (TCP) which requires a three-way
handshake for each transaction, which, though in many modern implementations is efficient, does add
significant overhead compared to simpler protocols. In general, for any effective digital communication, a
framing protocol is needed; overhead and effective throughput depends on implementation. Actual
throughput is less than or equal to the actual channel capacity plus implementation overhead.
[edit]Asymptotic bandwidth
The asymptotic bandwidth for a network is the measure of useful throughput, when the packet size
approaches infinity.[6]
Asymptotic bandwidths are usually estimated by sending a number of very large messages through the
network, measuring the end-to-end throughput. As other bandwidths, the asymptotic bandwidth is measured
in multiples of bits per second.
[edit]Multimedia bandwidth
Digital bandwidth may also refer to: multimedia bit rate or average bitrate after multimedia data
compression (source coding), defined as the total amount of data divided by the playback time.
[edit]Bandwidth in web hosting
In website hosting, the term "bandwidth" is often[citation needed] incorrectly used to describe the amount of data
transferred to or from the website or server within a prescribed period of time, for example bandwidth
consumption accumulated over a month measured in gigabytes per month. The more accurate phrase used
for this meaning of a maximum amount of data transfer each month or given period is monthly data transfer.
[edit]Internet connection bandwidths
This table shows the maximum bandwidth (the physical layer net bitrate) of common Internet access
technologies. For more detailed lists see
10 Mbit/s Ethernet
Channel capacity
In electrical engineering, computer science and information theory, channel capacity is the tightest upper
bound on the amount of information that can be reliably transmitted over a communications channel. By
the noisy-channel coding theorem, the channel capacity of a given channel is the limiting information rate (in
units of information per unit time) that can be achieved with arbitrarily small error probability.[1] [2]
Information theory, developed by Claude E. Shannon during World War II, defines the notion of channel
capacity and provides a mathematical model by which one can compute it. The key result states that the
capacity of the channel, as defined above, is given by the maximum of the mutual information between the
input and output of the channel, where the maximization is with respect to the input distribution.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 Formal definition
3 Example application
5 See also
o 5.1 Advanced Communication Topics
6 References
[edit]Formal definition
Let X represent the space of signals that can be transmitted, and Y the space of signals received, during a
be the conditional distribution function of Y given X. Treating the channel as a known statistic
the marginal distribution of signals we choose to send over the channel. The joint distribution
Under these constraints, next maximize the amount of information, or the message, that
one can communicate over the channel. The appropriate measure for this is the mutual
than the channel capacity C, there is an encoding and decoding scheme that can be
used to ensure that the probability of block error is less than for a sufficiently long
code. Also, for any rate greater than the channel capacity, the probability of block
error at the receiver goes to one as the block length goes to infinity.
[edit]Example application
C is measured in bits per second if the logarithm is taken in base 2, or nats per
second if the natural logarithm is used, assuming B is in hertz; the signal and
ratio here is expressed as a power ratio, not in decibels (dB); since figures are
ratio of .
channel capacity in systems with multiple antennas, see the article onMIMO.
[edit]AWGN channel
If the average received power is [W] and the noise power spectral
[bits/s],
regime.
the figure.
[edit]Frequency-selective channel
where and is
constraint.
[edit]Slow-fading channel
[edit]Fast-fading channel
greater than the coherence time and the codeword length spans
rate of communication of