Introduction to Digital

Communications

Aaron Gulliver
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Victoria
 Analog vs. Digital
• Analog signals x(t)
– Value varies continuously

t
• Digital signals
x(t)
– Values limited to a finite set

• Binary signals t
– Two valued x(t) 1 1 1
– Time T needed to send 1 bit
– Data rate R=1/T bits per second 0 T 0 0 0

t
2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 2
 Information Representation
• Communication systems must convert information
into a form suitable for transmission
• Analog systemsAnalog signals are directly
modulated
– AM, FM radio
• Digital systems  Generate bits and transmit digital
signals
– Computer communications, Cellular telephones
• Analog signals can be converted into digital signals

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 3

 Digital Communication System

(a) Transmitter. (b) Receiver.

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 4
 Digital Transmitter
• Matches the message to the channel
• If the message is analog, it must be sampled in time and
quantized in amplitude.
– discrete signal in time and amplitude
• Encoder:
– adds redundancy for error correction.
• Modulation encodes the message into the amplitude, phase
or frequency of the carrier signal (PSK, FSK, QAM, OFDM,
PAM, PPM)
• Advantages:
– Reduces noise and interference
– Multiplexing
– Channel assignment
• Examples: television, radio, 802.11, cellphones, bluetooth,
GPS, …

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 Modulation
• Convert the digital information into waveforms
suitable for the channel
0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
• OOK

• PAM

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 Receiver
• Extracts the message from the received signal
• Operations: Filtering, Amplification,
Demodulation
• The ideal receiver output is a scaled, delayed
version of the message signal
• Decoder:
• estimates the original message from the received
signal.

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 Channel
• Physical medium that that the signal is
transmitted through
• Examples: Air, wires, coaxial cables, fiber optic
cables
• Every channel introduces some amount of
distortion, noise and interference
• The channel properties determine
• Data throughput of the system
• Quality of service (QoS) offered by the system

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 Noise and Interference
• Internal Noise
– Generated by components within a
communication system (thermal noise)
• External Noise and Interference
– Atmospheric noise (electrical discharges)
– Man-made noise (ignition noise)
– Multipath interference (multiple
transmission paths)
– Multiple access interference (signals
from other users)
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 Advantages
• Many sources are digital in nature
– Data, images, text, video, music
• Different sources can be treated the same
• Flexibility
– Encryption
– Compression (source coding)
– Error correction/detection
• Reliable reproduction of signals - regeneration
– Two states vs. infinite variety of shapes
• Greater immunity to noise and interference
• Power efficient and spectral efficient

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 Digital versus Analog
• Advantages of digital communications
– Regenerator receiver
Original Regenerated
pulse pulse

Propagation distance

– Different kinds of digital signals can be treated

identically.
Voice
Data bits are bits!
Media

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 Digital Advantages
• Source coding compression algorithms can
dramatically reduce the bit rate required to
represent signals without significant distortion.
• Signal processing and channel coding techniques
have significantly increased the bit rate that can
be supported by a physical channel.
• Integrated circuits make complex signal
processing and coding functions cost effective.

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 Disadvantages
• Complex signal processing
• Synchronization problems
• Non-graceful degradation in performance as
the SNR decreases

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 Performance Metrics
• In analog communications we want mˆ (t )  m(t )
• In digital communications
– Data rate (R bps) (limited by the Channel Capacity)
– Resources consumed: bandwidth, power
– Quality of the communications link : typically measured in
terms of the Bit Error Rate (BER) or probability of error, PE
• Number of bit errors that occur for a given number of bits
transmitted.
• Optical channels: Pe = 10-9
• Wireless channels: voice Pe = 10-3 data Pe = 10-6
– Propagation and processing delay
– Timing jitter in the bitstream at the receiver

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 Applications
• Internet (last mile, VOIP) • Wireless Communications
• Local and long distance • Cellular Communications
telephone channels – GSM, TDMA, FDMA,
• Fibre optics (backbone CDMA, 3G
and fibre to the home) • Wireless LANs (802.11)
• Satellite • WiMAX
communications (HDTV) • Bluetooth (headsets)
• CDs and DVDs • Cordless telephones
• Digital audio (mp3)

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 Goals of Digital Communications Design

• Maximize bit rate R

• Minimize probability of error PE
• Minimize required signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
• Minimize required bandwidth W
• Maximize system utilization Capacity
• Minimize system complexity
• Minimize cost $

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 Span of Wireless Networks

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GSM Mobile Phone
Transmitter

Receiver

18
 CDMA Cell Phone

Mobile phone transmitter

19
Baseband Data Transmission - PAM

System model and waveforms

for synchronous baseband
digital data transmission.
(a) Baseband digital data
communication system.
(b) Typical transmitted
sequence. (c) Received
sequence plus noise.

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• Each T second pulse represents a bit of data
• Receiver has to decide whether a 1 or 0 was
received (A or –A)
• Integrate-and-dump detector

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 Receiver Structure

Receiver structure and integrator output. (a) Integrate-and-

dump receiver. (b) Output from the integrator.

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 Receiver Preformance
• The output of the integrator is
t0 T

V 
t0
[ s (t )  n(t )]dt

 AT  N A is sent

  AT  N A is sent
V is a random variable
• N is Gaussian noise
t0 T

N 
t0
n(t )dt

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 Noise in communication systems
 Thermal noise is described by a zero-mean Gaussian random
process, n(t).
 Its PSD is flat, hence, it is called white noise
 n2 /(2 2 )
e
f N ( n) 
2 2

N0/2 W/Hz
Power spectral
density

Probability density function

2005-01-21 Lecture 1 24
 Analysis
t 0 T t 0 T

E[ N ]  E[ 
t0
n(t )dt ]   E[n(t )]dt  0
t0

Var[ N ]  E[ N 2 ]  E 2 [ N ]
  t 0 T 
2

 
 E[ N ]  E   n(t )dt  
2

   
 t0 
t 0 T t 0  T

   E[n(t )n( s)]dtds

t0 t0
t 0 T t 0  T
N0 N 0T
  
t0 t0
2
 (t  s )dtds 
2
since AWGN is uncorrelated
2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 25
 Error Analysis
• The pdf of N is
 n 2 /( N 0T )
e
f N ( n) 
N 0T

• In how many different ways can an error

occur?

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 Error Analysis
• Two ways in which errors occur
– A is transmitted, AT+N<0 (0 received,1 sent)
– -A is transmitted, -AT+N>0 (1 received,0 sent)

Error probabilities for binary signaling.

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 27
  AT
e  n2 / N0T  2 A2T 
P( Error | A)    N 0T
dn  Q 
 N0


  
• Similarly

e  n 2 / N0T  2 A2T 
P( Error |  A)    N 0T
dn  Q 
 N0


AT  
• The average probability of error is
PE  P( E | A) P( A)  P( E |  A) P( A)
 2 A2T 
 Q 
 N0 
 

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 28

• Energy per bit
t 0 T

Eb   
2 2
A dt A T
t0

• Therefore, PE can be written in terms of the

energy.
• Define
A2T Eb
z 
N0 N0

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• Recall: Rectangular pulse of duration T
seconds has magnitude spectrum

ATsinc(Tf )

• Effective Bandwidth Bp  1 / T
• Therefore
A2
z
N0 Bp

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 Probability of Error vs. SNR

Pe for antipodal
baseband digital
signaling.

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 Probability of Error Approximation
• Use the approximation
u 2 / 2
e
Q(u )  , u  1
u 2
 2 A2T  e z
PE  Q  , z  1
 N0  2 z
 

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 Example
• Digital data is transmitted through a baseband
system with N0  107 W/Hz, the received pulse
amplitude is A = 20mV.
a) If the transmission rate is 1kbps, what is the
probability of error?
1 1
Bp   3  103
T 10
A2 400 106 2
SNR  z   7  400  10  4V
N 0 B p 10 10 3

e z
PE   2.58 103
2 z
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b) If 10 kbps are transmitted, what must the value of A
be to attain the same probability of error?
A2 A2 3
z  7  4  A2
 4  10  A  63.2mV
N 0 Bp 10 10 4

• Conclusion: tradeoff is
Transmission power vs. Bit rate

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 34

 Bandpass Modulation

V(t) = A cos(2πfc t + Φ)

• There are 3 parameters

– Amplitude A(t) ― Amplitude Modulation
– Frequency f(t) ― Frequency Modulation
– Phase φ(t) ― Phase Modulation
 Binary Signaling Techniques

Waveforms for
ASK, PSK, and FSK
modulation.

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 ASK, PSK, and FSK
• Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
1 0 1 1
m(t)
 Ac cos(2f ct ) m(nTb )  1
s(t )  m(t ) Ac cos(2f ct )  
 0 m(nTb )  0
AM Modulation
• Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
1 0 1 1
m(t)
 Ac cos(2f ct ) m(nTb )  1
s(t )  Ac m(t ) cos(2f ct )  
 Ac cos(2f ct   ) m(nTb )  1
• Frequency Shift Keying PM Modulation

1 0 1 1
 Ac cos(2f1t ) m(nTb )  1
s(t )  
 Ac cos(2f 2t ) m(nTb )  1
FM Modulation
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 Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
00
1  A cos(2 fct )

What is the structure of the optimum

receiver?

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Receiver for Binary Signals in Noise

Receiver structure for detecting binary signals in additive

white Gaussian noise (AWGN)

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 Error Analysis
• 0s1(t), 1s2(t)
• Received signal:
y (t )  s1 (t )  n(t ), t0  t  t0  T
or
y (t )  s2 (t )  n(t ), t0  t  t0  T

• Noise is white and Gaussian

• Find PE
– In how many different ways can an error occur?

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 Error Analysis (General Case)
• Two types of errors:
• Receive 1  Send 0
• Receive 0  Send 1
• Decision process:
• The received signal is filtered
• Filter output is sampled every T seconds
• Threshold k
• An error occurs when: v(T )  s01(T )  n0 (T )  k
or
v(T )  s02 (T )  n0 (T )  k

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• s01, s02 , n0 are filtered signal and noise terms.
• Noise term: no (t ) is filtered white Gaussian noise.
– therefore it is Gaussian
• The PSD is
N0
S n0 ( f ) 
2
H( f )
2

– mean zero
– variance is equal to the average power of the noise
process

N0
   2
2 2
H ( f ) df

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• The pdf of the noise term is
 n 2 / 2 2 0
e
f N ( n) 
2 2
• Note that we still don’t know what the filter is.
• Will any filter work? Or is there an optimal one?
• Recall that in the baseband case (no modulation), we
used an integrator
1
– equivalent to filtering with H ( f ) 
j 2f

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• The input to the threshold device is
V  v(T )  s01 (T )  N
or
V  v(T )  s02 (T )  N
• These are also Gaussian random variables
– mean: s01 (T ) or s02 (T )
– variance: same as the variance of N

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 Distribution of V
• The distribution of V, the input to the
threshold device is

Conditional probability density functions of the filter output at time t = T

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 45
 Probability of Error
• Two types of errors
 [ v  s0 1 (T )] 2 / 2 2
e  k  s01(T ) 
P( E | s1 (t ))   dv  Q 
k 2 2   
[ v  s0 2 (T )] 2 / 2 2
 k  s02 (T ) 
k
e
P( E | s2 (t ))  
 2 2
dv  1  Q
 



• The average probability of error

1 1
PE  P[ E | s1 (t )]  P[ E | s2 (t )]
2 2
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• Goal: Minimize the average probability of
error
– choose the optimal threshold
• What should the optimal threshold, kopt be?
– kopt=0.5[s01(T)+s02(T)]

 s02 (T )  s01(T ) 
PE  Q 
 2 

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 47

 Observations
• PE is a function of the difference between the two
signals.
• Recall: Q-function decreases with increasing
argument.
• Therefore, PE will decrease with increasing distance
between the two output signals
• Choose the filter h(t) such that PE is a minimum
– maximize the difference between the two signals at the
output of the filter

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 Matched Filter
• Goal: Given s1 (t ), s2 (t ) , choose H(f) such that
s02 (T )  s01(T )
d

is maximized.
• The solution to this problem is known as the
matched filter and is given by
h0 (t )  s2 (T  t )  s1 (T  t )
• Therefore, the optimum filter depends on the
input signals.

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 49

 Matched Filter Receiver

Matched filter receiver for binary signaling in additive white

Gaussian noise (AWGN).

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 50

 Error Probability for Matched Filter
Receiver
Recall PE  Q
d
• 
2

• The maximum value of the distance is

2
d max  ( E1  E2  2 E1 E2 12 )
2

N0
• E1 is the energy of the first signal
• E2 is the energy of the second signal
t0 T t0 T

E1  
t0
s12 (t )dt E2  
t0
s2 2 (t )dt


1
12 
E1 E2  s (t )s

1 2 (t )dt

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 51

• Therefore
 E  E  2 E E  1/ 2 
PE  Q  1 2 1 2 12  
 2N0  
 

• Probability of error depends on the signal energies
(just as in the baseband case), noise power, and the
similarity between the signals.
• If we make the transmitted signals as dissimilar as
possible, then the probability of error will decrease.
• This is achieved with
12  1

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 ASK
s1 (t )  0, s2 (t )  A cos(2f ct )

• The matched filter: A cos(2f ct )

• Optimum Threshold: 1 A2T
4
• Similarity between signals?
• Therefore  A2T 
 
PE  Q
 4 N 0 
Q  z


• 3dB worse than baseband.

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 53

 PSK
s1 (t )  A sin(2f ct  cos m) 1

s2 (t )  A sin(2f ct  cos 1 m)

• Modulation index: m (determines the phase

shift)  2 A 1  m2 cos(2f ct )
• Matched Filter with threshold 0
P E  Q( 2(1  m2 ) z )
• For m = 0, 3dB better than ASK

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 Matched Filter for PSK

Optimum correlation receiver for PSK.

2008 Introduction to Digital Communications 55

 FSK
s1 (t )  A cos(2f c t )
s2 (t )  A cos(2 ( f c  f )t )

m
• f 
T

• Probability of error: Q( z )
• Same as ASK

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