ISIT 105

Lecture 6
Data and Signals
Read Chapter 3-4-5 & more
Note

To be transmitted, data must be

transformed to electromagnetic signals.
 ANALOG AND DIGITAL

Data can be analog or digital. The term analog data refers

to information that is continuous; digital data refers to
information that has discrete states. Analog data take on
continuous values. Digital data take on discrete values.

Topics discussed in this section:

Analog and Digital Data
Analog and Digital Signals
Periodic and Nonperiodic Signals
Note

Data can be analog or digital.

Analog data are continuous and take
continuous values.
Digital data have discrete states and
take discrete values.
Note

Signals can be analog or digital.

Analog signals can have an infinite
number of values in a range; digital
signals can have only a limited
number of values.
Figure Comparison of analog and digital signals
Note

In data communications, we commonly

use periodic analog signals and
nonperiodic digital signals.
2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS
Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or
composite.
• A simple periodic analog signal, a sine wave, cannot
be decomposed into simpler signals.
• A composite periodic analog signal is composed of
multiple sine waves.

Topics discussed in this section:

Sine Wave
Wavelength
Time and Frequency Domain
Composite Signals
Bandwidth
Figure 2 A sine wave
 Example 1

The power in your house can be represented by a sine

wave with a peak amplitude of 155 to 170 V. However, it
is common knowledge that the voltage of the power in
U.S homes is 110 to 120 V. This discrepancy is due to the
fact that these are root mean square (rms) values. The
signal is squared and then the average amplitude is
calculated. The peak value is equal to 2½ × rms value.
Figure 3.3 Two signals with the same phase and frequency,
but different amplitudes
 Example 2

The voltage of a battery is a constant; this constant value

can be considered a sine wave, as we will see later. For
example, the peak value of an AA battery is normally
1.5 V.
Note

Frequency and period are the inverse of

each other.
Figure 4 Two signals with the same amplitude and phase,
but different frequencies
Table Units of period and frequency
 Example 3

The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz.

The period of this sine wave can be determined as
follows:
 Example 3.5

The period of a signal is 100 ms. What is its frequency in

kilohertz?
Note

Frequency is the rate of change with

respect to time.

Change in a short span of time

means high frequency.

Change over a long span of

time means low frequency.
Note

If a signal does not change at all, its

frequency is zero.
If a signal changes instantaneously, its
frequency is infinite.
Note

Phase describes the position of the

waveform relative to time 0.
Figure 5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency,
but different phases
 Example 3.6

A sine wave is offset 1/6 cycle with respect to time 0.

What is its phase in degrees and radians?

Solution
We know that 1 complete cycle is 360°. Therefore, 1/6
cycle is
Figure 6 Wavelength and period
Figure 7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave
Note

A complete sine wave in the time

domain can be represented by one
single spike in the frequency domain.
 Example 7

The frequency domain is more compact and

useful when we are dealing with more than one
sine wave. For example, Figure 8 shows three
sine waves, each with different amplitude and
frequency. All can be represented by three
spikes in the frequency domain.
Figure 8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves
Note

A single-frequency sine wave is not

useful in data communications;
we need to send a composite signal, a
signal made of many simple sine waves.
Note

According to Fourier analysis, any

composite signal is a combination of
simple sine waves with different
frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.
Note

If the composite signal is periodic, the

decomposition gives a series of signals
with discrete frequencies;
if the composite signal is nonperiodic,
the decomposition gives a combination
of sine waves with continuous
frequencies.
 Example 8

Figure 9 shows a periodic composite signal with

frequency f. This type of signal is not typical of those
found in data communications. We can consider it to be
three alarm systems, each with a different frequency.
The analysis of this signal can give us a good
understanding of how to decompose signals.
Figure 9 A composite periodic signal
Figure 10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and
frequency domains
 Example 9

Figure 11 shows a nonperiodic composite signal. It can

be the signal created by a microphone or a telephone set
when a word or two is pronounced.

In this case, the composite signal cannot be periodic,

because that implies that we are repeating the same word
or words with exactly the same tone.
Figure 11 The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal
Note

The bandwidth of a composite signal is

the difference between the
highest and the lowest frequencies
contained in that signal.
Figure 12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals
 Example 10

If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves

with frequencies of 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz, what
is its bandwidth? Draw the spectrum, assuming all
components have a maximum amplitude of 10 V.
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency,
and B the bandwidth. Then

The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700,
and 900 Hz (see Figure 13).
Figure 13 The bandwidth for Example 10
 Example 11

A periodic signal has a bandwidth of 20 Hz. The highest

frequency is 60 Hz. What is the lowest frequency? Draw
the spectrum if the signal contains all frequencies of the
same amplitude.
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency,
and B the bandwidth. Then

The spectrum contains all integer frequencies. We show

this by a series of spikes (see Figure 14).
Figure 14 The bandwidth for Example 11
 Example 12

A nonperiodic composite signal has a bandwidth of 200

kHz, with a middle frequency of 140 kHz and peak
amplitude of 20 V. The two extreme frequencies have an
amplitude of 0. Draw the frequency domain of the
signal.

Solution
The lowest frequency must be at 40 kHz and the highest
at 240 kHz. Figure 3.15 shows the frequency domain
and the bandwidth.
Figure 15 The bandwidth for Example 12
 Example 13

An example of a nonperiodic composite signal is the

signal propagated by an AM radio station. In the United
States, each AM radio station is assigned a 10-kHz
bandwidth.
The total bandwidth dedicated to AM radio ranges from
530 to 1700 kHz.
 Example 14

Another example of a nonperiodic composite signal is

the signal propagated by an FM radio station.
In the United States, each FM radio station is assigned a
200-kHz bandwidth.
The total bandwidth dedicated to FM radio ranges from
88 to 108 MHz.
 3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS
In addition to being represented by an analog signal,
information can also be represented by a digital signal.
For example, a 1 can be encoded as a positive voltage
and a 0 as zero voltage. A digital signal can have more
than two levels. In this case, we can send more than 1 bit
for each level.

Topics discussed in this section:

Bit Rate
Bit Length
Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal
Application Layer
Figure 16 Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels
 Example 3.16

A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are

needed per level? We calculate the number of bits from
the formula

Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

 Example 17

A digital signal has nine levels. How many bits are

needed per level? We calculate the number of bits by
using the formula. Each signal level is represented by
3.17 bits. However, this answer is not realistic. The
number of bits sent per level needs to be an integer as
well as a power of 2. For this example, 4 bits can
represent one level.
 Example 20

What is the bit rate for high-definition TV (HDTV)?

HDTV uses digital signals to broadcast high quality
video signals. The HDTV screen is normally a ratio of
16 : 9. There are 1920 by 1080 pixels per screen, and the
screen is renewed 30 times per second. Twenty-four bits
represents one color pixel.

Solution

The TV stations reduce this rate to 20 to 40 Mbps

through compression.
Figure 17 The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic
digital signals
Figure 18 Baseband transmission
Note

A digital signal is a composite analog

signal with an infinite bandwidth.
Figure 19 Bandwidths of two low-pass channels
Figure 20 Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium
Note

Baseband transmission of a digital

signal that preserves the shape of the
digital signal is possible only if we have
a low-pass channel with an infinite or
very wide bandwidth.
 Example 21

An example of a dedicated channel where the entire

bandwidth of the medium is used as one single channel
is a LAN.

Almost every wired LAN today uses a dedicated channel

for two stations communicating with each other.
Note
In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is
In baseband transmission,
proportional the required
to the bit rate;
bandwidth is proportional
if we need to send bits faster, we needto thebandwidth.
more bit rate;
if we need to send bits faster, we need
more bandwidth.
Note

If the available channel is a bandpass

channel, we cannot send the digital
signal directly to the channel;
we need to convert the digital signal to
an analog signal before transmission.
Figure 24 Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass
channel
 Example 24

An example of broadband transmission using

modulation is the sending of computer data through a
telephone subscriber line, the line connecting a resident
to the central telephone office. These lines are designed
to carry voice with a limited bandwidth. The channel is
considered a bandpass channel. We convert the digital
signal from the computer to an analog signal, and send
the analog signal. We can install two converters to
change the digital signal to analog and vice versa at the
receiving end. The converter, in this case, is called a
modem.
 Example 25

A second example is the digital cellular telephone. For

better reception, digital cellular phones convert the
analog voice signal to a digital signal. Although the
bandwidth allocated to a company providing digital
cellular phone service is very wide, we still cannot send
the digital signal without conversion. The reason is that
we only have a bandpass channel available between
caller and callee. We need to convert the digitized voice
to a composite analog signal before sending.
 3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

Signals travel through transmission media, which are not

perfect. The imperfection causes signal impairment. This
means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is
not the same as the signal at the end of the medium.
What is sent is not what is received. Three causes of
impairment are attenuation, distortion, and noise.

Topics discussed in this section:

Attenuation
Distortion
Noise
Figure 25 Causes of impairment
Figure 26 Attenuation
Figure 28 Distortion
Figure 29 Noise
 Example 31

The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the

noise is 1 μW; what is the value of SNR? (usually
measured in dB)

Solution
The values of SNR can be calculated as follows:
Figure 30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR
 4-1 DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION

In this section, we see how we can represent digital

data by using digital signals. The conversion involves
three techniques: line coding, block coding, and
scrambling. Line coding is always needed; block
coding and scrambling may or may not be needed.

Topics discussed in this section:

Line Coding
Line Coding Schemes
Block Coding
Scrambling

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 Figure 4.1 Line coding and decoding

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 Figure 4.2 Signal element versus data element

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 Example 4.1

A signal is carrying data in which one data element is

encoded as one signal element ( r = 1). If the bit rate is
100 kbps, what is the average value of the baud rate if c is
between 0 and 1?

Solution
We assume that the average value of c is 1/2 . The baud
rate is then

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 Note

Although the actual bandwidth of a

digital signal is infinite, the effective
bandwidth is finite.

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 Figure 4.3 Effect of lack of synchronization

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 Example 4.3

In a digital transmission, the receiver clock is 0.1 percent

faster than the sender clock. How many extra bits per
second does the receiver receive if the data rate is
1 kbps? How many if the data rate is 1 Mbps?
Solution
At 1 kbps, the receiver receives 1001 bps instead of 1000
bps.

At 1 Mbps, the receiver receives 1,001,000 bps instead of

1,000,000 bps.

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 Figure 4.4 Line coding schemes

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 Figure 4.5 Unipolar NRZ scheme

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 4-2 ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION

We have seen in Chapter 3 that a digital signal is

superior to an analog signal. The tendency today is to
change an analog signal to digital data. In this section
we describe two techniques, pulse code modulation
and delta modulation.

Topics discussed in this section:

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
Delta Modulation (DM)

4.79
 Figure 4.21 Components of PCM encoder

4.80
 Figure 4.22 Three different sampling methods for PCM

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 Note

According to the Nyquist theorem, the

sampling rate must be
at least 2 times the highest frequency
contained in the signal.

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 Figure 4.23 Nyquist sampling rate for low-pass and bandpass

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 Example 4.6

For an intuitive example of the Nyquist theorem, let us

sample a simple sine wave at three sampling rates: fs = 4f
(2 times the Nyquist rate), fs = 2f (Nyquist rate), and
fs = f (one-half the Nyquist rate). Figure 4.24 shows the
sampling and the subsequent recovery of the signal.

It can be seen that sampling at the Nyquist rate can create

a good approximation of the original sine wave (part a).
Oversampling in part b can also create the same
approximation, but it is redundant and unnecessary.
Sampling below the Nyquist rate (part c) does not produce
a signal that looks like the original sine wave.
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 Figure 4.24 Recovery of a sampled sine wave for different sam

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 Example 4.9

Telephone companies digitize voice by assuming a

maximum frequency of 4000 Hz. The sampling rate
therefore is 8000 samples per second.

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 Example 4.10

A complex low-pass signal has a bandwidth of 200 kHz.

What is the minimum sampling rate for this signal?

Solution
The bandwidth of a low-pass signal is between 0 and f,
where f is the maximum frequency in the signal.
Therefore, we can sample this signal at 2 times the
highest frequency (200 kHz). The sampling rate is
therefore 400,000 samples per second.

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 Example 4.11

A complex bandpass signal has a bandwidth of 200 kHz.

What is the minimum sampling rate for this signal?

Solution
We cannot find the minimum sampling rate in this case
because we do not know where the bandwidth starts or
ends. We do not know the maximum frequency in the
signal.

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 Example 4.14

We want to digitize the human voice. What is the bit rate,

assuming 8 bits per sample?

Solution
The human voice normally contains frequencies from 0
to 4000 Hz. So the sampling rate and bit rate are
calculated as follows:

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 Figure 4.28 The process of delta modulation

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 Figure 4.29 Delta modulation components

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 4-3 TRANSMISSION MODES

The transmission of binary data across a link can be

accomplished in either parallel or serial mode. In
parallel mode, multiple bits are sent with each clock
tick. In serial mode, 1 bit is sent with each clock tick.
While there is only one way to send parallel data, there
are three subclasses of serial transmission:
asynchronous, synchronous, and isochronous.

Topics discussed in this section:

Parallel Transmission
Serial Transmission

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 Figure 4.31 Data transmission and modes

4.93
 Figure 4.32 Parallel transmission

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 Figure 4.33 Serial transmission

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 Note

In asynchronous transmission, we send

1 start bit (0) at the beginning and 1 or
more stop bits (1s) at the end of each
byte. There may be a gap between
each byte.

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 Note

Asynchronous here means

“asynchronous at the byte level,”
but the bits are still synchronized;
their durations are the same.

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 Figure 4.34 Asynchronous transmission

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 Note

In synchronous transmission, we send

bits one after another without start or
stop bits or gaps. It is the responsibility
of the receiver to group the bits.

4.99
 Figure 4.35 Synchronous transmission

4.100
 Analog Transmission

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 5-1 DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERSION

Digital-to-analog conversion is the process of changing one of the characteristics

of an analog signal based on the information in digital data.

Topics discussed in this section:

Aspects of Digital-to-Analog Conversion
Amplitude Shift Keying
Frequency Shift Keying
Phase Shift Keying
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

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 Figure 5.1 Digital-to-analog conversion

5.103
 Figure 5.2 Types of digital-to-analog conversion

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 Note

Bit rate is the number of bits per second. Baud rate is the number of signal
elements per second.

In the analog transmission of digital data, the baud rate is less than
or equal to the bit rate.

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 Example 5.1

An analog signal carries 4 bits per signal element. If 1000 signal elements are sent
per second, find the bit rate.

Solution
In this case, r = 4, S = 1000, and N is unknown. We can find the value of N from

5.106
 Example 5.2

An analog signal has a bit rate of 8000 bps and a baud rate of 1000 baud. How
many data elements are carried by each signal element? How many signal
elements do we need?

Solution
In this example, S = 1000, N = 8000, and r and L are unknown. We find first the value
of r and then the value of L.

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 Figure 5.3 Binary amplitude shift keying

5.108
 Figure 5.4 Implementation of binary ASK

5.109
 Figure 5.6 Binary frequency shift keying

5.110
 Figure 5.7 Bandwidth of MFSK used in Example 5.6

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 Figure 5.9 Binary phase shift keying

5.112
 Figure 5.10 Implementation of BASK

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