PULSE CODE MODULATION (PCM)

1. PCM quantization Techniques

2. PCM Transmission Bandwidth
3. PCM Coding Techniques
4. PCM Integrated Circuits
5. Advantages of PCM

ECE 416 – DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Thursday, 10 February 2022
SYLLABUS
 KEY POINTS ABOUT PCM

1. While PCM is a pulse modulation technique much like PWM, PAM

or PPM.
2. PCM is digital while the others are either analogue in time or
amplitude, i.e PCM pulses are discrete in time and amplitude unlike
PAM, PWM or PPM.
3. Essential aspects of a PCM transmitter are sampling, quantizing and
encoding.
4. PCM is not a modulation in the conventional sense because it does
not rely on varying a characteristic of a carrier (amplitude,
frequency or phase).
 PCM TRANSMITTER

Analogue to Digital Converter

Analogue signal PAM Signal ADC Quantized PAM
x(t) X(nTs) Xq(nTs)

Low-pass Sample q-level Binary

Filter and Hold quantizer encoder

Timer Parallel to serial

converter

Sampling clock signal PCM out

𝒇𝒔 ≥ 𝟐𝒇𝒎 r = ufs
BINARY EQUIVALENTS AND PULSE CODE WAVEFORMS
 PCM TRANSMISSION PATH

• PCM transmission path refers to the path the the signal travels
between the transmitter and the receiver.

From Transmitter To Receiver

Regenerative Regenerative
Repeater Repeater

Distorted PCM Distorted PCM Clean PCM

Clean PCM
Signal Signal Pulse
Pulse
 PCM REPEATER

Compensates for the Makes a decision on

effects of amplitude whether the equalized
and phase distortions PCM wave is a zero or one

Amplitude and Decision Making

Phase Circuit
Equalizer

Distorted PCM Timing Clean PCM

Signal Circuit Pulse

The timing clock

is extracted from
the PCM pulse-
stream
 PCM RECEIVER

Analogue Signal
Distorted PCM
Clean PCM x(t)
Pulse Trainl
Pulse train

Regenerative Serial to Parallel Digital to Analogue Sample and Low pass

Repeater converter Converter Hold circuit filter, fm

Timer
 TYPES OF QUANTIZERS

Quantization

Uniform Quantization Non-Uniform Quantization

Midtread Quantization Midrise Quantization

Step size is the same

throughout the input signal Step size varies according
range the input signal values
 MIDTREAD QUANTIZER

1. A midtread quantizer assumes values of

the form ∆Hi ⋅where ∆ is the step size
and Hi = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3, ...
2. It is called mid-tread because the origin
lies in the middle of a tread of a staircase- ∆H
like graph.
 MIDRISER QUANTIZER

1. A mid-riser quantizer has output levels are

∆
given by Hi, where ∆ is the step size and Hi
2
= ±1, ±2, ±3, ....
2. The origin lies in the middle of the rising
part of the staircase-like characteristic
graph.
 PCM TRANSMISSION BANDWIDTH

1. Assume the a PCM encoder has q levels which are encoded to 𝜐

bits.
2. We can infer
𝑞 = 2𝜐
3. The number of bits per second can be expressed as:
𝑓𝑝𝑐𝑚 = 𝜐𝑓𝑠 where 𝑓𝑠 ≥ 2𝑓𝑚 (Nyquist criterion)
4. It therefore follows that the bandwidth, BW of a PCM channel is
bounded by:
𝐵𝑊𝑝𝑐𝑚 ≥ 2𝜐𝑓𝑚
 EXAMPLE 1
1. A TV signal with a bandwidth of 4.2 MHz is transmitted using binary
PCM system using 512 quantization levels. Determine
(a) Code word-length
(b) The PCM bandwidth/bit rate

SOLUTION
(a) 𝑓𝑚 = 4.2 𝑀𝐻𝑧
𝑞 = 2𝜐 = 512
𝜐 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 512 = 9 bits
(b) Bandwidth, BW = 2𝜐𝑓𝑚 = 2 x9 × 4.2 = 75.6 Mb/s
WHY IT IS NECESSARY TO HAVE NON-UNIFORM QUANTIZATION?
1. Using linear quantization, the quantization error is given by:
Δ
𝜖=
2
2. If q quantization levels of a bipolar signal are used, we can write:
2𝑥𝑚𝑎𝑥
Δ=
𝑞
3. Consider a PCM system with 𝜐 = 4 bits and 𝑥𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 16 Volt, then:
𝑞 = 24 = 16
2 2 1
Δ= = =
𝑞 16 8
The maximum quantization error is therefore
Δ 1
𝜀𝑚𝑎𝑥 = =
2 16
4. At maximum, the relative error is 1 volt out of 16 volts or 6.25%
5. At lower levels, e.g. 2 volts, the relative error is 1 volt out of 2 volts
or 50%.
6. To reduce this high relative error at low levels, PCM systems use non-
uniform quantization .
 COMPANDING
1. With uniform sampling, the quantization step is fixed thus resulting in uniform
quantization noise power.
2. However signal power is not constant, it is proportional to the square of the signal
amplitude. This means Quantization Noise is very significant at low amplitudes.
3. To reduce quantization noise at lower amplitudes, we use commanding:
Companding = Compressing + Expanding

Input Output
Compressor Uniform Quantizer Expander

Provides High Gain to Weak Provides Low Gain to Weak

Signals and Low Gain to strong Signals and High Gain to
Signals strong Signals
COMPRESSING WITH MIDRIZER QUANTIZER
WHY WE USE COMPANDING IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

1. The loudest sound that can be tolerated (120 dB SPL)

is about one-million times the amplitude of the
weakest sound that can be detected (0 dB SPL).

2. If the quantization levels are equally spaced (uniform

quantization), 12 bits must be used to obtain
telephone quality speech.

3. However, only 8 bits are required if the quantization

levels are made unequal (companding) to match the
characteristics of human hearing.
 THREE METHODS OF REALIZING COMPANDING IN
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

1. Three methods of companding in communication

systems are:
a) Run the analog signal through a nonlinear
circuit before reaching a linear 8 bit ADC,
b) Use an 8 bit ADC that internally has unequally
spaced steps, or
c) Use a linear 12 bit ADC followed by a digital
look-up table (12 bits in, 8 bits out).
2. Each of these three options requires the same
nonlinearity, just in a different place, i.e at analog
circuit, in the ADC, or a digital circuit after the ADC.
 COMPANDING STANDARDS

(1) μ255 law used in

North America

(2) "A" law, used in

Europe.

19
 "A" LAW COMPANDING

Where A is the compression parameter

20
 µ-LAW COMPANDING

where µ is 255 for 8 bits.

21
 BINARY ENCODING

1. Encoding converts the

quantized samples into a form
that is more convenient for
the purpose of transmission.

2. It is a one-to-one mapping of
the quantized samples by
using code elements or
symbols of the required length
per sample.
 FOLDED BINARY CODE

• The folded binary code

(also called the sign-
magnitude representation)
assigns the first (left most)
digit to the sign and the
remaining digits are used to
code the magnitude.
• This code is superior to the
natural code in masking
transmission errors when
encoding speech.
 INVERTED FOLDED BINARY CODE

1. If only the amplitude digits of a

folded binary code are
complemented (1's changed to
0's and 0's to 1's), an inverted
folded binary code results.
2. This code has the advantage of
higher density of 1's for small
amplitude signals, which are
most probable for voice
messages.
3. The higher density of 1's relieves
some system timing errors.
 GRAY CODE

1. With natural binary encoding, a

number of codeword digits can
change even when a change of
only one quantization level occurs.
For example, a change from level
7 to 8 entails every bit changing in
the 4-bit code illustrated.
2. In some applications, this
behavior is undesirable and a code
is desired for which only one digit
changes when any transition
occurs between adjacent levels.
3. The Gray Code has this property
4-BIT PCM TRANSMITTER - CIRCUIT SCHEMATIC
PCM FOR BI-POLAR SIGNALS

Folded Binary Code

 PCM INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - MC14LC5480

1. The MC14LC5480 is a general purpose per

channel PCM Codec–Filter with pin selectable
µ–Law or A–Law companding, and is offered in
20–pin DIP, SOG, and SSOP packages.
2. MC14LC5480 performs voice digitization and
reconstruction as well as the band limiting and
smoothing required for PCM systems.
3. MC14LC5480 designed to operate in both
synchronous and asynchronous applications and
contains an on–chip precision reference voltage.
MC14LC5480 - BLOCK DIAGRAM

μ/A Law Select (Pin 16)

This pin controls the compression for
the encoder and the expansion for the
decoder.
Mu–Law companding is selected when
this pin is connected to VDD
A–Law companding is selected when
this pin is connected to VSS.
MC14LC5480 - TYPICAL CONNECTION
MC14LC5480 - COST

KSH 790/=
 ADVANTAGES OF PCM
1. PCM provides high noise immunity

2. Allows regeneration of clean signal by using

repeaters placed between the transmitter
and the receiver.

3. PCM signals can be stored for later use or

retransmission with high fidelity

4. PCM signals can be encrypted more easily

and to very high standards.
 DISADVANTAGES OF PCM

1. PCM requires complex circuitry to sample,

quantize, code and decode.

2. PCM requires large bandwidth compared

with that of the original analog signal, i.e
𝐵𝑊𝑝𝑐𝑚 ≥ 2𝜐𝑓𝑚