TOPICS COVERED

Digital and Analog Signals

Transmission Media
Encoding Techniques
Transmission Impairments

DATA ENCODING
AND
TRANSMISSIONS

Dr. R. Mahammad Shafi

 Chapter-3: Data Encoding and Transmissions

CHAPTER – 3

1. Digital and Analog Signals

When data is sent over physical medium, it needs to be first converted into electromagnetic
signals. Data itself can be analog such as human voice, or digital such as file on the disk.
Both analog and digital data can be represented in digital or analog signals.

Digital Signals

Digital signals are discrete in nature and represent sequence of voltage pulses. Digital
signals are used within the circuitry of a computer system.

Analog Signals

Analog signals are in continuous wave form in nature and represented by continuous
electromagnetic waves.

Figure-3.1: Digital and Analog Signals

2. TRANSMISSION MEDIA

The media over which the information between two computer systems is sent, called
transmission media. Transmission media comes in two forms.

Guided Media

All communication wires/cables are guided media, such as UTP, coaxial cables, and fiber
Optics. In this media, the sender and receiver are directly connected and the information is
send (guided) through it.

Unguided Media

Wireless or open air space is said to be unguided media, because there is no connectivity
between the sender and receiver. Information is spread over the air, and anyone including
the actual recipient may collect the information.

Prepared By:
Dr. R. Mahammad Shafi, Associate Professor,
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tepi Campus, Mizan-Tepi University. 12
 Chapter-3: Data Encoding and Transmissions

Channel Capacity
The speed of transmission of information is said to be the channel capacity. We count it as
data rate in digital world. It depends on numerous factors such as:

 Bandwidth : The physical limitation of underlying media.

 Error-rate : Incorrect reception of information because of noise.
 Encoding : The number of levels used for signaling.

3. ENCODING TECHNIQUES

Digital-to-Digital conversion can be done in two ways, line coding and block coding. For all
communications, line coding is necessary whereas block coding is optional.

Line Coding

The process for converting digital data into digital signal is said to be Line Coding. Digital
data is found in binary format. It is represented (stored) internally as series of 1s and 0s.

Figure-3.2: Digital-to-Digital Conversion

Digital signal is denoted by discreet signal, which represents digital data. There are three
types of line coding schemes available:

Figure-3.3: Line Coding Techniques

Prepared By:
Dr. R. Mahammad Shafi, Associate Professor,
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tepi Campus, Mizan-Tepi University. 13
 Chapter-3: Data Encoding and Transmissions

i. Uni-polar Encoding

Uni-polar encoding schemes use single voltage level to represent data. In this case, to
represent binary 1, high voltage is transmitted and to represent 0, no voltage is transmitted.
It is also called Unipolar-Non-return-to-zero, because there is no rest condition i.e. it either
represents 1 or 0.

Figure-3.4: Uni-Polar Encoding

ii. Polar Encoding

Polar encoding scheme uses multiple voltage levels to represent binary values. Polar
encodings is available in four types:

a). Polar Non Return to Zero (Polar NRZ)

It uses two different voltage levels to represent binary values. Generally, positive voltage
represents 1 and negative value represents 0. It is also NRZ because there is no rest
condition.

NRZ scheme has two variants: NRZ-L and NRZ-I.

Figure-3.5: NRZ Schemes

Prepared By:
Dr. R. Mahammad Shafi, Associate Professor,
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tepi Campus, Mizan-Tepi University. 14
 Chapter-3: Data Encoding and Transmissions

NRZ-L changes voltage level at when a different bit is encountered whereas NRZ-I changes
voltage when a 1 is encountered.

b). Return to Zero (RZ)

Problem with NRZ is that the receiver cannot conclude when a bit ended and when the next
bit is started, in case when sender and receiver’s clock are not synchronized.

Figure-3.6: RZ Scheme

RZ uses three voltage levels, positive voltage to represent 1, negative voltage to represent 0
and zero voltage for none. Signals change during bits not between bits.

c). Manchester

This encoding scheme is a combination of RZ and NRZ-L. Bit time is divided into two halves.
It transits in the middle of the bit and changes phase when a different bit is encountered.

d). Differential Manchester

This encoding scheme is a combination of RZ and NRZ-I. It also transits at the middle of the
bit but changes phase only when 1 is encountered.

iii. Bipolar Encoding

Bipolar encoding uses three voltage levels, positive, negative, and zero. Zero voltage
represents binary 0 and bit 1 is represented by altering positive and negative voltages.

Figure-3.7: Bi-Polar Encoding

Prepared By:
Dr. R. Mahammad Shafi, Associate Professor,
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tepi Campus, Mizan-Tepi University. 15
 Chapter-3: Data Encoding and Transmissions

4. TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

When signals travel through the medium, they tend to deteriorate. This may have many
reasons as given:

Attenuation: For the receiver to interpret the data accurately, the signal must be sufficiently
strong. When the signal passes through the medium, it tends to get weaker. As it covers
distance, it loses strength.

Dispersion: As signal travels through the media, it tends to spread and overlaps. The
amount of dispersion depends upon the frequency used.

Delay distortion: Signals are sent over media with pre-defined speed and frequency. If the
signal speed and frequency do not match, there are possibilities that signal reaches
destination in arbitrary fashion. In digital media, this is very critical that some bits reach
earlier than the previously sent ones.

Noise: Random disturbance or fluctuation in analog or digital signal is said to be Noise in

signal, which may distort the actual information being carried. Noise can be characterized in
one of the following class:

Thermal Noise - Heat agitates the electronic conductors of a medium which may
introduce noise in the media. Up to a certain level, thermal noise is unavoidable.

Inter-modulation - When multiple frequencies share a medium, their interference

can cause noise in the medium. Inter-modulation noise occurs if two different
frequencies are sharing a medium and one of them has excessive strength or the
component itself is not functioning properly, then the resultant frequency may not be
delivered as expected.

Crosstalk - This sort of noise happens when a foreign signal enters into the media.
This is because signal in one medium affects the signal of second medium.

Impulse - This noise is introduced because of irregular disturbances such as

lightening, electricity, short-circuit, or faulty components. Digital data is mostly
affected by this sort of noise.



Prepared By:
Dr. R. Mahammad Shafi, Associate Professor,
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tepi Campus, Mizan-Tepi University. 16