qyuawidth. We need to convert the digit The digital cellular phones convert the a analog for transmission over a bandpass « avaiable ch ~~ W and we allow 1000 cou relat shannel +8 W/1000, just part of the entit ™MPosite i nalog audio signal yo digital ane Signal before sending. then convert it again to Bis nae imperfection causes . is senna 8 Of the medium isnot the dl noiga sO! What is received, Thee. } and noise (se, igure 3.25)SECTION 3.4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT — 81 Figure 3.25 Causes of impairment Attenuation Attenuation means a loss of energy. When a signal, simple or composite, travels through a medium, it loses some of its energy in overcoming the resistance of the medium. That is why a wire carrying electric signals gets warm, if not hot, after a while. Some of the electrical energy in the signal is converted to heat. To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify the signal. Figure 3.26 shows the effect of attenuation and amplification. Figure 3.26 Attenuation “Anenviated ‘Amplified Ak na “Transmission mediom ——poine2 |g Point 3 Point 1 Decibel : To show that a signal has lost or gained strength, engineers use the unit of the decibel. ‘The decibel (4B) measures the relative strengths of two signals or one signal at two dif- ferent points. Note that the decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if a signal is amplified. aB=10log,9 22 =10logi0 5 By Variables P, and Pare the powers of a signal at points 1 and-2, respectively. Note that some engineering books define the decibel in terms of voltage instead of power. In this case, because power is proportional to the square of the voltage, the formula is dB 20 log 19 (V2/V;). In this text, we express dB in terms’ ‘of power.eeety eh Ippose a signal travel ssion- medium and its power ig Is through a transmi\ Sy ignal tray ; f power) c . In this case, the attenuation (loss of power) abe cay This means that P2 = 5 Py. 2 oP; O.5P1 _ 1Ologio 5 FL OUCB IO on terete DOWES. A.loss of 3 dB (-3 dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the po Example 3.27 it is i d 10 times. Thi A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power Se m This 10P). In this case, the amplification (gain of power) c: Example 3,28 One reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the changes in the strength of a sSignalig (or subtracted) when we are measuring several points (casei instead of just two. In Figure 3.27 a signal travels from point | to point 4. The signal is atten by the tinhe it reaches point 2. Between points 2 and 3, the signal is amplified. Again, bet Points 3 and 4, the si snal is attenuated. We can find the resultant decibel value forthe signalj by adding the decibel measurements between each set of points. Figure 3.27 Decibels for Example 3.28 in| Transmission POE A tp amaeese Point3 Transmission pow 4 ‘medium the decibel value can be calculated ag B= 3472 The signal has gained in power. Example 3.29 Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal Power in mint 4 , mill ‘ the wim and is calculated as dBy, = 10 logig Pn Where p. aie 2S: In this case, itis referred 10 the power ofa signal if its dB,, "30, hea Wer in milliwatts. Calculate _SECTION 3.4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT 83 Solution ‘We can calculate the power in the signal as Gig TO I6E;0 P= 30 oe Josie P= Pe tO mW, ° bees Example 3.30 “The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per kilometer (dB/km). If the signal atthe beginning of a cable with -0.3 dB/km has-a power of 2 mW, what isthe power 0 the sign: at Skm? Solution “The lose in the cable in decibels is 5 x (-0.3) =—1.5 4B. We can calculate the power a5 Pp B= 10 logi0 1 P. Ps < 19-801 ; no P,=0.71P, =0.7X2= 14 mW Distortion if Distortion means that the signal changes‘its form or shape. Distortion can occur in a composite signal made of different frequencies: Each signal component has its own propagation speed (see the next section) through a medium and, therefore, its own delay in arriving at the final destination. Differences in delay may create a difference in phase if the delay is not exactly the same as the period duration. In other words, signal components at the receiver have phases different from what they had at the sender. The shape of the composite signal is therefore not the same. Figure 3.28 shows the effect of distortion on a composite signal. Figure 3.28 Distortion Composite signal Composite signal sent received, AAA AAA ‘Components, Components, in phase ‘out of phase “At the sender ‘At the receiver84 CHAPTER 3 DATA AND SIGNALS «mapajrment. SCV A Noise is another cause of eae noise, may corrupt the signal. Ther, Noise eral sypes oF mois, SUCH 8th, ; al which creates an extra signal ng) induced noise, crosstalk, and impu! i s ina wire such as ; the random motion of plone in a wes from SOUrcES moor sent by the transmitter. Indu d the transmission medium ances. These devices act as a soding ee aie on the other. One wn “ ivi ee rete _ Impulse noise is a s sending een and ne ather he receiving atone, Impulse noise ce nal with high energy ina very short time) that come er on cates on. Figure 3,29 shows the effect of noise on a signal. 10, Figure 3.29 Noise Noise Received 1 i iene | ‘Transmission medium " OSNR = S¥erage signal power : Average noise power SNR is actually the ratio of vat the idea of SNR is . ry inted (sj, ites ignal is less corrupted os pea {0 what is not wanted (noise). S 2JoW SNR means the signal is Example 3.31 The power of a signal is 10 my and SNRjg? a Noise is 1 yyy, *What are the values of SNRSECTION 3.5 DATA RATE LIMITS 85 Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR ‘Noise ‘Signal + noiee a Large SNR $Signat ‘Noise ‘Signal + noise }—— An b-Small SNR Solution ‘The values of SNR and SNRgy can be calculated as follows: SNRgp = 10 logy9 10,000 = 10 logy 10% Example 3.32 The values of SNR and SNRyp for a noiseless channel are ~ SNR. signal|power | 0 Pak 1» SNRgp = 10.1089 ¢ ‘We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal. 3.5 DATA RATE LIMITS A very important consideration in data communications is how fast we can send data, in bits per second, over a channel. Data rate depends on three factors: 1. The bandwidth available 2. The level of the signals we use 3. The quality of the channel (the level of noise) Two theoretical formulas were developed to calculate the data rate: one by Nyquist for a noiseless channel, another by Shannon for a noisy c] hannel.AND SIGNALS: Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula defines the theoreticg bit rate ~ BitRate 22% bandwidth x logy L Ti thd revels eet bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, Lis the number oa Tepresent data, and BitRate is the bit rate in bits Per second, of, have any ee the formula, we might think that, given a specific bandwig, is theoretically cee Yat bY increasing the number of signal levels. Although a nal levels, we in Orrect, practically there is a limit: When We increase the numbgy ©! the receiver ear Pose # burden onthe receiver. Ifthe numberof levels ina signal Teceiver must be cae “istinguish between a 0 and a I. Ifthe level of a signal ig 2% Words, increasin a ‘Sophisticated to distinguish between 64 different levels, i 8 the levels ofa signal reduces the reliability of the system, formula is more : i 8eneral than what we i in Sion and modulation. Also, it ean be span tively i the Nyquist applied when we he ite Nyguist . ‘and transmis. Example 3.34 Consider a noiseless channel wit e nel with a’bandwi levels. The maximum bit rate can be caleuiaeg 00 He 'smitti as ‘ransmitting a Signal with two si ignal BitRate =2 3009), 000 x ogy 3 gies a 60 Example 3.35 Consider the same noiseless channel transmiting we send 2 bits). The maximum bit rate can be cate el Wi lated ag BRE ARMOR yan 12.600 xt bah Example 3.36 ‘We need to send 265 kbps over a n¢ nal levels do we need?Solution ‘We can use the Nyquist formula as shown: i © 1°365|000 = 2x 20,000 x fog, L Relate log, b= 6.625 = 25625 = 98,7 levels _ Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either increase the number of levels or reduce the bit rate. If we have 128 levels, the bit rate is 280 kbps. If we have 64 levels, the bit rate is 240 kbps. Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity In reality, we cannot have a noiseless channel; the channel is always noisy. In 1944, Claude Shannon introduced a formula, called the Shannon capacity, to determine the theoretical highest data rate for a noisy channel: In this formula, bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, SNR is the signal-to- noise ratio, and capacity is the capacity of the channel in bits per second, Note that in the Shannon formula there is no indication of the signal level, which means that no matter how many levels we have, we cannot achieve a data rate higher than the capacity of the channel. In other words, the formula defines a characteristic of the channel, not the method of transmission. Example 3.37 Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value of the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. In other words, the noise is so strong that the signal is faint. For this channel the capacity C is calculated as C=B logy (1 + SNR) = B logy (1+ 0) = B logy 1= This means that the capacity of this channel is zero regardless of the bandwidth. In other words, we cannot receive any data through this channel. Example 3.38 We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line. A telephone line nor- mally has a bandwidth of 3000. Hz (300 to 3300 Hz) assigned for data communications. The sig- nal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. For this channel the capacity is calculated as i _C=B loga (1,4 SNR) = 3000 logo (1+ 3162) = 3000 logs 3163. J = 3000 x 11.62 = 34,860 bps Ge This means that the highest bit rate. for a telephone line is 34.860 kbps. If we want to send data faster than this, we can either increase the. bandwidth of the line or improve the signal-to- noise ratio.CHAPTER 3 DATA AND SIGNALS ‘Assume that SNRap = 36 aq, Example 3.39 in decibel “can be calculated as i A it The signal-to-noise ratio i one channel capacity 8 "The th sae. bandwidth is 2 MHz. The gs” a SR TIO SNR = 982. = 24 Mbps 'SNRgp = 10 logto ESA 22 x 106%, 102 3 C= Blog Example 3.40 For practical purposes, when is fame at SNR. Tn these cscs, the theoretical igh, we can assume that SNR + 15,5 the SNR is ¥eFY He epaley can be simplified to a Using Both Limits In practice, we need to use both methods to find the limits and signal levels. Let us sh \ this with an example. Example 3.41 ‘We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth, The SNR for this channel is 63, ‘What are the app riate bitrate and signal level? Solution First, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper limit, C= Blogs (1+ SNR) = 10% op, (1 +69)= 10510364 <6 wpe something lower, 4 Mbps, signal levels. The Shannon ¥ay {ne NYgust frmula ape es