Data and Signals

Prof. Rajesh Gupta

Assistant Professor
CSE, ITNU
Analog and Digital Data
• Data can be Analog or Digital.
• Analog Data refers to information that is continuous; Digital Data refers to
information that has discrete states.
• Analog signals have continuous electrical signals, while digital signals have non-
continuous electrical signals.
• Analog signals can have an infinite number of values in a range.
• Digital signals can have only a limited number of values.
• Analog signals are continuous in both values and time.
• Digital signals are represented by binary numbers and consist of different voltage
values.
Analog and Digital Data
• An analog signal has infinitely many levels of intensity over a period of time.
• A digital signal can have only a limited number of defined values.
Periodic and Nonperiodic Signals
• Both analog and digital signals can take one of two forms: periodic or
nonperiodic.
• A periodic signal repeats itself after a regular interval of time, called a period.
• The completion of one full pattern is called a cycle.
• A nonperiodic signal changes without exhibiting a pattern or cycle that repeats
over time.
• Both analog and digital signals can be periodic or nonperiodic.
• In data communications, we commonly use periodic analog signals and
nonperiodic digital signals.
 Periodic Analog Signal
• A periodic signal repeats itself after a regular interval of time, called a period.
Time interval: Δ𝑡 = 5 𝑠𝑒𝑐
𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑥(𝑡 + 5)
𝑥(𝑡 + 5) = 𝑥(𝑡 + 10)

…..

…..
𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲:
1
f! = cycles per sec (or Hz) 𝑥(𝑡 + (𝑛 − 1)5) = 𝑥(𝑡 + 𝑛5)
T!
𝑛 → 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲: 𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑥(𝑡 ± 𝑛𝑇! )
2𝜋 𝑇! → 𝐹𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑
𝜔! = 2𝜋𝑓! = radians per sec
𝑇!
𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝: Smallest positive value of
time for which the signal is periodic.
Periodic Analog Signal
• Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or composite.
• A simple periodic analog signal, a sine wave, cannot be decomposed into simpler
signals. It is the most fundamental form of a periodic analog signal.
• A composite periodic analog signal is composed of multiple sine waves.

A sine wave

• A sine wave can be represented by three parameters: the peak amplitude, the
frequency, and the phase.
Peak Amplitude
• The peak amplitude of a signal is
the absolute value of its highest
intensity.
• For electric signals, peak
amplitude is normally measured
in volts.
• Period refers to the amount of
time, in seconds, a signal needs to
complete 1 cycle.
• Frequency refers to the number
of periods in 1 s.
Two signals with the same phase and frequency, but different
S(x) = A * Sin(2*pi*f + Φ) amplitudes
Signals

Period is inverse of frequency and

vice versa

Two signals with the same amplitude and phase, but

different frequencies
Example 1
• The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz. The
period of this sine wave can be determined as follows:
Example 2
• The period of a signal is 100 ms. What is its frequency in kilohertz?

• First, we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we calculate the frequency from the period (1 Hz = 10−3
kHz).
Example 3
• Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds

100 𝑚𝑠 = 100 ×10qr 𝑠 = 100 ×10qr×10s𝜇𝑠 = 10t×10qr×10s𝜇𝑠 = 10u

Frequency
• 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.
• Frequency is the relationship of a signal to time and that the frequency of a wave
is the number of cycles it completes in 1s.
If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is
zero.
If a signal changes instantaneously, its frequency
is infinite.

• If a signal does not change at all, it never completes a cycle, so its frequency is 0 Hz.
• When a signal changes instantaneously, its period is zero; since frequency is the inverse of period, in this case, the
frequency is 1/0, or infinite (unbounded).
Phase
• Phase describes the position of the
waveform relative to time 0.
• If we think of the wave as something
that can be shifted backward or
forward along the time axis, phase
describes the amount of that shift.
• Phase is measured in degrees or
radians.
• A phase shift of 360º corresponds to a
shift of a complete period.

Three sine waves with the same amplitude and

frequency, but different phases
Example
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
Wavelength
• Wavelength is another characteristic of a signal traveling through a transmission
medium.
• The wavelength is the distance a simple signal can travel in one period.

• The propagation speed of electromagnetic signals depends on the medium and on

the frequency of the signal.
• For example, in a vacuum, light is propagated with a speed of 3 x 108 m/s. That
speed is lower in air and even lower in cable.
Wavelength
Time and Frequency Domains
• Time domain plot shows changes in signal amplitude with respect to
time.
• A frequency domain plot is concerned with the peak value and the
frequency; changes in amplitude during one period.
• Frequency domain is more compact and useful when dealing with
more than one sine waves.
A complete sine wave in the time domain can be
represented by one single spike in the frequency
domain.
Time and frequency domain of a sine wave
The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves
Composite Signals
• Simple sine waves have many applications in daily life. We can send a single sine
wave to carry electric energy from one place to another.

• For example, the power company sends a single sine wave with a frequency of
60Hz to distribute electric energy to houses and businesses.

• Another example, we can use a single sine wave to send an alarm to a security
center when a burglar opens a door or window in the house.

• In the first example, the sine wave is carrying energy; in the second, the sine wave
is a signal of danger.
Composite Signals
• If we had only one single sine wave to convey a conversation over the phone, it
would make no sense and carry no information. We would just hear a buzz.
• We need to send a composite signal to communicate data. A composite signal is
made of many simple sine waves.
• Any composite signal is actually a combination of simple sine waves with
different frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.
• A composite signal can be periodic or nonperiodic.
Composite Periodic Signal

A composite periodic signal

Composite Periodic Signal
Composite Non-Periodic Signal
Composite Signals
• First harmonic or fundamental frequency
• If decomposed signal has the same frequency as that of composite periodic
signal, it is called first harmonic or fundamental frequency
• If the decomposed signal has twice the frequency of composite periodic
signal, it is called second harmonic
• Third harmonic
• And so on
• Here, first harmonic, third harmonic and ninth harmonic are shown
• Frequency decomposition of a signal is discrete
• Since f is integral, 3f and 9f are also integral
• No frequencies exist like 1.2f or 2.6 f
Composite Non-Periodic Signals

Time and Frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

Bandwidth
• The range of frequencies contained in a composite signal is its bandwidth.
• The bandwidth is normally a difference between two numbers.
• For example, if a composite signal contains frequencies between 1000 and 5000,
its bandwidth is 5000 − 1000, or 4000.
Bandwidth

Bandwidth of a non periodic signal

Bandwidth: Example 1
• 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.
Bandwidth: Example 2
• 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.
Bandwidth: Example 3
• 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.
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.

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.

Another example of a nonperiodic composite signal is the signal received by an old-fashioned analog
black-and-white TV. A TV screen is made up of pixels. If we assume a resolution of 525 × 700, we have
367,500 pixels per screen. If we scan the screen 30 times per second, this is 367,500 × 30 = 11,025,000
pixels per second. The worst-case scenario is alternating black and white pixels. We can send 2 pixels
per cycle. Therefore, we need 11,025,000 / 2 = 5,512,500 cycles per second, or Hz. The bandwidth
needed is 5.5125 MHz.
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.
• If a signal has L levels, each level needs log2L bits
• Example:
• 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

Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and other with four signal levels
A digital signal has nine levels. How many bits are needed per
level?

• 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.
Bit Rate and Bit Interval
• Most digital signals are nonperiodic, and thus period and frequency are not
appropriate characteristics.
• Bit interval: The time required to send one signal bit.
• Another term—bit rate (instead of frequency)—is used to describe digital signals.
• The bit rate is the number of bits sent in 1s, expressed in bits per second (bps).
Bit Rate: Example 1
• Assume we need to download text documents at the rate of 100 pages per
second. What is the required bit rate of the channel?
• A page is an average of 24 lines with 80 characters in each line.
• If we assume that one character requires 8 bits, the bit rate is:
Bit Rate: Example 2
• A digitized voice channel is made by digitizing a 4-kHz bandwidth analog voice
signal. We need to sample the signal at twice the highest frequency (two samples
per hertz). We assume that each sample requires 8 bits. What is the required bit
rate?

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

TV stations reduce this rate to 20 to 40 Mbps through compression.

Bit length
• It is similar to wavelength for analog signals.
• The bit length is the distance one bit occupies on the transmission
medium

Bit length = propagation speed * bit duration

Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal
• A digital signal is a composite analog signal
• Infinite bandwidth
• Periodic digital signal
• Rare in data communication
• Frequency domain representation has infinite bandwidth and discrete
frequencies
• Nonperiodic digital signal
• Decomposed signal still has an infinite bandwidth
• Frequencies are continuous
The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic digital signals
Transmission of Digital Signals
• How can we send a digital signal from point A to point B?

• We can transmit a digital signal by using one of two different approaches:

• baseband transmission or
• broadband transmission (using modulation).
Baseband Transmission
• Baseband transmission means sending a digital signal over a channel without
changing the digital signal to an analog signal.

• Baseband Transmission is a signalling technology that sends digital signals over a

single frequency as discrete electrical pulses.

• The entire bandwidth of a baseband system carries only one data signal.

• The baseband signal is bidirectional so that a baseband system can both transmit
and receive signals simultaneously.
Baseband Transmission
• Baseband signals can be regenerated using repeaters in order to travel longer
distances before weakening and becoming unusable because of attenuation.
• Baseband transmission technologies do not use modulation, but they can use
time-division multiplexing (TDM) to accommodate multiple channels over a
single baseband transmission line.
Baseband Transmission
• There are two cases of a baseband communication: a low-pass channel with a wide
bandwidth and one with a limited bandwidth.
Low-Pass Channel with Wide Bandwidth
• If we want to preserve the exact form of a nonperiodic digital signal, we need to send
the entire spectrum, the continuous range of frequencies between zero and infinity.
• This is possible if we have a dedicated medium with an infinite bandwidth between
the sender and receiver that preserves the exact amplitude of each component of the
composite signal.
• This means that if we have a medium, such as a coaxial or fiber optic cable, with a
very wide bandwidth, two stations can communicate by using digital signals with
very good accuracy.
Low-Pass Channel with Limited Bandwidth
• In a low-pass channel with limited bandwidth, we approximate the digital signal
with an analog signal.
• The level of approximation depends on the bandwidth available.

wide bandwidth more accurate

limited bw less acc

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
Assumption: We have a digital
signal of bit rate N
Conclusions:
• Analog representation for
the 3-bit pattern is shown
• Phases involved are 90,
180, 270, 0
• Highest frequency is N/2
and lowest frequency is 0
• Bandwidth = N/2 (First
harmonic)

Rough approximation of a digital signal using first

harmonic for worst case
Better approximation:
• Add more harmonics and increase
bandwidth to 3N/2, 5N/2, 7N/2 and
so on
• Required bandwidth is proportional
to bit rate
• Want to send bits faster, need
more bandwidth

Simulating the digital signal with first three harmonics`

Bandwidth requirements
What is the required bandwidth of a low-pass channel if we
need to send 1 Mbps by using baseband transmission?

• The answer depends on the accuracy desired.

• a. The minimum bandwidth, is B = bit rate /2, or 500 kHz.

• b. A better solution is to use the first and the third harmonics with
B = 3 × 500 kHz = 1.5 MHz.

• c. Still a better solution is to use the first, third, and fifth harmonics with
B = 5 × 500 kHz = 2.5 MHz.
We have a low-pass channel with bandwidth 100 kHz. What
is the maximum bit rate of this channel?

• The maximum bit rate can be achieved if we use the first

harmonic. The bit rate is 2 times the available bandwidth, or 200
kbps
Broadband Transmission
• Broadband transmission or modulation means changing the digital signal to an analog
signal for transmission.
• Modulation allows us to use a bandpass channel—a channel with a bandwidth that
does not start from zero.
Broadband Transmission
• Broadband transmission
or modulation means
changing the digital
signal to an analog
signal for transmission.
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.
• Causes of impairment as as follows:
Transmission Impairment: Attenuation
• Attenuation means a loss of energy. When a signal 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, i.e., electrical energy in the
signal is converted to heat.
• To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify the signal.
Transmission Impairment: Attenuation
• To show that a signal has lost or gained strength, engineers use the unit of the decibel.
• The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths of two signals or one signal at two
different points.
• Note that the decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if a signal is
amplified.
dB = 10log10(P2/P1)
P1 - input signal
P2 - output signal
• Variables P1 and P2 are the powers of a signal at points 1 and 2, respectively.
Example
• Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its
power is reduced to one-half.

• A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased 10

times.
Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power in milliwatts. In this case, it is
referred to as dBm and is calculated as dBm = 10 log10 Pm , where Pm is the power in
milliwatts. Calculate the power of a signal with dBm = −30.

The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per kilometer (dB/km). If the signal at the
beginning of a cable with −0.3 dB/km has a power of 2 mW, what is the power of the signal
at 5 km?
The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) = −1.5 dB. We can calculate the power as
Transmission Impairment: Distortion
• 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 through a medium and,
therefore, its own delay in arriving at the final destination.
• Differences in delay may create a difference in phase.
Transmission Impairment: Noise
• Noise is another cause of impairment. Several types of noise, such as thermal noise,
induced noise, crosstalk, and impulse noise, may corrupt the signal.
• Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons in a wire, Induced noise comes
from sources such as motors and appliances, Crosstalk is the effect of one wire on
the other, and Impulse noise is a spike (a signal with high energy in a very short
time).
 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
• Signal-to-noise ratio is a measure used to compare the level of a desired signal to the
level of background noise.
• We need to consider the average signal power and the average noise power because
these may change with time.
• A high SNR means the signal is less corrupted by noise; a low SNR means the signal
is more corrupted by noise.

Because SNR is the ratio of two powers, it is

often described in decibel units, SNRdB,
defined as
Example: SNR
• The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the noise is 1 μW;
what are the values of SNR and SNRdB?

• The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel are

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:
• The bandwidth available
• The level of the signals we use
• 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 channel.
Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate
• For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula defines the theoretical
maximum bit rate

• In this formula, bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, L is the number of signal
levels used to represent data, and BitRate is the bit rate in bits per second.
• According to the formula, we might think that, given a specific bandwidth, we can
increase the bit rate by increasing the number of signal levels.
• When we increase the number of signal levels, we impose a burden on the receiver.
• If the number of levels in a signal is just 2, the receiver can easily distinguish between
0 and 1.
• In other words, increasing the levels of a signal reduces the reliability of the system.
Noiseless channel: Nyquist Bit Rate
• Nyquist gives the upper bound for the bit rate of a transmission system by
calculating the bit rate directly from the number of bits in a symbol (or signal
levels) and the bandwidth of the system (assuming 2 symbols/per cycle and first
harmonic)

• Nyquist theorem states that for a noiseless channel:

C = 2 B log22n
C= capacity in bps
B = bandwidth in Hz
Example
• Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz
transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The maximum bit rate
can be calculated as

• Consider the same noiseless channel transmitting a signal with four

signal levels. The maximum bit rate can be calculated as
 We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 20 kHz.
How many signal levels do we need?

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:

• 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.
Example
• Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value of the
signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. For this channel the capacity C
is calculated as

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.
We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line. A
telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3000. The signal-to-noise ratio is
usually 3162. For this channel the capacity is calculated as

This implies 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.
The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels. Assume that SNRdB = 36 and the
channel bandwidth is 2 MHz. The theoretical channel capacity can be calculated as

For practical purposes, when the SNR is very high, we can assume that SNR + 1 is almost
the same as SNR. In these cases, the theoretical channel capacity can be simplified to

We can calculate the theoretical capacity of the previous example as

Using both limits
We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63. What
are the appropriate bit rate and signal level?

We use the Shannon formula to find the upper limit

For better performance we choose something lower, 4 Mbps, for example. Then we
use the Nyquist formula to find the number of signal levels
 We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63. What
are the appropriate bit rate and signal level?

we use the Shannon formula to find the upper limit

For better performance we choose something lower, 4 Mbps, for example.

Then we use the Nyquist formula to find the number of signal levels

The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us how
many signal levels we need
Performance Measurement of Network
• Bandwidth: Range of frequencies
• Throughput: The throughput is a measure of how fast we can actually send data through a
network.
• Latency: The latency or delay defines how long it takes for an entire message to completely arrive
at the destination from the time the first bit is sent out from the source.
• Propagation time: Propagation time measures the time required for a bit to travel from the source
to the destination.
• Transmission Time
• Queuing Time
Bandwidth
• One characteristic that measures network performance is bandwidth.
• It can be used in two different contexts with two different measuring values: bandwidth in hertz
and bandwidth in bits per second.
Throughput
• Measure of how fast we can actually send data through a network.
• Bandwidth Vs Throughput
• Bandwidth is a potential measurement of a link
• Throughput is an actual measurement of how fast we can send data
• Link with a bandwidth of 1Mbps, but devices connected may handle only 200
kbps
• Hence, we can’t send more than 200 kbps through this link

A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can pass only an average of 12,000 frames per
minute with each frame carrying an average of 10,000 bits. What is the throughput of this
network?
Latency (delay)
• Defines how long it takes for an entire message to completely arrive at the
destination from the time the first bit is sent out from the source
• Made of four components
• Propagation time
• Transmission time
• Queuing time
• Processing delay

Latency = propagation time + transmission time + queuing time +

processing delay
Propagation Time
• Measures the time required for a bit to travel from the source to the destination
• Calculated by dividing the distance by propagation speed
Propagation Delay = Distance/Propagation speed

What is the propagation time if the distance between the two points is 12,000 km?
Assume the propagation speed to be 2.4 × 108 m/s in cable.

The example shows that a bit can go over the Atlantic Ocean in only 50 ms if there is a
direct cable between the source and the destination
Transmission Time
• There is a time between the first bit leaving the sender and the last bit arriving at the receiver
• Transmission time depends on size of the message and the bandwidth of the channel
Transmission time = (Message Size) / Bandwidth

What are the propagation time and the transmission time for a 2.5-kbyte message (an e-mail) if
the bandwidth of the network is 1 Gbps? Assume that the distance between the sender and the
receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Note that in this case, because the message is short and the bandwidth is high, the dominant
factor is the propagation time, not the transmission time. The transmission time can be ignored.
What are the propagation time and the transmission time for a 5-Mbyte message (an image)
if the bandwidth of the network is 1 Mbps? Assume that the distance between the sender
and the receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Note that in this case, because the message is very long and the bandwidth is not very high,
the dominant factor is the transmission time, not the propagation time. The propagation time
can be ignored.
Queuing Time

• Time needed for each intermediate or end device to hold the message before
it can be processed
• Not a fixed factor; it changes with the load imposed on the network
• When there is heavy traffic on the network, queuing time increases
• Routers queue the packets
Jitter
• Jitter is a problem if different packets of data encounter
different delays and the application using the data at the
receiver site is time-sensitive.