Chapter 3

Data and Signals

3.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Data and Signals

■ Data are entities that convey meaning

(computer file, music on CD, results from a
blood gas analysis machine)
■ Signals are the electric or electromagnetic
encoding of data (telephone conversation, we
page download)
■ Computer networks and data/voice
communication systems transmit signals
■ Data and signals can be analog or digital –

TDC 361 2
Analog vs. Digital Signals

■ Signals can be interpreted as either analog or

digital
■ In reality, all signals are analog
■ Analog signals are continuous, non-discrete
■ Digital signals are non-continuous, discrete
■ Digital signals lend themselves more nicely to
noise reduction techniques

3
Analog vs. Digital Signals

■ There are actually multiple “kinds” of digital

signals
■ Discrete square waveforms found in digital
systems such as LANs (see an example on the
next slide)
■ Digital logic voltage levels (a binary 0 is 0 to 2
volts; a binary 1 is 4 to 6 volts)
■ Analog signals which can only be interpreted in a
finite number of ways (modulation techniques
such as QAM-16)
4
 Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital signals

3.5
Time domain concepts

■ Continuous signal
■ Infinite number of points at any given time
■ Discrete signal
■ Finite number of points at any given time; maintains a
constant level then changes to another constant level
■ Periodic signal
■ Pattern repeated over time
■ Aperiodic (non-periodic) signal
■ Pattern not repeated over time

6
Time domain concepts

■ In data communications, we commonly use

periodic analog signals and nonperiodic digital
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.

7
 Figure 3.2 A sine wave

3.8
Signal Properties

■ All signals are composed of three

properties:
■ Amplitude
■ Frequency
■ Phase

9
 Figure 3.3 Two signals with the same phase and frequency,
but different amplitudes

3.10
 Note

Frequency and period are the inverse of

each other.

3.11
 Figure 3.4 Two signals with the same amplitude and phase,
but different frequencies

3.12
 Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency

3.13
 Example 3.3

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

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

3.14
 Example 3.5

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

kilohertz?

Solution
First we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we
calculate the frequency from the period (1 Hz = 10−3
kHz).

3.15
 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.

3.16
 Note

If a signal does not change at all, its

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

3.17
 Note

Phase describes the position of the

waveform relative to time 0.

3.18
 Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency,
but different phases

3.19
 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

3.20
 Sine Wave Examples

3.21
 Wavelength
■ Another characteristic of a signal traveling through a
transmission medium
■ Binds the period or the frequency of a simple sine wave to the
propagation speed of the medium
■ Wavelength = propagation speed x period
= propagation speed/frequency

3.22
 Figure 3.7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave

3.23
 Example 3.7

The frequency domain is more compact and

useful when we are dealing with more than one
sine wave. For example, Figure 3.8 shows three
sine waves, each with different amplitude and
frequency. All can be represented by three
spikes in the frequency domain.

3.24
 Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

3.25
 Composite Signals
■ 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
■ When we change one or more characteristics of a
single-frequency signal, it becomes a composite
signal made of many frequencies
■ According to Fourier analysis, any composite signal
is a combination of simple sine waves with different
frequencies, phases, and amplitudes
■ 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.

3.26
 Figure 3.10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and frequency
domains

3.27
 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.

3.28
 Figure 3.11 The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal, such
someone speaking into a microphone: Composite Non-periodic Signal

3.29
 Bandwidth
Note

The bandwidth of a composite signal is

the difference between the
highest and the lowest frequencies
contained in that signal.

3.30
 Figure 3.12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

Note: each
frequency is
identifiable

Note:
frequencies
are all over
the place

3.31
 Example
■ A 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 integral
frequencies of the same amplitude
B = fh - fl ; 20 = 60 – fl ; fl = 60 - 20 = 40 Hz

3.32
 Example 3.10

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 (range of
frequencies), 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 3.13).
3.33
 Figure 3.13 The bandwidth for Example 3.10

3.34
 Example 3.12

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.

3.35
 Figure 3.15 The bandwidth for Example 3.12

3.36
 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
3.37
 Figure 3.16 Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels

3.38
 Bit Rate and Bit Interval

3.39
 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.

3.40
 Example 3.17

What about a digital signal with 16 levels?

How many bits are needed per level?

What about 32 levels? 64 levels? 128 levels?

What about 9 levels??

2? = 9?
3.17 bits
However, this answer is not realistic.

3.41
 Example 3.18

Assume we need to download text documents at the rate

of 100 pages per minute. What is the required bit rate of
the channel?
Solution
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

3.42
 Example 3.18

Assume we need to download text documents at the rate

of 100 pages per Second. What is the required bit rate of
the channel?
Solution
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

100 X 24 X 80 X 8 = 1536000 bits/sec = 1.536 Mbps

3.43
 Example 3.19

A digitized voice channel, as we will see in Chapter 4, 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?
Solution
The bit rate can be calculated as

3.44
 Example 3.20

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

Solution
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.

The TV stations reduce this rate to 20 to 40 Mbps

through compression.
3.45
 Digital Signal as a Composite Analog
Signal

3.46
 Transmission of Digital Signals
Figure 3.18 Baseband transmission

Digital transmission on a wire typically “consumes” the entire channel

and is labeled baseband signaling.
A digital signal is a composite analog signal with infinite bandwidth.
The LAN is a common example of baseband transmission.

3.47 Baseband transmission: Sending a digital signal without changing into

 Low-Pass Channel (with Wide/narrow
Bandwidth)

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

3.48 infinite or very wide bandwidth

 Figure 3.20 Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium:

Low-Pass Channel with Wide Bandwidth

This is ideal. This is what we get.

Still readable however.

3.49
 Figure 3.21 Rough approximation of a digital signal using only the first
harmonic for worst case: Low Pass Channel with Limited Bandwidth

With only the first harmonic,

N = Bit Rate
you can represent a binary
pattern with a frequency of
N / 2.

3.50 Doesn’t look too good with only 1 harmonic.

 Figure 3.22 Simulating a digital signal with first three harmonics.
This gives us a better representation of the binary pattern:
Better Approximation

3.51
 Note

In baseband transmission, the required

bandwidth is proportional to the bit rate;
if we need to send bits faster, we need
more bandwidth.

3.52
 Bandwidth (B) = 3N/2

Table 3.2 Bandwidth requirements where N= Bit Rate

Bandwidth (B) = 5N/2

where N= Bit Rate

3.53
 Example 3.22

What is the required bandwidth of a low-pass channel if

we need to send 1 Mbps by using baseband transmission?
Solution
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.

3.54
 Example 3.22

We have a low-pass channel with bandwidth 100 kHz.

What is the maximum bit rate of this channel?
Solution
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.

3.55
 Broadband Transmission (Using Modulation)
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.

3.56
 Figure 3.23 Bandwidth of a bandpass channel

3.57
 Figure 3.24 Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass
channel

3.58
 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

3.59
 Figure 3.26 Attenuation (the first impairment)

3.60
Decibels
Signal strength/power is measured in decibels
(dB)
dB is a relative measure of loss (or gain)

NdB = 10 x log10 (P2 / P1)

◦ P2 = ending power level in watts
◦ P1 = beginning power level in watts

Example: Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its

power is reduced to one-half. This means that P2 is (1/2)P1. In this case, the
attenuation (loss of power) can be calculated as

61
 Example 3.28

One reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the

changes in the strength of a signal is that decibel
numbers can be added (or subtracted) when we are
measuring several points (cascading) instead of just two.
In Figure 3.27 a signal travels from point 1 to point 4. In
this case, the decibel value can be calculated as

Therefore, Losses and gains are additive

3.62
 Figure 3.27 Decibels for Example 3.28

3.63
 Example 3.29

Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power

in milliwatts. In this case, it is referred to as dBm and is
calculated as dB = 10 log P , where Pm is the
m 10 m
power in milliwatts. Calculate the power of a signal with
dBm = −30.

Solution
We can calculate the power in the signal as

3.64
 Example 3.30

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?
Solution
The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) = −1.5 dB.
We can calculate the power as

3.65
 Figure 3.28 Distortion (the second impairment)
• The signal changes its form or shape
• Each signal component in a composite signal has its own
propagation speed
• Differences in delay may cause a difference in phase

3.66
 Figure 3.29 Noise (the third impairment)
• Several types of noises, such as thermal noise, induced
noise, crosstalk, and impulse noise, may corrupt the
signal
• Thermal noise is the random motion of elections in a
wire which creates an extra signal not originally sent by
the transmitter.

3.67
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR or S/N)

■ Signal to noise ratio shows the ratio of

signal power to noise power
■ Power often expressed in watts
■ S/N = signal power/noise power
■ Just a simple ratio

68
Signal to Noise RatiodB
(SNRdB or S/NdB)

■ Signal to noise ratiodB shows the ratio of

signal power to noise power in decibels
■ S/NdB = 10 log10 (signal power/noise
power)

■ Example 1: Signal power = 1000 watts, noise power

= 20 mw
■ Example 2: Signal power = 100 w, noise power =
0.000002w

69
Signal to Noise RatiodB

■ What if you know the S/Ndb but want

to know the signal power level?
■ For example, you are given that S/Ndb
= 85. What is the signal power level?

70
 Example 3.31

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 ?

Solution
The values of SNR and SNRdB can be calculated as
follows:

3.71
 Example 3.32

The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel

are

We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.

3.72
 Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR

3.73
 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)

Topics discussed in this section:

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate
Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity
Using Both Limits

3.74
 Note

Increasing the levels of a signal may

reduce the reliability of the system.

3.75
Channel Capacity

■ Data rate
■ In bits per second
■ Rate at which data can be communicated
■ Bandwidth
■ In cycles per second of Hertz
■ Constrained by transmitter and medium
■ Baud rate
■ Frequency with which the components change

76
Nyquist Bit Rate Channel Capacity

■ Nyquist Bit Rate [noiseless channel]

■ Maximum Bit rate of a noiseless channel =
2 * F * log2(L) bps

■ Where F = frequency / Bandwidth

■ L = the number of discrete levels

■ Example: F = 4000 Hz, L = 2, what is the bit

rate?

77
 Example 3.34

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

3.78
 Example 3.35

Consider the same noiseless channel transmitting a

signal with four signal levels (for each level, we send 2
bits). The maximum bit rate can be calculated as

3.79
 Example 3.36

We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with

a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal levels do we
need?
Solution
We can use the Nyquist formula as shown:

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.
3.80
Shannon Channel Capacity

■ Shannon ( in NOISY channel)

■ Theoretical Maximum data rate (in bps),
C = B x log2(1 + S/N)
■ B = bandwidth, or frequency
■ S = signal power in watts
■ N = noise power in watts (S/N = SNR)

■ Example: B = 3400 Hz, S = 0.2 w, N = 0.0002 w

■ Max data rate, C = 3400 x log2(1 + 1000)
= 3400 x 9.97
= 33898 bps
81
 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

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.

3.82
 Example 3.38

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 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.
3.83
 Example 3.39

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

3.84
 Example 3.41

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?

Solution
First, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper
limit.

3.85
 Example 3.41 (continued)

The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, 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.

3.86
 Using Both Limits
Note

The Shannon capacity gives us the

upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us
how many signal levels we need.

3.87
 Using Both Limits
■ Example:
We have a channel with a 100 MHz bandwidth. The SNR
for this channel is 63; what is the appropriate bit rate
and signal level?

First, we use the Shannon formula to find our upper limit

6
C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 100 x 10 log2 (1 + 63)
6
= 100 x 10 log2 (64) = 600 Mbps

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

levels
400 Mbps = 2 × 100 MHz × log2 L L=4

3.88
 Note
In networking, we use the term
bandwidth in two contexts.
❏ The first, bandwidth in hertz, refers to
the range of frequencies in a
composite signal or the range of
frequencies that a channel can pass.
❏ The second, bandwidth in bits per
second, refers to the speed of bit
transmission in a channel or link.

3.89
 Example 3.42

As the bandwidth increases, so too can the data rate.

Stated another way, to transmit a high data rate, we need

a wide bandwidth.
OR
We need to use a signaling technique that has a high
number of signal levels.

The bandwidth of a subscriber line is 4 kHz for voice or

data. The bandwidth of this line for data transmission
can be up to 56,000 bps using a sophisticated modem to
change the digital signal to analog.
3.90
 Example 3.43

If the telephone company improves the quality of the line

and increases the bandwidth to 8 kHz, we can send
112,000 bps by using the same technology as mentioned
in Example 3.42.

3.91
 3-5 Performance

■ Bandwidth (in two contexts)

■ Bandwidth in hertz, refers to the range of
frequencies in a composite signal or the range of
frequencies that a channel can pass.
■ Bandwidth in bits per second, refers to the speed
of bit transmission in a channel or link.

■ Throughput
■ Measurement of how fast we can actually send
data through a network

3.92
 3-5 Performance

■ Latency (Delay)
Define 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
Latency = propagation time + transmission time +
queuing time + processing delay
Propagation time = Distance/Propagation speed
Transmission time = Message size/Bandwidth

■ Jitter: the deviation from true periodicity of a

periodic signal; significant but undesired factor of any
3.93 link
 Bandwidth-Delay Product
The bandwidth-delay product defines the number of bits that
can fill the link

3.94
 Bandwidth-Delay Product
(cntd.)

Bandwidth-delay product concept:

3.95
Review Questions

■ What is a composite signal?

■ How do you calculate a dB?
■ How do you calculate signal to noise ratio?
■ How do you read/create a frequency
domain representation?
■ What is a dc component?

96
Review Questions

■ How do you use the Nyquist formula?

■ 4000 Hz, 8 signal levels, data rate?
■ 50,000 bps data rate, 4000 Hz, how many
signal levels?
■ How do you use the Shannon formula?
■ 8000 Hz, signal power = 20w, noise power =
0.002w, what is the data rate?
■ 5000 Hz, signal power = 50w, data rate =
20000bps, what is the possible noise power?

97