Data Commun. & Computer Netw.

Chapter 2: Data and Signals

Lecturer: Nguyen-Son Vo (Ph.D), email: [email protected]

https://sites.google.com/view/vonguyenson/home

Behrouz A Forouzan, Data Communications and Networking, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, 2013
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 Ch2 – Data & Signals
2.1. Analog and digital
2.2. Periodic analog signals
2.3. Digital signals
2.4. Transmission impairment
2.5. Data rate limits
2.6. Performance
2.7. Problems

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 2.1. Analog and digital
- Data vs. signal
• Signal: information + propagation
• Data: facts + information + easier to store, process, and
make decisions
- Analog vs. digital

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Periodic: x(t) = x(t + T) holds, f= 1/T
- Non-periodic: x(t) = x(t + T) does not hold
Ana. & Dig. signals can be periodic or non-periodic

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Different amplitudes

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Different frequencies

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Different phases

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Different phases

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Wavelength

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Time domain & frequency domain

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Time domain & frequency domain

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Composite signals

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 2.2. Periodic signals
- Bandwidth

The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the

highest and the lowest frequencies contained in that signal
Voice: 0.3 - 3,4 KHz
Audio: 15 KHz
Video: 0 - 6 MHz (Old-fashioned analog B&W TV)
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 2.3. Digital signals
- Bit rate

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 2.3. Digital signals
- Bit rate NB (number of bits/sample) = log2NL (number of levels)

BR = 8 bps

BR = 16 bps

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 2.3. Digital signals
- Bit length
• Wavelength is the distance one cycle occupies on the
transmission medium
• Bit length is the distance one bit occupies on the
transmission medium

BL (bit length) = PS (propagation speed) x BD (bit duration)

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 2.3. Digital signals
- Digital signal as a composite analog signal

A digital signal is a composite analog signal with an infinite bandwidth

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 2.3. Digital signals
- Digital signal as a composite analog signal

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.

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 2.3. Digital signals
- Digital signal as a composite analog signal
• Normal case

BR = 8 bps

• Worst case

T = 2/BR

fmax = BR/2

In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is proportional to the bit

rate; if we need to send bits faster, we need more bandwidth 19/33
2.4. Transmission impairment

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2.4. Transmission impairment

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 2.5. Data rate limits
- Noiseless channel – Nyquist bit rate
BR = 2BW (channel bandwidth) x log2NL

Note: back to slide 19, NL = 2, worst case

- Noisy channel – Shannon capacity

BR  BW log 2 (1  SNR)
SNR: Signal-to-Noise Ratio

[SNR]dB  10 log10 SNR

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 2.5. Data rate limits
- Using both S&N
• In practice, we need to use both N&S to find the limits and
signal levels, e.g., a channel with 1MHz bandwidth, [SNR]dB
is 18dB. What are the appropriate bit rate and signal level?
[SNR]dB = 10log10SNR  SNR = 10^([SNR]dB/10)
 SNR = 10^(18/10) = 63

Applying Shannon: BR = BWxlog2(1+SNR)

BR = 1MHz x log2(1+63) = 6Mbps
Appplying Nyquist: BR = 2BWx log2NL
 NL = 2^[BR/(2BW)] = 2^[6x10^6/(2x10^6)] = 8

Note: it’s better to select NL < 8 23/33

 2.6. Performance
- Attenuation
- Bandwidth
- Throughput
- Goodput
- Latency, delay
- Bandwidth (bps rather than Hz)-delay product
- Bit error rate
- Jitter
- …
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 2.6. Performance
- Attenuation

A2
A1

P1 P2 P3
[A1]dB = 10log10(P2/P1) [A2]dB = 10log10(P3/P2)
[A]dB = [A1]dB + [A2]dB
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 2.6. Performance
- Attenuation
• Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium
and its power is reduced to one-half.
• This means that P2 = 0.5P1. In this case, the attenuation (loss
of power) can be calculated as

[A1]dB = 10log10(P2/P1)
= 10log10(0.5P1/P1)
= 10log100.5
= -3dB
A loss of 3 dB (–3 dB) is equivalent to losing
one-half the power.
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 2.6. Performance
- Attenuation
• Suppose a signal travels through an amplifier, and its power
is increased 10 times.
• This means that P2 = 10P1. In this case, the amplification
(gain of power) can be calculated as

[A1]dB = 10log10(P2/P1)
= 10log10(10P1/P1)
= 10log1010
= 10dB

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 2.6. Performance
- Attenuation
• Why dB?

[A]dB = [A1]dB + [A2]dB + [A3]dB = -3 + 10 - 3 = 4dB

A = A1xA2xA3 = 0.5x10x0.5 = 2.5

• The gain of 4dB is equivalent to the gain of 2.5?

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 2.6. Performance
- Attenuation
• dB is also used to measure signal power in mW.
• In this case, it is referred to as dBm and is calculated as
dBm = 10 log10 Pm , where Pm is the power in mW.
• For example, calculate the power of a signal with dBm =
−30?
10log10(Pm) = -30
 Pm = 10^(-30/10) = 10^(-3)mW

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 2.7. Problems
Prob.1: How much information in a periodic signal? The role of periodic
signals in life and in communication systems?

Prob.2: Consider a analog signal that has the max voltage of Vm and min
voltage of -Vm. This signal is quantized by 2^n level (n bits). Compute the
quantization error and relative error corresponding to a voltage level of Va?

Prob.3: Find the required number of bits/sample (NB) to ensure that Re is not
greater than 10% when Va = 5% the maximum value of the signal.

Prob.4: 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?

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 2.7. Problems
Prob.5: We have mentioned the distortion due to limited bandwidth of channel.
Is a channel with much wider bandwidth better than a lower one? Why?

Prob.6: 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
integer frequencies of the same amplitude.

Prof.7: List all types of delay in communication systems?

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 2.7. Problems
Prof.8: A communication link has a bit rate of 10Mbps over a distance of 1Km.
Each data frame has 256 bits (including 32 bit header, checksum, and other
overheads). The next frame is transmitted after receive an acknowledgment
(ACK) of length 32 bits from the receiver. A period of link-idle checking is
10s. Assume that there is no congestion and transmission error. What is the
actual/useful bit rate of the link.

Prob.9: We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of
20 kHz. How many signal levels do we need?

Prob.10: A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3kHz. The SNR is

usually 3162. Can we send the data at 64kbps over this channel?

Prob.11: A digitized voice channel is made by digitizing an analog voice signal

(maximum frequency of voice is 4kHz). We need to sample the signal at twice
the maximum frequency. We assume that each sample requires 8 bits. What is
the required bit rate? 32/33