CSE 365: Communication Engineering

Chapter 3: Introduction to Physical Layer

Physical Layer

To be transmitted, data must be

transformed to electromagnetic signals
Analog vs. Digital Data
 Data can be Analog or Digital
 Analog data
 Data take on continuous values
 E.g., human voice, temperature reading, analog clock
 Digital data
 Data take on discrete values
 E.g., data stored in a computer memory, digital clock
Analog vs. Digital Signal
 Signals can be Analog or Digital
 Analog signals
 have an infinite number of values in a range
 Digital signals
 Have a limited number of defined values
Data and Signals

Analog Data Analog Signal

Telephone

Digital Data Analog Signal

Modem

Analog Data Digital Signal

Codec

Digital Data Digital Signal

Digital
transmitter
Periodic and Non-periodic Signals
 A periodic signal completes a pattern within a timeframe,
called a period, and repeats that pattern over subsequent
identical periods.

 The completion of one full pattern is called a cycle.

 A non-periodic or aperiodic signal changes without exhibiting
a pattern or cycle that repeats over time.
 Both Analog and Digital signals can be periodic or non-
periodic.
Periodic and Non-periodic Signals

In data communications, we commonly use Periodic

Analog signals and Non-periodic Digital signals
Periodic Analog Signals
 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.
Sine Waves
 Simplest form of periodic signal
 Can be represented by three parameters: the peak
amplitude, the frequency and the phase.

signal strength
period
T = 1/f
peak
amplitude
time
Peak Amplitude
 The peak amplitude of a signal is the absolute value of its
highest intensity, proportional to the energy it carries.
Period and Frequency
 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 second.

Frequency and period are the inverse of each

other.
Figure 3.5 Two signals with the same amplitude and phase,
but different frequencies
Units of Period and Frequency
More about 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.
 What if a signal does not change at all? What if it maintains
a constant voltage level for the entire time it is active?
 What If a signal changes instantaneously? What happens if it
jumps from one level to another in no time?
Phase
 Phase or Phase shift describes the position of the
waveform relative to time 0.
 Phase is measured in degrees or radians.
Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency, but
different phases
 a) A sine wave with a phase
of 0° starts at time 0 with a
zero amplitude. The
amplitude is increasing.

 b) A sine wave with a phase

of 90° starts at time 0 with a
peak amplitude. The
amplitude is decreasing.

 c) A sine wave with a phase

of 180° starts at time 0 with
a zero amplitude. The
amplitude is decreasing.
Wavelength
 Wavelength is another characteristic of a signal traveling through
a transmission medium.
 It binds the period or the frequency of a simple sine wave to the
propagation speed of the medium.
 The wavelength is the distance a simple signal can travel in one
period.

Wavelength, λ = (Propagation speed) x Period

𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅, 𝒄
=
𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚, 𝒇
Time and Frequency Domain
 Time Domain Representation  plots amplitude as a function of time

 Frequency Domain Representation plots each sine wave’s peak amplitude against
its frequency
Example 3.7
The frequency domain is more compact and useful when we are
dealing with more than one sine wave. For example, the following figure
shows three sine waves, each with different amplitude and frequency. All
can be represented by three spikes in the frequency domain.
Signals and Communication
 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.
 According to Fourier analysis, any composite signal is a
combination of simple sine waves with different
frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.
Composite Signals and Periodicity
 If the composite signal is periodic, the decomposition
gives a series of signals with discrete frequencies.
 If the composite signal is non-periodic, the
decomposition gives a combination of sine waves
with continuous frequencies.
Example 3.8
The following figure shows a periodic composite signal with frequency
f. This type of signal is not typical of those found in data
communications. We can consider it to be three alarm systems, each
with a different frequency. The analysis of this signal can give us a
good understanding of how to decompose signals.
Figure 3.11 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the
time and frequency domains
Example 3.9
Following figure shows a non-periodic composite signal. It can
be the signal created by a microphone or a telephone set when a
word or two is pronounced. In this case, the composite signal
cannot be periodic, because that implies that we are repeating the
same word or words with exactly the same tone.
Bandwidth
 A property of a medium
 Indicates the difference between the highest and the lowest
frequencies allowed to pass
 <highest freq allowed> – <lowest freq allowed>
Example 3.12
 A non-periodic 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.
Digital Signals
 Properties:
 Bit rate – number of bits per second
 Bit interval – duration of 1 bit

amplitude
1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0

...

bit
time
Interval
Digital Signals
Digital Signals
 If a signal has L levels, each level needs log2L bits

 Example 3.16 A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits
are needed per level?

 Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

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 × 24 × 80 × 8 = 1,536,000 bps = 1.536 Mbps

Periodic and Non-Periodic Digital Signal
Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal

A digital signal is a composite analog signal with an

infinite bandwidth.
Baseband transmission
 Baseband transmission
 Sending a digital signal over a channel without changing it to
an analog signal

 Baseband transmission requires a low-pass channel

Low-pass Channel
 A channel with a bandwidth that starts from zero.
 It requires a dedicated medium with a bandwidth
constituting only one channel.
 Two low-pass channels: one with a narrow bandwidth and
the other with a wide bandwidth.
Bandwidths of two Low-pass Channels
Baseband Transmission using a Dedicated Medium

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.
Low-pass Channel with Limited Bandwidth

Rough approximation of a digital signal using the first harmonic for worst case
 Simulating a Digital Signal with
First three Harmonics

cs

Better approximation of a digital signal using the first three harmonics

Baseband transmission

In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is

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

 Digital bandwidth
 Expressed in bits per second (bps)
 Analog bandwidth
 Expressed in Hertz (Hz)
Bandwidth Requirements
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.
Example 3.23
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.
Home Work
 Example 3.3, 3.4, 3.10, 3.11, 3.17, 3.19, 3.20

A number of slides modified from Chaiporn Jaikaeo

and borrowed from the book website
Broadband transmission or Modulation
 Sending a digital signal over a channel by changing it to
an analog signal
 it requires a bandpass channel – a channel with a
bandwidth that does not start from zero.

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.
Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a
bandpass channel
Transmission Impairment
 Signals travel through transmission media, which are
not perfect. The imperfection causes signal
impairment.
 Three causes of impairment are:
 Attenuation
 Distortion
 Noise
Signal Attenuation
 Attenuation  Loss of energy
 Signal strength falls off with distance
 Attenuation depends on medium
Relative Signal Strength
 Measured in Decibel (dB)
dB = 10 log10 (P2/P1)

 P1 and P2 are signal powers at points 1 and 2, respectively

Point 1 Point 2

 Positive dB  signal is amplified (gains strength)

 Negative dB  signal is attenuated (loses strength)

48
Example 3.28
Signal Distortion
 Distortion  Change in signal form or shape
Noise
 Noise  Undesirable signals added between the
transmitter and the receiver

 Types of noise
 Thermal
 Due to random motion of electrons in a wire

51
Noise
 Types of noise (cont’d)
 Crosstalk
 Signal from one line picked up by another

Wire 1

Wire 2

 Impulse
 Irregular pulses or spikes
 E.g., Power line, lightning
 Short duration
 High amplitude
Signal-to-Noise Ratio

Powersignal
SNR 
Powernoise

 High SNR  the signal is less corrupted

 Low SNR  the signal is more corrupted

53
Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR
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)

55
Data Rate: Noiseless Channels
 Nyquist Theorem

Bit Rate = 2 × Bandwidth × log2L

 Bit rate in bps

Harry Nyquist
 Bandwidth in Hz (1889-1976)

 L – number of signal levels

 Increasing the levels of a signal may reduce the reliability of the

system.

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Data Rate: Noisy Channels
 Shannon Capacity

Capacity = Bandwidth × log2(1+SNR)

 Capacity (maximum bit rate) in bps
 Bandwidth in Hz
 SNR – Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Claude Elwood Shannon
(1916-2001)
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
Example 3.40
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

For example, we can calculate the theoretical capacity of the

previous example as
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.

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.
Using Both Limits

The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit; the Nyquist

formula tells us how many signal levels we need.
Network Performance
 Bandwidth
 Hertz
 Bits per second (bps)
 Throughput
 Actual data rate
 Latency (delay)
 Time it takes for an entire message to completely
arrive at the destination
 Jitter

62
Latency
 Composed of
 Propagation time
 Transmission time
 Queuing time
 Processing time

Entire
message

propagation
time

transmission
time
Latency Formula

Latency = Propagation time + Transmission time + Queuing time

+ Processing delay

Propagation time = Distance / (Propagation speed)

Transmission time = (Message size) / Bandwidth

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Bandwidth-Delay Product
 The link is seen as a pipe
 Cross section = bandwidth
 Length = delay
 Bandwidth-delay product defines the number of bits that
can fill the link
Filling the link with bits
Home Work
 Example 3.24-3.48.

A number of slides modified from Chaiporn Jaikaeo

and borrowed from the book website