Lesson 4

Modulation and encoding

Voice Digitization
Topic objectives
By the end of the topic the learner should be able to:
i. Distinguish between PAM, PWM or PDM and PPM
ii. Distinguish between Pulse Code Modulation & Delta Modulation
iii. Describe factors that influence encoding schemes
3. Analog Data, Digital Signal
Device used is a COde-DECoder CODEC
• Digitization
— Conversion of analog data into digital data
— Digital data can then be transmitted using NRZ-L
— Digital data can then be transmitted using code other than NRZ-L
— Digital data can then be converted to analog signal
— Analog to digital conversion done using a CODEC
— Pulse code modulation
— Delta modulation

A. Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM):

In pulse amplitude modulation, the amplitude of regular interval of periodic pulses or

electromagnetic pulses is varied in proposition to the sample of modulating signal or
message signal. This is an analog type of modulation. These sample pulses can be
transmitted directly using wired media or we can use a carrier signal for transmitting
through wireless.

There are two types of pulse amplitude modulation based on signal polarity

1. Single polarity pulse amplitude modulation

2. Double polarity pulse amplitude modulation
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In single polarity pulse amplitude modulation, there is fixed level of DC bias added to the
message signal or modulating signal, so the output of modulating signal is always
positive. In the double polarity pulse amplitude modulation, the output of modulating
signal will have both positive and negative ends.

Fig 4.1 Double polarity pulse amplitude modulation

Advantages of Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM):

 It is the base for all digital modulation techniques and it is simple process for both
modulation and demodulation technique.
 No complex circuitry is required for both transmission and reception. Transmitter
and receiver circuitry is simple and easy to construct.
 PAM can generate other pulse modulation signals and can carry the message or
information at same time.

Disadvantages of Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM):

 Bandwidth should be large for transmitting the pulse amplitude modulation signal.
Due to Nyquist criteria also high bandwidth is required.
 The frequency varies according to the modulating signal or message signal. Due to
these variations in the signal frequency, interferences will be there. So noise will be
great. For PAM, noise immunity is less when compared to other modulation
techniques. It is almost equal to amplitude modulation.
 Pulse amplitude signal varies, so power required for transmission will be more,
peak power is also, even at receiving more power is required to receive the pulse
amplitude signal.

Applications of Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM):

 It is mainly used in Ethernet which is type of computer network communication,

we know that we can use Ethernet for connecting two systems and transfer data
between the systems. Pulse amplitude modulation is used for Ethernet
communications.
 It is also used for photo biology which is a study of photosynthesis.
 Used as electronic driver for LED lighting.
 Used in many micro controllers for generating the control signals etc.

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 B. Pulse Duration Modulation (PDM) or Pulse Width Modulation (PWM):

It is a type of analog modulation. In pulse width modulation or pulse duration

modulation, the width of the pulse carrier is varied in accordance with the sample values
of message signal or modulating signal or modulating voltage. In pulse width modulation,
the amplitude is made constant and width of pulse and position of pulse is made
proportional to the amplitude of the signal. We can vary the pulse width in three ways

1. By keeping the leading edge constant and vary the pulse width with respect to
leading edge
2. By keeping the tailing constant.
3. By keeping the center of the pulse constant.

Fig 4.2 Pulse Width Modulation and Pulse Position Modulation

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Fig 4.3 PWM or PDM diagram

Advantages of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM):

 Noise interference is less as amplitude has been made constant.

 Signal can be separated very easily at demodulation and noise can also be
separated easily.
 Synchronization between transmitter and receiver is not required unlike pulse
position modulation.

Disadvantages of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM):

 Power will be variable because of varying in width of pulse. Transmitter can handle
the power even for maximum width of the pulse.
 Bandwidth should be large to use in communication, should be huge even when
compared to the pulse amplitude modulation.

Applications of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Pulse Duration Modulation:

 PWM is used in telecommunication systems.

 PWM can be used to control the amount of power delivered to a load without
incurring the losses. So, this can be used in power delivering systems.
 Audio effects and amplifications purposes also used.
 PWM signals are used to control the speed of the robot by controlling the motors.
 PWM is also used in robotics.
 Embedded applications.
 Analog and digital applications etc.

C. Pulse Position Modulation (PPM):

In the pulse position modulation, the position of each pulse in a signal by taking the
reference signal is varied according to the sample value of message or modulating signal
instantaneously. In the pulse position modulation technique that uses pulses of the same
breath and height but is displaced in time from some base position according to the
amplitude of the signal at the time of sampling. The position of pulse position modulation
is easy when compared to other modulation. It requires pulse width generator and
monostable multivibrator.

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Pulse width generator is used for generating pulse width modulation signal which will
help to trigger the monostable multivibrator, here trial edge of the PWM signal is used for
triggering the monostable multivibrator. After triggering the monostable multivibrator,
PWM signal is converted into pulse position modulation signal. For demodulation, it
requires reference pulse generator, flip-flop and pulse width modulation demodulator.

Advantages of Pulse Position Modulation (PPM):

 Pulse position modulation has low noise interference when compared to PAM
because amplitude and width of the pulses are made constant during modulation.
 Noise removal and separation is very easy in pulse position modulation.
 Very low power compared to other modulations due to constant pulse amplitude
and width.

Disadvantages of Pulse Position Modulation (PPM):

 The synchronization between transmitter and receiver is required, which is not

possible for every time and we need dedicated channel for it.
 Large bandwidth is required for transmission same as pulse amplitude modulation.
 A special equipment are required in this type of modulations.

Applications of Pulse Position Modulation (PPM):

 Used in non-coherent detection where a receiver does not need any Phase lock loop
for tracking the phase of the carrier.
 Used in radio frequency (RF) communication.
 Also used in contactless smart card, high frequency, RFID (radio frequency ID) tags
and etc.

D. Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)

Digitizing Analog Data

Fig 4.4 simple PCM diagram

• If a signal is sampled at regular intervals at a rate higher than twice the highest
signal frequency, the samples contain all the information of the original signal
— (Nyquist Sampling theorem)
• Voice data limited to below 4000Hz
• Require 8000 sample per second
• Analog samples (Pulse Amplitude Modulation, PAM)
• Each sample assigned digital value
• 4 bit system gives 16 levels

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 • Quantized
— Quantizing error or noise
— Approximations mean it is impossible to recover original exactly
• 8 bit sample gives 256 levels
• Quality comparable with analog transmission
• 8000 samples per second of 8 bits each gives 64kbps

Fig 4. 5 PCM Block Diagram

Fig 4.6 Voice Digitization using PCM

Digital modulation samples the information at regular time intervals.

 Sampling Rate: The sampling frequency must be at least double the highest
frequency being sampled. (Nyquist).

 Bit Rate: This is the number of bits that have to be transmitted per second.
If you need to sample speech, for tolerable quality the highest frequency is
3000Hz or 4000Hz for better mobile phone quality.
The sampling rate would need to be double this at 6000 or 8000Hz.
Eight bit samples give quite good quality so you would need 8 times 6000 or
8000.
48000 bits per second would be the minimum acceptable rate and 64000 bits per
second would be preferred.
Using data compression techniques, fewer bits per second are needed.

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Nonlinear Encoding
• Quantization levels not evenly spaced
• Reduces overall signal distortion
• Can also be done by companding (Compressing – Expanding)

Effect of Non-Linear Coding

Fig 4.7 coding with and without nonlinear encoding (Companding/no Companding)

E. Delta Modulation
• Analog input is approximated by a staircase function
• Move up or down one level () at each sample interval
• Binary behavior
— Function moves up or down at each sample interval

Fig 4.8 Delta Modulation

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Delta modulation (DM or Δ-modulation) is an analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog
signal conversion technique used for transmission of voice information where quality is
not of primary importance. DM is the simplest form of differential pulse-code modulation
(DPCM) where the difference between successive samples is encoded into n-bit data
streams. In delta modulation, the transmitted data is reduced to a 1-bit data stream.

Its main features are:

 The analog signal is approximated with a series of segments

 each segment of the approximated signal is compared to the original analog wave
to determine the increase or decrease in relative amplitude
 The decision process for establishing the state of successive bits is determined by
this comparison
 Only the change of information is sent, that is, only an increase or decrease of the
signal amplitude from the previous sample is sent whereas a no-change condition
causes the modulated signal to remain at the same 0 or 1 state of the previous
sample.

To achieve high signal-to-noise ratio, delta modulation must use over - sampling
techniques, that is, the analog signal is sampled at a rate several times higher than the
Nyquist rate.

Derived forms of delta modulation are continuously variable slope delta modulation, and
differential modulation. The Differential Pulse Code Modulation is the super set of DM.

4. Digital data – Digital Channel (line coding) digital baseband Modulation

Device used is a Digital Transceiver
Line coding as in Fig 4.9 bellow.

Fig 4.9 Line Codes

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Encoding Schemes
• No return to Zero-Level (NRZ-L)
• Non-return to Zero Inverted (NRZI)
• Bipolar -AMI
• Pseudoternary
• Manchester
• Differential Manchester
• B8ZS
• HDB3
Non-return to Zero-Level (NRZ-L)
• Two different voltages for 0 and 1 bits
• Voltage constant during bit interval
— no transition I.e. no return to zero voltage
• e.g. Absence of voltage for zero, constant positive voltage for one
• More often, negative voltage for one value and positive for the other
• This is NRZ-L
Non-return to Zero Inverted
• Non-return to zero inverted on ones
• Constant voltage pulse for duration of bit
• Data encoded as presence or absence of signal transition at beginning of bit time
• Transition (low to high or high to low) denotes a binary 1
• No transition denotes binary 0
• An example of differential encoding

Fig 4.10 Comparing NRZ-l to NRZ-I

Differential Encoding
• Data represented by changes rather than levels
• More reliable detection of transition rather than level
• In complex transmission layouts it is easy to lose sense of polarity
NRZ pros and cons
• Pros
— Easy to engineer
— Make good use of bandwidth
• Cons
— dc component
— Lack of synchronization capability
• Used for magnetic recording
• Not often used for signal transmission

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 Bipolar
• Use more than two levels
• Bipolar-AMI
— zero represented by no line signal
— one represented by positive or negative pulse
— one pulses alternate in polarity
— No loss of sync if a long string of ones (zeros still a problem)
— No net dc component
— Lower bandwidth
— Easy error detection
Pseudoternary
• One represented by absence of line signal
• Zero represented by alternating positive and negative
• No advantage or disadvantage over bipolar-AMI
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1

Fig 5.10 Comparison between Bipolar AMI to Pseudoternary

Trade Off for Bipolar

• Not as efficient as NRZ

— Each signal element only represents one bit
— In a 3 level system could represent log 3 = 1.58 bits
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— Receiver must distinguish between three levels
(+A, -A, 0)
— Requires approx. 3dB more signal power for same probability of bit error
Bi-phase
• Manchester
— Transition in middle of each bit period
— Transition serves as clock and data
— Low to high represents one
— High to low represents zero
— Used by IEEE 802.3
• Differential Manchester
— Mid-bit transition is clocking only
— Transition at start of a bit period represents zero
— No transition at start of a bit period represents one
— Note: this is a differential encoding scheme
— Used by IEEE 802.5
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Fig 5.11 Manchester encoding

Fig 5.12 Differential Manchester encoding

Bi-phase Pros and Cons

• Con
— At least one transition per bit time and possibly two
— Maximum modulation rate is twice NRZ
— Requires more bandwidth
• Pros
— Synchronization on mid bit transition (self-clocking)
— No dc component
— Error detection
• Absence of expected transition

Scrambling

• Use scrambling to replace sequences that would produce constant voltage

• Filling sequence
— Must produce enough transitions to sync
— Must be recognized by receiver and replace with original
— Same length as original
• No dc component
• No long sequences of zero level line signal
• No reduction in data rate
• Error detection capability

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B8ZS

• Bipolar With 8 Zeros Substitution

• Based on bipolar-AMI
• If octet of all zeros and last voltage pulse preceding was positive encode as 000+-0-
+
• If octet of all zeros and last voltage pulse preceding was negative encode as 000-
+0+-
• Causes two violations of AMI code
• Unlikely to occur as a result of noise
• Receiver detects and interprets as octet of all zeros

HDB3

• High Density Bipolar 3 Zeros

• Based on bipolar-AMI
• String of four zeros replaced with one or two pulses

Fig 5.12 B8ZS and HDB3 Synchronization Codes (scrambling)

After line coding, the signal is put through a "physical channel", either a "transmission
medium" or "data storage medium". Sometimes the characteristics of 2 very different-
seeming channels are similar enough that the same line code is used for them. The most
common physical channels are:

 The line-coded signal can directly be put on a transmission line, in the form of
variations of the voltage or current (often using differential signaling).
 The line-coded signal (the "baseband signal") is further modulated to create the
 "RF signal" that can be sent through free space.
 The line-coded signal can be used to turn on and off a light in Free Space Optics,
most commonly infrared remote control.

Unfortunately, most long-distance communication channels cannot transport a DC

component. There are 2 ways of eliminating the DC component:

 Requires synchronization
 Error detection
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Summary:

 Each bit is transmitted in a fixed time (the "period").

 A 0 is expressed by a low-to-high transition, a 1 by high-to-low transition
(according to G.E. Thomas' convention -- in the IEEE 802.3 convention, the reverse
is true).
 The transitions which signify 0 or 1 occur at the midpoint of a period.
 Transitions at the start of a period are overhead and don't signify data.

Manchester code always has a transition at the middle of each bit period and may
(depending on the information to be transmitted) have a transition at the start of the
period also. The direction of the mid-bit transition indicates the data. Transitions at the
period boundaries do not carry information. They exist only to place the signal in the
correct state to allow the mid-bit transition. Although this allows the signal to be self-
clocking, it doubles the bandwidth requirement compared to NRZ coding schemes.

Differential Manchester encoding

Another layer of complexity in many new systems is multiplexing. Two principal types of
multiplexing (or “multiple access”) are TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) and
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).
These are two different ways to add diversity to signals allowing different signals to be
separated from one another

Summary of line coding schemes

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William Stallings Data and Computer Communications 7 Edition Chapter 5

Signal Encoding Techniques

https://www.google.co.ke/?gws_rd=ssl#q=data+encoding+in+computer+networks

http://www.electronicshub.org/modulation-and-different-types-of-modulation/

th
William Stallings Data and Computer Communications 7 Edition Chapter 5
Signal Encoding Techniques

https://www.google.co.ke/?gws_rd=ssl#q=data+encoding+in+computer+networks

http://www.electronicshub.org/modulation-and-different-types-of-modulation/

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