Line Codes

• The digital information must first be converted into a physical signal.

• The physical signal is called a line code.

Analog
Input
Signal
Sample

X
Quantize ADC
XQ

Encode

Digital (PCM) output Xk = 111 111 001 010 011 111 011
Line
Code
x(t) Digital signal (PCM signal)

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 Unipolar NRZ Line Code (On-Off Keying)
• The unipolar nonreturn-to-zero line code is defined by the
unipolar mapping:
 A when X k  1
ak  
 0 when X k  0
– where Xk is the kth data bit.
– In addition, the pulse shape for unipolar NRZ is:
 t 
p (t )     NRZ pulse shape
 Tb 
– Where Tb is the bit period.
1 0 1 1 0 1 
A x(t )  a
k 
k p (t  kTb )

0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 4Tb 5Tb

Notes for Unipolar NRZ: Hard to recover symbol timing (when it starts and finishes )
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when long strings of 0’s or 1’s are present.
 Unipolar RZ Line Code

• The unipolar return-to-zero line code has the same symbol

mapping but a different pulse shape than unipolar NRZ:
 A when X k  1  t 
ak   p(t )     RZ pulse shape
 0 when X k  0  Tb / 2 

1 0 1 1 0 1

A
x(t )  a
k 
k p (t  kTb )

0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 4Tb 5Tb

Notes for Unipolar RZ: No timing problem with long strings of 1’s. However, strings of 0’s still
problem. Pulse of the half the duration of NRZ requires twice the bandwidth.

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 Unipolar RZ Line Code

Notes for Unipolar RZ: Pulse of the half the duration of NRZ requires twice the bandwidth.

 t 
p (t )     NRZ pulse shape
 Tb 

 t 
p(t )     RZ pulse shape
 Tb / 2 

2 times more BW 8
 Polar Line Codes
• Polar line codes use the antipodal mapping:
 A when X k  1
ak  
  A when X k  0

A 1 0 1 1 0 1

Polar NRZ
A

A
Polar RZ

A
Notes for Polar Line Code: Increases the distance between two amplitude levels. So more
accurate detection at the receiver side. However, more energy is required in comparison to
Unipolar line code. Because, there is a pulse to represent 0’s as well in Polar line code. In
Unipolar line code, there is no pulse transmitted.
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 Manchester Line Codes
• Manchester line codes use the antipodal mapping
and the following split-phase pulse shape:
p (t )

 t  Tb / 4   t  Tb / 4 
p (t )        
 b T / 2   b T / 2 

1 0 1 1 0 1
A

A
Notes for Manchester Line Code: Easy synchronization (can handle symbol timing). More
complex generation. 10
 Bipolar Line Codes
• With bipolar line codes a space is mapped to zero and a mark
is alternately mapped to -A and +A:
 0 when X k  0

ak    A when X k  1 and last mark   A
 A when X k  1 and last mark   A


• Either RZ or NRZ pulse shape can be used.

1 0 1 1 0 1
A

Bipolar (RZ)

A

Notes for Bipolar Line Code: It can handle symbol timing. More complex generation.
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 Multilevel Signaling

code word

+A

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 Multilevel Signaling
• We can increase the number of levels in the signal using a
Digital to Analog Converter (DAC)

data

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 Multilevel Signaling (Example)
• PCM: Sampling, quantizing and encoding
• Lets say after PCM each sample is represented with 8 bits
• Example binary code word for a sample can be 01001110

Encoding Scheme: A 2-Bit Digital-to-Analog Converter

Binary Input Output Level
(l=2 bits) (V)
11 +3
10 +1
00 -1
01 -3

Binary code word: 01 00 11 10

w1= -3 w2= -1 w3= +3 w4= +1 => Symbols

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Multilevel Signaling (Example)

For this example:

Tb (Bit period) = 1ms

Ts (Symbol period) = 2ms
To (Codeword) = 8ms
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k

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