ECT284-Digital Communication

Module 1
Linear Source Coding.
Elements of Digital Communication Systems:

Fig. 1 Elements of Digital Communication Systems

1.Information Source and Input Transducer:

The source of information can be analog or digital, e.g. analog: audio or video signal, digital:
like teletype signal. In digital communication the signal produced by this source is converted
into digital signal which consists of 1′s and 0′s. For this we need a source encoder.

2.Source Encoder:

In digital communication we convert the signal from source into digital signal as mentioned
above. The point to remember is we should like to use as few binary digits as possible to
represent the signal. In such a way this efficient representation of the source output results in
little or no redundancy. This sequence of binary digits is called information sequence.

Source Encoding or Data Compression: the process of efficiently converting the output of
whether analog or digital source into a sequence of binary digits is known as source
encoding.

3.Channel Encoder:

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The information sequence is passed through the channel encoder. The purpose of the channel
encoder is to introduce, in controlled manner, some redundancy in the binary information

sequence that can be used at the receiver to overcome the effects of noise and interference
encountered in the transmission on the signal through the channel.

For example take k bits of the information sequence and map that k bits to unique n bit
sequence called code word. The amount of redundancy introduced is measured by the ratio
n/k and the reciprocal of this ratio (k/n) is known as rate of code or code rate.

4. Digital Modulator:

The binary sequence is passed to digital modulator which in turns convert the sequence into
electric signals so that we can transmit them on channel (we will see channel later). The
digital modulator maps the binary sequences into signal wave forms , for example if we
represent 1 by sin x and 0 by cos x then we will transmit sin x for 1 and cos x for 0. ( a case
similar to BPSK)

5. Channel:

The communication channel is the physical medium that is used for transmitting signals from
transmitter to receiver. In wireless system, this channel consists of atmosphere , for
traditional telephony, this channel is wired , there are optical channels, under water acoustic
channels etc.We further discriminate this channels on the basis of their property and
characteristics, like AWGN channel etc.

6. Digital Demodulator:

The digital demodulator processes the channel corrupted transmitted waveform and reduces
the waveform to the sequence of numbers that represents estimates of the transmitted data
symbols.

7. Channel Decoder:

This sequence of numbers then passed through the channel decoder which attempts to
reconstruct the original information sequence from the knowledge of the code used by the
channel encoder and the redundancy contained in the received data

Note: The average probability of a bit error at the output of the decoder is a measure of the
performance of the demodulator – decoder combination.

8. Source Decoder:

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At the end, if an analog signal is desired then source decoder tries to decode the sequence
from the knowledge of the encoding algorithm. And which results in the approximate replica
of the input at the transmitter end.

9. Output Transducer:

Finally we get the desired signal in desired format analog or digital.

Advantages of Digital Communication

1. In digital signals, the impact of noise interference, distortion is less.
2. It is easy to implement, less expensive.
3.The correction and detection of errors are easy in digital communication, as there is a use of
channel coding.
4.As compared to analog signals, it is easy to save and retrieve digital signals.
5.In digital signals, the configuring process is easy as compared to analog signals.
6.There is a common encoding technique in most digital circuits, so for a number of
processes, similar devices can be used.
7.The probability of cross-talk is very less in digital communication.
8.The implementation of hardware is more flexible in digital communication.
9.In digital communication, to avoid signal jamming, the spread spectrum technique is used.
10.To maintain the secrecy of information, the signal processing functions like compression
and encryption are employed in digital circuits.
11.Digital communication is cheaper and simpler compared to analog signals because of the
advancement of IC technologies.
Disadvantages of Digital Communication
1. High power consumption in digital communication.
2. There is a requirement for synchronization in the case of synchronous modulation.
3. The most common limitation of digital communication is that it requires more transmission
bandwidth. It is due to the higher data rate because of analog to digital conversion.
Introduction to Pulse Modulation

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What is the need for Pulse Modulation?

• Many Signals in Modern Communication Systems are digital
• Also, analog signals are transmitted digitally.
• Reduced distortion and improvement in signal to noise ratios.
• PAM, PWM, PPM, PCM and DM.
• In CW modulation schemes some parameter of modulated wave varies continuously
with message.
• In Analog pulse modulation some parameter of each pulse is modulated by a
particular sample value of the message.

Pulse modulation is of two types

I. Analog Pulse Modulation

1. Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)

2. Pulse width Modulation (PWM)

3. Pulse Position Modulation (PPM)

II. Digital Pulse Modulation

1. Pulse code Modulation (PCM)

2. Delta Modulation (DM)

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Pulse Code Modulation:

Three steps involved in conversion of analog signal to digital signal

• Sampling

• Quantization

• Binary encoding

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Fig. 2 Conversion of Analog Signal to Digital Signal

Note: Before sampling the signal is filtered to limit bandwidth.

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Elements of PCM System:

Fig. 3 Elements of PCM System

Sampling:

• Process of converting analog signal into discrete signal.

• Sampling is common in all pulse modulation techniques
• The signal is sampled at regular intervals such that each sample is proportional to
amplitude of signal at that instant
• Analog signal is sampled every 𝑇𝑠 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑠, called sampling interval. 𝑓𝑠=1/𝑇𝑆 is called
sampling rate or sampling frequency.
• 𝑓𝑠=2𝑓𝑚 is Min. sampling rate called Nyquist rate. Sampled spectrum (𝜔) is repeating
periodically without overlapping.
• Original spectrum is centered at 𝜔=0 and having bandwidth of 𝜔𝑚. Spectrum can be
recovered by passing through low pass filter with cut-off 𝜔𝑚.
• For 𝑓𝑠<2𝑓𝑚 sampled spectrum will overlap and cannot be recovered back. This is
called aliasing.

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Sampling methods:

• Ideal – An impulse at each sampling instant.

• Natural – A pulse of Short width with varying amplitude.
• Flat Top – Uses sample and hold, like natural but with single amplitude value.

Fig. 4 Types of Sampling

Sampling of band-pass Signals:

• A band-pass signal of bandwidth 2fm can be completely recovered from its samples.
Min. sampling rate =2×𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ
=2×2𝑓𝑚=4𝑓𝑚
• Range of minimum sampling frequencies is in the range of 2×𝐵𝑊 𝑡𝑜 4×𝐵𝑊
Instantaneous Sampling or Impulse Sampling:
• Sampling function is train of spectrum remains constant impulses throughout
frequency range. It is not practical.

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Natural sampling:

• The spectrum is weighted by a sinc function.

• Amplitude of high frequency components reduces.

Flat top sampling:
• Here top of the samples remains constant.
• In the spectrum high frequency components are attenuated due sinc pulse roll off.
This is known as Aperture effect.

• If pulse width increases aperture effect is more i.e. more attenuation of high frequency
components.

Sampling Theorem:

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Quantization
• The quantizing of an analog signal is done by discretizing the signal with a number of
quantization levels.
• Quantization is representing the sampled values of the amplitude by a finite set of
levels, which means converting a continuous-amplitude sample into a discrete-time signal
• Both sampling and quantization result in the loss of information.
• The quality of a Quantizer output depends upon the number of quantization levels
used.
• The discrete amplitudes of the quantized output are called as representation levels
or reconstruction levels.
• The spacing between the two adjacent representation levels is called a quantum or
step-size.
• There are two types of Quantization
o Uniform Quantization
o Non-uniform Quantization.
• The type of quantization in which the quantization levels are uniformly spaced is
termed as a Uniform Quantization.
• The type of quantization in which the quantization levels are unequal and mostly the
relation between them is logarithmic, is termed as a Non-uniform Quantization.

Uniform Quantization:

• There are two types of uniform quantization.

– Mid-Rise type

– Mid-Tread type.

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• The following figures represent the two types of uniform quantization.

• The Mid-Rise type is so called because the origin lies in the middle of a raising part of
the stair-case like graph. The quantization levels in this type are even in number.
• The Mid-tread type is so called because the origin lies in the middle of a tread of the
stair-case like graph. The quantization levels in this type are odd in number.
• Both the mid-rise and mid-tread type of uniform quantizer is symmetric about the
origin.
Non-Uniform Quantization:
In non-uniform quantization, the step size is not fixed. It varies according to certain law or as
per input signal amplitude. The following fig shows the characteristics of Non uniform
quantizer.

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Companding PCM System:

• Non-uniform quantizers are difficult to make and expensive.
• An alternative is to first pass the speech signal through nonlinearity before quantizing
with a uniform quantizer.
• The nonlinearity causes the signal amplitude to be compressed.
– The input to the quantizer will have a more uniform distribution.
• At the receiver, the signal is expanded by an inverse to the nonlinearity.
• The process of compressing and expanding is called Companding.

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MODULE - 2

Modifications of PCM

1. Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM)

2. Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (APCM)

3. Delta Modulation (DM)

4. Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM)

Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM):

Redundant Information in PCM:

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Introduction to Delta Modulation

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Condition for Slope overload distortion occurrence:

Slope overload distortion will occur if

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Expression for Signal to Quantization Noise power

ratio for Delta Modulation:

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