Chapter 3

Data and Signals

To be transmitted, data must be transformed to
electromagnetic signals.
3-1 ANALOG AND DIGITAL
Data can be analog or digital. The term analog data refers to
information that is continuous; digital data refers to information that
has discrete states. Analog data take on continuous values. Digital
data take on discrete values.
Data can be analog or digital.
Analog data are continuous and take continuous
values.
Digital data have discrete states and take discrete
values.
Signals can be analog or digital.
Analog signals can have an infinite number of values
in a range; digital signals can have only a limited
number of values.
Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital signals
In data communications, we commonly use
periodic analog signals and nonperiodic
digital signals.
3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS
Periodic analog signals can be 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.
Figure 3.2 A sine wave
Example 3.1
The power in your house can be represented by a sine wave with a peak amplitude of 155 to 170 V.
However, it is common knowledge that the voltage of the power in U.S. homes is 110 to
120 V. This discrepancy is due to the fact that these are root mean square (rms) values.
The signal is squared and then the average amplitude is calculated. The peak value is
equal to 2 rms value.

Figure 3.3 Two signals with the same phase
and frequency, but different amplitudes
Figure 3.4 Two signals with the same
amplitude and phase, but different
frequencies
Frequency and period
are the inverse of each
other.
The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz. The period
of this sine wave can be determined as follows:
Example 3.3
Example 3.4
Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds.
Solution
From Table 3.1 we find the equivalents of 1 ms (1 ms is 10
3
s)
and 1 s (1 s is 10
6
s). We make the following substitutions:.
The period of a signal is 100 ms. What is its frequency in
kilohertz?
Example 3.5
Solution
First we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we calculate the
frequency from the period (1 Hz = 10
3
kHz).
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.

If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is zero.
If a signal changes instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.
Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to time 0.
Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the
same amplitude and frequency, but
different phases
A sine wave is offset 1/6 cycle with respect to time 0. What is its
phase in degrees and radians?
Example 3.6
Solution
We know that 1 complete cycle is 360. Therefore, 1/6 cycle is
Figure 3.6 Wavelength and period
Figure 3.7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave
A complete sine wave in the time domain can be
represented by one single spike in the frequency
domain.
The frequency domain is more compact and useful when
we are dealing with more than one sine wave. For
example, Figure 3.8 shows three sine waves, each with
different amplitude and frequency. All can be represented
by three spikes in the frequency domain.
Example 3.7
Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves
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.

If the composite signal
is periodic, the
decomposition gives a
series of signals with
discrete frequencies;
if the composite signal
is nonperiodic, the
decomposition gives a
combination of sine
waves with continuous
frequencies.
Figure 3.11 shows a nonperiodic composite signal. I t can be the
signal created by a microphone or a telephone set when a word or
two is pronounced. I n 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.
Example 3.9
Figure 3.11 The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal
Figure 3.12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals
The bandwidth of
a composite
signal is the
difference
between the
highest and the
lowest
frequencies
contained in that
signal.
I f a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves with
frequencies of 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz, what is its
bandwidth? Draw the spectrum, assuming all components have a
maximum amplitude of 10 V.
Solution
Let f
h
be the highest frequency, f
l
the lowest frequency, and B the
bandwidth. Then
Example 3.10
The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900
Hz (see Figure 3.13).
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 frequencies of the same
amplitude.
Solution
Let f
h
be the highest frequency, f
l
the lowest frequency, and B the
bandwidth. Then
Example 3.11
The spectrum contains all integer frequencies. We show this by a
series of spikes (see Figure 3.14).
A nonperiodic 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. Figure 3.15 shows the frequency domain and the bandwidth.
Example 3.12
An example of a nonperiodic composite signal is the signal propagated by an
AM radio station. In the United States, each AM radio station is assigned a 10-
kHz bandwidth. The total bandwidth dedicated to AM radio ranges from 530 to
1700 kHz. We will show the rationale behind this 10-kHz bandwidth in Chapter
5.
Example 3.13
Example 3.14
Another example of a nonperiodic composite signal is the signal propagated by
an FM radio station. In the United States, each FM radio station is assigned a
200-kHz bandwidth. The total bandwidth dedicated to FM radio ranges from 88
to 108 MHz. We will show the rationale behind this 200-kHz bandwidth in
Chapter 5.
Another example of a nonperiodic composite signal is the signal received by an
old-fashioned analog black-and-white TV. A TV screen is made up of pixels. If
we assume a resolution of 525 700, we have 367,500 pixels per screen. If we
scan the screen 30 times per second, this is 367,500 30 =11,025,000 pixels per
second. The worst-case scenario is alternating black and white pixels. We can
send 2 pixels per cycle. Therefore, we need 11,025,000 / 2 =5,512,500 cycles per
second, or Hz. The bandwidth needed is 5.5125 MHz.
Example 3.15
3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS
I n addition to being represented by an analog signal, information can also be
represented by a digital signal. For example, a 1 can be encoded as a positive
voltage and a 0 as zero voltage. A digital signal can have more than two levels.
I n this case, we can send more than 1 bit for each level.
A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are needed per
level? We calculate the number of bits from the formula
Example 3.16
Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.
Example 3.17
A digital signal has nine levels. How many bits are needed per
level? We calculate the number of bits by using the formula. Each
signal level is represented by 3.17 bits. However, this answer is not
realistic. The number of bits sent per level needs to be an integer
as well as a power of 2. For this example, 4 bits can represent one
level.
Assume we need to download text documents at the rate of 100
pages per minute. What is the required bit rate of the channel?
Solution
A page is an average of 24 lines with 80 characters in each line. I f
we assume that one character requires 8 bits, the bit rate is
Example 3.18
A digitized voice channel, as we will see in Chapter 4, is made by
digitizing a 4-kHz bandwidth analog voice signal. We need to
sample the signal at twice the highest frequency (two samples per
hertz). We assume that each sample requires 8 bits. What is the
required bit rate?

Solution
The bit rate can be calculated as
Example 3.19
Figure 3.17 The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic
digital signals
Figure 3.18 Baseband transmission
A digital signal is a composite
analog signal with an infinite
bandwidth.
Figure 3.19 Bandwidths of two low-pass channels
Figure 3.20 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.
Figure 3.22 Simulating a digital signal with first three harmonics
In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is proportional to the bit
rate; if we need to send bits faster, we need more bandwidth.
Figure 3.24 Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass channel
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.
Figure 3.23 Bandwidth of a
bandpass channel
3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT
Signals travel through transmission media, which are not
perfect. The imperfection causes signal impairment. This
means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is
not the same as the signal at the end of the medium.
What is sent is not what is received. Three causes of
impairment are attenuation, distortion, and noise.
Figure 3.26 Attenuation
Example 3.26
Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its
power is reduced to one-half. This means that P
2
is (1/2)P
1
. I n this
case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be calculated as
A loss of 3 dB (3 dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the power.
A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased
10 times. This means that P
2
= 10P
1
. I n this case, the
amplification (gain of power) can be calculated as
Example 3.27
One reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the changes
in the strength of a signal is that decibel numbers can be added
(or subtracted) when we are measuring several points (cascading)
instead of just two. I n Figure 3.27 a signal travels from point 1 to
point 4. I n this case, the decibel value can be calculated as
Example 3.28
Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power in
milliwatts. I n this case, it is referred to as dB
m
and is calculated as
dB
m
= 10 log10 P
m
, where P
m
is the power in milliwatts. Calculate
the power of a signal with dB
m
=30.
Solution
We can calculate the power in the signal as
Example 3.29
The loss in a cable is usually defined in
decibels per kilometer (dB/km). I f 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?
Solution
The loss in the cable in decibels is 5
(0.3) =1.5 dB. We can calculate the
power as
Example 3.30
Figure 3.28 Distortion
Figure 3.29 Noise
The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the noise is 1
W; what are the values of SNR and SNR
dB
?

Solution
The values of SNR and SNR
dB
can be calculated as follows:
Example 3.31
Example 3.32
The values of SNR and SNR
dB
for a noiseless channel are
We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.
Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR
3-5 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)
Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate
Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity
Using Both Limits
Topics discussed in this section:
Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz
transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The maximum bit rate
can be calculated as
Example 3.34
Example 3.35
Consider the same noiseless channel transmitting a signal with
four signal levels (for each level, we send 2 bits). The maximum
bit rate can be calculated as
We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with a
bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal levels do we need?
Solution
We can use the Nyquist formula as shown:
Example 3.36
Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either increase the
number of levels or reduce the bit rate. I f we have 128 levels, the
bit rate is 280 kbps. I f we have 64 levels, the bit rate is 240 kbps.
Increasing the levels of a signal may reduce
the reliability of the system.
Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value of the
signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. I n other words, the noise is so
strong that the signal is faint. For this channel the capacity C is
calculated as
Example 3.37
Example 3.38
A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3000. The signal-to-
noise ratio is usually 3162. For this channel the capacity is
calculated as
This means that the highest bit rate for a telephone line is 34.860
kbps. I f we want to send data faster than this, we can either
increase the bandwidth of the line or improve the signal-to-noise
ratio.
The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels. Assume that
SNR
dB
=36 and the channel bandwidth is 2 MHz. The theoretical
channel capacity can be calculated as
Example 3.39
Example 3.40
For practical purposes, when the SNR is very high, we can
assume that SNR + 1 is almost the same as SNR. I n these cases,
the theoretical channel capacity can be simplified to
For example, we can calculate the theoretical capacity of the previous example as
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.
Example 3.41
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.
The Shannon capacity gives us the upper
limit; the Nyquist formula tells us how many
signal levels we need.
3-6 PERFORMANCE
One important issue in networking is the performance of the
networkhow good is it?
Bandwidth
Throughput
Latency (Delay)
Bandwidth-Delay Product
Topics discussed in this section:
Example 3.44
A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can pass only an average of 12,000
frames per minute with each frame carrying an average of 10,000 bits. What is
the throughput of this network?
Solution
We can calculate the throughput as
The throughput is almost one-
fifth of the bandwidth in this
case.
In networking, we use the
term bandwidth in two
contexts.
hertz
Bits per second,
What is the propagation time if the distance between the
two points is 12,000 km? Assume the propagation speed
to be 2.4 108 m/s in cable.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation time as
Example 3.45
The example shows that a bit can go over the Atlantic
Ocean in only 50 ms if there is a direct cable between the
source and the destination.
What are the propagation time and the transmission time for a
2.5-kbyte message (an e-mail) if the bandwidth of the network is 1
Gbps? Assume that the distance between the sender and the
receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 108 m/s.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission time as shown
on the next slide:
Example 3.46
Note that in this case, because the message is short and the
bandwidth is high, the dominant factor is the propagation time,
not the transmission time. The transmission time can be ignored.
What are the propagation time and the transmission time for a 5-
Mbyte message (an image) if the bandwidth of the network is 1
Mbps? Assume that the distance between the sender and the
receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 10
8
m/s.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission times as
shown
Example 3.47
Note that in this case, because the message is very long and the
bandwidth is not very high, the dominant factor is the
transmission time, not the propagation time. The propagation time
can be ignored.
Figure 3.31 Filling the link with bits for case 1
We can think about the link between two points as
a pipe. The cross section of the pipe represents the
bandwidth, and the length of the pipe represents
the delay. We can say the volume of the pipe
defines the bandwidth-delay product, as shown in
Figure 3.33.
Example 3.48
The bandwidth-
delay product
defines the number
of bits that can fill
the link.