Introduction to

Digital Communications
Engr Cristian Lazana, ECE
Advantages of DCS over Analog Communications
Systems
 Digital signals are more robust to noise and may be regenerated for long distance
communications without accumulation of noise.
 It can provide better data security by encrypting the digital information prior to
transmission.
 It can provide a mean of error detection and control, thus preserving the integrity of
the data
 Digital signals coming from different sources can be combined and be transmitted
over a common channel (multiplexing).
 It is more economical, as digital circuits are easier to implement and maintained.
Disadvantages
 Higher bandwidth are generally required
 Synchronization is also required.
Elements of Digital Communication System

Information Channel Digital

Source Encoder
Source Encoder Modulator
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Channel Digital
Output Source Decoder
Decoder Demodulator
Information Sources
 There are four main sources of information: speech, music, image, and video and
computer data.
 An information signal may be one-dimensional such as speech and music; two
dimensional such as in images; three dimensional like in video; and four dimensional
such as in volume of data in time.
Speech
 Speech is considered as a primary way of communications.
 The sound is produced at the vocal tract starting from the glottis (the opening of the
vocal cords) to the lips. As the sound propagates the vocal tract, it is shaped by the
frequency selectivity of the vocal tract, this process may be considered as a form of
sound filtering.
 It is important to note that the power spectrum of speech is zero at zero frequency
and maximum at higher frequencies about hundred hertz, that is human hearing is
frequency sensitive.
 In telecommunications, 300Hz to 3100Hz may be assigned adequate bandwidth for
human speech or voice.
Music
 In music, sounds are produced by musical instruments like guitar and piano.
 A musical note may last a short time or may be sustained for some time.
 Music has melodic structure which consists of time sequence of sounds, and has
harmonic structure which is composed of a set of simultaneous sounds.
 Musical signals are bipolar, like that of human voice; however, it occupies a wider
band of frequencies in the spectrum (about 15 kHz).
Images and Video
 Images or video are information based on human visual perception.
 It is produced from a camera, a facsimile, or a television receiver.
 A camera contains a number of photosensitive elements. Light falling on it is recorded
as a electrical charge in proportion to the incoming light’s intensity.
 The camera and the lens have means of controlling the amount of light in order to
record images within its dynamic range. Dynamic range is the range of brightness a
camera can record from the black to white values. Recorded in a camera may be
analog or digital depending on the light sensor installed in the camera.
Computer Data
 Computer data are information that are processed in computing devices.
 These are digital in nature and follows some encoding techniques such as ASCII and
EBCIDIC.
 It is characterized as wide-band signals since it occupies wide bandwidth, which is a
requirement in digital representation of signals (complex waves).
 Information may also be transmitted in bursts. Compression techniques have been
developed to provide solution to the burstiness characteristic of this information
source.
 The communications channel may be a wired or guided, or wireless or
unguided. Wireless medium has constantly gaining popularity as a medium of
choice over a wired medium. However, wireless transmission is much
susceptible to noise and interferences as it propagates in air

Transmission Media
Different Types of Transmission Media
 Wired/Guided
 Twisted pairs
 Coaxial Cables
 Waveguides
 Fiber Optic Cables

 Wireless/ Unguided
 Free Space/Air
 Atmosphere
Wired Media
Twisted Pairs
 It is consists of a pair of solid copper wires twisted at about 2 to 12 twists per foot to
minimize the effect electromagnetic interference.
 The size of twisted pair wire ranges from 16 AWG to 26 AWG.
 It can be classified as either unshielded (UTP) or shielded (STP).
 It has the characteristic impedance of 90 to 110 ohms for UTP and 150 ohms for STP.
 Its usable bandwidth is several hundred kilohertz, which makes it suitable in voice,
dial-up, DSL.
 In IEEE 802.3 standards, a twisted pair cable (cat 5 UTP) can be deployed in 10BaseT
and 100BaseT (Fast Ethernet) standards having a maximum bit rate of 10Mbps and
100Mbps, respectively, with a maximum distance of 100m each.
Coaxial Cable
 Coaxial Cables are categorized as unbalanced transmission line.
 The information passes only through the inner conductor.
 The inner conductor is insulated from the outer conductor by a dielectic material.
 The outer conductor severs as a shield against electromagnetic interferences coming from
outside the cable. It is made up of woven or meshed stranded wires, this is referred to as
shielding.
 Finally, a rubber material is used as outer conductor.
 RG is used as a typical numbering/labelling system in coaxial cables. Each reference
number has its own cable characteristics like characteristic impedance, velocity factor,
10MHz Attenuation, physical dimension and capacitance.
 For example, RG -59 has 75 ohm characteristic impedance, while RG-8 and RG-58 has 50
ohm.
Fiber Optic Channels
 The bandwidth is larger than those of coaxial cables
 Information is transmitted by modulating the light intensity.
 For long transmission, the light is amplified periodically to compensate for signal
attenuation.
 A photodiode is used at the receiver to convert the incoming light signals into
electrical signals.
Advantages of FOC
 wider bandwidth
 higher information capacity
 immunity to crosstalk
 immunity to static interference
 immunity to environmental factors such as operating temperature and corrosion
 safety and convenience
 lower transmission loss
 securityand reliability
 economics.
Disadvantages of FOC
 interfacing costs, lower tensile strength, more fragile than copper wire
 remote electrical power for the remote interfacing and regenerating equipment
 more susceptible to losses introduced by bending the cable
 the need for specialized tools, equipment and training.
Wireless Channels
Wireless Electromagnetic (RF) Channels
 The electromagnetic energy is propagated in space or air using an antenna (also
known as radiator).
 The physical size and configuration of antennas are primarily dependent on the
operating frequency.
 Propagation in the atmosphere and/or free space may be divided into three
categories:
 Ground wave propagation
 Sky-wave propagation
 Line of Sight (LOS) propagation
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Ground-wave Propagation
 The wave is propagated on the ground
surface in a vertical polarization.
 AM radio and maritime radio
broadcasting are typical applications of
this type of propagation.
 It is used in the transmission for
frequencies under the Medium
Frequency range (0.3MHz to 3 MHz).
 Atmospheric noise, man made noise and
thermal noise are general sources of
noise for ground-waves in MF band.
 The signal is usually vertically polarized.
  The signals at High Frequency range
(3MHz to 30MHz) are propagated
Sky-wave Propagation through the atmosphere by refraction at
the ionosphere about 50 to 400km
above the earth surface.
 The ionosphere is about 50 to 400 km
above the earth’s surface and is consists
of several layers of charged particles.
 Multipath loss happens when the
received signal arrives at the receiver via
multiple propagation paths. Thus
introducing delays which causes
intersymbol interference in DCS, and
signal fading.
 Atmospheric noise and thermal noise
are dominant sources of noise in sky-
wave propagation.
Ionospheric and Tropospheric Scattering
 Ionospheric and Tropospheric scattering is done by propagating signals through the
ionosphere and troposphere, respectively at frequencies higher than HF.
 The transmitted signal is scattered due to the particles in the atmosphere.
 Generally, this type of sky wave propagation requires larger transmit power and larger
antennas to compensate for the loses incurred during transmission.
Line of Sight  Line of sight (LOS) propagation is possible
at frequencies above 30 MHz.
 VHF and UHF bands use this propagation.
In general, the curvature of the earth
limits the coverage of propagation.
 The major sources of noise in LOS are
thermal noise generated at the receiver
front end and cosmic noise picked up by
the antenna.
 Atmospheric conditions can disrupt LOS
propagation in SHF band, light to heavy
rains can cause attenuation ranging from
0.003/km dB to 0.3dB/km, respectively in
10 GHz.
Storage Channels
Storage Channels
 Information storage and retrieval systems play significant roles in data handling
activities.
 The process of storing data in a drive is similar to transmitting data in a wired
communication channel while data read-outs from the drive is similar to receiving
data.
 Signal processing to retrieve stored data is also similar to demodulating or decoding a
received signal.
 Mostly, noise is generated by the electronic components and the interference from
adjacent tracks.