Data Communications and

Networking

Chapter 5
Signal Encoding Techniques

References:
Book Chapter 5
Data and Computer Communications, 8th
edition, by William Stallings

1
Outline
• Overview
—Encoding and Modulation
• Digital data, digital signal
• Digital data, analog signal
• Analog data, digital signal
• Analog data, analog signal

2
Encoding and Modulation

3
Encoding
• Encoding is the process of using various
patterns of voltage or current levels to
represent 1s and 0s of the digital signals on the
transmission link.
• The common types of line encoding are
Unipolar, Polar, Bipolar, and Manchester.

4
Modulation
• Modulation is the process of encoding source data onto
a carrier signal with frequency fc.
— The frequency of the carrier signal is chosen to be compatible
with the transmission medium being used.
— Modulation techniques involve operation on one or more of the
three parameters: amplitude, frequency, and phase
• According to the input source signal m(t) (either analog
or digital), which is called baseband signal (or
modulating signal) , the carrier signal fc(t) will be
modulated into modulated signal s(t).

5
Encoding/modulation Techniques
• Digital data, digital signal
— The equipment for encoding digital data into a digital signal is
less complex and less expensive than digital-to-analog
modulation equipment.
• Analog data, digital signal
— Conversion of analog data (e.g., voice, video) to digital form
permits the use of modern digital transmission & switching.
• Digital data, analog signal
— Optical system and unguided media (wireless system) only
propagate analog signals.
• Analog data, analog signal
— Baseband: easy and cheap, e.g., in voice-grade telephone lines,
voice signals are transmitted over telephone lines at their
original spectrum
— Modulation permits frequency division multiplexing, e.g., AM/FM
radios

6
(I) Digital Data, Digital Signal
• Digital signal is a sequence of discrete,
discontinuous voltage pulses.
• Each pulse is a signal element.
• Binary data are transmitted by encoding the bit
stream into signal elements.
• In the simplest case, one bit is represented by
one signal element.
—E.g., 1 is represented by a lower voltage level, and 0
is represented by a higher voltage level

7
Terminologies
• Unipolar
— If all signal elements have the same algebraic sign (all positive or all
negative), then the signal is unipolar.
• Polar
— One logic state represented by positive voltage, the other by negative
voltage
• Data rate
— Rate of data transmission measured in bps: bits per second
• Duration or length of a bit
— Time taken for transmitter to emit the bit
• Modulation rate How are they
— Rate at which the signal level changes related?
— Measured in baud: signal elements per second
• Mark and Space
— Mark: Binary 1
— Space: Binary 0

8
Interpreting Signals at the Receiver
• The receiver needs to know
— The timing of each signal element, i.e., when a signal element begins
and ends
— signal levels
— These tasks are performed by sampling each element position in the
middle of the interval and comparing the value to a threshold.
• Factors affecting successful interpreting of signals
— Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
— Data rate
— Bandwidth
• Some principles:
— An increase in data rate increases bit error rate (BER)
— An increase in SNR decreases BER
— An increase in bandwidth allows an increase in data rate
• Another factor that can improve performance:
— Encoding scheme: the mapping from data bits to signal elements

9
Evaluation of Encoding
Schemes (1)
• Signal Spectrum
— Lack of high frequencies reduces required bandwidth
— Lack of dc component allows ac coupling via transformer,
providing electrical isolation and reducing interference
— Concentrate power in the middle of the bandwidth
• Clocking
— Need to determine the beginning and end of each bit
— Synchronizing transmitter and receiver
1. Use external clock, which is expensive; or
2. Synchronization mechanism based on the transmitted signal

10
Comparison of Encoding
Schemes (2)
• Error detection
— Various error-detection techniques will be covered in Chapter 9
— Some error detection capability can be built into signal encoding
scheme
• Signal interference and noise immunity
— Some codes are better than others in the presence of noise
— Performance is usually expressed in terms of BER
• Cost and complexity
— Higher signal rate (thus data rate) leads to higher cost
— Some codes require a signal rate greater than the actual data
rate

11
Encoding Schemes
• Nonreturn to Zero (NRZ)
— Nonreturn to Zero-Level (NRZ-L)
— Nonreturn to Zero Inverted (NRZI)
• Multilevel Binary
— Bipolar-AMI
— Pseudoternary
• Biphase
— Manchester
— Differential Manchester
• Scrambling techniques
— B8ZS
— HDB3

12
13
NRZ

14
Nonreturn to Zero-Level (NRZ-L)
• Two different voltages for 0 and 1 bits
• Voltage is constant during a 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 known as NRZ-L

15
Nonreturn to Zero Inverted
• NRZI: Nonreturn to zero, invert on ones
• Constant voltage pulse for duration of bit
• Data are encoded as presence or absence of
signal transition at the beginning of the bit time
• A transition (low to high or high to low) denotes
a binary 1
• No transition denotes binary 0
• NRZI is an example of differential encoding
technique

16
Differential Encoding
• Data are represented in terms of the changes
between successive signal elements, rather than
the signal elements themselves.
• It is more reliable to detect a transition in the
presence of noise than to compare a value to a
threshold.
• With a complex transmission layouts, it is easy
to lose the sense of the polarity of the signal.

17
NRZ pros and cons
• Pros
—Easy to engineer
—Make efficient use of bandwidth
• Cons
—The presence of dc component
—The lack of synchronization capability
• NRZ codes are commonly used for digital
magnetic recording, but not often used for
signal transmission.

18
Multilevel Binary
• Use more than two levels
• Bipolar-AMI: alternate mark inversion
—zero represented by no line signal
—one represented by a positive or negative pulse
—one pulses must alternate in polarity
—Advantages:
• No loss of synchronization if a long string of 1s occurs (0s
still be a problem)
• No net dc component
• Provides a simple means of error detection

19
Pseudoternary
• 1 represented by the absence of line signal
• 0 represented by alternating positive and
negative pulses
• No advantage or disadvantage over bipolar-AMI

20
Bipolar-AMI and Pseudoternary
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1

21
Trade-off for Multilevel Binary
• Not as efficient as NRZ
—In a 3 level system, each signal element could
represent log23 = 1.58 bits
—However, in biploar-AMI & pseudoternary, each signal
element only represents one bit
—Receiver must distinguish between three levels
(+A, -A, 0)
—Requires approx. 3dB more signal power for same
probability of bit error, or
—The BER for NRZ codes, at a given SNR, is
significantly less than for mulitlevel binary.

22
Biphase
• Manchester
— There is a transition at the middle of each bit period.
— The midbit transition serves as a clock mechanism and also as
data: low to high represents 1, high to low represents 0
— Used by IEEE 802.3 Ethernet LAN
• Differential Manchester
— The midbit transition is used only to provide clocking.
— 0 is represented by the presence of a transition at the beginning
of a bit period.
— 1 is represented by the absence of a transition at the beginning
of a bit period.
— Note: this is a differential encoding scheme
— Used by IEEE 802.5 token ring LAN

23
Manchester Encoding

24
Differential Manchester
Encoding

25
Biphase Pros and Cons
• Pros
—Self-clocking: Because there is a predictable
transition during each bit time, the receiver can
synchronize on that transition.
—No dc component
—Error detection: the absence of an expected
transition can be used to detect errors
• Con
—Requires at least one transition per bit time and may
have as many as two transitions, thus,
—The maximum modulation rate is twice that for NRZ
—Requires more bandwidth

26
Modulation Rate

27
Scrambling
• Use scrambling to replace sequences that would
produce constant voltage
• Main idea:
— Sequences that would result in a constant voltage are replaced
by filling sequences that will provide sufficient transitions for the
receiver’s clock to maintain synchronization.
— Filling sequences must be recognized by receiver and replaced
with original data sequence.
— Filling sequence is the same length as original sequence.
• Design goals:
— No dc component
— No long sequences of zero-level line signals
— No reduction in data rate
— Error detection capability

28
B8ZS
• Bipolar With 8-Zeros Substitution
• Based on bipolar-AMI, whose drawback is a long string
of zeros may result in loss of synchronization.
• If octet of all zeros occurs and the last voltage pulse
preceding this octet was positive, encode as 000+-0-+
• If octet of all zeros occurs and the last voltage pulse
preceding this octet was negative, encode as 000-+0+-
• Causes two violations of AMI code
• Unlikely to occur as a result of noise
• Receiver recognizes the pattern and interprets the octet
as consisting of all zeros.

29
HDB3
• High-Density Bipolar-3 Zeros
• Based on bipolar-AMI
• String of four zeros is replaced with sequences
containing one or two pulses.

Number of Bipolar Pulses since last

+ 000+ -00-

30
B8ZS and HDB3

31
(II) Digital Data, Analog Signal
• E.g., Public telephone system
— Designed to transmit analog signals in 300Hz to 3400Hz (limited
by the central office, not the twisted pair cable)
— Use modem for digital data (modulator-demodulator)
• Modulation involves operation on one or more of the
three characteristics of a carrier signal
— Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
— Frequency shift keying (FSK)
• Binary FSK (BFSK)
• Multiple FSK (MFSK)
— Phase shift keying (PSK)
• Binary PSK (BPSK)
• Four-level PSK (QPSK)
• Multilevel PSK (MPSK)
• QAM: a combination of ASK and PSK

32
Modulation Techniques

33
Amplitude Shift Keying
• Values are represented by different amplitudes
of the carrier frequency
• Usually, one amplitude is zero
—i.e. presence and absence of carrier is used
• Inefficient: up to 1200bps on voice grade lines
• ASK is used to transmit digital data over optical
fiber.

34
Binary Frequency Shift Keying
• The most common form of FSK is binary FSK
(BFSK)
• Two binary values represented by two different
frequencies (near carrier frequency)
• BFSK is less susceptible to error than ASK.
• Up to 1200bps on voice grade lines
• Also used for high frequency (3 to 30MHz) radio

35
Multiple FSK
• MFSK: More than two frequencies are used
• Each signalling element represents more than
one bit
• More bandwidth efficient
• But more prone to error!

36
FSK on Voice Grade Line

37
Phase Shift Keying
• In PSK, the phase of the carrier signal is shifted
to represent data.
• Binary PSK
—Two phases represent two binary digits
• Differential PSK
—Phase shifted relative to previous transmission rather
than some constant reference signal

38
Differential PSK

39
Multilevel PSK
• More efficient use of bandwidth
• Each signal element represents more than one
bit
• QPSK: quadrature PSK
—shifts of /2 (90o), i.e. 4 different phases
—Each signal element represents 2 bits
• Multilevel PSK
—Can use 8 or more phase angles, and each phase can
have more than one amplitude
—9600bps modem use 12 angles, four of which have
two amplitudes, in total 16 different signal elements

40
Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
• QAM is used in the asymmetric digital subscriber
line (ADSL) and some wireless standards.
• Combination of ASK and PSK
• A logical extension of QPSK
• Send two different signals simultaneously on the
same carrier frequency
—Use two copies of the carrier, one shifted by 90°
—Each carrier is ASK modulated
—Two independent signals over same medium
—Demodulate and combine for original binary output

41
QAM Levels
• Two level ASK
—Each of two streams in one of two states
—Four state system
—Essentially QPSK
• Four level ASK
—Combined stream in one of 16 states
• 64 and 256 state systems have been
implemented
• Improved data rate for given bandwidth
—Increased potential error rate

42
(III) Analog Data, Digital Signal
• 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
(coder-decoder)
—Two principle codec techniques
• Pulse Code Modulation
• Delta modulation

43
Digitizing Analog Data

44
Pulse Code Modulation
• Sampling Theorem: If a signal is sampled at regular
intervals of time and at a rate higher than twice the
highest signal frequency, then the samples contain all
the information of the original signal.
• For example, voice data are limited to below 4000Hz
— 8000 samples per second is sufficient to characterize the voice
signal.
• Samples are analog samples, called Pulse Amplitude
Modulation (PAM) samples.
• To convert to digital, each analog sample must be
assigned a binary code.

45
Pulse Code Modulation
• Each sample is quantized into some level
—The original signal is now only approximated and
cannot be recovered exactly
—This effect is called quantizing error or quantizing
noise
• For example, 8 bit sample gives 256 levels
• 8000 samples per second and 8 bits per sample
gives 64kbps, for a single voice signal.

46
PCM Example

47
PCM Block Diagram

48
Nonlinear Encoding
• Typically, PCM scheme is refined using nonlinear
encoding.
• Quantization levels are not equally spaced.
• The problem of equal spacing:
— The mean absolute error for each sample is regardless of signal
level.
— Lower amplitude values are relatively more distorted.
• Nonlinear encoding:
— Use a greater number of quantizing steps for signals of low
amplitude, and a smaller number of quantizing steps for signals
of large amplitude
— Reduces overall signal distortion

49
Effect of Non-Linear Coding

50
Delta Modulation
• Modulation:
—An analog signal is approximated by a staircase
function that moves up or down by quantization level
at each sampling interval.
—If the value of the sampled waveform exceeds that of
the staircase function, 1 is generated, otherwise, 0 is
generated.
• Two important parameters:
—The size of the step.
—The sampling rate.

51
52
Delta Modulation
• Noise
—Slope overload noise (when the analog waveform is
changing rapidly than the staircase can follow)
—Quantizing noise (when the analog waveform is
changing slowly)
• Trade-off
—The quantizing noise increases as the size of the step
increases.
—The slope overload noise increases as the size of the
step decreases.

53
(IV) Analog Data, Analog Signals
• Modulation:
—Combine an input signal m(t) and a carrier frequency
fc to produce a signal s(t) whose bandwidth is usually
centered on fc
• E.g., voice signals are transmitted over
telephone lines at their original spectrum.
• Types of modulation
—Amplitude modulation: AM
—Angle Modulation
• Frequency modulation: FM
• Phase modulation: PM

54
Analog
Modulation

55
KEY POINTS
• Both analog and digital information can be encoded as
either analog or digital signals. The particular encoding
that is chosen depends on the specific requirements to
be met and the media and communications facilities
available.
• Digital data, digital signal: The simplest form of digital
encoding of digital data is to assign one voltage level to
binary one and another to binary zero. More complex
encoding schemes are used to improve performance, by
altering the spectrum of the signal and providing
synchronization capability.
• Digital data, analog signal: A modem converts digital
data to an analog signal so that it can be transmitted
over an analog line. The basic techniques are ASK, FSK,
and PSK.

56
KEY POINTS
• Analog data, digital signals: Analog data, such as voice
and video, are often digitized to be able to use digital
transmission facilities. The simplest technique is PCM
(Pulse Code Modulation), which involve sampling the
analog data periodically and quantizing the samples.
Another technique is Delta Modulation.
• Analog data, analog signals: Analog data are modulated
by a carrier frequency to produce an analog signal in a
different frequency band, which can be utilized on an
analog transmission system. The basic techniques are
AM (Amplitude Modulation), FM (Frequency Modulation),
and PM (Phase Modulation).

57