EE324-Digital Communication

Department of Electrical Engineering,

FET, Gomal University
Course Books
Text: Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications, By “Bernard
Sklar”, Prentice Hall, 2nd ed, 2001.

References:
Digital Communications, Fourth Edition, J.G. Proakis, McGraw Hill, 2000.
Communication
• Main purpose of communication is to transfer information from a
source to a recipient via a channel or medium.

• Basic block diagram of a communication system:

Source Transmitter Channel Receiver

Recipient
Brief Description
• Source: analog or digital
• Transmitter: transducer, amplifier, modulator, oscillator, power amp.,
antenna
• Channel: e.g. cable, optical fiber, free space
• Receiver: antenna, amplifier, demodulator, oscillator, power amplifier,
transducer
• Recipient: e.g. person, (loud) speaker, computer
• Types of information
Voice, data, video, music, email etc.

• Types of communication systems

Public Switched Telephone Network (voice,fax,modem)
Satellite systems
Radio,TV broadcasting
Cellular phones
Computer networks (LANs, WANs, WLANs)
Information Representation
• Communication system converts information into electrical
electromagnetic/optical signals appropriate for the transmission medium.
• Analog systems convert analog message into signals that can propagate
through the channel.
• Digital systems convert bits(digits, symbols) into signals

▫ Computers naturally generate information as characters/bits

▫ Most information can be converted into bits
▫ Analog signals converted to bits by sampling and quantizing (A/D
conversion)
 Why digital?
 Digital techniques need to distinguish between discrete symbols allowing
regeneration versus amplification

 Good processing techniques are available for digital signals, such as

medium.
 Data compression (or source coding)
 Error Correction (or channel coding)(A/D conversion)
 Equalization
 Security

 Easy to mix signals and data using digital techniques

• Basic Digital Communication Transformations
▫ Formatting/Source Coding
▫ Transforms source info into digital symbols (digitization)
▫ Selects compatible waveforms (matching function)
▫ Introduces redundancy which facilitates accurate decoding
despite errors
• It is essential for reliable communication
▫ Modulation/Demodulation
▫ Modulation is the process of modifying the info signal to
facilitate transmission
▫ Demodulation reverses the process of modulation. It involves the
detection and retrieval of the info signal
 Types
 Coherent: Requires a reference info for detection
 Noncoherent: Does not require reference phase information
Basic Digital Communication Transformations
▫ Coding/Decoding
Translating info bits to transmitter data symbols
Techniques used to enhance info signal so that they are less
vulnerable to channel impairment (e.g. noise, fading, jamming,
interference)
 Two Categories
 Waveform Coding
 Produces new waveforms with better performance
 Structured Sequences
• Involves the use of redundant bits to determine the
occurrence of error (and sometimes correct it)
▫ Multiplexing/Multiple Access Is synonymous with resource
sharing with other users
▫ Frequency Division Multiplexing/Multiple Access (FDM/FDMA
Main Points
• Transmitters modulate analog messages or bits in case of a DCS for
transmission over a channel.
• Receivers recreate signals or bits from received signal (mitigate
channel effects)
• Performance metric for analog systems is fidelity, for digital it is the bit
rate and error probability.
Why Digital Communications?
▫ Easy to regenerate the distorted signal
▫ Regenerative repeaters along the transmission path can detect a
digital signal and retransmit a new, clean (noise free) signal
▫ These repeaters prevent accumulation of noise along the path
• This is not possible with analog communication systems
▫ Two-state signal representation
• The input to a digital system is in the form of a sequence
of bits (binary or M_ary)
▫ Immunity to distortion and interference
▫ Digital communication is rugged in the sense that it is more
immune to channel noise and distortion
Why Digital Communications?
▫ Hardware is more flexible
▫ Digital hardware implementation is flexible and permits the
use of microprocessors, mini-processors, digital switching
and VLSI
• Shorter design and production cycle
▫ Low cost
• The use of LSI and VLSI in the design of components and
systems have resulted in lower cost
▫ Easier and more efficient to multiplex several digital signals
▫ Digital multiplexing techniques – Time & Code Division
Multiple Access - are easier to implement than analog
techniques such as Frequency Division Multiple Access
Why Digital Communications?
▫ Can combine different signal types – data, voice, text, etc.
▫ Data communication in computers is digital in nature whereas
voice communication between people is analog in nature
▫ The two types of communication are difficult to combine over the
same medium in the analog domain.
• Using digital techniques, it is possible to combine both
format for transmission through a common medium
• Encryption and privacy techniques are easier to
implement
▫ Better overall performance
▫ Digital communication is inherently more efficient than analog in
realizing the exchange of SNR for bandwidth
▫ Digital signals can be coded to yield extremely low rates and high
fidelity as well as privacy
Why Digital Communications?
Disadvantages
• Requires reliable “synchronization”
• Requires A/D conversions at high rate
• Requires larger bandwidth
• Non graceful degradation
• Performance Criteria
• Probability of error or Bit Error Rate
Comparative Analysis of Analog and
Digital Communication
Digital Signal Nomenclature

• Information Source
▫ Discrete output values e.g. Keyboard
▫ Analog signal source e.g. output of a microphone
• Character
▫ Member of an alphanumeric/symbol (A to Z, 0 to 9)
▫ Characters can be mapped into a sequence of binary digits using
one of the standardized codes such as
 ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange
 EBCDIC: Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
Digital Signal Nomenclature
• Digital Message
▫ Messages constructed from a finite number of symbols; e.g., printed language
consists of 26 letters, 10 numbers, “space” and several punctuation marks.
Hence a text is a digital message constructed from about 50 symbols
▫ Morse-coded telegraph message is a digital message constructed from two
symbols “Mark” and “Space”
• M - ary
▫ A digital message constructed with M symbols
• Digital Waveform
▫ Current or voltage waveform that represents a digital symbol
• Bit Rate
▫ Actual rate at which information is transmitted per second
Digital Signal Nomenclature

• Baud Rate
▫ Refers to the rate at which the signaling elements are
transmitted, i.e. number of signaling elements per second.

• Bit Error Rate

▫ The probability that one of the bits is in error or simply the
probability of error
1.2 Classification Of Signals
1. Deterministic and Random Signals
• A signal is deterministic means that there is no uncertainty with respect
to its value at any time.

• Deterministic waveforms are modeled by explicit mathematical

expressions, example:
x(t) = 5Cos(10t)
• A signal is random means that there is some degree of uncertainty
before the signal actually occurs.

• Random waveforms/ Random processes when examined over a long

period may exhibit certain regularities that can be described in terms of
probabilities and statistical averages.
2. Periodic and Non-periodic Signals
• A signal x(t) is called periodic in time if there exists a constant
T0 > 0 such that

x(t) = x(t + T0 ) for - < t <  (1.2)

t denotes time
T0 is the period of x(t).
3. Analog and Discrete Signals

• An analog signal x(t) is a continuous function of time; that is, x(t) is

uniquely defined for all t

• A discrete signal x(kT) is one that exists only at discrete times; it is

characterized by a sequence of numbers defined for each time, kT,
where
k is an integer
T is a fixed time interval.
4. Energy and Power Signals
• The performance of a communication system depends on the received
signal energy; higher energy signals are detected more reliably (with
fewer errors) than are lower energy signals

• x(t) is classified as an energy signal if, and only if, it has nonzero but
finite energy (0 < Ex < ∞) for all time, where:
T/2 

lim  
(1.7)
2
Ex = x (t) dt = x 2 (t) dt
T  T / 2 
• An energy signal has finite energy but zero average power.

• Signals that are both deterministic and non-periodic are classified as

energy signals
4. Energy and Power Signals

• Power is the rate at which energy is delivered.

• A signal is defined as a power signal if, and only if, it has finite but
nonzero power (0 < Px < ∞) for all time, where
T/2
1

2
Px = lim
T  T T / 2
x (t) dt (1.8)

• Power signal has finite average power but infinite energy.

• As a general rule, periodic signals and random signals are classified as

power signals
5. The Unit Impulse Function

• Dirac delta function δ(t) or impulse function is an abstraction—an

infinitely large amplitude pulse, with zero pulse width, and unity
weight (area under the pulse), concentrated at the point where its
argument is zero.

(1.9)
  (t) dt = 1
 (1.10)
 (t) = 0 for t  0
 (t) is bounded at t  0 (1.11)
• Sifting or Sampling Property

(1.12)


x(t )  (t-t 0 )dt = x(t 0 )
2. Power Spectral Density (PSD)
• The power spectral density (PSD) function Gx(f ) of the periodic signal
x(t) is a real, even, and nonnegative function of frequency that gives the
distribution of the power of x(t) in the frequency domain.

• PSD is represented as: G x (f ) =  n  ( f  nf0 )
|C
n=-
|2

(1.18)

• Whereas the average power of a periodic signal x(t) is represented as:

T0 /2 
1 (1.17)
Px 
T0  x (t) dt 
2
 |C |
n=-
n
2

T0 / 2
• Using PSD, the average normalized power of a real-valued signal is
represented as:
 
Px  G

x (f) df  2  G x (f) df
0
(1.19)
Power Spectral Density (PSD)
1.4 Autocorrelation
1. Autocorrelation of an Energy Signal
• Correlation is a matching process; autocorrelation refers to the
matching of a signal with a delayed version of itself.
• Autocorrelation function of a real-valued energy signal x(t) is defined
as:

R x ( ) =  x(t) x (t +  ) dt

for - <  <  (1.21)

• The autocorrelation function Rx(τ) provides a measure of how closely

the signal matches a copy of itself as the copy is shifted
τ units in time.
• Rx(τ) is not a function of time; it is only a function of the time
difference τ between the waveform and its shifted copy.
1. Autocorrelation of an Energy Signal