DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

Autumn 2020
Presenter: PHẠM NGỌC SƠN, PhD
 Required Course Materials
 Text books
 John G. Proakis, Digital Communications, 4th edition,
McGraw-Hill, 2001. ISBN# 0-07-232111-3
 Bernard Sklar, Digital Communications - Fundamentals
and applications, Prentice Hall,
 U. Madhow, Fundamentals of Digital Communication,
Cambridge University Press, 2008.
 S. G. Wilson, Digital Modulation and Coding, Prentice-
Hall, 1996
 References
 Papoulis and Pilla, Probability, Random Variables and
Stochastic Processes, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2002.
ISBN# 0-07-122661-3
 What is Digital Communication?

 Digital Communication is any message passed

through digital devices
 Digital Communication can be easy and quick to use
 Digital Communication can be dangerous if you use it
unsafely.
 Some examples of digital communication are: E-
mailing (Computers), Texting (Cell Phones), Online
games…
 Basic Digital Communication Nomenclature
 Textual Message: information comprised of a sequence
of characters.
 Binary Digit (Bit): the fundamental information unit for
all digital systems.
 Symbol (mi where i=1,2,…M): for transmission of the
bit stream; groups of k bits are combined to form new
symbol from a finite set of M such symbols; M=2k.
 Digital Waveform: voltage or current waveform
representing a digital symbol.
 Data Rate: Symbol transmission is associated with a
symbol duration T. Data rate R=k/T [bps].
 Baud Rate: number of symbols transmitted per second
[baud].
Nomenclature Examples (by Figures)
Nomenclature Examples (cont…)
Block Diagram of Typical Digital Comm. systems
1. Format
Sampling Theorem
 Sampling Theorem
 Sampling Theorem: A bandlimited signal having no
spectral components above fm hertz can be
determined uniquely by values sampled at uniform
intervals of Ts seconds, where Ts<=(1/(2fm)) or
sampling rate fs>=2fm.
 In sample-and-hold operation, a switch and storage
mechanism form a sequence of samples of the
continuous input waveform. The output of the
sampling process is called pulse amplitude
modulation (PAM).
Sampling Theorem
Spectra for Various Sampling Rates
Natural Sampling
 Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
PCM is the name given to the class of baseband
signals obtained from the quantized PAM
signals by encoding each quantized sample into
a digital word.
The source information is sampled and
quantized to one of L levels; then each
quantized sample is digitally encoded into an ℓ-
bit (ℓ=log2L) codeword.
Example of Constructing PCM Sequence
Uniform and Non-uniform Quantization
 2. Source Encoding
Compression of digital data to eliminate
redundant information.
Source coding is like quantization because its goal
is to reduce bit rate
Source coding is unlike quantization because it
does not introduce distortion.
Huffman Source Coding: based on probability.
Huffman code is a prefix code (A prefix code is
defined as a code in which no code-word is the
prefix of any other code-word.).
Example of Huffman Coding
 3. Encryption

Encryption techniques can ensure data privacy

 Very good "public key" encryption algorithm exist
 4. Channel Coding
Provides protection against transmission errors
by selectively inserting redundant data
Note that quantizer and source encoder work
to decrease redundant information. The
channel encoder inserts redundant
information in a very selective manner.
 4. Channel Coding
 Error detecting coding: Capability of detecting
errors so that re-transmission or dropping can
be done.
Cyclic Redundancy Code (CRC).
 Error Correcting Coding: Capability of detecting
and correcting errors.
Block Codes: BCH codes, RS codes, … etc.
Convolutional codes.
Turbo codes.
Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Code
Convolutional Coding in WCDMA
Turbo Coder in WCDMA
 5. Interleaving
 Bursty Error in Fading Channel
Interleaving Mechanism
 Interleaving Mechanism (cont.)
 The WRITE clock places the bit stream x by the row
while the READ clock takes the bit stream y by the
column:
Burst Error Protection with Interleaver
 6. Multiplexing
 Multiplexing is a technique which combines multiple
data into one data. Multiplexing is also sometimes
referred to as muxing.
 7. Modulation
Digital Modulation: digital symbols are
transformed into waveforms that are
compatible with the characteristics of the
channel.
In baseband modulation, these waveforms are
pulses.
In bandpass modulation, the desired
information signal modulates a sinusoid called
a carrier. For radio transmission, the carrier is
converted in an electromagnetic (EM) wave.
Digital Modulations
Basic Digital Modulations
 transmitter
(phase shift keying modulation)
message transmitted + channel output
signal m(t)   (received signal) x(t)
signal s(t)
0→−1 +
1→+1 channel
for duration T carrier wave
noise w(t)
Accos(2πfc t),
where fc=1/T

received T yT decision say 1 if yT > 0

signal x(t)  
0
dt making
device say 0, otherwise
correlator

local carrier receiver threshold=0

cos(2πfc t)

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Extended Modulated Signals – M-FSK
Extended Modulated Signals – M-PSK
Example of BPSK
 Example of BPSK

Find orthonormal basis? How?

Signal Space Representation (Constellation diagram):

 Extended Modulated Signals – 16-QAM
 Every 4 bits is represented by one point in the
signal constellation.
 Every point has its unique “amplitude” and
“phase”.
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK)
 8. Frequency Spreading
 Frequency Spreading is to provide secure
communications by spreading the signal over a large
frequency band.
 9. Multiple Access
 Many users at same time
 Share a finite amount of radio spectrum
 High performance
 Duplexing generally required
 Frequency domain: Frequency Division Multiple
Access (FDMA).
 Time domain: Time Division Multiple Access
(TDMA).
 Code domain: Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA).
 Space Division Multiple Access
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

• OFDM is a multicarrier transmission technique,

which divides the available spectrum into many
carriers, each one being modulated be a low rate data
stream.
• It has gained popularity because of its capability to
transmit high data rate.
• OFDM is similar to FDMA in that the multiple user
access is achieved by subdividing the available
bandwidth into multiple channels that are then
allocated to users. 
 OFDM: Orthogonality in frequency domain

• Each carrier is modulated using BPSK / QPSK /

M-ary QAM.
• Each subcarrier is orthogonal to each other.
 Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA)

 All the users are served at the same time,

frequency and code
 Users with better channel conditions get less power
 Successive interference cancellation is used at the
receivers

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 Frequency division duplexing (FDD)

 Two bands of frequencies for every user

 Forward band
 Reverse band
 Frequency separation between forward band and
reverse band is constant

reverse channel forward channel

frequency seperation f
 Time division duplexing (TDD)

 Uses time for forward and reverse link

 Multiple users share a single radio channel
 Forward time slot
 Reverse time slot

reverse channel forward channel

t
time seperation
 Channel
Carries signal - could be a telephone wire, free
space
Presents distorted signal to demodulator.
Effects include attenuation, noise, fading.
Fading is very important.
We will usually assume a very simple channel
model most of the time - additive Gaussian
noise
 Good Communication system?
Large data rate (in bits/sec)
Small bandwidth (in Hertz)
Small signal power (in Watts or dBW)
Low distortion (S/N or bit error rate)
Low cost - with digital communications, large
complexity does not always result in large cost
In practice, there must be tradeoffs made in
achieving these goals