Data and Signals

Note

To be transmitted, data must be

transformed to electromagnetic signals.

3.2
 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..

Topics discussed in this section:

Analog and Digital Data
Analog and Digital Signals
Periodic and Nonperiodic
Signals

3.3
 Note

Data can be analog or digital.

Analog data are continuous and take
continuous values.
Digital data have discrete states and
take discrete values.

3.4
 Note

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.

3.5
 Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital
signals

3.6
 Note
In data communications, we commonly
use periodic analog signals and
nonperiodic digital signals.

3.7
 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 multiplesine waves.

Topics discussed in this section:

Sine Wave
Wavelengt
h
Time and Frequency Domain
Composite Signals
Bandwidth
3.8
 Figure 3.2 A sine
wave

3.9
 Note

We discuss a mathematical approach to

sine waves in Appendix C.

3.10
 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 th 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 2½ × rms value

3.11
 How to Calculate the Root Mean Square

Steps to Find the Root mean square for a given set of values are given
below:
Step 1: Get the squares of all the values
Step 2: Calculate the average of the obtained squares
Step 3: Finally, take the square root of the average
 Solved Example

Question: Calculate the root mean square (RMS) of the data set: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Solution:

Given set of data values:

1, 3, 5, 7, 9
Step 1: Squares of these values 
1 2 , 32 , 52 , 7 2 , 9 2
Or
1, 9, 25, 49, 81
Step 2: Average of the squares
(1 + 9 + 25 + 49 + 81)/5
= 165/5
= 33
Step 3: Take the square root of the average.
RMS = √33 = 5.745 (approx)
 Figure 3.3 Two signals with the same phase and
frequency, but different amplitudes

3.14
 Note
Frequency and period are the inverse of
each other.

Period and Frequency

Period refers to the amount of time, in seconds, a signal needs to complete 1 cycle. 
Frequency refers to the number of periods in 1 second.
Note that period and frequency are just one characteristic defined in two ways. Period is
the inverse of frequency, and frequency is the inverse of period, as the following formulas
show.

F=1/T and T=1/f

3.15
Period is formally expressed in seconds. Frequency is formally expressed in Hertz (Hz), which is
cycle per second. Units of period and frequency are shown in Table:
Units of period and frequency
Unit Equivalent Unit Equivalent

Seconds (s) 1s Hertz (Hz) 1 Hz

10-3 s 103 Hz
Milliseconds (ms) Kilohertz (kHz)

106 Hz
Microseconds 10-6 s Megahertz (MHz)

10-9 s 109 Hz
Nanoseconds (ns) Gigahertz (GHz)

10-12 s 1012 Hz
Picoseconds (ps) Terahertz (THz)

Note:- Hertz is a unit of frequency (of change in state or cycle in a sound wave, alternating current,
or other cyclical waveform) of one cycle per second. It replaces the earlier term of "cycle per second
(cps).
 Figure 3.4 Two signals with the same amplitude and
phase, but different frequencies

3.17
 Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency

3.18
 Example 3.3

The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz.

The period of this sine wave can be determined as
follows:

3.19
 Example 3.4

Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds.

3.20
Solution

From Table 3.1 we find the equivalents of 1 ms (1 ms is

10−3 s) and 1 s (1 s is 106 μs). We make the following
substitutions:.

.
 Example 3.5

The period of a signal is 100 ms. What is its frequency in

kilohertz?

Solution
First we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we
calculate the frequency from the period (1 Hz = 10−3
kHz).
We know that:
frequency(f) = 1 / Timeperiod(T)
Given timeperiod(T) = 100 ms
f = 1 / 100ms
f = 1000 / 100000 ms
We know that 1000 ms = 1 sec and we can write 1000
as 1 k
i.e. f = 1k / 100s
3.22 f = 10-2 kHz (1 / s = Hz)
 Note

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.

3.23
 Note

If a signal does not change at all, its

frequency is zero.
If a signal changes instantaneously, its
frequency is infinite.

3.24
 Note

Phase describes the position of the

waveform relative to time 0.

3.25
 Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude and
frequency, but different phases

3.26
 Figure 3.6 Wavelength and period

3.27
 Figure 3.7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine
wave

3.28
 Note

A complete sine wave in the time

domain can be represented by one
single spike in the frequency domain.

3.29
 Example 3.7

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.

3.30
 Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine
waves

Note:- If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is zero.

3.31
 Note

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.

3.32
 Note

According to Fourier analysis, any

composite signal is a combination of
simple sine waves with different
frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.

3.33
 Note

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.

3.34
 Example 3.8

Figure 3.9 shows a periodic composite signal with frequency f.

This type of signal is not typical of those found in data
communications We can consider it to be three alarm systems,
each with a different frequency. The analysis of this signal
can give us a good understanding of how to decompose
signals.

3.35
Figure 3.9 A composite periodic
 Figure 3.10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time
and frequency domains

3.36
 Example 3.9

Figure 3.11 shows a nonperiodic composite signal. It

can be the signal created by a microphone or a telephone
set when a word or two is pronounced In thi case, the
composite signal cannot be periodic, because that
implies that we are repeating the same word or words
with exactly the same tone.

3.37
 Figure 3.11 The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic
signal

3.38
 Note

The bandwidth of a composite signal is

the difference between the
highest and the lowest frequencies
contained in that signal.

3.39
 Figure 3.12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite
signals

3.40
 Example 3.10

If 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, assumingall components have a
maximum amplitude of 10 V.

3.41
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest
frequency, and B the bandwidth. Then

The spectrum has only five spikes, at

100, 300, 500, 700,
and 900 Hz (see Figure 3.13).
 Figure 3.13 The bandwidth for Example
3.10

3.43
 Example 3.11

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.

3.44
 Solution

Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B

the bandwidth. Then

The spectrum contains all integer frequencies. We show this by

a series of spikes (see Figure 3.14).
 Figure 3.14 The bandwidth for Example 3.11

3.46
 Example 3.12

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.

3.47
 Figure 3.15 The bandwidth for Example
3.12

3.48
 Example 3.13

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.

3.49
 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.

3.50
 3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS
In 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. In this case, we can send more than 1 bit
for each level....

Topics discussed in this section:

Bit Rate
Bit Length
Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal
Application Layer
3.51
 Figure 3.16 Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the
other with four signal levels

3.52
 Example 3.16

digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are

needed per level? We calculate the number of bits from
the formula

Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

Log2 (8) is the logarithm of 8 to the base 2

3.53
 Example 3.18

Assume we need to download text documents at the rate

of 100 pages per second. What is the required bit rate of
the channel?

3.54
Solution
page is an average of 24 lines with 80 characters in
each line. If we assume that one character requires
8 bits, the bit rate is

.
 Example 3.19

A digitized voice channel, 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

3.56
 Example 3.20

What is the bit rate for high-definition TV (HDTV)?

Solution
HDTV uses digital signals to broadcast high quality
video signals. The HDTV screen is normally a ratio of
16 : 9. There are 1920 by 1080 pixels per screen, and the
screen is renewed 30 times per second. Twenty-four bits
represents one color pixel.

The TV stations reduce this rate to 20 to 40 Mbps

through compression.
3.57
 Figure 3.18 Baseband transmission

3.58
 Note
A digital signal is a composite analog
signal with an infinite bandwidth.

3.59
 Figure 3.19 Bandwidths of two low-pass channels

3.60
 Figure 3.20 Baseband transmission using a dedicated
medium

3.61
 Note
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.

3.62
 Example 3.21

An example of a dedicated channel where the entire

bandwidth of the medium is used as one single channel
is a LAN. Almost every wired LAN today uses a dedicated
channel for two stations communicating with each other.
In a bus topology LAN with multipoint connections, only
two stations can communicate with each other at each
moment in time (timesharing); the other stations need to
refrain from sending data. In a star topology LAN, the
entire channel between each station and the hub is used
for communication between these two entities.

3.63
 Figure 3.21 Rough approximation of a digital signal using the first
harmonic for worst case

Note: A harmonic is a signal or wave with a frequency that is a ratio of another reference
wave or signal

3.64
 Note
In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is
In baseband transmission,
proportional the required
to the bit rate;
bandwidth is proportional
if we need to send bits faster, we needto thebandwidth.
more bit rate;
if we need to send bits faster, we need
more bandwidth.

3.65
 Table 3.2 Bandwidth requirements

3.66
 Example 3.22

What is the required bandwidth of a low-pass channel if

we need to send 1 Mbps by using baseband
transmission?

Solution
The answer depends on the accuracy desired.
a. The minimum bandwidth, is B = bit rate /2, or 500 kHz.

b. A better solution is to use the first and the

third harmonics withB = 3 × 500 kHz = 1.5
MHz.

3.67
c. Still a better solution is to use the first, third, and fifth
 Example 3.22

We have a low-pass channel with bandwidth 100 kHz.

What is the maximum bit rate of this channel?

Solution
The maximum bit rate can be achieved if we use the first
harmonic. The bit rate is 2 times the available bandwidth,
or 200 kbps.

3.68
 Figure 3.23 Bandwidth of a bandpass channel

3.69
 Note

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.

3.70
 Figure 3.24 Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a
bandpass channel

3.71
 Example 3.24

An example of broadband transmission using

modulation is the sending of computer data through a
telephone subscriber line, the line connecting a resident
to the central telephone office. These lines are designed
to carry voice with a limited bandwidth. The channel is
considered a bandpass channel. We convert the digital
signal from the computer to an analog signal, and send
the analog signal. We can install two converters to
change the digital signal to analog and vice versa at the
receiving end. The converter, in this case, is called a
modem.

3.72
 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..

Topics discussed in this section:

Attenuation
Distortion
Noise

3.73
 Figure 3.25 Causes of impairment

3.74
 Attenuation

Attenuation is generally decreased in signal strength, by which the received signal will
be difficult to receive at the receiver end. This attenuation happens due to the majority
factor by environment as environment imposes a lot of resistance and the signal
strength decreases as it tries to overcome the resistance imposed

The above picture shows that the signal loses power at its travels time.
 Figure 3.26 Attenuation

3.76
 Example 3.28

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.
In Figure 3.27 a signal travels from point 1 to point 4. In
this case, the decibel value can be calculated as

3.77
 Figure 3.27 Decibels for Example
3.28

3.78
 Distortion

This kind of distortion is mainly appearing in case of composite signals in

which a composite signal has various frequency components in it and each
frequency component has some time constraint which makes a complete
signal.
But while transmitting this composite signal, if a certain delay happens
between the frequencies components, then there may be the chance that the
frequency component will reach the receiver end with a different delay
constraint from its original which leads to the change in shape of the signal.
The delay happens due to environmental parameters or from the distance
between transmitter and receiver etc.
 Figure 3.28 Distortion

3.80
 Noise

Noise is the major factor for the transmission distortion as any unwanted
signal gets added to the transmitted signal by which the resulting
transmitted signal gets modified and at the receiver side it is difficult to
remove the unwanted noise signal. 
 Figure 3.29 Noise

3.82
Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR(signal to noise ratio): a high SNR and a low
SNR

3.83
 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)

Topics discussed in this section:

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit
Rate Noisy Channel: Shannon
Capacity Using Both Limits

3.84
 Note

Increasing the levels of a signal may

reduce the reliability of the system.

3.85
 Example 3.33

Does the Nyquist theorem bit rate agree with the

intuitive bit rate described in baseband transmission?

Solution
They match when we have only two levels We said, in baseband
transmission, the bit rate is 2 times the bandwidth if we use only
the first harmonic in the worst case. However, the Nyquist
formula is more general than what we derived intuitively; it can
be applied to baseband transmission and modulation. Also, it
can be applied when we have two or more levels of signals

3.86
 Nyquist’s theorem states:

BitRate = 2 * Bandwidth * log (L) bits/sec

2

In the above equation, bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, L is

the number of signal levels used to represent data, and BitRate is the
bit rate in bits per second.
 
Bandwidth is a fixed quantity, so it cannot be changed. Hence, the data
rate is directly proportional to the number of signal levels. 
 Example 3.34

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

3.88
 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

3.89
 3-6 PERFORMANCE

One important issue in networking is the performance of

the network—how good is it?

Topics discussed in this section:

Bandwidth
Throughput
Latency (Delay)
Bandwidth-
Delay Product

3.90
 Note
In networking, we use the term
bandwidth in two contexts.
❏ The first, bandwidth in hertz,
the rangerefers
of frequencies
to in a
composite signal or the range of
frequencies that a channel can pass.

❏ The second, bandwidth in bits per

second, refers to the speed of bit
transmission in a channel or link.
3.91
 Example 3.42

The bandwidth of a subscriber line is 4 kHz for voice or

data. The bandwidth of this line for data transmission
can be up to 56,000 bps using a sophisticated modem to
change the digital signal to analog.

3.92
 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.
3.93
 Example 3.46

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:

3.94
 Example 3.46 (continued)

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.

3.95
 Figure 3.31 Filling the link with bits for case 1

3.96
Throughput, sometimes called data transfer rate, is the amount of data that
travels across a network, from a source to a destination, over a given period.
Specifically, it's the rate at which data packets or messages arrive to a recipient
successfully. The unit of measurement for this metric is typically bits per second
(bit/s or bps) or data packets per second (p/s or pps).
Bandwidth is a measure of the amount of data that could travel across a network,
from a source to a destination, over a given period. 

Throughput and bandwidth are closely related concepts, but they measure
different aspects of a network. While throughput is the amount of data traveling
successfully across a network, bandwidth is the maximum data volume capacity
of a network.
 Figure 3.32 Filling the link with bits in case 2

3.98
 Note

The bandwidth-delay product defines

the number of bits that can fill the link.

3.99
 Figure 3.33 Concept of bandwidth-delay product

3.100