UNIT – II

Physical Layer and Media

1. Data and Signals ( Slide Nos. 2-47)

2. Digital Transmission (Slide Nos. 48-95)
3. Analog Transmission (Slide Nos. 96-117)
4. Bandwidth Utilization: Multiplexing and Spreading (Slide
Nos. ……118-143)
 Data and Signals

 Analog and Digital

 Periodic Analog Signals
 Digital Signals
 Transmission Impairment
 Data Rate Limits
 Performance
 Analog and Digital
• To be transmitted, data must be transformed to electric/
electromagnetic signals
• Data can be analog or digital. Analog data are continuous
and take continuous values. Digital data have discrete
states and take on discrete values.
• 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.
Analog and Digital Signals
 Periodic and Nonperiodic Signals
• In data communication, we commonly use periodic analog signals
and nonperiodic digital signals

Periodic Signals Aperiodic Signals

 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 multiple sine
waves
• Sine wave is described by
– Amplitude
– Period (frequency)
– phase
Amplitude
 Period and Frequency
• Frequency and period are the inverse of each
Units of Period and Frequency
 Example
• Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds, and express
the corresponding frequency in kilohertz

we know the equivalent of 1 ms. We make the following sub-

stitutions:
100 ms = 100  10-3 s = 100  10-3  106 ms = 105 μs
Now we use the inverse relationship to find the frequency,
changing hertz to kilohertz
100ms = 100  10-3s = 10-1s
f = 1/10-1 Hz = 10  10-3 KHz = 10-2 KHz
 More About Frequency
• Another way to look frequency
– Frequency is a measurement of the rate of changes
– Change in a short span of time means high frequency
– Change over a long span of time means low frequency
• Two extremes
– No change at all  zero frequency
– Instantaneous changes  infinite frequency
 Phase
• Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to
time zero
Sine Wave Examples
 Example
• A sine wave is offset one-sixth of a cycle with respect to
time zero. What is its phase in degrees and radians?

We know that one complete cycle is 360 degrees.

Therefore, 1/6 cycle is
(1/6) 360 = 60 degrees = 60 x 2π /360 rad = 1.046 rad
 Wavelength
• Another characteristic of a signal traveling through a transmission medium
• Binds the period or the frequency of a simple sine wave to the propagation
speed of the medium
• Wavelength = propagation speed x period

= propagation speed/frequency
 Time and Frequency Domains
• A complete sine wave in the time domain can be repre-
sented by one single spike in the frequency domain
 Example
• Time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves with frequen-
cies 0, 8, 16
 Composite Signals
• 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
• When we change one or more characteristics of a single-frequency signal, it
becomes a composite signal made of many frequencies
• According to Fourier analysis, any composite signal is a combination of
simple sine waves with different frequencies, phases, and amplitudes
• If the composite signal is periodic, the decomposition gives a series of sig-
nals with discrete frequencies; if the composite signal is non periodic, the
decomposition gives a combination of sine waves with continuous frequen-
cies.
Composite Periodic Signal
Composite Nonperiodic Signal
 Bandwidth
• The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the
highest and the lowest frequencies contained in that signal
 Example
• A signal has a bandwidth of 20 Hz. The highest frequency is 60 Hz.
What is the lowest frequency? Draw the spectrum if the signal con-
tains all integral frequencies of the same amplitude

B = fh - fl, 20 = 60 – fl, fl = 60 - 20 = 40 Hz
Signal Corruption
Digital Signals
Bit Rate and Bit Interval
Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal
 Transmission of Digital Signals
• A digital signal is a composite analog signal with an infinite band-
width
• Baseband transmission: Sending a digital signal without changing into
an analog signal
 Low-Pass Channel with Wide Bandwidth

• Baseband transmission of a digital signal that preserves the shape of the digi-
tal signal is possible only if we have a low-pass channel with infinite or very
wide bandwidth
 Low-Pass Channel with Limited Bandwidth
• Rough approximation
 Low-Pass Channel with Limited Bandwidth

• Better approximation
 Bandwidth Requirement
• In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is proportional to
the bit rate; if we need to send bits faster, we need more bandwidth
Broadband Transmission (Using Modulation)
• Modulation allows us to use a bandpass channel
• If the available channel is a bandpass channel, we cannot send the digi-
tal signal directly to the channel; we need to convert the digital signal to
an analog signal before transmission.
Modulation for Bandpass Channel
Transmission Impairment
 Attenuation

• Loss of energy to overcome the resistance of the medium:

heat
 Decibel
• Example: Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and
its power is reduced to one-half. This means that P2 is (1/2)P1. In this
case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be calculated as

• Example
 Distortion
• The signal changes its form or shape
• Each signal component in a composite signal has its own propagation
speed
• Differences in delay may cause a difference in phase
 Noise
• Several types of noises, such as thermal noise, induced
noise, crosstalk, and impulse noise, may corrupt the signal
 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
• To find the theoretical bit rate limit
• SNR = average signal power/average noise power

• SNRdB = 10 log10 SNR

• Example: The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the noise

is 1 μW; what are the values of SNR and SNRdB ?

Solution:
Two Cases of SNRs
 Data Rate Limits

• Data rate depends on three factors:

– Bandwidth available
– Level of the signals we use
– Quality of the channel (the noise level)
• Noiseless channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

– Bit rate = 2 * Bandwidth * log2L

– Increasing the levels may cause the reliability of the system

• Noisy channel: Shannon Capacity

– Capacity = Bandwidth * log2(1 + SNR)

 Nyquist Bit Rate: Examples

• Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz transmit-

ting a signal with two signal levels. The maximum bit rate can be cal-
culated as

Bit Rate = 2  3000  log2 2 = 6000 bps

• Consider the same noiseless channel, transmitting a signal with four

signal levels (for each level, we send two bits). The maximum bit rate
can be calculated as:

Bit Rate = 2 x 3000 x log2 4 = 12,000 bps

 Shannon Capacity: Examples

• Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value of the signal-to-

noise ratio is almost zero. In other words, the noise is so strong that the
signal is faint. For this channel the capacity is calculated as

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = B log2 (1 + 0) = B log2 (1) = B  0 = 0

• We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line.
A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3000 Hz (300 Hz to 3300
Hz). The signal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. For this channel the
capacity is calculated as

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 3000 log2 (1 + 3162) = 3000 log2 (3163)

C = 3000  11.62 = 34,860 bps

 Using Both Limits
• The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us
how many signal levels we need.
• Example: We have a channel with a 1 MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this
channel is 63; what is the appropriate bit rate and signal level?
First, we use the Shannon formula to find our upper limit

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 106 log2 (1 + 63)

= 106 log2 (64) = 6 Mbps

Then we use the Nyquist formula to find the

number of signal levels

4 Mbps = 2  1 MHz  log2 L  L = 4

 Performance
• Bandwidth (in two contexts)
– Bandwidth in hertz, refers to the range of frequencies in a composite
signal or the range of frequencies that a channel can pass.
– Bandwidth in bits per second, refers to the speed of bit transmission
in a channel or link.
• Throughput
– Measurement of how fast we can actually send data through a net-
work
• Latency (Delay)
– Define how long it takes for an entire message to completely arrive at
the destination from the time the first bit is sent out from the source
– Latency = propagation time + transmission time + queuing time + pro-
cessing delay
– Propagation time = Distance/Propagation speed
– Transmission time = Message size/Bandwidth
• Jitter
 Bandwidth-Delay Product
• The bandwidth-delay product defines the number of bits that can fill
the link
 Bandwidth-Delay Product

• Bandwidth-delay product concept

 2. Digital Transmission

 Digital-to-Digital Conversion
 Analog-to-Digital Conversion
 Transmission Mode
 Digital-to-Digital Conversion
• Involves three techniques:
– Line coding (always needed), block coding, and scrambling
• Line coding: the process of converting digital data to digital signals
 Signal Element and Data Element
• Data elements are what we need to send; signal elements are what we
can send
 Data Rate Versus Signal Rate
• Data rate defines the number of data elements (bits) sent in 1s: bps
• Signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in 1s: baud
• Data rate = bit rate, signal rate = pulse rate, modulation rate, baud rate
• S = c x N x 1/r, where
N is the date rate;
c is the case factor,
S is the number of signal elements;
r is the number of data elements carried by each signal element

• Although the actual bandwidth of a digital signal is infinite, the effec-

tive bandwidth is finite. The bandwidth is proportional to the signal rate
(baud rate) .

• The minimum bandwidth: Bmin = c x N x 1/r

• The maximum data rate: Nmax = 1/c x B x r

 Design Consideration for Line Coding
Scheme
• Baseline wandering
– Long string of 0s and 1s can cause a drift in the baseline
• DC components
– DC or low frequencies cannot pass a transformer or telephone
line (below 200 Hz)
• Self-synchronization
• Built-in error detection
• Immunity to noise and interference
• Complexity
Lack of Synchronization
Line Coding Schemes
 Unipolar Scheme
• One polarity: one level of signal voltage
• Unipolar NRZ (Non-Return-to-Zero) is simple, but
– DC components: Cannot travel through telephone wire or transformer
– Synchronization : Consecutive 0’s and 1’s are hard to be synchronized
 Separate line for a clock pulse
– Normalized power is double that for polar NRZ
 Polar Scheme
• Two polarity: two levels of voltage
• Problem of DC component is alleviated (NRZ,RZ) or eliminated
(Biphase)
 Polar NRZ
• NRZ-L (Non Return to Zero-Level)
– Level of the voltage determines the value of the bit
• NRZ-I (Non Return to Zero-Invert)
– Inversion or the lack of inversion determines the value of the bit
 Polar NRZ: NRZ-L and NRZ-I

• Baseline wandering problem

– Both, but NRZ-L is twice severe
• Synchronization Problem
– Both, but NRZ-L is more serious
• NRZ-L and NRZ-I both have an average signal rate of N/2 Bd
• Both have a DC component problem
 RZ
• Provides synchronization for consecutive 0s/1s
• Signal changes during each bit
• Three values (+, -, 0) are used
– Bit 1: positive-to-zero transition, bit 0: negative-to-zero transition
 Biphase
• Combination of RZ and NRZ-L ideas
• Signal transition at the middle of the bit is used for synchronization
• Manchester
– Used for Ethernet LAN
– Bit 1: negative-to-positive transition
– Bit 0: positive-to-negative transition
• Differential Manchester
– Used for Token-ring LAN
– Bit 1: no transition at the beginning of a bit
– Bit 0: transition at the beginning of a bit
 Polar Biphase
• Minimum bandwidth is 2 times that of NRZ
 Bipolar Scheme
• Three levels of voltage, called “multilevel binary”
• Bit 0: zero voltage, bit 1: alternating +1/-1
– (Note) In RZ, zero voltage has no meaning
• AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion) and pseudoternary
– Alternative to NRZ with the same signal rate and no DC compo-
nent problem
 Multilevel Scheme
• To increase the number of bits per baud by encoding a pattern of m data
elements into a pattern of n signal elements
• In mBnL(where m is the length of the binary pattern, B means binary data, n
is the length of the signal pattern, and L is the no. of levels in the signaling)
schemes, a pattern of m data elements is encoded as a pattern of n signal
elements in which 2m ≤ Ln
• 2B1Q (two binary, one quaternary)
• 8B6T (eight binary, six ternary)
• 4D-PAM5 (four-dimensional five-level pulse amplitude modulation)
 2B1Q
• Data rate 2 times faster
• Receiver has to discern four different thresholds
• Used for DSL
 8B6T
• Used with 100Base-4T cable
• Encode a pattern of 8 bits as a pattern of 6 (three-levels) signal elements
• 222 redundant signal element = 36(478 among 729) - 28(256)

• The average signal rate is theoretically, Save = 1/2 x N x 6/8; in practice the
minimum bandwidth is very close to 6N/8
4D-PAM5: for Gigabit LAN
 Multiline Transmission: MLT-3
• The signal rate for MLT-3 is one-fourth the bit rate
• MLT-3 when we need to send 100Mbps on a copper wire that cannot
support more than 32MHz
Summary of Line Coding Schemes
 Block Coding
• Block coding is normally referred to as mB/nB coding; it replaces each
m-bit group with an n-bit group
 4B/5B
• Solve the synchronization problem of NRZ-I
• 20% increase the signal rate of NRZ-I (Biphase scheme has the signal
rate of 2 times that of NRZ-I
• Still DC component problem
4B/5B Mapping Codes
 8B/10B
• 210 – 28 = 768 redundant groups used for disparity checking and error
detection
 Scrambling
• Biphase : not suitable for long distance communication due to its wide
bandwidth requirement
• Combination of block coding and NRZ: not suitable for long distance
encoding due to its DC component problem
• Bipolar AMI: synchronization problem  Scrambling
 B8ZS
• Commonly used in North America
• Updated version of AMI with synchronization
• Substitutes eight consecutive zeros with 000VB0VB
• V denotes “violation”, B denotes “bipolar”
 HDB3
• High-density bipolar 3-zero
• Commonly used outside of North America
• HDB3 substitutes four consecutive zeros with 000V or B00V depending
on the number of nonzero pulses after the last substitution
Sampling: Analog-to-Digital Conversion

• Analog information (e.g., voice)  digital signal (e.g., 10001011…)

• Codec(Coder/Decoder): A/D converter
 PCM

• Pulse Code Modulation

• Three processes
– The analog signal is sampled
– The sampled signal is quantized
– The quantized values are encoded as streams of bits
• Sampling: PAM (Pulse amplitude Modulation)
– According to the Nyquist theorem, the sampling rate must be at
least 2 times the highest frequency contained in the signal.
Components of PCM Encoder
Different Sampling Methods for PCM
Nyquist Sampling Rate
Sampling Rate
Quantization
 Quantization
• Quantization level (L)

• Quantization error : depending on L (or nb )

– SNRdB = 6.02nb + 1.76 dB

• Nonuniform quantization:
– Companding and expanding

– Effectively reduce the SNRdB

Original Signal Recovery: PCM Decoder
 PCM Bandwidth
• The min. bandwidth of a line-encoded signal

– Bmin = c x N x 1/r = c x nb x fs x 1/r

= c x nb x 2 x Banalog x 1/r

= nb x Banalog where 1/r = 1, c = 1/2

• Max. data rate of a channel

– Nmax = 2 x B x log2L bps

• Min. required bandwidth

– Bmin = N/(2 x log2L) Hz

 Delta Modulation

• To reduce the complexity of PCM

Delta Modulation Components
Delta Demodulation Components
Transmission Modes
 Parallel Transmission
• Use n wires to send n bits at one time synchronously
• Advantage: speed
• Disadvantage: cost  Limited to short distances
 Serial Transmission
• On communication channel
• Advantage: reduced cost
• Parallel/serial converter is required
• Three ways: asynchronous, synchronous, or isochronous
 Asynchronous Transmission
• Use start bit (0) and stop bits (1s)
• A gap between two bytes: idle state or stop bits
• It means asynchronous at byte level
• Must still be synchronized at bit level
• Good for low-speed communications (terminal)
 Synchronous Transmission
• Bit stream is combined into “frames”
• Special sequence of 1/0 between frames: No gap
• Timing is important in midstream
• Byte synchronization in the data link layer
• Advantage: speed  high-speed transmission
Isochronous Transmission
• Asynchronous: This is transmission at any time,
with arbitrary delay between transmission of any two succes-
sive data items
• Synchronous: This is continuous transmission with no
gaps between transmission of successive data items.
• Isochronous: This is transmission at regular intervals with
a fixed gap between the transmission of successive data items.
 3.Analog Transmission
• Digital-to-Analog Conversion: Converting digital data to a bandpass
analog signal
• Analog-to-Analog Conversion: Converting a low pass analog signal to
a bandpass analog signal
 Digital-to-Analog Conversion
• Digital-to-analog conversion is the process of changing one of the
characteristics of an analog signal based on the information in digital
data
Types of Digital-to-Analog Modulation
 Aspects of D/A Conversion
• Data element versus signal element
• Data rate (bit rate) versus signal rate (baud rate)
– S = N x 1/r baud
S (signal rate), N (data rate),
r (number of data element in one signal element)
– The value of r in analog transmission is r = log2 L, where L is the type of
signal element, not the level.
– Bit rate: bits per second (in bps)
– Baud rate: signal elements per second (in baud)
– Bit rate  baud rate
• Carrier signal (carrier frequency)
– High-frequency signal used to modulate the information
– Receiving device is tuned to the frequency of the carrier signal that it ex-
pects from the sender
– Modulated signal: information modulated by the carrier signal
 Example
• An analog signal has a bit rate of 8000 bps and a baud rate of 1000
baud. How many data elements are carried by each signal element?
How many signal elements do we need?
Solution
S = 1000, N = 8000, and r and L are unknown. We find first the
value of r and then the value of L.
 ASK : Binary ASK
• BASK or OOK (on-off keying)
• Bandwidth for ASK: B = (1 + d) x S, where d is a factor depends on the
modulation and filtering process and the value is between 0 and 1.
 Implementation of Binary ASK

• Digital data are presented as a unipolar NRZ

• Multilevel ASK
 Full-duplex ASK: Example
• In data communications, we normally use full-duplex links with
communication in both directions. We need to divide the bandwidth
into two with two carrier frequencies. In this example, if the available
bandwidth is 100KHz then for each direction is 50 kHz, which leaves
us with a data rate of 25 kbps in each direction.
 FSK: Binary FSK
• Bandwidth for ASK: B = (1 + d) x S + 2Δf
 BFSK: Example

• We have an available bandwidth of 100 kHz which spans from 200 to

300 kHz. What should be the carrier frequency and the bit rate if we
modulated our data by using FSK with d = 1?

The midpoint of the band is at 250 kHz. We choose 2Δf to be 50 kHz;

this means
 Implementation of Binary FSK
• There are two implementations: non coherent and coherent
• Non coherent BFSK can be implemented by treating BFSK as two ASK
modulations and using two carrier frequencies
• Coherent type is shown below:
 Multilevel FSK
• The frequencies need to be 2Δf apart.
• For proper operation of modulator and demodulator, min. value of 2Δf
needs to be S.
• B = (1 + d) x S + (L – 1) 2Δf  B = L x S with d = 0
• Example: We need to send data 3 bits at a time at a bit rate of 3 Mbps. The
carrier frequency is 10 MHz. Calculate the number of levels (different
frequencies), the baud rate, and the bandwidth
L = 23 = 8. The baud rate is S = 3 MHz/3 = 1000 Mbaud. This means that
the carrier frequencies must be 1 MHz apart (2Δf = 1 MHz). The
bandwidth is B = 8 × 1000 = 8000.
 PSK: Binary PSK

• Bandwidth : the same as BASK, B = (1 + d) x S

• Less than that for BFSK

 Implementation of Binary PSK
• Digital data are presented as a polar NRZ
Quadrature PSK
 Constellation Diagram
• Define the amplitude and phase of a signal element
Constellation Diagram: Examples
 QAM

• Quadrature amplitude modulation

• Combination of ASK and PSK
• Bandwidth : the same as that required for ASK and PSK
 Analog-to-Analog Modulation
• Analog-to-analog conversion is the representation of analog
information by an analog signal
• Modulation is needed if the medium is bandpass in nature or if only a
bandpass channel is available to us
 Amplitude Modulation
• The total bandwidth required for AM can be determined from the
bandwidth of the audio signal: BAM = 2B.
 Frequency Modulation
• The total bandwidth required for FM can be determined from the band-
width of the audio signal: BFM = 2(1 + β)B where β is a factor depends on
modulation technique.
 Phase Modulation
• The total bandwidth required for PM can be determined from the
bandwidth and maximum amplitude of the modulating signal: BPM =
2(1 + β)B.
• Value of β is lower in this case
4. Bandwidth Utilization: Multiplexing
and Spreading

1. Multiplexing

2. Spread Spectrum
 Multiplexing
• Whenever the bandwidth of a medium linking two devices is greater than
the bandwidth needs of the devices, the link can be shared.
• Multiplexing is the set of techniques that allows the simultaneous
transmission of multiple signals across a single data link.

Categories of Multiplexing
 Frequency Division Multiplexing
• FDM is an analog multiplexing technique that combines analog sig-
nals
• Signals modulate different carrier frequencies
• Modulated signals are combined into a composite signal
• Channel - Bandwidth range to accommodate a modulated signal
• Channels can be separated by strips of unused bandwidth (guard
band) to prevent overlapping
FDM Process FDM Demulti-
plexing
FDM: Example 1
FDM: Example 2
 Analog Hierarchy
• Hierarchical system used by AT&T
 Wave Division Multiplexing
• Analog multiplexing technique to combine optical signals
• Conceptually the same as FDM
• Light signals transmitted through fiber optic channels
• Combining different signals of different frequencies (wavelengths)

• Combining and splitting of light sources are easily handled by a prism

• Prism bends a light beam based on the incidence angle and the fre-
quency
 Time Division Multiplexing
• Digital multiplexing technique for combining several low-rate chan-
nels into one high-rate one
 TDM: Time Slots and Frames
• In synchronous TDM, the data rate of the link is n times faster, and the
unit duration is n times shorter
 Interleaving

• Interleaving can be done by bit, by byte, or by any other data unit

• The interleaved unit is of the same size in a given system
 Empty Slots
• Synchronous TDM is not efficient in many cases
• Statistical TDM can improve the efficiency by removing the empty slot
from the frame
 Frame Synchronizing
• Synchronization between the multiplexing and demultiplexing is a ma-
jor issue in TDM
 Data Rate Management
• To handle a disparity in the input data rates
• Multilevel multiplexing, multiple-slot allocation and pulse stuffing
• Multilevel multiplexing
 Data Rate Management
• Multiple-slot allocation / Pulse stuffing
 TDM: Example 1
• Four 1-Kbps connections are multiplexed together. A unit is 1 bit. Find
(a) the duration of 1 bit before multiplexing, (b) the transmission rate
of the link, (c) the duration of a time slot, and (d) the duration of a
frame?

a) The duration of 1 bit is 1/1 Kbps, or 0.001 s (1 ms).

b) The rate of the link is 4 Kbps.
c) The duration of each time slot 1/4 ms or 250 μs.
d) The duration of a frame 1 ms.
TDM: Example 2
TDM: Example 3
 TDM: Example 4
• We have four sources, each creating 250 characters per second. If the inter-
leaved unit is a character and 1 synchronizing bit is added to each frame, find
(a) the data rate of each source, (b) the duration of each character in each
source, (c) the frame rate, (d) the duration of each frame, (e) the number of bits
in each frame, and (f) the data rate of the link.
1. The data rate of each source is 2000 bps = 2 Kbps.
2. The duration of a character is 1/250 s, or 4 ms.
3. The link needs to send 250 frames per second.
4. The duration of each frame is 1/250 s, or 4 ms.
5. Each frame is 4 x 8 + 1 = 33 bits.
6. The data rate of the link is 250 x 33, or 8250 bps
Digital Hierarchy
DS and T Line Rates
T-1 Line for Multiplexing Telephone Lines
 T-1 Frame Structure

• European use
a version of T
lines called E
lines
Statistical TDM
 Statistical TDM

• Addressing is required in Statistical TDM

• Slot size: the ratio of the data size to address size must be reasonable
to make transmission efficient
• No synchronization bit: no need for frame-level sync.
• Bandwidth: normally less than the sum of the capacities of each chan-
nel
End of Unit-2