CH 03
CH 03
3.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
• One of the major functions of the physical layer is to move data in the form
signals.
3.2
3-1 ANALOG AND DIGITAL
Data can be analog or digital. The term analog data refers to information that is continuous; digital
• Analog data, such as the sounds made by a human voice, take on continuous values.
• When someone speaks, an analog wave is created in the air. This can be captured by a microphone and converted to an analog signal or sampled and
3.3
Note
number of values.
3.4
Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital signals
The simplest way to show signals is by plotting them on a pair of perpendicular axes.
3.5
• Both analog and digital signals can be periodic or nonperiodic.
• A periodic signal completes a pattern within a measurable time frame, called a period, and repeats that pattern over subsequent identical
Note
3.6
3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS
Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or composite. A simple periodic analog signal, a
Sine Wave
Wavelength
Composite Signals
Bandwidth
3.7
Figure 3.2 A sine wave
The sine wave is the most fundamental form of a periodic analog signal and can be represented by
three parameters: the peak amplitude, the frequency, and the phase
cycle
3.8
Figure 3.3 Two signals with the same phase and frequency,
but different amplitudes
The peak amplitude of a signal is the absolute value of its highest intensity, proportional to the energy it carries. For electric
3.9
• 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.
• Period is formally expressed in seconds. Frequency is formally expressed in Hertz (Hz), which is cycle per
second.
Note
3.10
Figure 3.4 Two signals with the same amplitude and phase, but different frequencies
3.11
Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency
3.12
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:
3.13
Example 3.4
Solution
−3 6
From Table 3.1 we find the equivalents of 1 ms (1 ms is 10 s) and 1 s (1 s is 10 μs). We make
3.14
Example 3.5
Solution
First we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we calculate the frequency from the period (1 Hz =
−3
10 kHz).
3.15
Note
3.16
Note
3.17
Note
• If we think of the wave as something that can be shifted backward or forward along the time axis, phase
describes the amount of that shift. It indicates the status of the first cycle.
3.18
Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency,
but different phases
Phase is measured in degrees or radians [360° is 2π rad; 1° is 2π /360 rad, and 1 rad is 360/(2π)]. A phase shift of 360° corresponds to a shift of a
complete period; a phase shift of 180° corresponds to a shift of one-half of a period; and a phase shift of 90° corresponds to a shift of one-
quarter of a period
3.19
Example 3.6
A sine wave is offset 1/6 cycle with respect to time 0. What is its phase in degrees and radians?
Solution
3.20
Figure 3.6 Wavelength and period
• Wavelength is a property of any type of signal and depends on both the frequency and the medium.
• The wavelength is the distance a simple signal can travel in one period.
• Wavelength can be calculated if one is given the propagation speed (the speed of light) and the period of the signal
• If we represent wavelength by λ, propagation speed by c (speed of light), and frequency by f, we get
3.21
Figure 3.7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave
• Time-domain plot shows changes in signal amplitude with respect to time (amplitude-versus-time plot).
• A frequency-domain plot is concerned with only the peak value and the frequency. Changes of amplitude during one period are not shown in
frequency-domain.
3.22
Note
3.23
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.
3.24
Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves
3.25
Note
sine waves.
3.26
Example 3.8
Figure below 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.
3.27
Figure 3.10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and
frequency domains
3.28
Note
3.29
Figure 3.12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals
3.30
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, assuming all components have a maximum
amplitude of 10 V.
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).
3.31
Figure 3.13 The bandwidth for Example 3.10
3.32
3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS
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.
We send 1 bit per level in part a of the figure and 2 bits per level in part b of the figure. In general, if a
3.33
Figure 3.16 Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels
3.34
Example 3.16
A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are needed per level? We calculate the number of
3.35
Baseband transmission: Transmission of Digital Signal
bandwidth that starts from zero. This is the case if we have a dedicated medium
3.36
Note
bandwidth.
3.37
Note
3.38
Figure 3.23 Bandwidth of a bandpass channel
• If the available channel is a bandpass channel, we cannot send the digital signal directly to the channel; we need to
• Broadband transmission or modulation means changing the digital signal to an analog signal for transmission.
• Modulation allows us to use a bandpass channel-a channel with a bandwidth that does not start from zero.
3.39
Figure 3.24 Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass
channel
3.40
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(0-4KHz). 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
3.41
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,
3.42
Figure 3.26: Attenuation
overcoming the resistance of the medium. That is why a wire carrying electric signals gets
3.43
Example 3.26: Decibels
• To show that a signal has lost or gained strength, we use the unit of the decibel.
• The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths of two signals or one signal at two different points.
• Note that the decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if a signal is amplified.
Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its power is reduced to one-half. This means that P2
3.44
Example 3.27
A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased 10 times. This means that P 2 =
3.45
Example 3.29
Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power in milliwatts. In this case, it is referred to
as dBm and is calculated as dBm = 10 log10 Pm , where Pm is the power in milliwatts. Calculate
Solution
3.46
Figure 3.28: Distortion
3.47
Figure 3.29: Noise
• Noise is another cause of impairment. Several types of noise, such as thermal noise, induced noise, crosstalk, and impulse noise, may corrupt the
signal.
• Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons in a wire which creates an extra signal not originally sent by the transmitter.
• Induced noise comes from sources such as motors and appliances. These devices act as a sending antenna, and the transmission medium acts as the
receiving antenna.
• Crosstalk is the effect of one wire on the other. One wire acts as a sending antenna and the other as the receiving antenna.
• Impulse noise is a spike (a signal with high energy in a very short time) that comes from power lines, lightning, and so on.
3.48
Example 3.31: SNR
• To find the theoretical bit rate limit, we need to know the ratio of the signal power to the noise
power.
• SNR is actually the ratio of what is wanted (signal) to what is not wanted (noise).
• A high SNR means the signal is SNR average by
less corrupted
signal power
noise; a low SNR means the signal is more
average noise power
corrupted by noise.
SNRdB 10 log10 SNR
The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the noise is 1 μW; what are the values of SNR and SNR dB ?
Solution
3.49
3-5 DATA RATE LIMITS
A very important consideration in data communications is how fast we can send data, in bits per
3.50
For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula defines the theoretical maximum bit
rate
Bit Rate 2 bandwidth Log 2 L
• We can have any bit rate we want by increasing the number of signal levels, but the idea is theoretically correct, practically there is
a limit.
• Receiver must be very sophisticated to distinguish between 64 different levels
• Increasing the levels of a signal may reduce the reliability of the system.
3.51
Example 3.34
Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz transmitting a signal with two signal
3.52
Example 3.36
We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal
levels do we need?
Solution
Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either increase the number of levels or reduce the
bit rate. If we have 128 levels, the bit rate is 280 kbps. If we have 64 levels, the bit rate is 240 kbps.
3.53
Example 3.37: Shannon Capacity
In reality, we cannot have a noiseless channel; the channel is always noisy. In 1944, Claude Shannon introduced a formula, called the
Shannon capacity, to determine the theoretical highest data rate for a noisy channel:
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 C is calculated as
This means that the capacity of this channel is zero regardless of the bandwidth. In other words, we cannot receive any data through this
channel.
3.54
Example 3.38
We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line. A telephone line
normally has a bandwidth of 3000. The signal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. For this channel the
capacity is calculated as
• This means that the highest bit rate for a telephone line is 34.860 kbps.
• If we want to send data faster than this, we can either increase the bandwidth of the line or improve
3.55
Example 3.39
The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels. Assume that SNRdB = 36 and the channel
3.56
Example 3.41
We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63. What are the
Solution
3.57
Example 3.41 (continued)
The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, the upper limit. For better performance we choose
something lower, 4 Mbps, for example. Then we use the Nyquist formula to find the number of
signal levels.
3.58
Note
The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit; the Nyquist formula
3.59
3-6 PERFORMANCE
One important issue in networking is the performance of the network—how good is it? We discuss
24. In this section, we introduce terms that we need for future chapters.
Bandwidth
Throughput
Latency (Delay)
3.60
Note
3.61
Example 3.44
• The throughput is a measure of how fast we can actually send data through a network. Bandwidth in bits per second and throughput
this number may be reduced to 100 cars per minute. The bandwidth is 1000 cars per minute; the throughput is 100 cars per minute.
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
Solution
3.62
Example 3.45
The latency or delay defines how long it takes for an entire message to completely
• Transmission time refers to the time it takes to push all the bits of a packet onto the link.
• Propagation time is the time it takes for the signal to propagate through media excluding queuing and
processing time.
Distance Message size
Propagation Time= Transmission time
Propagation Speed Bandwidth
8
What is the propagation time if the distance between the two points is 12,000 km? Assume the propagation speed to be 2.4 × 10 m/s in
cable.
Solution
The example shows that a bit can go over the Atlantic Ocean in only 50 ms if there is a direct cable between the source and the
destination.
3.63
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
8
receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 × 10 m/s.
Solution
3.64