Chapter 4

Digital Transmission

4.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 4-1 DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION
In this section, we see how we can represent digital
data by using digital signals. The conversion involves
three techniques: line coding, block coding, and
scrambling (synchronization by adding long sequence of
zeros). Line coding is always needed; block coding and
scrambling may or may not be needed.

Topics discussed in this section:

Line Coding
Line Coding Schemes

4.2
 Figure 4.1 Line coding and decoding

• The process of converting digital data to digital signals.

• Line coding converts a sequence of bits to a digital signal.
• At the sender, digital data are encoded into a digital signal; at the receiver, the
digital data are recreated by decoding the digital signal

4.3
 Figure 4.2 Signal element versus data element
• A data element is the smallest entity that can represent a piece of information: this is
the bit.
• Signal element carries data elements (bits). Data elements are what we need to send; signal elements (a carrier)

are what we can send.

Define a ratio r which is the number of data elements carried by each signal element.
4.4
 Example 4.1
• The data rate defines the number of data elements (bits) sent in 1s.
• The signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in 1s. The unit is the baud.
• The data rate is sometimes called the bit rate; the signal rate is sometimes called the
pulse rate, the modulation rate, or the baud rate

We can formulate the relationship between data rate and signal rate as

Where N is the data rate (bps); c is the case factor, which varies for each case; S is the number of signal elements;
A signal is carrying data in which one data element is encoded as one signal
and r is the ratio.
element ( r = 1). If the bit rate is 100 kbps, what is the average value of the baud
rate if c is between 0 and 1?
Solution
We assume that the average value of c is 1/2 . The baud rate is then

4.5
 Figure 4.4 Line coding schemes

4.6
 Figure 4.5 Unipolar NRZ scheme

• Positive voltage defines bit I and the zero voltage defines bit O.
• It is called NRZ because the signal does not return to zero at the
middle of the bit.

4.7
 Figure 4.6 Polar NRZ-L and NRZ-I schemes

• NRZ-L (NRZ-Level), the level of the voltage determines the value of the bit.
• In NRZ-I (NRZ-Invert), the change or lack of change in the level of the voltage determines the value of the bit. If

there is no change, the bit is 0; if there is a change, the bit is 1.

4.8
 Figure 4.7 Polar RZ scheme

• The main problem with NRZ encoding occurs when the sender and receiver
clocks are not synchronized.
• The receiver does not know when one bit has ended and the next bit is starting.
• Three levels: positive, negative, and zero
• Signal goes to 0 in the middle of each bit. It remains there until the beginning of the next
bit.
• Disadvantage: it requires two signal changes/elements to encode a bit and therefore
occupies greater bandwidth. Moreover, its complex; RZ uses three levels of voltage

4.9
 Figure 4.8 Polar biphase: Manchester and differential Manchester schemes

• Differential Manchester uses the idea of NRZ-I, i.e., changes level only on 1.

4.10
 Note

In bipolar encoding, we use three levels:

positive, zero, and negative.

4.11
 Figure 4.9 Bipolar schemes: AMI and pseudoternary

• In alternate mark inversion (AMI), A neutral zero voltage represents binary O.

Binary 1s are represented by alternating positive and negative voltages.
• In pseudoternary, 1 bit is encoded as a zero voltage and the 0 bit is encoded as alternating
positive and negative voltages.

4.12
 • We need redundancy to ensure synchronization and to provide some
kind of inherent error detecting.
• Block coding can give us this redundancy and improve the performance
• of line coding. In general, block coding changes a block of m bits into a
block of n bits, where n is larger than m.

Block coding is normally referred to as

mB/nB coding;
it replaces each m-bit group with an
n-bit group.

4.13
 Figure 4.14 Block coding concept
• Block coding normally involves three steps: division, substitution, and
combination.
• In the division step, a sequence of bits is divided into groups of m bits.
• In substitution step, we replace an m-bit group with an n-bit group.
• Finally, the n-bit groups are combined to form a stream. The new stream
has more bits than the original bits.

4.14
 4-2 ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION

We have seen in Chapter 3 that a digital signal is

superior to an analog signal. The tendency today is to
change an analog signal to digital data. In this section
we describe two techniques, pulse code modulation
and delta modulation.

Topics discussed in this section:

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
Delta Modulation (DM)

4.15
 Figure 4.21 Components of PCM encoder
A PCM encoder has three processes
1. The analog signal is sampled every Ts, where Ts is the sample interval or period. Depends on sampling rate or frequency.

2. The sampled signal is quantized.

3. The quantized values are encoded as streams of bits.

4.16
 Note

According to the Nyquist theorem, the

sampling rate must be
at least 2 times the highest frequency
contained in the signal.

4.17
 Example 4.6

For an intuitive example of the Nyquist theorem, let us

sample a simple sine wave at three sampling rates: f s = 4f (2
times the Nyquist rate), fs = 2f (Nyquist rate), and
fs = f (one-half the Nyquist rate). Figure 4.24 shows the
sampling and the subsequent recovery of the signal.

It can be seen that sampling at the Nyquist rate can create

a good approximation of the original sine wave (part a).
Oversampling in part b can also create the same
approximation, but it is redundant and unnecessary.
Sampling below the Nyquist rate (part c) does not produce
a signal that looks like the original sine wave.
4.18
 Figure 4.24 Recovery of a sampled sine wave for different sampling rates

4.19
 Figure 4.26 Quantization and encoding of a sampled signal
The following are the steps in quantization:

L=8

Δ=5

4.20
 Figure 4.27 Components of a PCM decoder
• The decoder first uses circuitry to convert the code words into a pulse that holds
the amplitude until the next pulse.
• After the staircase signal is completed, it is passed through a low-pass filter to
produce the analog signal.

4.21
 Figure 4.28 The process of delta modulation
• Reduces complexity involved in PCM.
• The modulator is used at the sender side to create a stream of bits from an analog signal.
• The process records the small positive or negative changes, called delta. If the delta is positive, the process
Advantages of Delta Modulation
records a I; if it is negative, the process records a O.
•Design is easy and simple. It is a 1-bit quantizer.
•Modulator & demodulator can be designed easily.
•In delta modulation, the quantization design is very simple

4.22
 Figure 4.29 Delta modulation components
• The modulator builds a signal that resembles a staircase.
• The modulator, at each sampling interval, compares the value of the analog signal with
the last value of the staircase signal

Advantages of Delta Modulation

•Design is easy and simple. It is a 1-bit quantizer.
•Modulator & demodulator can be designed easily.
•In delta modulation, the quantization design is very simple

4.23
 Figure 4.30 Delta demodulation components

• The demodulator takes the digital data and, using the staircase maker and the
delay unit, creates the analog signal.
• Delay unit holds the staircase function for comparison.
• The created analog signal, however, needs to pass through a low-pass filter for
smoothing (for noise removal).

4.24
 4-3 TRANSMISSION MODES

The transmission of binary data across a link can be

accomplished in either parallel or serial mode. In
parallel mode, multiple bits are sent with each clock
tick. In serial mode, 1 bit is sent with each clock tick.
While there is only one way to send parallel data, there
are three subclasses of serial transmission:
asynchronous, synchronous, and isochronous.

Topics discussed in this section:

Parallel Transmission
Serial Transmission

4.25
 Figure 4.31 Data transmission and modes

•Serial transmission is sending one bit at a time

•Parallel transmission is sending multiple bits at the same time over separate media
4.26
 Figure 4.32 Parallel transmission

• Use n wires to send n bits at one time. That way each bit has its own wire, and all

n bits of one group can be transmitted with each clock tick from one device to

another. e.g., n =8.

• The advantage of parallel transmission is speed. However, its costly to lay
parallel wires.

4.27
 Figure 4.33 Serial transmission

The advantage of serial over parallel transmission is that with only one
communication channel, serial transmission reduces the cost of transmission over
parallel by roughly a factor of n.

4.28
 Note

In asynchronous transmission, we send

1 start bit (0) at the beginning and 1 or
more stop bits (1s) at the end of each
byte. There may be a gap between
each byte.

• Timing of a signal is unimportant. Instead, information is received and

translated by agreed upon patterns.
• The start and stop bits and the gap alert the receiver to the beginning and end
of each byte and allow it to synchronize with the data stream.

4.29
 Note

Asynchronous here means

“asynchronous at the byte level,”
but the bits are still synchronized;
their durations are the same.

4.30
 Figure 4.34 Asynchronous transmission

This is transmission at any time, with arbitrary delay between transmission of any two

successive data items.

4.31
 Note

• In synchronous transmission, we
send bits one after another without
start or stop bits or gaps.
• It is the responsibility of the receiver
to group the bits.

4.32
 Figure 4.35 Synchronous transmission

• The bit stream is combined into longer "frames," which may contain multiple
bytes.
• Each byte is introduced onto the transmission link without a gap between it
and the next one

• This is continuous transmission with no gaps between transmission of successive data items.

• Using synchronous transmission, a sender transmits bits continually with no idle time between successive bits.

4.33
 Isochronous
• A way to use synchronous transmission to accept and send data at a fixed rate.
• This is transmission at regular intervals with a fixed gap between the
transmission of successive data items.
• In real-time audio and video, in which uneven delays between frames are not
acceptable, synchronous transmission fails. For example, TV images are
broadcast at the rate of 30 images per second; they must be viewed at the same
rate. If each image is sent by using one or more frames, there should be no
delays between frames.
• For this type of application, synchronization between characters is not enough;
the entire stream of bits must be synchronized. The isochronous transmission
guarantees that the data arrive at a fixed rate.

4.34