Data and Signals

MD. ALAMGIR BHUYAN

Associate Professor
 DATA

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 continuous values. Digital data take discrete values.

3.2
 Signals

To be transmitted, data must be transformed to electromagnetic signals.

A signal is defined as any physical quantity that varies with time, space or any other independent

variables.

By a signal we mean any variable that carries some information.

Continous signal: x(t)

Discrete signal (sequence): x[n]

3.3
 Signals…

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.

3.4
 PERIODIC & NON-PERIDIC SIGNALS

 Periodic Signal
 A continuous-time periodic signal is
unchanged/repeated by a time shift
of T0. T0 is called the fundamental
period.
xt   xt  T0  A sine wave: x(t) = A sin(2Πft+Φ)
 A discrete-time periodic signal is
unchanged by a time shift of N0.
N0 is the fundamental period.
xn  xn  N 0 
 Non-Periodic Signal
 Not periodic

In data communications, we commonly use periodic analog signals and non-periodic digital signals.

3.5
Properties of a Signal
 Peak Amplitude (A) – the highest value/intensity of the signal.
 Period (T) – the amount of time (in sec) needed by a signal to
complete one cycle.
 Frequency (f) – number of cycles (periods) per sec.
f=1/T
 Phase (Φ) – position of a signal relative to time zero. Phase
describes the position of the waveform relative to time zero.
 Wavelength(λ) – the distance traveled by a wave (signal) in one
cycle.
λ = 1/f

3.6
 Properties of a Signal…

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.

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

If a signal changes instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.

Example

The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz. The period of this sine wave can be determined as follows:

3.7
Fig. Two signals with the same phase and frequency, but different amplitudes

3.8
Figure Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency,
but different phases

3.9
Figure Wavelength and period

3.10
The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave

A complete sine wave in the time domain can be represented by one single spike in the frequency domain.

3.11
The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

The frequency domain is more compact and useful when we are dealing with more than one sine wave.

Following Figure shows three sine waves, each with different amplitude and frequency. All can be represented by three

spikes in the frequency domain.

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.
3.12
Composite Periodic Signal

According to Fourier analysis, any composite signal is a combination of simple sine waves

with different frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.

Fig A composite periodic signal

3.13
Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and frequency domains

3.14
 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 this case, the composite signal cannot be

periodic, because that implies that we are repeating the same word or words with exactly the same

tone.

3.15
The time and frequency domains of a non-periodic signal

The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the highest and the lowest

frequencies contained in that signal.

3.16
Figure The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

3.17
 Example

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

3.18
Figure The bandwidth for Example 3.10

3.19
 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

3.20
Causes of impairment

3.21
Attenuation

3.22
 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

A loss of 3 dB (–3 dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the power.

3.23
 Example

A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased 10 times. This means that P 2 =

10P1 . In this case, the amplification (gain of power) can be calculated as

3.24
Distortion

3.25
Noise

3.26
 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

The values of SNR and SNRdB can be calculated as follows:

3.27
 Example

The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel are

We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.

3.28
Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR

3.29
 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

3.30
 Nyquist theorem for Sampling

The Nyquist rate is the minimum sampling rate required to avoid aliasing, equal to twice the

highest frequency contained within the signal.

where is B the highest frequency of the signal.

To avoid aliasing, the sampling rate must exceed the Nyquist rate:

3.31
 Noiseless Channel and Nyquist theorem

Bit rate = 2X BX log2L

Where B is the bandwidth, L is the number of signal levels used to represent data

3.32
 Example

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

3.33
 Example

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

3.34
 Example

We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal

levels do we need?

Solution

We can use the Nyquist formula as shown:

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.

3.35
 Noisy Channel and Shannon Capacity

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

to-noise ratio is almost zero.

For noisy channel the capacity C (highest data rate) 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.

3.36
 Example

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 the signal-to-noise

ratio.

3.37
 Example

We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63. What are the

appropriate bit rate and signal level?

Solution

First, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper limit.

3.38
 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.

3.39
Note

The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit; the Nyquist formula

tells us how many signal levels we need.

3.40