Lecture 3

Data and Signals

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3.1
 One of the major functions of the physical layer is to move data
in the form of electromagnetic signals across a transmission
medium.

Note

To be transmitted, data must be

transformed to electromagnetic signals.

3.2
 3-1 ANALOG AND DIGITAL

Data can be analog or digital.

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

3.3
 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.

3.4
 Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital signals

3.5
 Periodic and Nonperiodic Signals

Both analog and digital signals can take one of two forms: periodic or nonperiodic.
A periodic signal completes a pattern within a measurable time frame, called a
period, and repeats that pattern over subsequent identical periods. The completion
of one full pattern is called a cycle.

A nonperiodic signal changes without exhibiting a pattern or cycle that repeats

over time.
Note

In data communications, we commonly use

periodic analog signals and nonperiodic
digital signals.

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, cannot be

decomposed into simpler signals.

A composite periodic analog signal is composed of multiple sine

waves.

3.7
 Figure 3.2 A sine wave

3.8
3.9
 Figure 3.3 Two signals with the same phase and frequency,
but different amplitudes

3.10
 Example 3.1

The voltage of a battery is a constant; this constant value can be

considered a sine wave, as we will see later. For example, the peak
value of an AA battery is normally
1.5 V.

3.11
 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 1s. Note that
period and frequency are just one characteristic defined in two
ways.
Note

Frequency and period are the inverse of

each other.

3.12
 Figure 3.4 Two signals with the same amplitude and phase,
but different frequencies

3.13
 Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency

Example:

1 ms = 0.001 s = 10-3 s 1 s = 1,000 ms = 103 s

1 ns = 0.000000001 s = 10-9 s 1 s = 1,000,000,000 ns = 109 s

1 kHz = 1,000 Hz = 103 Hz 1 Hz = 0.001 kHz = 10-3 kHz

1 GHz = 1,000,000,000 Hz = 109 Hz 1 Hz = 0.000000001 GHz = 10-9 GHz

3.14
 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:

3.15
 Example 3.4

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).

3.16
 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.

3.17
 Note

If a signal does not change at all, its

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

3.18
 Note

Phase describes the position of the

waveform relative to time 0.

3.19
 Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency,
but different phases

3.20
 Figure 3.6 Wavelength and period

3.21
 Figure 3.7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave

Phase is not explicitly shown on a time-domain plot

Only peak value and frequency.

Changes of amplitude during one period are not shown.

3.22
 Note

A complete sine wave in the time domain

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

3.23
 Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

3.24
 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.

3.25
 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.

3.26
 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.

3.27
 Figure 3.9 A composite periodic signal

It is very difficult to manually decompose this signal into a series of simple sine
waves.
However, there are tools, both hardware and software, that can help us do the
job. We are not concerned about how it is done; we are only interested in the
result. Figure 3.10 shows the result of decomposing the above signal in both the
time and frequency domains.

3.28
 Figure 3.10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and
frequency domains

3.29
 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.

3.30
 Figure 3.11 The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

3.31
 Note

The bandwidth of a composite signal is the

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

For example, if a composite signal contains frequencies between

1000 and 5000,
its bandwidth is 5000 - 1000, or 4000.

3.32
 Figure 3.12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

3.33
 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).

3.34
 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.
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).

3.35
 Example 3.12

A 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.

3.36
 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.

3.37
 Figure 3.16 Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels

3.38
 Bit Rate

Most digital signals are nonperiodic, and thus period and frequency
are not appropriate characteristics.

Another term - bit rate (instead of frequency)- is used to describe

digital signals. The bit rate is the number of bits sent in 1s,
expressed in bits per second (bps).

3.39
 Example 3.19

A digitized voice channel, as we will see in Chapter 4, 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

3.40
 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.

3.41
 Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal

Figure 3.17 The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic
digital signals

3.42
 Transmission of Digital Signals

We can transmit a digital signal by using one of two different approaches:

baseband transmission or broadband transmission

Baseband transmission means sending a digital signal over a channel

without changing the digital signal to an analog signal.

Figure 3.18 Baseband transmission

3.43
 Note

A digital signal is a composite analog signal

with an infinite bandwidth.

3.44
 Figure 3.19 Bandwidths of two low-pass channels

3.45
 Figure 3.20 Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium

3.46
 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.

3.47
 Note

In baseband transmission, the required

In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is proportional to the bit

bandwidth is proportional rate; to the bit rate;

if we
if weneed to send
need to send bits
bits faster, faster,
we need we need
more bandwidth.

more bandwidth.

3.48
 Broadband Transmission (Using Modulation)

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. This type of channel is more
available than a low-pass channel.

Figure 3.23 Bandwidth of a bandpass channel

3.49
 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.

3.50
 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.

3.51
 Figure 3.25 Causes of impairment

3.52
 Figure 3.26 Attenuation

Attenuation means a loss of energy.

3.53
 Distortion

Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape. Distortion can occur
in a composite signal made of different frequencies.

Each signal component has its own propagation speed through a medium and,
therefore, its own delay in arriving at the final destination.

Differences in delay may create a difference in phase if the delay is not exactly
the same as the period duration. In other words, signal components at the
receiver have phases different from what they had at the sender. The shape of
the composite signal is therefore not the same.

Figure 3.28 shows the effect of distortion on a composite signal.

3.54
 Figure 3.28 Distortion

3.55
 Figure 3.29 Noise

Several types of noise that may corrupt the signal such as:
• Thermal noise (random motion of electrons in a wire)
• Induced noise (comes from motor and appliances)
• Crosstalk (effect of one wire to the other)
• Impulse noise (spike)

3.56
 Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR

3.57
 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

3.58
 Note

Increasing the levels of a signal may

reduce the reliability of the system.

3.59
 3-6 PERFORMANCE

One important issue in networking is the performance of the

network—how good is it?
In this section, we introduce terms that we need for future chapters.

Topics discussed in this section:

Bandwidth
Throughput
Latency (Delay)
Bandwidth-Delay Product

3.60
 Note

In networking, we use the term bandwidth in two

contexts.
❏ The first, bandwidth in hertz (Hz), refers to the range
of frequencies in a composite signal or the range of
frequencies that a channel can pass.

❏ The second, bandwidth in bits per second (bps),

refers to the speed of bit transmission in a channel or
link.

3.61
 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.

3.62
 Example 3.43

If the telephone company improves the quality of the line and

increases the bandwidth to 8 kHz, we can send 112,000 bps by
using the same technology as mentioned in Example 3.42.

3.63
 Throughput

3.64
 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.

3.65
 Latency (Delay) done 8/2/22

3.66
 END

3.67