CHAPTER 4: ENCODING TECHNIQUES

INTRODUCTION
Data must be transformed into signal form in order to send them from one place to another. How the information is transformed is depends on its original format and the format used by the communication hardware. A simple signal by itself does not carry information any more than a straight line conveys words. The signal must be manipulated so that it contains identifiable changes that are recognizable to the sender and receiver as representing the information intended. Data stored in a computer are in the form of 0s and 1s. To be carried form one place to another, data are usually converted to digital signal.
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DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION
Digital-to-digital conversion is representing of digital information by a digital signal. For example; when a data is transmitted from your computer to your printer, both the original data and the transmitted data are digital signals. In this type of encoding, the binary 1s and 0s generated by a computer are translated into a sequence of voltage pulse that can be propagated over a wire. The three most useful categories for digital-to-digital conversion in data communications are:
Unipolar Polar Bipolar
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DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION
Digital encoding

Unipolar

Polar NRZ RZ Biphase

Bipolar AMI B8ZS HDB3

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UNIPOLAR
Unipolar encoding is very simple and very primitive. Although it is almost obsolete today, its simplicity provides an easy introduction to the concepts developed with the more complex systems. Unipolar encoding is so named because it uses only one polarity. This polarity is assigned to one of the two binary states, usually the 1 for positive voltage and the other state usually is 0, which representing by zero voltage.

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POLAR
Polar encoding uses two voltage levels: one positive and one negative. By using both levels, in most polar encoding methods the average voltage level on the line is reduced and the dc component problem of unipolar encoding is alleviated.

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NONRETURN TO ZERO (NRZ)

In NRZ encoding, the level of the signal is always either positive voltage or negative voltage. The signal will never return to the zero level. There are two most popular methods of NRZ transmission:
NRZ L (Nonreturn to zero level) NRZ I (Nonreturn to zero invert)

In NRZ-L encoding, the level of the signal depends on the type of bit it represents. A positive voltage usually means the bit is 0 and a negative voltage means the bit is 1 (or vice versa). Thus, in NRZ-L, the level of the signal is dependent upon the state of the bit.
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NRZ L and NRZ I

In NRZ I encoding, any inversion of the voltage level will be represented by bit 1. It happens when there is a transition between a positive and negative voltages. If there are no changes on the voltage level, the signal will be represented by bit 0. NRZ-I is superior to NRZ-L due to the synchronization provided by the signal change in time a bit 1 is encountered. In NRZ-I the signal is inverted if bit 1 is encountered.

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NRZ L and NRZ I

Figure below shows the NRZ L and NRZ I representations of the same series of bits.

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RETURN TO ZERO (RZ)

It used to solve the problem in NRZ which in RZ encoding it uses three voltage values: positive, negative and zero (Bipolar). The changes of the signal occurs during each bit interval. In NRZL, a positive voltage means 1 and a negative voltage is 0. Otherwise in RZ, halfway through each bit interval, the signal returns to zero. A bit 1 is actually represented by positive-to-zero and a bit 0 is represented by negative-to-zero, rather than by positive or negative alone. The main disadvantage of RZ encoding is that it requires two signal changes to encode one bit and therefore occupies more bandwidth.
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RETURN TO ZERO (RZ)

Figure below shows the RZ representation of a series of bits.

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BIPHASE
Biphase is the best existing solution to the problem of synchronization. In this method, the signal changes at the middle of the bit interval but does not return to zero. Instead, it continues to the opposite pole. As in RZ, these mid interval transition allow for synchronization. There are two types of biphase encoding:
Manchester Differential Manchester

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BIPHASE
Manchester uses the inversion at the middle of each bit interval for both synchronization and bit representation. A negative-to-positive transition represents binary 1 and a positive-to-negative transition represents binary 0. Differential Manchester uses the inversion at the middle of the bit interval for synchronization, but the presence or absence of an additional transition at the beginning of the interval is for bit identifying. The transition means binary 0 and no transition means binary 1. Differential Manchester requires two signal changes to represent binary 0 but only one to represent binary 1.
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BIPHASE
Figure below shows the Manchester and differential Manchester signals for the same bit pattern.
Amplitude 0 1 0 0 1 1 0

Manchester

Time

Differential Manchester

Time

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BIPOLAR
Bipolar encoding is similar to the RZ, uses three voltage levels: positive, negative and zero. The zero level in bipolar encoding is used to represent binary 0. The 1s are represented by alternating positive and negative voltages. If the first bit 1 is represented by the positive amplitude, the second bit 1 will be represented by the negative amplitude, the third bit 1 represented by the positive amplitude and so on. This alternation occurs even when bit 1s are not consecutive.

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BIPOLAR
Three types of bipolar encoding that popular in data communication are shown below:

Bipolar

AMI

B8ZS

HDB3

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BIPOLAR ALTERNATE MARK INVERSION (AMI)

AMI is the simplest type of bipolar encoding. The word MARK came from telegraphy and it means 1. So AMI means alternate 1 inversion. A neutral, zero voltage represented by binary 0. Binary 1 represents positive and negative voltages alternately. A variation of bipolar AMI is called pseudo-ternary, in which binary 0 alternates between positive and negative voltages.

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BIPOLAR 8-ZERO SUBSTITUTION (B8ZS)

B8ZS is the convention to provide synchronization of long strings of 0s. The difference between AMI and B8ZS occur whenever eight or more consecutive 0s are encountered in the data stream. The solution provided by B8ZS is to force artificial signal changes called violation, within the 0 string. Anytime eight 0s occur in succession, B8ZS introduces changes in the pattern based on the polarity of the previous 1 (the occurring just before the 0s).

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BIPOLAR 8-ZERO SUBSTITUTION (B8ZS)

If the previous bit 1 was positive, the eight 0s will be encoded as zero, zero, zero, positive, negative, zero, negative, positive. The receiver looking for alternating polarities to identify 1s. When it finds two consecutive positive charges surrounding three 0s, is recognizes the pattern as a deliberately introduced violation and not an error. It then looks for the second pair of the expected violations. When it finds them, the receiver translates all eight bits to 0s and reverts back to normal bipolar AMI mode. If the polarity of the previous bit 1 is negative, the pattern of violation is the same but with inverted polarities.
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BIPOLAR 8-ZERO SUBSTITUTION (B8ZS)

Both positive and negative pattern are shown in figure below.

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EXAMPLE
By using B8ZS, encode the bit stream of 10000000000100. Assume that the polarity of the first 1 is positive.

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HIGH-DENSITY BIPOLAR 3 (HDB3)

HDB3 introduces changes into the bipolar AMI pattern every time four consecutive 0s are encountered instead of waiting for the eight expected by B8ZS. The pattern of violations is based on the polarity of the previous bit 1. And it is also looks at the number of 1s that have occurred in the bit stream since the last substitution. In HDB3 if four 0s come one after another, we change the pattern in one of four ways based on the polarity of the previous 1 and the number of 1s since the last substitution.

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HIGH-DENSITY BIPOLAR 3 (HDB3)

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EXAMPLE
By using HDB3, encode the bit stream of 10000000000100. Assume that the number of 1s so far is odd and the first 1 is positive.

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