Chapter 2:

Digital Transmission Principles

Goals of the Chapter
· Nowadays analog networks are being replaced by digital
· Need to understand how conversions from analog to digital and
vice versa are done
· Understanding factors that limits data rate in digital
systems
· Choosing appropriate transmission media is one critical
consideration

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 2

Analog Transmission
· Analog waveform continuously varies in amplitude & time
· Examples: Human voice
· In analog circuit – also called a voice-grade line - we need
to define frequency band or bandwidth in which it operates
· Example
· Human voice typically generate frequencies from 100Hz to
10,000Hz with a bandwidth of 9,900Hz
· But the vast majority of sounds we make that constitute intelligible
speech fall between 250Hz and 3,400Hz
· Telephone companies typically allot a limited bandwidth of
4,000Hz for voice transmission
· This means that they cannot support high-speed data

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 3

Analog Transmission – Drawbacks
· In analog transmission there is noise accumulation as the
signal traverses the network
· This is the problem of basic amplifier used in such
transmission, where the noise level also increases along
with an increased signal level
· As the signal moves across the distance, it loses power
(i.e., attenuated) and becomes impaired by factors such as
· Moisture in the cable
· Dirt on a contact
· Critters chewing on the cable somewhere in the network
· Therefore, by the time the signal arrives at the amplifier, it
is also corrupted by noise (in addition to attenuation)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 4

Digital Transmission
· Digital signal assumes a limited set of discrete values,
each of which represent a symbol like an alphabetical
character or a number
· Digital signal example:
· Data generated by a computer
· Digital signal is easier to reproduce than an analog signal
· We can treat it with a little less care in the network
· Digital networks use regenerative repeaters (regenerators)
rather than use dumb amplifiers

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 5

Digital Transmission …
· Digital pulse, like an analog signal, attenuated and eroded
by impairments in the network
· But the repeater regenerates a new signal, i.e., in essence
eliminating noise
· This vastly improves the error rate
· Digital systems are more attractive because of
development of digital circuits and software technologies

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 6

Digital Technology – Advantages
· Analog systems in a telecommunications network are
gradually being replaced with digital systems

· Most important advantages of digital technology includes:

· High scale of integration possible: Digital systems are ideal for
control via software
· Lower cost, better reliability, less floor space, and lower power
consumption
· High-capacity digital systems: Because of low-cost multiplexing
and efficient use of optical transmission media
· Better noise tolerance by using signal regeneration circuits and
operability at low signal-to-noise/interference ratios
· Analog system requires accurate detection of signal inside its
dynamic range

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 7

Digital Technology – Advantages …
· Digital networks are ideal for growing data communication
(use of modern technology)
· Digital technology makes new services available
· Digital networks offer flexibility
· Ease of encryption

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 8

Digital Technology – Disadvantages
· Increased bandwidth
· Need for time synchronization
· Topologically restricted multiplexing
· Incompatibility with analog facilities

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 9

Analog versus Digital Transmission – Summary

Feature Analog Digital Characteristics

Characteristics
Signal Continuously Discrete signal, represented as
variable, in both either changes in voltage or
amplitude and time changes in light levels (optical)

Traffic Hz (for example, a Bits per second (for example, a

measurement telephone channel is T-1 line carries 1.544Mbps, and
4KHz) an E-1 line transports
2.048Mbps)

Bandwidth Low bandwidth High bandwidth that can support

(4KHz) high-speed data and emerging
applications that involve video
and multimedia

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 10

Analog versus Digital Transmission …
Feature Analog Digital Characteristics
Characteristics
Network Low; one conversation High; multiplexers enable
Capacity per telephone channel multiple conversations to share
a channel

Network Poor; a lot of effort is Good; smart devices produce

manageability needed for alerts, alarms, traffic statistics,
network maintenance and performance
and control (e.g. measurements, and technicians
analog devices do not at a network control center
provide management (NCC) or network operations
information that allow center (NOC) can remotely
the device to be monitor and manage the
remotely managed) various network elements

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 11

Analog versus Digital Transmission …
Feature Analog Characteristics Digital Characteristics
Power High because the signal Low because only two
requirement contains a wide range of discrete signals - the one
frequencies and and the zero - need to be
Amplitudes transmitted

Security Poor; when you tap into an Good; encryption can be

analog circuit, you hear the used
voice stream in its native
form, and it is difficult to
detect an intrusion
Error rates High; 10-5 bits (that is, 1 in Low; with twisted-pair 10–7
100,000 bits) is guaranteed (that, is 1 in 10 million bits
to have an error. per second) error rate,
satellite 10–9, and with fiber,
10–11 error rates

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 12

Analog Information over Digital Networks
· It is increasingly common to transmit analog information,
such as speech and video, as a digital waveform
· Reasons include:
· Improved tolerance of noise
· The possibility of regeneration
· Convenience of electronic implementation
· The capacity of using the digital network as a bearer for combined
analog and digital traffic

· Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is common method of

encoding analog signals into digital
· Main functions of PCM: Sampling, quantizing, & encoding

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 13

Pulse Code Modulation – Sampling
· Sampling: Converts a continuous analog waveform into a
sequence of discrete analog samples, each sample being a
very narrow pulse
· Mathematically, sampling is a multiplication of an analog
waveform by a periodic train of pulses of unit amplitude
· The time between the pulses is the sampling time Ts which equals
the inverse of the sampling frequency fs

· The sampling frequency is chosen according to sampling

(or Nyquist) theorem which states that
· “a waveform can be reconstructed without distortion from samples
taken at a frequency at least twice the highest frequency present in
the spectrum of the waveform”

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 14

Pulse Code Modulation – Sampling & Quantization
· The reconstruction of the waveform can be obtained by
passing the samples through a low-pass filter with a cut-off
frequency at half the sampling frequency

· Quantization: since the sampled output can take on an

infinite number of nonzero amplitudes, the amplitude level
has to be quantized
· Can be done by applying to a threshold detector
· Quantization error: difference between the actual signal
value and its quantized equivalent
· Up to half the quantizing level
· Each quantized sample is then represented (encoded) by a
binary number with a finite number of digits (bits)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 15

Pulse Code Modulation – Example
· In telephone channel
· Speech waveform is bandwidth limited from 300 Hz to 3400 Hz
· If sampled at twice the highest frequency present, fs = 6800 Hz
· It is standard to sample at 8 kHz when encoding speech of
telephone quality
· Each quantized sample is then represented by an 8-bit word (i.e.,
256 quantization levels)
· Thus, one voice channel will have a transmission rate of 64 kbps
(8000 samples per second X 8 bits per sample)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 16

Conversion – Codec and Modem
· A codec (which is a contraction of coder-decoder) converts
analog signals into digital signals

· If the network is fully digital, analog voice is encoded into

digital form at the transmitting end and decoded into analog
form at the receiving end

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 17

Conversion – Codec
· Application of codec: Compression
· In PSTN to minimize the number of bits per second required to
carry voice digitally through the PSTN
· In cellular networks codec, because of the constraints and
available spectrum, compress the voice further, to get the most
efficient use of the spectrum
· Codec applied to video communication also require very
specific compression techniques to be able to move those
high-bandwidth signals over what may be somewhat
limited channels today

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 18

Conversion – Modem
· If a digital signal is to be transmitted through an analog
network, it has to be converted into an analog signal
suitable for the frequency band of the channel
· A contraction of modulator-demodulator

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 19

Conversion – Modem …
· Used to infuse digital data onto analog transmission
facilities, e.g., analog voice-grade lines
· There are also modems that are designed to work specifically with
digital facilities (for example, ISDN modems, ADSL modems)
· In general, conversions are a weak link in a network
· A conversion is a point at which network troubles can occur, an
opportunity for errors and distortions to be introduced

· Therefore, ideally, we want to move toward an end-to-end

digital (e.g., end-to-end optical) environment
· This means that nowhere between the transmitter and the
receiver do signal conversions need to be done

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 20

Channel Bandwidth and Capacity
· Maximum information rate, called the channel capacity, C in
bps, that can be reliably transmitted over a given
communications channel depends on
1. Transmitted signal’s power
2. The noise characteristics of the channel
3. The channel bandwidth B in hertz
· Shannon’s capacity formula
C = B log2[1 + S/N]
· Where N is the total noise power within the channel BW and S/N is
the signal-to-noise power ratio

· Provides a tradeoff between channel BW and SNR, example

· If B= 4 kHz and SNR = 200, then C = 30.6 kbps
· If B is reduced to 3 kHz, then to maintain the same channel capacity
C = 30.6 kbps, we must increase S/N to 1176.3

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 21

Transmission Media
· Guided media: Constrain & guide the communication
signals, e.g.,
· Copper wire-based: Open-wire lines, twisted pair, coaxial cable
· Fiber optics
· Unguided media: Permits signals to be transmitted but do
not guide them
· Wireless transmission: Radio transmission, microwave, satellite
· Important characteristics of a media
· Bandwidth: wired media has low BW
· Deployment: wireless is faster, less costly, and better when no
infrastructure exists
· Susceptibility to noise and the subsequent error rate
· Distance required between repeaters/amplifiers
· Security

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 22

Transmission Media – Comparison

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 23

Transmission Media – Open-wire lines
· Open wire consists of bare (un-insulated) pairs of wires
supported on poles
· The original telephone and telegraph transmission media
for both local and long-haul transmission
· Have low attenuation at voice frequencies; however, they
are sensitive to external interference from storms and high-
voltage power lines

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 24

Transmission Media – Twisted Pair
· A pair of insulated wires that are twisted together in a
continuous spiral at varying rates
· Twisting minimizes external interference and crosstalk
· Any noise that appears on 1 wire of the pair would occur on the
other wire
· When the noise appears on both wires, it cancels or nulls itself out
at the receiving end

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 25

Categories of Twisted-pair
· There are two types of twisted-pair: UTP and STP
· In STP, a metallic shield around the wire pairs minimizes the
impact of the outside interference
· Most implementations today use UTP

· The following are cable types specified in cabling

standards:
· Category 1 (Cat 1) cable is for voice telephony only; it does not
support data
· Category 2 (Cat 2) cable can accommodate up to 4Mbps
· Category 3 (Cat 3) cable supports up to 10Mbps
· Category 4 (Cat 4) cable can carry up to 16Mbps
· Category 5 (Cat 5) cable can handle up to 100Mbps
· Category 5E (Cat 5E) (enhanced) operates over 100Mbps

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 26

Categories of Twisted Pair
· Advanced cable types include
· Category 6 (Cat 6): Is expected to support 1Gbps, but only over
short distances.
· There are currently no applications for Cat 6
· Category 7 (Cat 7) cable will operate over 600MHz over a range of
100 meters and will use STP or screened twisted-pair (ScTP)
· The predominant cable categories in use today are Cat 3
and Cat 5E; Cat 6 and Cat 7 are not yet standardized

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 27

Advantages of Twisted-pair
1. High availability: More than one billion telephone
subscriber lines based on twisted-pair have been
deployed, and if it's there, we're going to use it. An
estimate of over US$250 billion is associated with the
twisted-pair deployed worldwide
2. Low cost of installation on premises: The actual cost of
installing twisted pair on premises is very low
3. Low cost for local moves, adds, and changes in places:
An individual can simply pull out the twisted-pair
terminating on a modular plug and replace it in another
jack in the enterprise, without requiring the intervention of
a technician

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 28

Disadvantages of twisted-pair
1. Limited frequency spectrum: The total usable frequency
spectrum of twisted-pair copper cable is about 1MHz
2. Limited data rates: The longer a signal has to travel over
twisted-pair, the lower the data rate.
· At 100 meters, twisted-pair can carry 100Mbps, but at 5.5
kilometers, the data rate drops to 2Mbps or less
3. Short distances required between repeaters: More
components need to be maintained and where trouble
can arise, and this leads to higher long-term operational
costs
4. High error rate: Twisted-pair is highly susceptibility to
signal interference

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 29

Coaxial Cable (Coax)
· Coax consists of 2 conductors
· The inner conductor is held inside an insulator with the other
conductor woven around it providing a shield
· An insulating protective coating called a jacket covers the
outer conductor
· The outer shield protects the inner conductor from outside
electrical signals

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 30

Coaxial – Applications
· In the mid-1920s, coax was applied to telephony networks
as interoffice trunks
· In the 1950s, coax was deployed as submarine cable to
carry international traffic
· Early computer architectures required coax as the media
type from the terminal to the host
· LANs were predominantly based on coax from 1980 to about 1987
· Coax has also been used in community antenna TV (CATV,
or cable TV) and in the local loop, in the form of hybrid fiber
cable (HFC) architectures
· In HFC, fibers are brought as close as possible to the
neighborhood then coax are used until the home premises

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 31

Coaxial – Advantages
1. Broadband system: Sufficient BW to support multiple
channels, which allows for much greater throughput
2. Greater bandwidth per channel: We can support a mixed
range of services, namely, voice, data, video, and
multimedia
3. Lower error rates: Because of its insulation, coax has
lower error rates and therefore slightly better performance
than twisted-pair
4. Greater spacing between amplifiers: The shielding in coax
reduces noise and crosstalk, which means amplifiers can
be spaced farther apart than with twisted-pair

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 32

Coaxial – Disadvantages
1. High installation costs: Installation costs in the local
environment are high
2. High costs for local moves, adds, and changes: One
can't easily do away with the termination of a coax cable.
We basically have to pull in a whole new cable to a new
locale; it's not a simple modular plug environment
3. Susceptible to damage from lightening strikes: In areas
with a lot of lightening strikes, one must be wary because
if that lightening is conducted by the coax, it could very
well fry the equipment at the end of it

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 33

Optical Fibers
· Consists of thin glass fibers that can carry information at
frequencies in the visible light spectrum and beyond
· The typical optical fiber consists of a very narrow strand of
glass called the core
· Around the core is a concentric layer of glass called the
cladding
· Coating the cladding is a protective coating consisting of
plastic, it is called the Jacket

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 34

Wireless Transmission
• The Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Radio Transmission
• Microwave Transmission
• Satellite Transmission

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 35

Wireless Transmission – Electromagnetic Spectrum

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 36

Wireless Transmission – Radio Transmission

(a) In the VLF, LF, and MF bands, radio waves follow the
curvature of the earth
(b) In the HF band, they bounce off the ionosphere

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 37

 Wireless Transmission – Microwave
· Microwave was deployed in the PSTN as a replacement for
coaxial cable in the late 1940s
· Better frequency spectrum and deployable than twisted-pair & coax
· Microwave range: 1GHz to 100GHz frequency band

· Current microwave systems largely operate up to the 50GHz

range
· Microwave is generally
allocated in chunks of 30MHz
to 45MHz channels
· Substantial amount of BW is
available to end users and
telecom operators

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 38

Microwave – Advantages & Disadvantages
· The advantages of microwave are:
1. Cost savings: Microwave is less expensive than using leased lines
2. Portability and reconfiguration flexibility: We can pick up microwave
and carry it to a new building, which is impossible with cables
3. Substantial bandwidth: High-speed data, video, and multimedia can
be supported
· The main disadvantages of microwave are:
1. Line-of-sight requirement: No obstacles between towers
2. Susceptibility to environmentally caused distortions: For example,
heavy rainstorms can cause distortion
3. Regulatory licensing requirement: One must have time and
flexibility to deal with the spectrum agency
4. Potential environmental restrictions: Some communities do not
allow microwave towers or require that they be camouflaged

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 39

Wireless Transmission – Satellite
· NASA launched the first experimental satellite in 1963
· The first commercial satellite was launched in 1965
· So 1965 marked the beginning of the use of satellite
communications to support public telephony as well as television,
particularly international television
· Currently, more than 250 communications-based satellites
are in space
· Also hundreds of other specialized satellites that are used for
meteorological purposes, defense, remote sensing, geological
exploration, and so on

• Communication Satellites: Classification based on height

• Geostationary Satellites (GEO)
• Medium-Earth Orbit Satellites (MEO)
• Low-Earth Orbit Satellites (LEO)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 40

Wireless Transmission – Satellite Orbits

· Communication satellites and some of their properties,

including altitude above the earth, round-trip delay time
and number of satellites needed for global coverage
Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 41
Wireless Transmission – Satellite Bands

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 42

Wireless Transmission – Satellite Bands …
· L-Band
· Operates in the 390MHz to 1550MHz range, supporting various
mobile and fixed applications.
· Because L-band operates in the lower frequencies, L-band
systems are more tolerant of adverse weather conditions than are
other systems
· It is largely used to support very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT)
networks and mobile communications, including handheld
terminals, vehicular devices, and maritime applications

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 43

Wireless Transmission – Satellite Bands
· C-Band
· Uplink around the 6GHz range and downlink around the 4GHz
· Advantage: As it operates in the lower frequency bands, it is fairly
tolerant of adverse weather conditions
· Disadvantage: This frequency range is shared by terrestrial
systems. So selecting sites can take time because you have to
contend with what your neighbors have installed and are operating
· Ku-Band
· Uplink at around 14GHz and on the downlink at around 11GHz
· Advantage: This frequency band is usually reserved specifically for
satellite use, so there are no conflicts from terrestrial systems
· Disadvantage: It's a slightly higher frequency than C-band, so you
can experience distortions under bad climactic conditions (for
example, humidity, fog, rain)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 44

Wireless Transmission – Satellite Bands …
· Ka-Band
· The new generation of satellite --the broadband satellites-- will
operate in the Ka-band
· Advantage: It offers a wide frequency band: about 30GHz uplink
and about 20GHz downlink. Ka-band satellites can accommodate
telemedicine, tele-education, telesurveillance, and networked
interactive games
· Disadvantage: It's even higher up in the frequency band than the
other bands, so rain fade (that is, degradation of signal because of
rain) can be a more severe issue
· More intelligent technologies have to be embedded at the terminal
points to be able to cost-effectively deal with error detection and
correction

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 45

Overview
· Digital vs. analog transmission
· Data signaling formats
· Fundamental limits
· Transmission media
· Multiplexing and multiple access tech.

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 46

Several Transmitters?
· What happens when there are
several transmitter/receiver pairs?
· Transmissions of “wrong” transmitter
disturb receiver! Interference
· Effects of interference are comparable to narrowband noise
· Extend signal to noise ratio to signal to noise & interference ratio
(SINR)
· In dB:

· SINR can be (approximately) used in SNR! BER formulas

! Receiver should only hear single transmitter
! Transmission medium needs to be multiplexed

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 47

Multiple access techniques
· Multiplexing: Allowing many users to share a given
resources
· For high quality communications, this must be done without
severe degradation in the performance of the system
· Multiplexing: the process of combining a number of
communication channels and transmitting them over one
physical medium
· De-multiplexing: to separate and recover the original
channels at the receiver

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 48

Multiple access techniques
· Multiplexing
· 4 dimensions: Spatial, time, & frequency multiplexing
· Frequency division multiplexing
· Time division multiplexing
· Time and frequency multiplexing
· Code division multiplexing

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 49

Multiplexing
channels ki
· Multiplexing in 4 dimensions
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
· Space (si)
· Time (t) c
· Frequency (f) t c
· Code (c) t
s1
· Goal: multiple use f
s2
of a shared medium f
c
t
· Important: Guard spaces needed!
· In all dimensions
s3
f

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 50

Multiplexing – Time, Frequency, and Code

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 51

Multiplexing – Spatial

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 52

Multiplexing – Spatial …

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 53

Overview
· Multiplexing
· 4 dimensions: Spatial, time, & frequency multiplexing
· Frequency division multiplexing
· Time division multiplexing
· Time and frequency multiplexing
· Code division multiplexing

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 54

Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
· Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller frequency
bands
· A user gets a certain band of the spectrum for the whole
time
· Advantages: k k k k
1 k 2k 3 4 5 6

· No dynamic coordination c
necessary f
· Works also for analog signals
· Disadvantages:
· Waste of bandwidth
if traffic is unevenly
distributed
· Inflexible t
· Guard spaces

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 55

Frequency Division Multiplexing …
· Frequency spectrum is divided into unique frequency
bands or channels
· These channels are assigned to users on demand
· Multiple users cannot share a channel

· Users are assigned a channel as a pair of frequencies

· Forward and reverse channels for Duplexing

· FDMA requires tight RF filtering to reduce adjacent channel

interference
· During the period of a call, no other user can share the
same frequency band
· If the FDM channel is not in use, then it sits idle and cannot
be used by other users to increase capacity

Wireless Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 56

Frequency Division Multiplexing …
· Co- and adjacent channel interference!
· FDM avoids co-channel interference – direct interference
from another transmitter using the same band
· What about adjacent-channel interference?
· Interference from transmitters using a neighboring channel

· FDM requires filter at receiver to “strip off” received power

in frequencies outside the assigned channel
· Unfortunately, filters are not perfect
· Power from channels “close by” can leak in
! Needs big guard spaces or ability to deal with errors

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 57

Frequency Division Multiplexing – Properties
· The bandwidth of FDM channels is narrow
· About 30 KHz since it supports only one call/ carrier
· ISI is low since the symbol time is large compared to
average delay spread
· No equalization is required

· FDM systems are simple than TDM systems, but modern

DSP is changing this factor
· FDM systems have higher cost
· Cell site system due to single call/carrier
· Costly band pass filters to eliminate spurious radiation
· Duplexers in both T/R increase subscriber costs

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 58

FDMA
· FDMA is an analog technique where each transmitter is
assigned a portion of the frequency spectrum (or band)
· The transmitted signal spectra component must be
confined to the allocated frequency band
· To separate the channels, a guard-band would be used
· Examples of FDM systems
· Telephone networks, cable television (CATV), satellite systems

· Implementation example: North American FDM telephone

· Designed to transmit a large number of analog voice channels
· The basic channel is called the Voice Channel and it has a
bandwidth of 0-4 kHz
· The voice channel is modulated (frequency shifted) to occupy a
specific frequency band

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 59

North American FDM telephone
· For example: With three successive levels of multiplexing,
a total of 600 voice channels are multiplexed together

Multiplex No. voice Construction Frequency Bandwidth

Level Channels Range (kHz) in kHz
Group 12 12 voice 60-108 48
channels
Supergroup 60 5 groups 312-552 240
Mastergroup 600 10 supergroup 564-3084 2520
Jumbogroup 3600 6 mastergroups 564-17,548 16,984
Jumbogroup 10,800 3 jumbogroups 3000-60,000
Mux

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 60

Drawback
1. It is prone to noise problems and has been overtaken by
TDM, which is better suited for digital data
2. Demultiplex requires a series of bandpass filters that are
relatively complicated and expensive. Therefore the
receivers in an FDM system are generally expensive

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 61

Overview
· Multiplexing
· 4 dimensions: Spatial, time, & frequency multiplexing
· Frequency division multiplexing
· Time division multiplexing
· Time and frequency multiplexing
· Code division multiplexing

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 62

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
· A channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount of
time
· Advantages:
· Only one carrier in the
medium at any time k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
· Throughput high
at high utilization c
f
· Disadvantages:
· Precise
synchronization
necessary
· Long delays
t
at low utilization

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 63

Time Division Multiplexing …
· A single carrier frequency is shared with several users
· Each user makes use of non-overlapping timeslots
· In each time slot, only one user is allowed to either transmit
or receive
· I.e., transmission for any user is non-continuous
· Synchronous TDM
· Each user occupies a cyclically repeating time slots and static
allocation
· Asynchronous TDM
· Allow different number of time slots for separate user and
statistical multiplexing

Wireless Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 64

Components of TDM Frame
· Preamble: Address and synchronization information
· In cellular system, for base station and subscriber identification
· Guard times: Synchronization of receivers between
different slots and frames

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 65

 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
· In TDM, each user is allocated a limited portion of the time,
called time slot, but the entire BW of the media
· Types of TDM: Synchronous and asynchronous
1. Synchronous TDM (STDM): each source is repeatedly assigned
a portion of the channel
· TDM is understood to imply STDM
· Used in circuit-switched telephone networks
2. Asynchronous TDM (ATDM): each source is assigned a portion of
the channel only as it is needed
· ATDM is used in statistical multiplexers, packet switches, ATM, …
· TDM implementations
1. Bit interleaving: each channel is assigned a time slot corresponding
to a single bit
2. Byte/word interleaving: each channel is assigned a longer time slot
corresponding to some larger number of bits called word

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 66

Example: T1 digital system
· Each analog voice signal is sampled at 8-kHz rate
· I.e., the time between samples is 125 µ second (magic number )

· Each sample is then companded, quantized, and

represented by 8 bits (i.e., a time slot)
· Thus, one voice call/channel is represented by 64-kbps stream
· Digital Signal 0 (DS0): is a basic digital signaling rate of 64 kbps,
corresponding to the capacity of one voice channel

· In the T1 system
· 24 time slots are multiplexed (byte interleaving) to form a frame
· Each time slot is an 8-bit encoded word and one more bit is added
for frame synchronization and alignment (Assignment: Produce a
report on the T1, T2, and T3 systems frame structure!)
· If we combine these 64Kbps channels together, we can achieve
wideband transmission rate of 1.544 Mbps

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 67

T1 Digital System

The T1 carrier (1.544 Mbps)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 68

T1 Digital System
· The resulting PCM stream forms a rate of 1.544 Mbps, as
follows
· 24 voice time slots x 8 bits per slot = 192 bits
· 192 bits + 1 framing bit = 193 bits / frame
· 8000 frames/second x 193 bits/frame= 1.544 Mbits/second
· This data rate of 1.544 Mbits per second and the frame
structure is called T1 or DS1 (digital signaling 1)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 69

High-Level Multiplexing

· A hierarchy of further multiplexing is built up in stages

from the basic T1 signal
· Based on bit interleaving
· T2 or DS2 is generated by multiplexing four T1 lines in
M12 multiplexer
· 17 bits for frame synchronization (193x4 + 17)x8000 = 789 x
8000 = 6.312 Mbps

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 70

High-level Multiplexing
· T3 or DS3 is formed from seven T2 lines in multiplexer M23
· 69 bits for frame synchronization and plus stuffing results in
5592 bits frame (789x7+69)
· T3 bit rate is 5592x8000 = 44.736 Mbps
· T4 or DS4: from six T3 lines and adds 720 bits for
synchronization and pulse stuffing
· Thus, T4 rate is 274.176 Mbps

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 71

T-carrier, E-carrier, and J-carrier
· A range of services that are provisioned wideband
capabilities are T-carrier, E-carrier, and J-carrier services
· J-carrier is followed throughout Japan, T-carrier is followed
throughout North America, E-carrier is followed throughout
Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 72

Overview
· Multiplexing
· 4 dimensions: Spatial, time, & frequency multiplexing
· Frequency division multiplexing
· Time division multiplexing
· Time and frequency multiplexing
· Code division multiplexing

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 73

Time and Frequency Multiplexing
· Combination of both methods
· A channel gets a certain frequency band for a certain
amount of time
· Example: GSM
· Advantages:
· Protection against frequency k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
selective interference
· Higher data rates compared to c
code multiplex f
· But: precise
coordination
required
t

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 74

FDM and TDM Combined
· Drawback of TDM
· There is a one-to-one correlation between each user/device and
time slot, so that if the device is not available, nobody else can
make use of the time slot assigned to that device
· I.e., bandwidth is wasted when vacant slots occur because of idle
stations

· FDM and TDM can be combined

· For example, one can use FDM to carve out individual channels
and then within each of those channels apply TDM to carry
multiple conversations on each channel
· Example: in digital cellular systems such as Global Systems for
Mobile Communications (GSM)

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 75

Statistical time-division multiplexers (STDM)
· STDM was introduced to overcome the limitation of
standard TDM, in which devices cannot use each other's
time slots
· STDM dynamically allocates time slots among active
terminals
· I.e., we can actually have more terminals than the time slots

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 76

Characteristics of STDM
· By dynamically allocating the time slots, STDM
· Delivers the most efficient use of bandwidth
· Carries two to five times more traffic than a traditional TDM

· STDM has more memory than other multiplexers that if all

the time slots are busy, excess data goes into a buffer
· If the buffer fills up, the additional access data gets lost
· So it's important to think about how much traffic to put through the
STDM to ensure that performance variables are maintained
· Risk of delays and data loss occurring

· STDM is the basis for packet-switching technologies

· For example: X.25, Frame Relay, and ATM

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 77

Overview
· Multiplexing
· 4 dimensions: Spatial, time, & frequency multiplexing
· Time division multiplexing
· Frequency division multiplexing
· Time and frequency multiplexing
· Code division multiplexing

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 78

Code Division Multiplex (CDMA)
k k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
· Each channel has a unique code 1

· All channels use the same spectrum

c

at the same time

· Advantages:
· Bandwidth efficient
f
· Little coordination and synchronization
necessary (expect code, power)
· Good protection against interference
and tapping
· Disadvantages: t
· Lower user data rates
· More complex signal regeneration
· Implemented using spread spectrum
technology
Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 79
Spreading, FDM, and frequency selective fading
channel
quality

1 2 5 6
Narrowband channels (FDM)
3
4
frequency
narrow band guard space
signal

channel
quality
2
2
2 Spread spectrum
2
2 channels (CDM)
1

spread frequency
spectrum

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 80

How does CDMA work?
· How can a receiver sort out different transmissions, despite
overlapping in time and frequency?
· Transmissions need to differ in “code space”
· Different transmissions need to use different keys/chipping
sequences with certain properties

· Following example
· Senders A and B close to receiver
· Signals send in same frequency band, at same time
· A and B use different keys

· Key idea: Receiver uses key of desired transmitter to

compute scalar products

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 81

CDMA in theory – By example
· Sender A
· Sends Ad = 1, key Ak = 010011 (assign: „1“= -1, „0“= +1)
· Signal As = Ad ¢ Ak = (-1, +1, -1, -1, +1, +1)
· Sender B
· Sends Bd = 0, key Bk = 110101 (assign: „1“= -1, „0“= +1)
· Signal Bs = Bd ¢ Bk = (-1, -1, +1, -1, +1, -1)
· Both signals superimpose in space
· Other interference neglected (noise etc.)
· As + Bs = (-2, 0, 0, -2, +2, 0)
· Receiver wants to receive signal from sender A
· Apply code Ak bitwise (scalar product)
· Ae = (-2, 0, 0, -2, +2, 0) ¢ Ak = -2 + 0 + 0 + -2 + -2 + 0 = -6
· Result smaller than 0, therefore, original bit was „1“
· When receiving B, use B’s code
· Be = (-2, 0, 0, -2, +2, 0) ¢ Bk = +2 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 0 = +6, i.e. „0“

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 82

CDMA in theory – By equation
· Formally, receiver receives sum of AS and BS
· AS = Ad ¢ Ak, BS = Bd ¢ Bk
· We ignore noise and (additional) interference sources
· Receiver computes (AS + BS) ¢ Ak to receive Ad:
· Ad¢ Ak ¢ Ak + Bd ¢ Bk ¢ Ak = Ad + Bd ¢ Bk ¢ Ak
· Bk ¢ Ak should be small (Bk ¢ Ak = s0T Bk(t) Ak(t) dt )
· Ideally: scalar products of any two keys should be 0
· Then: each transmitter can be perfectly received
· So-called orthogonal keys
· If only close to 0: Quasi-orthogonal keys
· For chipping sequence of length G, there are G orthogonal
chipping sequences
! G transmitters can be perfectly separated!

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 83

Design of a chipping sequence family
· Choosing chipping sequences determines performance of
CDMA system
· Keys should have good autocorrelation properties
· To combat multipath fading
· Keys should have small or zero scalar products between
themselves
· To allow user separation
· Keys should have small or zero cross-correlation
· To allow user separation with delayed copies from other users
· Generalization of the “small scalar products” requirement

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 84

Multiplexing – Wireless Systems

Cellular Systems MA Technique

AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone system) FDMA / FDD
GSM (Global System for Mobile) TDMA / FDD
US DC (U. S Digital Cellular) TDMA / FDD
JDC (Japanese Digital Cellular) TDMA / FDD
DECT ( Digital European Cordless Telephone ) FDMA / FDD
IS – 95 (U.S Narrowband Spread Spectrum ) CDMA / FDD
W-CDMA (3GPP) CDMA/FDD
CDMA/TDD
Cdma2000(3GPP2) CDMA/FDD
CDMA/TDD

Mobile Communications - Ch. 7 – Multiple Access 85

Overview
· Digital vs. analog transmission
· Fundamental limits
· Transmission media
· Multiplexing and multiple access tech.

Telecommunication Networks - Ch. 2 Digital Trans. Principles 86