CSE 365: Communication Engineering

Chapter 4: Digital Transmission

Digital-to-Digital Conversion
} Line Coding - Process of converting digital data to
digital signal

Line coding and decoding

Signal Element vs. Data Element
} A data element is the smallest entity that can represent a piece
of information, i.e. the bit.
} A signal element is the shortest unit (timewise) of a digital
signal.
} In data communication, a signal element carries data elements.
} Data elements are being carried; signal elements are the
carriers.
Signal Element vs. Data Element
Data Rate vs. Signal Rate
} The data rate defines the number of data elements (bits) sent per
sec - bps. It is often referred to the bit rate.
} The signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in a second
and is measured in bauds. It is also referred to as the modulation
rate or pulse rate or baud rate.
} Goal is to increase the data rate whilst reducing the baud rate.
} The relationship between data rate (N) and signal rate (S) is:
S = N/r baud
Save = c x N x 1/r baud;
where N is data rate, c is the case factor (worst, best & avg.) and r
is the ratio between data element & signal element
Example 4.1
A signal is carrying data in which one data element is
encoded as one signal 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
Bandwidth
} A digital signal is non-periodic with an infinite signal (From
previous chapter)

Although the actual Bandwidth of a digital

signal is infinite, the effective bandwidth is finite

} Bandwidth is proportional to the signal rate or baud rate

} The minimum bandwidth
Bmin = c x N x (1 / r)
} Maximum Data rate
Nmax = (1 / c) x B x r
Example 4.2
The maximum data rate of a channel (see Chapter 3) is
Nmax = 2 × B × log2 L (defined by the Nyquist formula).
Does this agree with the previous formula for Nmax?

Solution
A signal with L levels actually can carry log2L bits per
level. If each level corresponds to one signal element and
we assume the average case (c = 1/2), then we have
Baseline Wandering
} Baseline wandering – While decoding a digital signal,
the receiver calculates a running average of the
received signal power, which is called the baseline and
this is used to determine the value of the incoming
data elements.
} If the incoming signal does not vary over a long
period of time (i.e. a long string of 0s or 1s), it causes
a drift in the baseline (baseline wandering) and makes
it difficult for the receiver to decode correctly.
} A good line encoding scheme needs to prevent
baseline wandering.
DC Components
} When the voltage level in a digital signal is constant
for a while, the spectrum creates very low
frequencies. These frequencies around zero, called DC
(Direct Current) components.
} Creates problem for a system that cannot pass low
frequencies.
} Leaves extra (useless) energy on the line.
} DC component means 0/1 parity that causes baseline
wandering.
} DC components in signals are not desirable and we
need a scheme with no DC component.
Self Synchronization
} Self synchronization – to correctly interpret the signals
received from the sender, the receiver’s bit intervals must
correspond exactly to the sender’s bit intervals.
} If the receiver clock is faster or slower it will misinterpret the
incoming bit stream.
} A self-synchronizing digital signal includes timing information in
the data being transmitted. This can be achieved if there are
transitions in the signal that alert the receiver to the beginning,
middle or end of the pulse.
Effect of lack of Synchronization
Other Encoding Considerations
} Built-in Error Detection - errors occur during transmission
due to line impairments.
} Immunity to Noise and Interference - there are line
encoding techniques that make the transmitted signal
“immune” to noise and interference.
} Complexity
Line Coding Schemes
Line Coding Methods
} Unipolar
} Uses only one voltage level (one side of time axis)
} Polar
} Uses two voltage levels (negative and positive)
} e.g., NRZ, RZ, Manchester, Differential Manchester
} Bipolar
} Uses three voltage levels (+, 0, and –) for data bits

15
Unipolar
} Simplest form of digital encoding
ðRarely used
} Only one polarity of voltage is used
} E.g., polarity assigned to 1

0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

t
Polar
} Two voltage levels (+,-) represent data bits
} Most popular four
} Nonreturn-to-Zero (NRZ)
} Return-to-Zero (RZ)
} Manchester
} Differential Manchester
NRZ Encoding
} Nonreturn to Zero
} NRZ-L (NRZ-Level):
Signal level depends on bit value
0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0

} NRZ-I (NRZ-Invert): Signal is inverted if 1 is encountered

0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0
N = Bit rate
t Save = Average signal rate
Comparison of NRZ-L and NRZ-I
} Baseline wandering is a problem for both.
} In NRZ-L, it is two times severe than NRZ-I.
} In NRZ-I, this problem occurs only for a long sequence of 0s.
} Synchronization problem: While a long sequence of 0s
can cause a problem in both schemes, a long sequence of
1s affects only NRZ-L
} Polarity problem in NRZ-L: When there is a sudden
change of polarity in the system. For example, if twisted-
pair cable is the medium, a change in the polarity of the
wire results in all 0s interpreted as 1s and all 1s
interpreted as 0s. NRZ-I does not have this problem
RZ Encoding
} Return to Zero
} Uses three voltage levels: +, - and 0, but only + and - represent
data bits
} Half way thru each bit, signal returns to zero

0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

t
Polar Biphase: Manchester Encoding
} RZ and NRZ-L are combined.
} Uses an inversion at the middle of each bit
} For bit representation
} For synchronization

0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 =0

t
=1
Polar Biphase:
Differential Manchester Encoding
} RZ and NRZ-I are combined.
} The inversion on the middle of each bit is only for
synchronization
} Transition at the beginning of each bit tells the value

0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

No inversion: Next bit is 1

Inversion: Next bit is 0
Manchester and
Differential Manchester Encoding
} In Manchester and differential Manchester encoding,
the transition at the middle of the bit is used for
synchronization.
} The minimum bandwidth of Manchester and
differential Manchester is 2 times that of NRZ.
} There is no DC component and no baseline
wandering.
} None of these codes has error detection.
Bipolar Scheme
} Also known as Multilevel binary.
} Bipolar encoding uses three voltage levels: positive,
negative and zero
} Each of all three levels represents a bit
} Two schemes:
} AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion)
} 0V always represents binary 0
} Binary 1s are represented by alternating
positive and negative voltages.
} Pseudoternary
} The reverse of AMI.
Bipolar Scheme:
AMI and Pseudoternary
Bipolar Scheme
} It is a better alternative to NRZ.
} Has no DC component or baseline wandering.
} Has no self synchronization because long runs of “0”s
results in no signal transitions.
} No error detection.
Multilevel Schemes
} In these schemes we increase the number of data
bits per baud thereby increasing the bit rate.
} Since we are dealing with binary data we only have
2 types of data element a 1 or a 0.
} We can combine the 2 data elements into a
pattern of “m” elements to create “2m” symbols.
} If we have L signal levels, we can use “n” signal
elements to create Ln signal elements.
} Now we have 2m symbols and Ln signals.

4.27
Multilevel Schemes

} If 2m > Ln , we cannot represent the data elements

as we don’t have enough signals.
} If 2m = Ln , we have an exact mapping of one
symbol on one signal.
} If 2m < Ln , we have more signals than symbols and
we can choose the signals that are more distinct
to represent the symbols and therefore have
better noise immunity and error detection.

4.28
Representing Multilevel Codes

} This type of coding is represented as mBnL, where m

is the length of the binary pattern, B represents binary
data, n represents the length of the signal pattern and
L is the number of levels.
} L = B binary,
} L = T for 3 ternary,
} L = Q for 4 quaternary.

4.29
2B1Q (two binary, 1 quaternary)
Bit sequence Voltage level 00 11 01 10 01 10 11 00
+3
+1
00 -3
01 -1 t
10 +3 -1
11 +1 -3

} The average signal rate is S = N/4

} Data rate is two times faster than by using NRZ-L
} No redundancy
} It is used in DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technology
8B6T (Eight binary, six ternary)
} 28 = 256 data patterns and 36 = 729 different signal
patterns
} There are 729 – 256 = 473 redundant signal elements to
provide synchronization and error detection.
} The sender keeps track of the weight.
4D-PAM5: Four dimensional five level
pulse amplitude modulation
} The 4D means that the data is sent over four wires at the same time.
} It uses five voltage levels: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2.
} 0 is only used for error detection.
Multi-transition Coding: MLT-3
} Multiline Transmission, three level (MLT 3) scheme uses three
levels (+V, 0, -V) and three transition rules to move between the
levels.
1. If the next bit is 0, there is no transition
2. If the next bit is 1 and the current level is not 0, the next
level is 0.
3. If the next bit is 1 and the current level is 0, the next level
is the opposite of the last non-zero level.

Typical case Worst case

4.33
Summary of line coding schemes
Block Coding
} Block coding provides the redundancy and improves the
performance of line coding.
} It changes a block of m bits into a block of n bits, where n is
larger than m.
} It is also referred to as an mB/nB encoding technique
} It involves in three steps: division, substitution and combination
Block Coding Concept
4B/5B (Four binary/five binary)
} It was designed to be used in combination with NRZ-I.
} To solve the synchronization problem, 4B/5B changes
the bit stream prior to encoding with NRZ-I, so that it
does not have a long stream of 0s.
4B/5B Mapping codes

Data Data Control

Code Code Code
Sequence Sequence Sequence
0000 11110 1000 10010 Q (Quiet) 00000
I (Idle) 11111
0001 01001 1001 10011
0010 10100 1010 10110 H (Halt) 00100
0011 10101 1011 10111 J (start delimiter) 11000
0100 01010 1100 11010 K (start delimiter) 10001
0101 01011 1101 11011 T (end delimiter) 01101
0110 01110 1110 11100 S (Set) 11001
0111 01111 1111 11101 R (Reset) 00111
Substitution in 4B/5B block coding
Example 4.5
We need to send data at a 1-Mbps rate. What is the
minimum required bandwidth, using a combination of
4B/5B and NRZ-I or Manchester coding?
Solution
àFirst 4B/5B block coding increases the bit rate to 1.25 Mbps.
àThe minimum bandwidth using NRZ-I is N/2 or 625 kHz.
àThe Manchester scheme needs a minimum bandwidth of 1
MHz.
à The first choice needs a lower bandwidth, but has a DC
component problem; the second choice needs a higher
bandwidth, but does not have a DC component problem.
8B/10B
} More bits - better error detection
} The 8B/10B block code adds more redundant bits
and can thereby choose code words that would
prevent a long run of a voltage level that would
cause DC components.
} 8 bits of data; substituted by a 10-bit code

4.41
8B/10B

} It is a combination of 5B/6B and 3B/4B encoding.

} The five most significant bits of a 10-bit block are fed into the
5B/6B encoder
} The three least significant bits are fed into the 3B/4B encoder
} A disparity controller is used to prevent a long run of
consecutive 0s or 1s.
Scrambling
} Biphase schemes are not suitable for long-distance
communication because of their wide bandwidth
requirement.
} The combination of block coding and NRZ line
coding is not suitable for long-distance
communication either, because of the DC
component.
} Bipolar AMI encoding has a narrow bandwidth and
does not create a DC component. However, a long
sequence of 0s upsets the synchronization.
} The solution is Scrambling.
} It is implemented at the same time as encoding (as
opposed to block coding).

4.43
AMI used with Scrambling
B8ZS
} B8ZS (Bipolar with 8-zero substitution) substitutes eight
consecutive zeros with 000VB0VB.
} The V stands for violation, it violates the AMI rule of
encoding; B stands for bipolar, it implements the AMI bipolar
encoding rule.

4.45
HDB3
} HDB3 (High density bipolar 3-zero) substitutes four consecutive
zeros with 000V or B00V depending on the number of nonzero
pulses after the last substitution.
} There are two rules :
} If the number of non zero pulses is odd the substitution is 000V
to make total number of non zero pulses even.
} If number of non zero pulses is even the substitution is B00V to
make total number of non zero pulses even.

4.46
HDB3
} If the number of non zero pulses is odd the substitution is 000V to
make total number of non zero pulses even.
} If number of non zero pulses is even the substitution is B00V to
make total number of non zero pulses even.

4.47
Analog-to-Digital Conversion
} A digital signal is superior to an analog signal. The
tendency today is to change an analog signal to digital
data.
} Two techniques of analog signal to digital data are:
} Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
} Delta Modulation (DM)

4.48
Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
} The most common technique to change an analog
signal to digital data (digitization) is called PCM.
} A PCM encoder has three processes:
1.The analog signal is sampled.
2.The sampled signal is quantized.
3. The quantized values are encoded as streams of
bits.

4.49
Components of PCM encoder

50
Sampling
} The analog signal is sampled every Ts, where Ts is the
sample interval or period.
} The inverse of the sampling interval is called the
sampling rate or sampling frequency and denoted
by fs, where fs = 1/Ts.
} The sampling process is sometimes referred to as
Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM).

4.51
PAM
} Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)
} Converts an analog signal into a series of pulses by sampling

PAM

Analog signal PAM signal

(Sampled analog data)

4.52
Different Sampling Methods

4.53
Sampling Rate
} According to the Nyquist theorem, the sampling
rate must be at least 2 times the highest frequency
contained in the signal.
} We can sample a signal only if the signal is band-
limited. In other words, a signal with an infinite
bandwidth cannot be sampled.
} The sampling rate must be at least 2 times the
highest frequency, not the bandwidth.
} If the analog signal is low-pass, the bandwidth and the
highest frequency are the same value. If the analog
signal is bandpass, the bandwidth value is lower than
the value of the maximum frequency.
4.54
Nyquist Sampling Rate for low-pass
and band-pass
Home work
} Example 4.6 – 4.11
Quantization
} Quantization is the process of converting, or digitizing,
the almost enormously variable amplitude of an analog
waveform to one of a finite series of discrete levels.
} The steps of the quantization process are:
1. We assume that the original analog signal has instantaneous
amplitudes between Vmin and Vmax.
2. We divide the range into L zones, each of height ∆
(delta).
Vmax ! Vmin
∆=
"
3. We assign quantized values of 0 to L-1 to the midpoint
of each zone.
4. We approximate the value of the sample amplitude to
the quantized values.
Quantization
Vmax = +20V
Vmin = -20V
L=8
∆ = 5V

Normalized value =
Actual amplitude/ ∆
Quantization Levels
} The choice of L depends on the range of the
amplitudes of the analog signal and how accurately we
need to recover the signal.
} If the amplitude of a signal fluctuates between two
values only, we need only two levels.
} If the signal has many amplitudes, we need more
quantization levels.
Quantization Error and Bit rate
} The value of the error for any sample is less than ∆/2
- ∆/2 ≤ error ≤ ∆/2

} Quantization error to the SNRdb :

SNRdb= 6.02nb +1.76 dB; where nb is the bits
per sample.

} Bit Rate = sampling rate x number of bits per

sample
= fs x nb
Original Signal Recovery

} The recovery of the original signal requires the

PCM decoder.

Components of a PCM decoder

PCM Bandwidth
} The minimum bandwidth of the digital signal is nb times
greater than the bandwidth of the analog signal.
Bmin = nb x Banalog

} Maximum data rate of a channel:

Nmax = 2 x B x log2L bps

} Minimum required bandwidth:

Bmin = N / (2 x log2L) Hz
Home Work
} Example 4.12 – 4.15
Delta Modulation
} PCM à complex
} Delta Modulation (DM) à simple
} PCM finds the value of the signal amplitude for each
sample; whereas DM finds the change from the
previous sample.
} There are no code words here; bits are sent one
after another.
Delta Modulation
Transmission Modes
} The transmission of binary data across a link can
be accomplished in either parallel or serial
mode.
Parallel Transmission
} A parallel communication device sends data in multiple bits to
the same direction.
} For example, the eight bits are transferred in corresponding 8
channels, every channel transmits a bit, and a byte of data is
received simultaneously.

} Speed
} Costly; requires n
communication lines
} unsuitable for long
distance transmission.
Serial Transmission
} A serial communication device transfers data in bits in the
same direction.
} In serial communication a word of eight bits in length is sent
sequentially, and is received after all eight bits are sent, one at
a time.

} Requires only one

communication line
} Suitable for long
distance transmission.
} Requires conversion
devices at the interface
Asynchronous Transmission
} 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.
} Cheap and effective.
} Useful for low-speed communication such as the connection of a
keyboard to a computer
Synchronous Transmission
} 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.
} The timing is very important.
} Faster than asynchronous transmission.
} Useful for high-speed applications such as the transmission of
data from one computer to another.
Isochronous Transmission
} 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.

A number of slides modified from Chaiporn Jaikaeo

and borrowed from the book website