DIGITAL TRANSMISSION

Engr. Jawwad Ibrahim

DIGITAL TO DIGITAL CONVERSION
• Line coding is the process of converting digital data to digital signals.
• We assume that data, in the form of text, numbers, graphical images, audio, or
video, are stored in computer memory as sequences of bits
• Line coding converts a sequence of bits to a digital signal.
• At the sender, digital data are encoded into a digital signal; at the receiver, the
digital data are recreated by decoding the digital signal
Signal Element Versus Data Element
• In data communications, our goal is to send data elements.
• A data element is the smallest entity that can represent a piece of information:
this is the bit.
• In digital data communications, a signal element carries data elements.
• A signal element is the shortest unit (time wise) of a digital signal.
• In other words, data elements are what we need to send; signal elements are
what we can send.
• Data elements are being carried; signal elements are the carriers
• We define a ratio r which is the number of data elements carried by each signal
element
Signal Element Versus Data Element
• Suppose each data element is a person who needs to be carried from
one place to another.
• We can think of a signal element as a vehicle that can carry people.
• When r = 1, it means each person is driving a vehicle.
• When r > 1, it means more than one person is travelling in a vehicle (a
carpool, for example).
• We can also have the case where one person is driving a car and a
trailer (r = 1/2)
Signal Element Versus Data Element
Data Rate Versus Signal Rate
• The data rate defines the number of data elements (bits) sent in Is.
• The unit is bits per second (bps).
• The signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in Is. The unit is the baud.
• There are several common terminologies used in the literature.
• The data rate is sometimes called the bit rate
• The signal rate is sometimes called the pulse rate, the modulation rate, or the
baud rate
• One goal in data communications is to increase the data rate while decreasing the
signal rate.
Data Rate Versus Signal Rate
• Increasing the data rate increases the speed of transmission;
• Decreasing the signal rate decreases the bandwidth requirement.
• In our vehicle-people analogy, we need to carry more people in fewer vehicles to
prevent traffic jams.
• We have a limited bandwidth in our transportation system
Data rate and Baud rate

 The baud or signal rate can be

expressed as:
S = c x N x 1/r bauds
where N is data rate
c is the case factor (worst, best & avg.)
r is the ratio between data element &
signal element

4.8
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

4.9
Data Rate Versus Signal Rate
• The pulse rate/Signal rate defines the number of pulses per second.
• A pulse is the minimum amount of time required to transmit a symbol.
• If a pulse carries only 1 bit, the pulse rate and the bit rate are the same.
• If the pulse carries more than 1 bit, then the bit rate is greater than the pulse
rate.
Bit Rate = Pulse Rate x log2 L
Data Rate Versus Pulse Rate
Example
A signal has two data levels with pulse duration of 1 ms. Calculate the pulse rate
and bit rate?
Solution
Pulse Rate Calculation
Pulse Rate = 1 / 10-3 = 1000 pulses/second
Bit Rate Calculation
Bit Rate = Pulse Rate x log2 L Bit Rate = 1000 x log2 2
Bit Rate = 1000 bps
Data Rate Versus Pulse Rate
Example
A signal has four data levels with pulse duration of 1 ms. Calculate the pulse rate
and bit rate?

Solution
Pulse Rate Calculation
Pulse Rate = 1 / 10-3 = 1000 pulses/second
Bit Rate Calculation
Bit Rate = Pulse Rate x log2 L Bit Rate = 1000 x log2 4
Bit Rate = 1000 x 2 Bit Rate = 2000 bps
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 log 2L bits per
level. If each level corresponds to one signal element and
we assume the average case (c = 1/2), then we have

4.13
Considerations for choosing a good
signal element referred to as line
encoding
 Baseline wandering - a receiver will evaluate
the average power of the received signal
(called the baseline) and use that to determine
the value of the incoming data elements. If
the incoming signal does not vary over a long
period of time, the baseline will drift and thus
cause errors in detection of incoming data
elements.
 A good line encoding scheme will prevent long
runs of fixed amplitude.
4.14
Line encoding C/Cs

 DC components - when the voltage

level remains constant for long periods
of time, there is an increase in the low
frequencies of the signal. Most channels
are bandpass and may not support the
low frequencies.
 This will require the removal of the dc
component of a transmitted signal.

4.15
Line encoding C/Cs

 Self synchronization - the clocks at the

sender and the receiver must have the
same bit interval.
 If the receiver clock is faster or slower it
will misinterpret the incoming bit
stream.

4.16
Figure 4.3 Effect of lack of synchronization

4.17
Line encoding C/Cs

 Error detection - errors occur during

transmission due to line impairments.
 Some codes are constructed such that
when an error occurs it can be
detected. For example: a particular
signal transition is not part of the code.
When it occurs, the receiver will know
that a symbol error has occurred.

4.18
Line encoding C/Cs

 Noise and interference - there are line

encoding techniques that make the
transmitted signal “immune” to noise
and interference.
 This means that the signal cannot be
corrupted, it is stronger than error
detection.

4.19
Line encoding C/Cs

 Complexity - the more robust and

resilient the code, the more complex it
is to implement and the price is often
paid in baud rate or required
bandwidth.

4.20
Encoding/Decoding
• Digital-to-Digital conversion or encoding/decoding is the representation of digital
information by digital signal
• For example when we transmit data from computer to the printer, both original
and transmitted data have to be digital
• Encoding a digital signal is where 1’s and 0’s generated by the computer are
translated into voltage pulses that can be propagated over the wire
• A digital signal is a sequence of discrete, discontinuous voltage pulses, each pulse
is a signal element
• Binary data are transmitted by encoding each data bit into signal elements
Encoding/Decoding
• In the simplest case, there is a one-to-one correspondence between bits and
signal elements
• An example would be in which binary 0 is represented by a lower voltage level
and binary 1 by a higher voltage level
• A variety of other encoding schemes are also used

1. Unipolar
2. Polar
3. Bipolar
Unipolar Scheme
• Digital transmission systems work by sending voltage
pulses along a medium link, usually a wire or cable.
• In many types of encoding, one voltage level stands
for binary 0, and another level stands for binary 1.
• The polarity of the pulse refers to whether it is
positive or negative.
• Unipolar encoding is so named because it uses only
one polarity.
• This polarity is assigned to one of the two binary
stats, usually the 1.
• The other state, usually the 0, is represented by
zero voltage
• In a unipolar scheme, all the signal levels are on one
side of the time axis, either above or below.
Polar Schemes
• In polar schemes, the voltages are on the both sides of the time axis.
• For example, the voltage level for 0 can be positive and the voltage level
for I can be negative.
• It has 3 subcategories:
• Non Return to Zero (NRZ)
The signal does not return to zero at the middle of the bit.
• NRZL
• NRZI
• Return to Zero (RZ)
• Biphase
• Manchester
• Differential Manchester
NRZ Encoding
• In polar NRZ encoding, we use two levels of voltage amplitude.
• NRZ-L (Non-Return-to-Zero-Level)
• Level of the signal depends on the type of bit it represents
• A +ve voltage usually means the bit is a 1 and a –ve voltage means the bit is
a 0 (vice versa)
NRZ Encoding
• NRZ-I (NRZ-Invert), the change or lack of change in the level of the voltage
determines the value of the bit.
• If there is no change, the bit is 0; if there is a change, the bit is 1.
• A transition (low-to-high or high-to-low) at the beginning of a bit time denotes a
binary 1 for that bit time; no transition indicates a binary 0
NRZ-I VS NRZ-L
• In the NRZ-L sequence, positive and negative voltages have specific
meanings i.e. positive for 0 and negative for 1.
• In NRZ-I sequence, the voltages are meaning less and the receiver
looks for changes from one level to another as its basis for recognition
of 1s.
• In NRZ-L the level of the voltage determines the value of the bit.
• In NRZ-I the inversion or the lack of inversion determines the value of
the bit
Example 4.4

A system is using NRZ-I to transfer 1-Mbps data. What

are the average signal rate and minimum bandwidth?

Solution
The average signal rate is S= c x N x R = 1/2 x N x 1 = 500 kbaud.
The minimum bandwidth for this average baud rate is B min = S =
500 kHz.

Note c = 1/2 for the avg. case as worst case is 1 and best case is 0

4.28
RZ Encoding
• The main problem with NRZ encoding occurs when the sender and receiver
clocks are not synchronized.
• The receiver does not know when one bit has ended and the next bit is starting.
• One solution is the return-to-zero (RZ) scheme, which uses three values: positive,
negative, and zero.
• In RZ, the signal changes not between bits but during the bit.
• The signal goes to 0 in the middle of each bit. It remains there until the beginning
of the next bit.
• The main disadvantage of RZ encoding is that it requires two signal changes to
encode a bit and therefore occupies greater bandwidth
RZ Encoding
• Like NRZ-L, +ve voltage means 1 and a –ve voltage means 0, but unlike NRZ-L, half
way through each bit interval, the signal returns to zero
• A 1 bit is represented by positive to zero and a 0 is represented by negative to
zero transition
Biphase Schemes
• Signal changes at the middle of bit interval but does not stop at zero
• Instead it continues to the opposite pole
• The idea of RZ (transition at the middle of the bit) and the idea of NRZ-L are combined
into the Manchester scheme.
• In Manchester encoding, the duration of the bit is divided into two halves.
• The voltage remains at one level during the first half and moves to the other level in
the second half
• Uses inversion at the middle of each bit interval for both synchronization and bit
representation
Negative-to-Positive Transition = 1
Positive-to-Negative Transition = 0
Biphase Schemes
• Differential Manchester, on the other hand, combines the ideas of RZ and NRZ-I.
• There is always a transition at the middle of the bit, but the bit values are
determined at the beginning of the bit.
• If the next bit is 0, there is a transition; if the next bit is 1, there is none
• Requires 2 signal changes to represent binary 0 but only one to represent binary 1
Bipolar Encoding
• Bipolar encoding uses three voltage levels i.e. 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

• AMI - Alternate Mark Inversion

• Pseudoternary
• B8Zs
• HDB3
Alternate Mark Inversion(AMI)
• Simplest type of bipolar encoding
• A binary 0 is represented by no line signal, and a binary 1 is represented by a
positive or negative pulse
• The binary 1 pulses must alternate in polarity
• Alternate Mark Inversion means alternate ‘1’ inversion
Pseudoternary
• Inverse of AMI
• In this case, it is the binary 1 that is represented by the absence of a line signal,
and the binary 0 by alternating positive and negative pulses
B8Zs
• Bipolar with 8-zeros substitution
• Difference between AMI and B8Zs occurs only when 8 or more consecutive zeros are
encountered
• Forces artificial signal changes called violations
• Each time eight 0’s occur, B8Zs introduces changes in pattern based on polarity of previous 1
(the ‘1’ occurring just before zeros)
• Data is buffered to detect strings of eight consecutve zeros (prior to transmission) –
• Rather than sending 0V for eight signal periods we send:
• 000+-0-+ if the last voltage pulse preceding the 8 consecutive zeros was positve
• 000-+0+- if the last voltage pulse preceding the 8 consecutive zeros was negative
• Same as bipolar AMI, except that any string of eight zeros is replaced by a string with two
code violations
High-Density Bipolar-3 Zeros (HDB3)
• Introduces changes into AMI, every time four
consecutive zeros are encountered instead of
waiting for eight zeros as in the case of B8Zs
• As in B8Zs, the pattern of violations is based on
the polarity of the previous 1 bit
• HDB3 also looks at the number of 1’s that have
occurred since the last substitution
• Same as bipolar AMI, except that any string of
four zeros is replaced by a string with one code
violation