EMERGENCE of local networks and the ongoing evolution of the public telecommunications network to digital service have led

to an increased interest in digital signaling techniques. Figure 1 illustrates what this term means. Digital data is generated by a source, which might be EDP equipment or a voice digitizer. In either case, the data are typically represented as discrete voltage pulses, using one voltage level for binary O and another for binary 1. This is a format that we shall refer to as NRZ-L. Typically, these digital data pulses are passed through a modem to be transmitted as analog signals. There are a number of cases where this is not done. For example: Baseband local networks, using either twisted-pair or coaxial cable. Digital PBX connections for terminals, hosts, and digital phone. Digital access to the public telecommunications network, over a "digital local loop." . In all of these cases, it is expected that the digital data will be transmitted as digital signals. It is possible, of course, to directly transmit the digital data pulses emitted by the source. It is often desirable, however, to encode the data in such a way as to improve performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare various encoding techniques. First, we will define some terms. A digital signalis a sequence of discrete, discontinuous voltage pulses. Each pulse is a signal element. Binary data is transmitted by encoding each data bit into signal elements. If the signal elements all have the same algebraic sign, that is, all positive or negative, then the signal is unipolar. In polar signaling, one logic state is represented by a positive voltage level, and the other by a negative voltage level. The data signaling rate (or data rate) of a signal is the rate, in bits per second (bIs), at which that data is transmitted. The duration or length of a bit is the amount of time it takes for the transmitter to emit the bit; for a data rate R, the bit duration is II R. The modulation rate, in contrast, is the rate at which signal level is changed. This depends on the nature of the digital encoding, as explaineq beloy. The modulation rate is .'. expressed in bauds, which' is signal elemnts per second. Finally, the terms mark and space, for historical reasons, refer to the binary digits 1 and O, respectively .
..

THE

Evaluation Critera There are two important tasks involved in interpreting digital signals at the receiver. First, the receiver must know the timing of each bit. That is, the receiver must know with some accuracy when a bit begins and ends. Second, the receiver must determine whether the signallevel for each bit position is high (1) or low (O). A number of factors determine how successful the receiver will be in interpreting the incoming signal: the signal-to-noise ratio (SIN), the data rate, and the bandwidth of the signal. With other factors held constant, the following statements are true [1]: An increase in data rate increases bit error rate (the probability that a bit is received in error). An increase in SIN decreases bit error rateo Increased bandwidth allows increased data rateo

21

December 1984-Vol. 22, :0-;0.12 IEEE Communications :\Iagazine

....

element.
Digital Data
DIGIT AL DATA SDURCE Pulses (NRZ-Lj ENCDDER

One benefit to detect a value polarity line,

of this

scheme

is that

it may

be more with

reliable
Digital Signal

a transition to a threshold.

in the presence Another it is easy For' example, from an attached all1's happen inverted, cannot

of noise than to is that, to lose the sense on a multidrop device to the and O's for NRZwith and, differential in addition, property compares is the In the dc and to of the of the To a long cannot

compare a complex of the

benefit

transmission

system,

of the signal. if the leads This

F/g.1.

D/g/tal slgnallng of digital data.

twisted-pair twisted L will encoding. The make power figure, seen, half be

pair are accidentally inverted.

There

is

another

factor encoding

that

can

be

used is

to

improve the

NRZ codes efficient spectral frequency most

are easiest of

to engineer This encoding to the data if an rate

performance-the

scheme-which

simply

use

bandwidth. of various

latter

mapping from data bits to signal elements. approaches have been tried. In what follows, some of the more common ones; they and depicted 'Nonreturn Return Bi phase Delay modulation binary these factors techniques, have let Multilevel in Fig. 2. They can be categorized to zero (NRZ)

A variety of we describe in Table I as follows:

illustrated

in Fig. 3 (based density

on [3 and 5]), which

schemes.

are defined

is normalized For example, with a data is concentrated

rateo As can be is used most

of the energy rateo

in NRZ signals

is between

the

bit

NRZ code

generate energy

a signal in the signal

of 9600 bIs, between

to zero

(RZ)

dc and 4800 Hz. capability. that with

The main dc component picture us consider techniques. the A string voltage. of

limitations

of NRZ signals with the latter, or NRZ-S

are the presence

and the lack of synchronization consider the output and NRZ-L

the problem 1's for Any drift based

Before ways number

describing of evaluation

is a constant receiver

of evaluating

or comparing

the various

between

transmitter alone.

been proposed of the

[2-4]:
are means On the is there

be corrected

on the signal

Signal that other must

spectru!f1-Several

aspects

spectrum

T ABLE I
OEFINITlDN DF OIGITAL SIGNAL ENCDDING FDRMATS

important. hand, be

A rack of high-frequency is required adc lack of a direct-current component attachment physical

components (dc) of

less bandwidth With with

for transmission. to the signal,

component transmission This provides

al so desirable. direct components; (ac) coupling

Nonreturn to Zero-Level 1=High level O=Low level

(NRZ-L)

no dc component,

alternating-current

via transformer

is possible.

excellent electrical isolation, reducing interference. Signal synchronization capability-We mentioned the need to determine the beginning and end of each bit position. clock Some codes of noise ha ve to This is no easy task and may require a separate lead to synchronize the transmitter and receiver. coding schemes interference superior avoid and this problem. immunily-Certain in the presence rateo schemes continues

Nonreturn to Zero-Mark (NRZ-M) 1= Transition at beginning 01 interval O=No transition Nonreturn to Zero-Space (NRZ-S) 1=No transition 0= Transition at beginning 01 interval Return to Zero (RZ) 1=Pulse in lirst hall 01 bit interval O=No pulse Biphase-Level (Manchester) 1= Transition Irom high to low in middle 01 interval O=Transition Biphase-Mark Irom low to high in middle 01 interval

Signal exhibit

noise

performance expressed capability-Many

This is usually Error,detection an inherent drop

by the bit error signaling capability. digital should logic

error-detection this factor

Cost and complexity-Although in price,

not be ignored. techniques.

Always a transition at beginning 01 interval 1=Transition in middle 01 interval O=No transition in middle 01 interval Biphase-Space Always a transition at beginning 01 interval 1=No transition in middle 01 interval 0= Transition in middle 01 interval Differential Manchester

We now turn

to a discussion Nonreturn

of the various lo Zero [NRZI that is

The NRZ codes constant return during to a zero

share a bit voltage

the property interval; level). These

the voltage no transition is NRZ-L.

level

is (no

there of these

are the simplest or interpret devices. system. (NRZ-S) it is typically space digital

codes is data

to implement, generally by data from

and the simplest terminals

NRZ-L

the code processing

used to generate

Always a transition in middle 01 interval 1=No transition at beginning 01 interval 0= Transition at beginning 01 interval Delay Modulation.(Miller) 1= Transition in middle 01 interval O=No transition il lollowed by 1 Transltion at end 01 interval il lollowed Bipolar 1=Pulse in lirst hall 01 bit interval, to pulse O=No pulse by O polarity Ira m pulse

and other

If a different generated y.ersions

code is to be used for transmission, an NRZ-L signal are also NRZ signal. is decoded elements, mark There of the that signal signal they (NRZ-M) have codeso comparing than and

by the transmission

These by rather

the transmission In differential the polarity value

advantage

are differential

encoding, the
of adjacent of a signal

alternating

the absolute

December 1984-Vol. 22, No. 12 IEEE Communications Magazine

22

o NRZ - L

NRZ - M

NRZ-S

RZ Biphase - L (Manchester) Bphase - M

Bphase - S Dfferental Manchester

Delay Modulaton

(fiiLLe r)
Bipolar

Fig. 2.

Digita/ signa/-encoding formats.

Because

of their

simplicity

and

relatively

low

frequency

'Because bandwidth remain. elementary the technique

the modulation of the signal and Because of its

rate

is higher

than (with

with a string used

NRZ, the of the of O's) some

response characteristics, NRZ codes are commonly used for digital magnetic recording [6]. However, their limitations make these applications. codes unattractive for signal transmission

is greater. simplicity,

The same problems RZ is in

dc component

no synchronization and recording for most

transmitting of choice

equipment,

but is not

applications.

Relurn to Zero [RZ] The return ment over distinction rate, as duration. pulse interval. to zero (RZ) convention provides no improveThe schemes and require term biphase biphase-S, are intended Biphase designates and to overcome techniques. biphase-L (Manchester), Biphase of NRZ schemes

NRZ techniques. With this code, we first see the between data rate and modulation rateo The bit with all of these codes, is However, the minimum-size 1, which is one-half modulation
1/ta,

where ta =.bit signal element is the the length rate of the bit by is to per (achieved rate that occur on the

biphase-M,

differential

Manchester. AII biphase (Table

the disadvantages

for a binary Hence,

RZ signal-encoding many rate

the maximum

at least one transition

per bit time

11),and may

a string of 1's) for RZ signals Another way of obtaining determine bit time. sequence transition the average For some number codes,

is 2/ta. the modulation of transitions will depend Table stream this

have as modulation schemes

as two transitions. Thus, the maximum is twice that for NRZ and the bandwidth is greater. To compensate advantages there [7]: is a predictable transifor this, the biphase

correspondingly

exact 1's

have several

of bits being transmitted. rate in the case of a data

1I shows

the signal

Synchronization-Because tion during each on that transition. chester, "bit there interval. For

of alternating

and O's, and for the data stream that produces the minimum and maximum value for each codeo Note that in the case of a string of 1's, RZ has a maximum rate of twice the bit rateo

bit time, the receiver can synchronize For Manchester and differential Mana transition and in the middle biphase-S, of the is biphase-M there

is always

23

December 1984-Vol. IEEE Communications

22, No. 12 Magazine

T ABLE

11

SIGNAL TRANSITION RATE

Minimum
NRZL NRZM NRZS RZ

101010 ...

Maximum

o (all 0'5 or 1'5)

1.0 0.5

lO
1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

O (all 0'5)
O (all 1'5)

0.5
1.0 1.0
1.5

Manchesler Biphase-M BiphaseS Oifferenlial Manchesler Delay Modulalion Bipolar

O (all 0'5) lO (1010 ... ) 1.0 (all 0'5) 1.0 (al! 1'5) 1.0 (all 1'5) 0.5 (1010 ... ) O (all 0'5)

1.5
1.5

(1010... ) (all 1'5) (all 0'5) (all 1'5) (all 0'5 or 1'5) (all 1'5) (all 0'5)

0.5
1.0

2.0 (all 0'5) 1.0 (all 0'5 or 1'5) . 2.0 (all 1's)

always a transition at the beginning of a bit time. For this reason, the biphase codes are. known as selfclocking codeso No de eomponenl-Biphase codes have no dc component, yielding the benefits described earlier. Error deleetion- The absence of an expecled transition can be used to delect errors. Noise on the line would have to inverl Ihe signal both before and after expected transition to cause an undetected error. the

environments [10]. Differential Manchester has been specified for the IEEE 802.5 standard for token ring, using either baseband coaxial cable or twisted-pair. Because it uses differential encoding, differential Manchester is preferred for a twisted-pair implementation. Delay Modulation An interesting alternative to the biphase technique is delay modulation, also known as Miiler coding. With Miiler, there is at least one transition per two bit times, and there is never more than one transition per bit. Thus, Miiler coding has some synchronization capability, but requires a lower modulation rate and less bandwidth than biphase. Figure 3 shows that the bandwidth for Miiler is significantly less than either biphase or NRZ. This figure is somewhat misleading however. For worst-case bit patterns, Miller can have a significant dc comppnent and greater bandwidth than NRZ [6]. Next, consider Fig. 4, which compares the theoretical bit error rate as a function of S/N for Miller, Manchester, NRZ,

As can be seen from Fig. 3, the bulk of the energy in biphase codes is between one-half and one ti mes the bit rateo Thus, the bandwidth is reasonably narrow and contains no dc component. Also note that ail but the Manchester code are differential. Biphase codes are popular techniques for data transmission. Although NRZ is still most widely used in datacommunications systems, the Manchester code is gaining ground rapidly [8]. It is already common in magnetic tape recording and as an input signal for fiber-optic modulation systems. Both Manchester and differential Manchester appear in local network standards. The more common Manchester code has been specified for the IEEE 802.3 standard for baseband coaxial cable using CSMA/CD access [9]. It has also been used in MIL-STD-1553B, which is a Bit S/N in dB 10'6 shielded twisted-pair bus system designed for high-noise

error

14 4 12 16 6 lO' 8 2 rate O Manches!er 10-3 10-7 10-9 10-1 10-2 IO-B 10 ..

10 10'5,

NRZ,

~~ ~

0.4 2~ 12 ~4 I~ M 0 02 6 O

,,U

lA I~

0.2

004

0.6

0.8
Nonnalized

1.0

1.2
fJR

lA

1.6

1.8

2.0

frequency

Fig. 3.

Spectral denslty of varlous dlgltal slgnal encodlng schemes.

Fig. 4.

Theoretlcal bit error rate for various dlgital encodlng schemes.

December 1984-Vol. 22, No. 12 IEEE Communications Magazine

24

and RZ. As can be seen, Manchester and NRZ have identical performance, which is about 3 dB better than Miller. Put another way, at a S/N of 12 dB, the bit error rate for NRZ and Manchester is two orders of magnitude better than Miller. This difference in performance falls out of the derivation of the probability of error in white noise. (This can be found in [3], but we can give an intuitive explanation here.) At the receiver, a decision must be made whether a received bit interval contains 1 or O. In the case of NRZ and Manchester, there are only two elementary pulse waveforms to choose from. This is also true of RZ, but RZ makes inefficient use of signal time: either a half-pulse or no pulse. The Miller code uses four elementary pulse waveforms, making the decision even more difficult.
Multilevel Binary

[9] W. Stallings, Local Networks: An Introduction, New York, Macmillan, 1984. [10] D. Mandelkern, "Rugged local network follows military aircraft standard," E1ectronics, April 7, 1982.

A somewhat different category of encoding is multilevel binary, which uses more than two signal levels. A popular example of this is bipolar, which is widely used by AT&T for T1-PCM carriers. As can be seen from Fig. 3, bipolar has a bandwidth centered on one-half the bit rateo There is no dc component: thus, on the T1 carrier, repeaters can be transformercoupled. On the other hand, there is no synchronization capability. Bipolar provides some error-detection capability, since successive 1's must have opposite signs.
Surnrnary

Dr. William Stallings is a Irequent lecturer on data communications topies. He is the author 01 Data and Computer Communications (Macmillan. 1984), Local Networks: An Introduction (Macmillan, 1984). Local Network Technology (IEEE Computer Society Press, 1983), and A Manager's Guide to Local Networks (Prentiee-Hall, 1983). Dr. Stallings received a Ph.D. from M.I.T. in Computer Science in 1971. Currently, he is a senior eommunications consultant with Honeywell Inlormation Systems, Ine. He is involved in the planning and design 01 communications network products and in the evaluation 01 communications requirements lor Honeywell customers. Previously, Dr. Stallings was vice-president 01 CSM Corp., a firm specializing in data processing and data-communieations technology for the health-care industry. He has also been director 01 Systems Analysis and Design lor CTEC, Inc., a lirm speeializing in command, eontrol, and communieations systems .

COMPUTER CONTROL ENGINEERS

SETPONT, INC. is an acknowledged leader in implementing advanced control and optimization in the process industries. Our continued growth has created opportunity tor a tew outstanding engineers,
Desired qualifications Degree inelude: in Engineering. An advanced

The increased availability and use of digital baseband transmission facilities have led to a renewed interest in digital signaling techniques. The NRZ codes commonly used in EOP equipment and for magnetic recording are not efficient for transmission. Alternative techniques. particularly Manchester and differential Manchester, provide superior performance and are coming into widespread use.
References [1] W. Stallings. Data and Computer Maemillan. 1984. Communications. New York:

Familiarity with modern control theory and techniques-particularly real time identification and estimation procedures. An interest approaches in applying modern control to real industrial problems. or permanent residency VISA.

U.S. citizenship

[2] H. L.Deffebaek and W. O. Frost, "A Survey 01 Digital Baseband Signalling Teehniques," NASA Teehnieal Memorandum TM X-64615. June 3D, 1971. [3] W. C. Lindsay and M. K. Simon, Telecommunication Systems Engineering, Englewood Cliffs. NJ: Prentiee-Hall, 1973. [4] B. P. Lathi, Modern Digital and Analog Communication New York: Holl. Rinehart, and Winston. 1983. [5] Bell Telephone Laboratories, munieations," 1982. "Transmission Systems.

Your work will involve developing and implementing innovative approaches to industrial control problems. You will work with a variety of companies in a variety of industries, Some travel, both domestic and international, is required.

For turther consideration, send your resume to:

Systems lor Com-

SETPf4)lNT
PERSONNEL DIRECTOR 950 THREADNEEDLE HOUSTON, TEXAS 77079
Principal s only An Equal Opportunity Employer

Ine.

[6] R. H. Severt, "Encoding schemes support high-density digital data reeording." Computer Design. May 1980. [7] L. Sanders. "When to preler Manchester coding." Electronics. July 28, 1982. [8] L. Sanders, "Manchester coding gaining on NRZ." Electronic Design, August 5, 1982.

25

December I984-Vol. IEEE COInmunications

22. No. 12 Magazine