Communications Technology

The Communication Channel 1

The Communication Channel Communication Concepts
I. Messages & Information
II. Data Compression and Coding
III. The Communication Channel
IV. Analogue and Digital Communications
A Communication System
Information
Source
Communication
Channel
Information
Sink
The Communication Channel
The communication channel has two
fundamental properties:
Bandwidth (analogue)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Shannons Capacity Equation
(Analogue) bandwidth has a fundamental impact on our
ability to successfully transmit data.
A very famous equation relating maximum bit-rate,
(analogue) bandwidth and signal-to-noise-ratio is:
) 1 ( log
2 N
S
B C + = Capacity
(=maximum
bit/sec that can be
transmitted
without error)
Bandwidth*
Ratio of wanted
signal power to
noise power*
This is more like data bandwidth
Claude Shannons seminal paper on channel capacity can be found here: http://cm.bell-
labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf
*At the receiver
Shannon Capacity
The Shannon Capacity is the maximum
(theoretical) bit-rate that can be transmitted
successfully through the communication
channel.
In theory (with channel coding) this can be
done error free.
Shannon didn't tell us how to do the channel
coding.
Some practical systems come close to
Shannon capacity.
Communications Technology
The Communication Channel 2
Example Bandwidth
Bandwidth
frequency
Spectral
Content
Bandwidth?
Half-power -3dB
Half amplitude -6dB
99% power
Null.etc.
Bandwidth: Filters
frequency
Spectral
Response Bandwidth?
Typically Half-power =
where response has fallen
by 3dB
frequency
Spectral
Response
frequency
Spectral
Response
Analogue Bandwidth
To distinguish (range of frequencies) bandwidth
from data bandwidth used in data
communications/networks we can use the term
analogue bandwidth.
Bandwidth Examples
Telephone bandwidth ~3kHz
Video bandwidth ~6MHz
Hi-Fi audio bandwidth ~20kHz
Bandwidth measured in Hertz (Hz)
= cycles per second
Communications Technology
The Communication Channel 3
Summary Bandwidth
Bandwidth can have different meanings
depending on context:
Range of frequencies: sometimes referred to
as analogue bandwidth. Even here we need
to carefully define at what points bandwidth is
measured.
Occupied by signal
Passed by filter
Etc.
Data bandwidth or bit-rate.
Signal-to-Noise Ratio
By the time a transmitted signal reaches a receiver
it is usually much smaller in size (voltage or power)
than at the transmitter.
Since we can always make it bigger with an
amplifier this doesn't matter too much provided
there is no noise.
Noise is random signal that gets mixed-up with the
received signal.
Unfortunately* noise is always present.
What is important is the ratio of received signal
compared to noise: the signal-to-noise-ratio
Often signal-to-noise-ratio is written in dB
* Actually there are some situations when noise is a good thing
Noise
Noise: random signal variations added to a signal
Sources of noise can be:
man-made e.g. electronic switching circuits, fluorescent lights or
Natural due to disturbances such as lightning or hot things like
the Sun or
Simply because things are hot (compared to 0K - thats zero
Kelvin not OK)
Thermal Noise power, N =k
B
TB
k
B
is Boltzmanns constant (which as far as we know is constant
everywhere in the universe and is very small 1.38x10
-23
J/K)
T is temperature in Kelvin and B is the (analogue) bandwidth
In practical systems a system has a noise temperature usually
much higher than the actual physical temperature though thermal
noise is the dominant source in many radio systems.
How big is noise?
Summary: signal-to-noise-ratio
Received signals can be very small
Fortunately noise is usually very small too
It is usually the signal-to-noise-ratio that is
important
Typical values for communication channels are
between -10 and 50dB.
What is a decibel?
Communications Technology
The Communication Channel 4
The decibel (dB)
The Decibel (dB) is used to measure ratios of two values.
It's just a function; you input a ratio and out pops the decibel value.
There is a one-to-one mapping of dB values to ratios (and the
reverse).
Depending on the type of ratio the way the dB is calculated is
different; but they always give the correct ratio.
Sometimes the ratio is relative to a particular reference value e.g.
A Watt or mW.
You can't have a negative ratio (but you can have negative dB
values)
Examples
Loudness -relative to threshold of hearing
Signal strength -relative to V
dBW-relative to 1 Watt
dBm -relative to 1 mW.
Gain e.g. An amplifier Vout/Vin=100 (40dB)
Loss (attenuation) e.g. of a cable:
ratio of input-signal/output-signal
Size of a radio signal at receiver in dBm
Transmitter power of mobile phone in dBW.
Aside: dBs in hearing
(Hz)
REF
P
P
SPL dB
10
log 20 =
e.g. 40 Phons means as loud as 40dB SPL at 1kHz
The decibel (dB)
) ( log 10
) ( log 20
1
2
10
1
2
10
P
P
dB
A
A
dB
=
=
0 0 1
23 46 200
6 12 4
-3
20
10
3
Power dB
-6 0.5
40 100
20 10
6 2
Amplitude dB Ratio
10
20
10
10
1
2
1
2
dB
dB
P
P
A
A
=
=
Amplitude (e.g. current, voltage or pressure)
Power (e.g. power, intensity)
Example: Radio Signals dBm
What does a signal strength of -80dBm mean?
Example: Signal-to-noise ratio
What does a signal-to-noise-ratio of 23dB mean?
Communications Technology
The Communication Channel 5
Summary
Capacity is the maximum theoretical bit-rate of the
channel
In theory this can be achieved with no bit-errors.
In practice close to the channel capacity can be
achieved with very small error rates.
The capacity of a channel is determined by the
bandwidth (analogue) and signal-to-noise ratio (at
the receiver) related by Shannon's equation
Bandwidth is the analogue bandwidth of the channel
which is determined mainly by filters.
Noise is the random signal variations that are found in
any electronic system
Signal-to-noise is usually given in dB (but must be
linear in Shannon equation!)
The decibel is often used to measure signals and
ratios