TC 503

Digital Communication Theory

Course Teacher:
Dr. Muhammad Imran Aslam

Problem
You want to transmit the word HOW using an 8-ary system.
(a) Encode the word HOW into a sequence of bits, using 7-bit ASCII
coding, followed by an eighth bit for error detection, per character. The
eighth bit is chosen so that the number of ones in the 8 bits is an even
number. How many total bits are there in the message?
(b) Partition the bit-stream into k = 3 bit segments as an octal number
(symbol). How many octal symbols are there in the message?
(c) If the system were designed with 16-ary modulation, how many
symbols would be used to represent the word HOW?
(d) If the system were designed with 256-ary modulation, how many
symbols would be used to represent the word HOW?
[NOTE: Related ASCII codes are: W: 1010111, H: 1001000, O: 1001111]

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Solution

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Problem
We want to transmit 800 characters/s, where each
character is represented by its 7-bit ASCII codeword,
followed by an eighth bit for error detection per
character. The eighth bit is chosen so that the number
of ones in the 8 bits is an even number. A multilevel
PAM waveform with M = 16 levels is used
(a) What is the effective bit rate?
(b) What is the symbol rate?

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Solution
(a) Bit rate = character rate x # of Bits per character
Bit rate = 800 char/s x 8bits/char
Bit rate = 6400 bits/s
(b)
Bit rate
Symbol rate =
# Bits per symbol
6400 bits/s
Symbol rate =
4 bits/symbol
Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Problem

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Solution

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Problem

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Solution

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Problem

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Solution

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FORMATTING AND
BASEBAND MODULATION

PULSE CODE MODULATION (PCM)

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Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is the name given to the class
of baseband signals obtained from the quantized Pulse
Amplitude Modulation (PAM) signal by encoding each sample
into a digital word.
The source information is digitally encoded into an n-bit
( = log 2 ) codeword. For baseband transmission, the
codeword will then be transformed to pulse waveform
Sometimes the term PCM is used interchangeably with
quantization

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See Figure 2.16 (Page 80)

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Advantages of PCM:
Relatively inexpensive
Easily multiplexed: PCM waveforms from different sources can
be transmitted over a common digital channel (TDM)
Easily regenerated: useful for long-distance communication,
e.g. telephone
Better noise performance than analog system
Signals may be stored and time-scaled efficiently (e.g.,
satellite communication)
Efficient codes are readily available
Disadvantage:
Requires wider bandwidth than analog signals

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

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BASEBAND TRANSMISSION

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Waveform Representation of
Binary Digits
The output of the A/D converter is a set of binary digits (bits)
But binary digits are just abstract entities that have no
physical definition
In order to transmit the bits over a physical channel they must
be transformed into a physical waveform
We may use pulses to convey a bit of information. For
example a binary 1 can be represented as presence and
binary 0 can be represented as absence of a pulse.
For easy detection, it is better to use pulse width equal to bit
time (T) so that it has maximum energy
In this case binary 0 and 1 are represented by transition
between two voltage levels.
Dr. M. Imran Aslam

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(a)

(b)

(c)
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PCM Digits vs. PCM Waveforms

The term PCM is used in two different ways
1. First it is a formatting topic, since the process of A/D
conversion involves sampling, quantization and ultimately
yields binary digits via conversion of quantized PAM to
PCM. Here, PCM digits are just binary numbers
2. Second is topic of baseband signaling. Here, PCM
waveforms (also known as line codes) are used to carry
the PCM digits.

Hence PCM represents bit sequence, and PCM

waveform represents a particular waveform
conveyance of that sequence
Dr. M. Imran Aslam

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Analog
Input
Signal
Sample
X
Quantize

ADC

XQ
Encode

PCM Sequence

Xk
Line
Code
x(t)

PCM Waveform

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

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PCM Waveform Types

When pulse modulation is applied to a binary symbol, the resulting
binary waveform is called a pulse-code modulation (PCM) waveform.
In telephony application, these waveforms are often called line codes.
When pulse modulation is applied to a non-binary symbol, the
resulting waveform is called M-ary modulation.
A line coder or baseband binary transmitter transforms a stream of
bits into a physical waveform suitable for transmission over a channel
Line coders uses the terminology mark for 1 and space for0
In baseband systems, binary data can be transmitted using many
kinds of pulses, e.g.

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

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PCM Waveform Types

There are many types of waveforms.
Why? performance criteria!
Each line code type have merits and demerits
The choice of waveform depends on operating characteristics
of a system such as:
Modulation-demodulation requirements
Bandwidth requirement
Synchronization requirement
Receiver complexity
etc.

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

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Goals of Line Coding (qualities to look for)

A line code is designed to meet one or more of the following goals:
Self-synchronization
The ability to recover timing from the signal itself
That is, self-clocking (self-synchronization) - ease of clock
lock or signal recovery for symbol synchronization
Long series of ones and zeros could cause a problem
Low probability of bit error
Receiver needs to be able to distinguish the waveform
associated with a mark from the waveform associated with a
space
BER performance
relative immunity to noise
Error detection capability
enhances low probability of error
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 Spectrum Suitable for the channel

Spectrum matching of the channel
e.g. presence or absence of DC level
In some cases DC components should be avoided
Required for magnetic recording
Required for ac coupled systems (e.g. transformer based)
The transmission bandwidth should be minimized
Transmission Bandwidth
Should be as small as possible
Transparency
The property that any arbitrary symbol or bit pattern can be
transmitted and received, i.e., all possible data sequence
should be faithfully reproducible
Prevent long strings of zeroes and ones (same waveform)
Code may depend on previous bit
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Line Coder

The input to the line encoder is

the output of the A/D converter
or a sequence of values an that is
a function of the data bit
The output of the line encoder is
a waveform:

=
s (t )

n =

f (t nTb )

where f(t) is the pulse shape and Tb is the bit period (Tb=Ts/n for n
bit quantizer)

This means that each line code is described by a symbol mapping

function an and pulse shape f(t)

Details of this operation are set by the type of line code that is
being used
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Summary of Major Line Codes

Categories of Line Codes
Polar - Send pulse or negative of pulse
Unipolar - Send a pulse or dont send a pulse
Bipolar (a.k.a. alternate mark inversion, pseudoternary)
Represent 1 by alternating signed pulses and zero with
no pulse
Generalized Pulse Shapes
Nonreturn-to-Zero (NRZ) -Pulse lasts entire bit period
Return to Zero (RZ) - pulse lasts just half of bit period
Phase Encoded (e.g, Manchester Line Code)
Send a 2- pulse for either 1 (high low) or 0 (low
high)
Includes rising and falling edge in each pulse
No DC component
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 When the category and the generalized shapes are

combined, we have the following:
Polar NRZ:
Wireless, radio, and satellite applications primarily use
Polar NRZ because bandwidth is precious
Unipolar NRZ
Turn the pulse ON for a 1, leave the pulse OFF for a 0
Useful for noncoherent communication where receiver
cant decide the sign of a pulse; e.g., fiber optic
communication often use this signaling format
Unipolar RZ
RZ signaling has both a rising and falling edge of the pulse
This can be useful for timing and synchronization
purposes
Dr. M. Imran Aslam

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 Bipolar RZ
A unipolar line code, except now we alternate between
positive and negative pulses to send a 1
Alternating like this eliminates the DC component
This is desirable for many channels that cannot
transmit the DC components
Phase Encoding:
Information is encoded using change in phase.
Used in magnetic recording, optical communication,
and in some telemetry links.
Generalized Grouping
Non-Return-to-Zero: NRZ-L, NRZ-M NRZ-S
Return-to-Zero: Unipolar, Bipolar, AMI
Phase-Coded: bi--L, bi- -M, bi- -S, Miller, Delay
Modulation
Multilevel Binary: dicode, doubinary
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Commonly Used Line Codes

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Polar NRZ and Polar RZ

Polar line codes use the antipodal mapping
1
+ A, when X n =
an =
0
A, when X n =
Polar NRZ uses NRZ pulse shape
Polar RZ uses RZ pulse shape

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Unipolar NRZ Line Code

Unipolar non-return-to-zero (NRZ) line code is defined by
unipolar mapping
when X n =
1
+ A,
Where Xn is the
an =
nth data bit
0,
0
when
X
=
n

In addition, the pulse shape for unipolar NRZ is:

t
where Tb is the bit period
f (t ) = ,
Tb

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

NRZ Pulse Shape

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Bipolar Line Codes

With bipolar line codes a space is mapped to zero and
a mark is alternately mapped to -A and +A
A, when X n 1 and last mark A
+=

an = A, when X n = 1 and last mark + A

0,
when X n = 0

It

is also called pseudoternary signaling or alternate mark

inversion (AMI)

Either

RZ or NRZ pulse shape can be used

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Manchester Line Codes

Manchester line codes use the antipodal mapping
and the following split-phase pulse shape:
Tb

t+ 4
f (t ) =
Tb
2

Tb

t 4
T

Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Mark

Space

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Summary of Line Codes

(Section 2.8.2, page 87)

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Bi-phase Mark
NRZ-L (Level)
A transition at start of every bit period
1 represented by one level
1 represented by a 2nd transition at half0 represented by other level
bit period later
NRZ-M (Mark)
0 represented by no 2nd transition
1 represented by a change in level
Bi-phase Space
0 represented by no change in level
A transition at start of every bit period
NRZ-S (Space)
1 represented by no 2nd transition
1 represented by no change in level
0 represented by a 2nd transition at half0 represented by a change in level
bit period later
Unipolar RZ
Delay Modulation (Miller Coding)
1 represented by a half-bit wide pulse 1 represented transition at half-bit
0 represented by no pulse
interval
Polar RZ
0 represented by no transition, unless it is
0s & 1s are represented by opposite
followed by another zero. In this case, a
level pulses that are half-bit wide
transition is placed at the end of bit interval
RZ AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion)
of the first zero.
0 represented by no pulse;
Dicode NRZ
Successive 1s are represented by
A 1-to-0 or 0-to-1 transition change the
equal amplitude alternating pulses
pulse polarity; Otherwise a zero is sent.
Bi-phase Level (Manchester)
Dicode RZ
1 represented by high-to-low transition A 1-to-0 or 0-to-1 transition change the
at half-bit internval
pulse polarity at half-bit interval; Otherwise
0 represented by low-to-high transition
Dr. M. Imran
Aslamis sent.
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a zero

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Comparison of Line Codes

Self-synchronization
Manchester codes have built in timing information because they
always have a zero crossing in the center of the pulse
Polar RZ codes tend to be good because the signal level always goes to
zero for the second half of the pulse
NRZ signals are not good for self-synchronization
Error probability
Polar codes perform better (are more energy efficient) than Unipolar
or Bipolar codes
DC Components
Unipolar NRZ, polar NRZ, and unipolar RZ all have DC components
Bipolar RZ and Manchester NRZ do not have DC components
Channel characteristics
We need to find the power spectral density (PSD) of the line codes to
compare the line codes in terms of the channel characteristics

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Dr. M. Imran Aslam

Spectral Characteristics
Unipolar NRZ, polar NRZ, and
bipolar all have 1st null
bandwidths of Rb = 1/Tb
Unipolar RZ has 1st null BW of
2Rb
Manchester NRZ also has 1st
null BW of 2Rb, although the
spectrum becomes very low
at 1.6Rb

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M-Ary Coding (Signaling)

In binary coding:
Data bit 1 has waveform 1
Data bit 0 has waveform 2
Data rate = bit rate = symbol rate

In M-ary coding, take M bits at a time (M = 2k)

and create a waveform (or symbol).

00 waveform (symbol) 1
01 waveform (symbol) 2
10 waveform (symbol) 3
11 waveform (symbol) 2
Symbol rate = bit rate/k

M-Ary Coding
Advantages:
Required transmission rate is low (bit rate/M)
Low bandwidth

Disadvantages:
Low signal to noise ratio (due to multiple
amplitude pulses)

M-ary Signaling
8-level signaling

2-level signaling

M-ary (Multilevel) Signaling

M-ary signals reduce required bandwidth
Instead of transmitting one pulse for each bit
(binary PCM), we transmit one multilevel
pulse a group of k-bits (M=2k)
Bit rate = Rb bits/s min BW = Rb/2
Symbol rate = R/k sym/s min BW = Rb/2k
Needed bandwidth goes down by k
Trade-off is relatively high bit error rate (BER)

M-ary (Multilevel) Signaling

symbol values

Pulse Modulation

Recall that analog signals can be represented by a sequence of discrete

samples (output of sampler)
Pulse Modulation results when some characteristic of the pulse (amplitude,
width or position) is varied in correspondence with the data signal
Two Types:
Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)
The amplitude of the periodic pulse train is varied in proportion to
the sample values of the analog signal
Pulse Time Modulation
Encodes the sample values into the time axis of the digital signal
Pulse Position Modulation (PPM)
Constant amplitude, width position varied in proportion to the
signal
Pulse Duration Modulation (PDM)
sample values of the analog waveform are used in determining
the width/duration of the pulse signal

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Bits per PCM word and M-ary Modulation

Bits per PCM Word and Bits per Symbol: = 2
M-ary Pulse Modulation Waveforms: = 2
PCM Word Size
How many bits shall be assigned to each analog sample
Depends on the how much quantization error (distortion) is
tolerable
Let the magnitude of distortion error |e|, be specified as a
fraction p of the peak-to-peak analog voltage Vpp as
||
Since

|| = =
2 2
We can write

1
1

2 =
log 2
2
2
2
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Problem

The information in an analog waveform, whose

maximum frequency fm=4000Hz, is to be transmitted
using a 16-level PAM system. The quantization must not
exceed 1% of the peak-to-peak analog signal.
(a) What is the minimum number of bits per sample or
bits per PCM word that should be used in this system?
(b) What is the minimum required sampling rate, and
what is the resulting bit rate?
(c) What is the 16-ary PAM symbol Transmission rate?

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Solution

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2.9 CORRELATIVE CODING

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DUOBINARY CODING

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DUOBINARY DECODING

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PRECODING

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