In order to be transmitted over a digital communications system, an information signal must first be formatted so that it is represented by digital symbols

(usually binary digits or bits). Next, these digital or binary representations must be converted into electrical waveforms that are transmitted over the communications channel. In baseband digital transmission, the electrical waveforms used are pulses and this conversion from digital data to digital waveforms is known as line coding

A line code (also called digital baseband modulation, also called digital baseband transmission method) is a code chosen for use within a communications system for baseband transmission purposes. Line coding consists of representing the digital signal to be transported by an amplitude- and time-discrete signal that is optimally tuned for the specific properties of the physical channel (and of the receiving equipment). The waveform pattern of voltage or current used to represent the 1s and 0s of a digital data on a transmission link is called line encoding.

The common types of line encoding are unipolar, polar, bipolar, and Manchester encoding.

The following primary factors should be considered when choosing or designing a line code.

1 . Self-synchronisation. Timing information should be built into the time-domain signal so that the timing information can be extracted for clock synchronisation. A

long string of consecutive 1s and 0s should not cause a problem in clock recovery. 2 . Transmission power and bandwidth efficiency. The transmitted power should be as small as possible, and the transmission bandwidth needs to be sufficiently small compared to the channel bandwidth so that intersymbol interference will not be a problem. 3 . Favorable Power Spectral Density. The spectrum of the time-domain signal should be suitable for the transmission channel. For example, if a channel is ac coupled, it is desirable to have zero power spectral density near dc to avoid dc wandering in the pulse stream. 4 . Low probability of error. When the received signal is corrupted by noise, the receiver can easily recover the uncoded signal with low error probability 5 . Error detection and correction capability. The line code should have error detection capability, and preferably have error correction capability. 6 . Transparency. It should be possible to transmit every signal sequence correctly regardless of the patterns of 1s and 0s. If the data are coded so that the coded signal is received faithfully, the code is transparent.

Unipolar Encoding Unipolar encoding has 2 voltage states, with one of the states being 0 volts. Since Unipolar line encoding has one of its states at 0 Volts, it is also called Return to Zero (RTZ). A common example of Unipolar line encoding is the TTL logic levels used in computers and digital logic.

Unipolar line encoding works well for inside machines--where the signal path is short-- but is unsuitable for long distances, due to the presence of stray capacitance in the transmission medium. On long transmission paths, the constant level shift from 0 to 5 volts, which causes the stray capacitance to charge up (remember, the capacitor charging formula is: 1-e-t/RC !). There will be a "stray" capacitor effect between any two conductors that are in close proximity to each other. For example, parallel running cables or wires are very suspect to stray capacitance.

If there is sufficient capacitance on the line (and a sufficient stream of 1s) a DC voltage component will be added to the data stream. Instead of returning to 0 volts, it would only return to 2 or 3 volts. The receiving station may not recognize a digital low at voltage of 2 volts!

Unipolar line encoding can have synchronization problems between the transmitter and receiver's clock oscillator. The receiver's clock oscillator locks on to the transmitted signal's level shifts (logic changes from 0 to 1) if there is a long series of logical 1s or 0s in a row. There is no level shift for the receiver's oscillator to lock to. The receiver oscillator's frequency may drift and become unsynchronized: it could lose track of where the receiver is supposed to sample the transmitted data!

Receive oscillator may drift during the period of all 1s Polar Encoding When the digital encoding is symmetrical--around 0 Volts--it is called a Polar Code. For example, the RS-232D interface uses Polar line encoding. The signal does not return to zero; it is either a +ve voltage or a -ve voltage. Polar line encoding is also called None Return To Zero (NRZ). Polar line encoding is the simplest pattern that eliminates most of the residual DC problem.

There is still a small residual DC problem, but Polar line encoding is a great improvement over Unipolar line encoding. Polar encoding has an added benefit in that it reduces the power required to transmit the signal by one-half.

RS-232D TXD Polar and Unipolar line encoding both share the same synchronization problem: if there is a long string of logical 1s or 0s, the receive oscillator may drift and become unsynchronized. Bipolar Line Encoding

Bipolar line encoding has 3 voltage levels. A low or 0 is represented by a 0 Volt level and a 1 is represented by alternating polarity pulses. By alternating the polarity of the pulses for 1s, the residual DC component cancels.

Bipolar Line Encoding Synchronization of receive and transmit clocks is greatly improved--except if there is a long string of 0s transmitted. Bipolar line encoding is also called Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI). Manchester Line Encoding In Manchester Line Encoding, there is a transition at the middle of each bit period. The mid-bit transition serves as a clocking mechanism (and also as data): a low to high transition represents a 1 and a high to low transition represents a 0.

Manchester line encoding has no DC component and there is always a transition available for synchronizing receive and transmit clocks. Manchester line encoding is also called self-clocking line encoding. It has the added benefit of requiring the least amount of bandwidth compared to the other line encoding. Manchester line encoding requires 2 frequencies: the base carrier and 2 x the carrier frequency. All others require a range from 0 hertz to the maximum transfer rate frequency.

Manchester line encoding can detect errors during transmission: a transition is expected during every bit period. Therefore, the absence of a transition would indicate an error condition.

http://www.engineering.mq.edu.au/~cl/files_pdf/elec321/lect_lc.pdf http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/rmorelos/ee160s06/Line_codes.pdf