Digital Communications

ECE 6602
Fall 2014
Instructor: Dr. Adnan A. Khan

Introduction of the Instructor and

Class

Instructor
Telecommunications Engineer in 1993 College Of Signals (UET
Lahore)
Received MS & PhD in Computer Engineering from the Centre of
Advanced Studies in Engineering (CASE) (UET Taxila)
PhD completed in 2009 and became First ever PhD from CASE an
HEC approved Supervisor
Couple of year experience in planning and optimization of
wireless systems
Research interests include Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO)
wireless communications systems, MIMO-Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA), CDMA-MUD, Software Defined Radios (SDR),
MIMO-SDR development, Satellite Communication systems, etc

Instructor
Developed a state of art Satellite Communications lab at National
University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan and is at present
also involved in two funded projects for MIMO-SDR test-bed
development and Micro-Satellite space program
He has at least 30 Research publications at his credit in Wireless
systems including eight in Impact factor Journals and one Book
on Advancements in Wireless Communications published in
Germany.

Course Text
Digital Communication- A Discrete Time Approach, M.
Rice, Pearson
Digital Communications: Fundamentals and
Applications, B. Sklar, Prentice Hall, 2nd ed, 2001
Advanced Topics material will be provided

Recommended Prerequisites
Communication Systems
Signals and Systems
Probability and Random Variables

Course Policies
Copying and cheating will not be entertained including
reproducing Solutions from net
Assignments - No delay
Results will get freeze after 7 days after announcement of
results on group.
All course related messages, assignments, projects submission
and feedback will be through ece6602.fall2012@gmail.com.
Otherwise will not be considered
Be current on course group. Message posted on group will be
an official announcements. Reading regularly will be students
responsibility.
Make up for Sessionals and Final will not be allowed

COURSE OUTLINE

Signal and Spectra

Review of Probability
Modulation, Demodulation and Detection
Equalization
Carrier Phase Synchronization
Symbol Timing Synchronization
Linear Block Coding
Spread Spectrum
OFDM
Intro to Spatial Multiplexing

Introduction
A digital communication system conveys discretetime, discrete-valued information across a physical
channel.
Information sources might include audio, video,
text, or data. They might be continuous-time
(analog) signals (audio, images) and even 1-D or 2D. Or, they may already be digital (discrete-time,
discrete-valued).
Our objective is to convey the signals or data to
another place with as faithful representation as
possible.

Course Objective
This course is designed to prepare students for
engineering work in the industry and for advanced
graduate work in the area of digital communications.
The course covers concepts and useful tools for design
and performance analysis of transmitters and receivers
in the physical layer of a communication system.
In digital communication, we want our waveform
choices to match the channel and receiver to maximize
the efficiency of the communication system

Course Crux
Digital information on an analog medium: We can
send waveforms, i.e., real-valued, continuous-time
functions, on the channel (medium). These
waveforms are from a discrete set of possible
waveforms. What set of waveforms should we use?
Why?
Decoding the data: When receiving a signal (a
function) in noise, none of the original waveforms
will match exactly. How do you make a decision
about which waveform was sent?

Course Crux
What makes a receiver difficult to realize? What
choices of waveforms make a receiver simpler to
implement? What techniques are used in a receiver
to compensate?
Efficiency, Bandwidth, and Fidelity: Fidelity is the
correctness of the received data (i.e., the opposite
of error rate). What is the tradeoff between energy,
bandwidth, and fidelity? We all want high fidelity,
and low energy consumption and bandwidth usage
(the costs of our communication system).

Comparative Analysis of Analog and

Digital Communication

13

Analog Communication: Transmitter and

Receiver
Receiver
Transmitter

Modulator
Modulator

Wireless
Channel
MUX
(FDM)

DEMUX
(Tuner)

DeMod

DeMod

Modulator
Message Signals

DeMod

Modulated Signal

Recovered
Messages
14

Digital Communication:
Transmitter
1010010
Analog
input

Analog to
Digital
Converter

Bits

10110
Source
Encode

From Other
Channels

01101
Multiplex

Encrypt
Encoded
Bits

Encrypted
Data
01101
Multiplexed
Data

01010
10101

Digital Bandpass
waveform

Bandpass
modulate

Pulse
modulated
waveform

Bit to Sym.
& Pulse
Modulate

Channel
Encoded
Data

1001101

Scrambled
data
Channel
Encode

Scrambler
10001
15

Digital Communication: Receiver

Digital
Bandpass
waveform

Digital
Baseband
waveform
De-modulate

Bits
Equalizer,
Timing and
Sym. to Bits

Channel
Decode

Channel
Decoded
Data

De-scramble

01101

Descrambled
Bits

Source
Decoded
Bits
Analog
output

D/A
1010010

Demultiplexed
Bits

Decrypted
Bits
Source
Decode

Decrypt
10110
To other
Channels

10001

DeMultiplex

16

Communication
Main purpose of communication is to
transfer information from a source to a
recipient via a channel or medium.
Basic block diagram of a communication
system:
Source

Transmitter

Channel

Receiver

Recipient

Brief Description
Source: analog or digital
Transmitter: transducer, amplifier, modulator,
oscillator, power amp., antenna
Channel: e.g. cable, optical fibre, free space
Receiver: antenna, amplifier, demodulator,
oscillator, power amplifier, transducer
Recipient: e.g. person, (loud) speaker, computer

 Types of information
Voice, data, video, music, email etc.

Types of communication systems

Public Switched Telephone Network (voice,fax,modem)
Satellite systems
Radio,TV broadcasting
Cellular phones
Computer networks (LANs, WANs, WLANs)
Radars/EW (ECM, ECCM)

Information Representation
Communication system converts information into electrical
electromagnetic/optical signals appropriate for the transmission medium.
Analog systems convert analog message into signals that can propagate
through the channel.
Digital systems convert bits(digits, symbols) into signals
Computers naturally generate information as characters/bits
Most information can be converted into bits
Analog signals converted to bits by sampling and quantizing (A/D
conversion)

Why digital?
Digital techniques need to distinguish between
discrete symbols allowing regeneration versus
amplification
Good processing techniques are available for digital
signals, such as
- Data compression (or source coding)
- Error Correction (or channel coding)
- Equalization
- Security
Easy to mix signals and data using digital
techniques

Basic Transmitter / Receiver Block Diagram

Basic Transmitter / Receiver Block Diagram

Information source comes from higher
networking layers. It may be continuous or
packetized.
Source Encoding: Finding a compact digital
representation for the data source. Includes
sampling of continuous-time signals, and
quantization of continuous-valued signals. Also
includes compression of those sources (lossy, or
lossless).

Basic Transmitter / Receiver Block Diagram

Channel encoding refers to redundancy added to
the signal such that any bit errors can be corrected.
A channel decoder, because of the redundancy, can
correct some bit errors.
Modulation refers to the digital-to-analog
conversion which produces a continuous-time
signal that can be sent on the physical channel. It is
analogous to impedance matching - proper
matching of a modulation to a channel allows
optimal information transfer, like impedance
matching ensured optimal power transfer.

Performance Metrics
Analog Communication Systems
Metric is fidelity: want ^
m(t)m(t)
SNR typically used as performance metric

Digital Communication Systems

^ are data rate (R bps) and probability of bit error
Metrics
(Pb=p(bb))
Symbols already known at the receiver
Without noise/distortion/sync. problem, we will never
make bit errors

Main Points
Transmitters modulate analog messages or bits in case of
a DCS for transmission over a channel.
Receivers recreate signals or bits from received signal
(mitigate channel effects)
Performance metric for analog systems is fidelity, for
digital it is the bit rate and error probability.

Why Digital Communications?

Easy to regenerate the distorted signal

Regenerative repeaters along the transmission path can detect a digital

signal and retransmit a new, clean (noise free) signal
These repeaters prevent accumulation of noise along the path
This is not possible with analog communication systems

Two-state signal representation

The input to a digital system is in the form of a sequence of bits (binary or

M_ary)

Immunity to distortion and interference

Digital communication is rugged in the sense that it is more immune to

channel noise and distortion

Why Digital Communications?

Hardware is more flexible
Digital hardware implementation is flexible and permits the use of
microprocessors, mini-processors, digital switching and VLSI
Shorter design and production cycle

Low cost
The use of LSI and VLSI in the design of components and systems have
resulted in lower cost

Easier and more efficient to multiplex several digital signals

Digital multiplexing techniques Time & Code Division Multiple Access are easier to implement than analog techniques such as Frequency Division
Multiple Access

Can combine different signal types data, voice, text, etc.

Data communication in computers is digital in nature whereas voice
communication between people is analog in nature

3.

Disadvantages
Requires reliable synchronization
Requires A/D conversions at high rate
Requires larger bandwidth

4. Performance Criteria
Probability of error or Bit Error Rate

Goals in Communication System Design

To maximize transmission rate, R

To maximize system utilization, U

To minimize bit error rate, Pe

To minimize required systems bandwidth, W
To minimize system complexity, Cx
To minimize required power, Eb/No