Lecture 8

Multi Level, Multi Transition

&
Block Codes
 mBnL Scheme
• A Multi level coding scheme is known as mBnL
, where m is the length of the binary pattern.
B means binary data, n is the length of the sig
nal pattern and L is the number of levels in the
signaling. A letter is often used in place of L: B
(binary) for L = 2, T (ternary) for L = 3, and Q (q
uaternary) for L = 4. Note that the first two lett
ers define the data pattern, and the second tw
o define the signal pattern.

m data is represented by sequence of n pulses

 2B1Q
• The two binary, one quaternary (2B1Q), uses
data patterns of size 2 and encodes the 2-bit p
atterns as one signal element belonging to a f
our-level signal. In this type of encoding m = 2,
n = 1, and L = 4 (quaternary). Figure shows an
example of a 2B1Q signal.
• The 2B1Q scheme is used in DSL (Digital Subsc
riber Line) technology to provide a high-speed
connection to the Internet by using subscriber
telephone lines.
2 Binary e.g.
00,01,10,11 &
4 signals
level e.g. +1,
+3, -1, -3
 8B6T
• A very interesting scheme is eight binary, six ternar
y (8B6T). This code is used with 100BASE-4T cable.
• The idea is to encode a pattern of 8 bits as a pattern
of six signal elements, where the signal has three le
vels (ternary).
• Data element = 8 ; data patterns = 28 = 256 and
• Signal element = 6 ; signal patterns = 36 = 729.
• There are 729 – 256 = 473 redundant signal elemen
ts that provide synchronization and error detection.
Figure : Multilevel: 8B6T

8 bits data is converted into

6 signal elements using
3 levels (0, - , + ) of signal
4.6
• Figure shows an example of three data patterns enc
oded as three signal patterns.
• The three possible signal levels are represented as -,
0, and +. The first 8-bit pattern 00010001 is encode
d as the signal pattern -0–0++ with weight 0; the sec
ond 8-bit pattern 01010011 is encoded as -+-++0
with weight +1. The third 8-bit pattern 01010000 sh
ould be encoded as +--+0+ with weight +1.
• To create DC balance, the sender inverts the actual s
ignal. The receiver can easily recognize that this is a
n inverted pattern because the weight is -1. The pat
tern is inverted before decoding.
 4D-PAM5
• The last signaling scheme in this category is called f
our-dimensional five-level pulse amplitude modula
tion (4D-PAM5).
• The 4D means that data is sent over four wires at th
e same time.
• It uses five voltage levels, such as -2, -1, 0, 1 and 2.
However, one level, level 0, is used only for forward
error detection.
• In other words, an 8-bit word is translated to a signa
l element of four different levels.
• Gigabit LANs use this technology to send 1gbps over
copper wires
Figure 4.12: Multilevel: 4D-PAMS scheme

Voltage 0 is not used here. It is used for forward error correction.

4.9
 Multi Transition : MLT-3
• NRZ-I and differential Manchester are classified as differe
ntial encoding but use two transition rules to encode bina
ry data (no inversion, inversion).
• If we have a signal with more than two levels, we can desi
gn a differential encoding scheme with more than two tra
nsition rules.
• MLT-3 technique uses more than two transition rules.
• The multiline transmission, three-level (MLT-3) scheme u
ses three levels (+V, 0, and –V) and three transition rules t
o move between the levels.
 – If the next bit is 0, there is no transition.
– If the next bit is 1 and the current level is not 0, th
e next level is 0.
– If the next bit is 1 and the current level is 0, the ne
xt level is the opposite of the last nonzero level.
• The signal rate for MLT-3 is one-fourth the bit rate.
This makes MLT-3 a suitable choice when we need t
o send 100 Mbps on a copper wire.
• FDDI over copper (CDDI) uses MLT-3 encoding instea
d, as does 100BASE-TX.
Figure 4.13: Multi-transition MLT-3 scheme

4.12
 Table: Summary of line coding schemes

13
4.13
 Block Coding
• Block codes operate on a block of bits. Using a
preset algorithm, we take a group of bits and add a
coded part to make a larger block. This block is
checked at the receiver. The receiver then makes a
decision about the validity of the received
sequence..
• In general, block coding changes a block of m bits
into a block of n bits, where n is larger than m. Block
coding is referred to as an mB/nB encoding
technique.
• Block coding can give us this redundancy and
4.14
improve the performance of line coding.
• Examples of block codes are Reed–Solomon co
des, Hamming codes, Hadamard codes, Expan
der codes, Golay codes, and Reed–Muller cod
es. These examples also belong to the class of
linear codes, and hence they are called linear
block codes.
Figure: Block coding concept

4.16
 4B/5B Block Coding
• The four binary/five binary (4B/5B) coding scheme was desig
ned to be used in combination with NRZ-I.
• Since long sequence of 0s can make the receiver clock lose
synchronization. 4B5B maps groups of four bits onto groups
of 5 bits, with a minimum density of 1 bits in the output. W
hen NRZI-encoded, the 1 bits provide necessary clock transi
tions for the receiver.
• For example, a run of 4 bits such as 0000 contains no transit
ions and that causes clocking problems for the receiver. 4B/
5B solves this problem by assigning each block of 4 consecu
tive bits an equivalent word of 5 bits.
• The 4B/5B scheme achieves this goal. The block-coded strea
m does not have more than three consecutive 0s, as we will
see later.
• At the receiver, the NRZ-I encoded digital signal is first
decoded into a stream of bits and then decoded to
remove the redundancy. Figure shows the idea.
• In 4B/5B, the 5-bit output that replaces the 4-bit input
has no more than one leading zero (left bit) and no
more than two trailing zeros (right bits). So when
different groups are combined to make a new sequence,
there are never more than three consecutive 0s.
• The 4B5B output is NRZI-encoded.
• 4B5B was popularized by Fiber distributed data interface
(FDDI) in the mid-1980s, and was later adopted by
100BASE-TX standard defined by IEEE 802.3u in 1995.
Figure: Using block coding 4B/5B with NRZ-I line coding scheme

4.19
 Table: 4B/5B mapping codes

20
4.20
Example
We need to send data at a 1-Mbps rate. What is the
minimum required bandwidth, using a combination of
4B/5B and NRZ-I or Manchester coding?

Solution
•First 4B/5B block coding increases the bit rate to 4.25
Mbps. The minimum bandwidth using NRZ-I is N/2 or 625
kHz.
•The Manchester scheme needs a minimum bandwidth of 1
MHz.
•The first choice needs a lower bandwidth, but has a DC
component problem; the second choice needs a higher
bandwidth, but does not have a DC component problem.
21
Figure: Substitution in 4B/5B block coding
 5B/6B
Same idea as 4B/5B but you can have DC balance (3 zero
bits and 3 one bits in each group of 6) to prevent
polarisation. 5B/6B Encoding is the process of encoding the
scrambled 5-bit data patterns into predetermined 6-bit
symbols. This creates a balanced data pattern, containing
equal numbers of 0's and 1's, to provide guaranteed clock
transitions synchronization for receiver circuitry, as well as
an even power value on the line.
• 5B6B encoding also provides an added error-checking capa
bility. Invalid symbols and invalid data patterns, such as mor
e than three 0's or three 1's in a row, are easily detected
 8B/10B Block Coding
• The eight binary / ten binary (8B/10B) encoding is simi
lar to 4B/5B encoding except that a group of 8 bits of d
ata is now substituted by a 10-bit code. It provides grea
ter error detection capability than 4B/5B.
• The 8B/10B block coding is actually a combination of 5
B/6B & 3B/4B encoding, as shown in Figure.
• The five most significant bits of a 10-bit block are fed in
to the 5B/6B encoder; the three least significant bits ar
e fed into a 3B/4B encoder. The split is done to simplify
the mapping table. To prevent a long run of consecutive
0s or 1s, the code uses a disparity controller which keep
s track of excess 0s over 1s (or 1s over 0s).
• The coding has 210 – 28 = 768 redundant group
s that can be used for disparity checking and e
rror detection. In general, the technique is sup
erior to 4B/5B because of better built-in-error-
checking capability and better synchronization
.
Figure 4.17: 8B/10B block encoding

Usage : Gigabit Ethernet (except for the twisted pair–based

1000Base-T) & USB 3.0
 Scrambling

• The line and block coding is modified to

include scrambling, as shown in Figure.
• Note that scrambling, as opposed to block
coding, is done at the same time as encoding.
The system needs to insert the required
pulses based on the defined scrambling rules.
• Two common scrambling techniques are
B8ZS and HDB3.

4.27
Figure: AMI used with scrambling

4.28
Figure: Two cases of B8ZS scrambling technique

4.29
Figure: Different situations in HDB3 scrambling technique

4.30
 Summary
• LAN codes –Manchester, differential
Manchester, mBnL, mB/nB

• WAN codes – B8ZS, HDB3