Note

To be transmitted, Data must be

transformed to Signals.

3.1
 3-1 ANALOG AND DIGITAL

Signal can be Analog or Digital

Analog signals can have an infinite number of values in a range.

Digital signals can have only a limited number of values.

3.2
 Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital signals

3.3
 Analog and Digital Data
Data can also be Analog or
Digital.
The term Analog data refers
to information that is
continuous;
Analog data take on
continuous values.
Digital data refers to
information that has discrete
states.
Digital data have discrete
states and take on discrete
values.

3.4
 Analog and Digital Devices

3.5
 Topics discussed in this section:
Periodic Non Periodic Signal
Sine Wave
 Wavelength
 Time and Frequency Domain
 Composite Signals
 Bandwidth

3.6
3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

In data communications, we commonly use periodic

analog signals and nonperiodic digital signals.
Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or
composite.
A simple periodic analog signal, a sine wave, cannot be
decomposed into simpler signals.
A composite periodic analog signal is composed of
multiple sine waves.

According to Fourier (A mathematician) Any signal can

be decomposed into its components called sine wave

3.7
3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS
Signals

analog signals digital signals

periodic nonperiodic periodic nonperiodic

sine wave composite signal

sine wave

3.8
 Figure 3.2 A sine wave

A Sine wave is understood by three characteristics

Amplitude

Frequency

Phase

Amplitude is the energy, voltage or strength of the signal at an instant. Peak Amplitude is the
maximum energy of the signal

3.9
 Figure 3.3 Two signals with the same phase and frequency,
but different amplitudes

3.10
 Frequency
• Frequency is the rate of change with respect to time.
• Change in a short span of time means high frequency.
• Change over a long span of time means low frequency.

If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is zero.

If a signal changes instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.

Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency

3.11
 Figure 3.4 Two signals with the same amplitude and phase,
but different frequencies

Frequency and period are

the inverse of each other.

3.12
 Examples

The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz. The period of this sine
wave can be determined as follows:

The period of a signal is 100 ms. What is its frequency in kilohertz?

Solution
First we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we calculate the frequency from
the period (1 Hz = 10−3 kHz).

3.13
 Phase
Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude
and frequency, but different phases
Phase describes
the position of the
waveform relative
to time 0.

3.14
 Phase

3.15
 Example 3.3

A sine wave is offset 1/6 cycle with respect to time 0.

What is its phase in degrees and radians?
Solution
We know that 1 complete cycle is 360°. Therefore, 1/6
cycle is

3.16
 Figure 3.6 Wavelength and period

3.17
 Figure 3.2 A sine wave

Why it is called Sine wave ??

3.18
 General format for Sine Wave

3.19
 Relation between θ and ω
Before understanding the sine wave representation . We understand the Relation between

θ and ω

3.20
 General format for Sine Wave
Mathematical representation of a Sine wave is

At=Am (Sin ωt+Φ)

Where Φ is the phase

3.21
 Representation of Sine wave in
Frequency Domain
Beside Time domain, we can represent a Sine
wave in Frequency domain also where we have
Frequency on x-axis and Amplitude on Y axis
The Frequency domain is more compact and
useful when we are dealing with more than one
sine wave.
A complete sine wave in the time
domain can be represented by one
single spike in the frequency domain.
3.22
 Figure 3.7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave

3.23
 Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

3.24
 Time domain and Frequency
domain
Two Sinusoids

When combined form a

composite signal

Same Sinusoids and

Composite signals in

Frequency Domain
3.25
 Advantage of Frequency
Domain

Suppose these signals

got noise merged in

them.

Not understandable

now

In frequency

domainAmplitude of

noise is low. The main

3.26 Signal can easily be

 Time and Frequency Domain

3.27
 Signals and Communication
 A single-frequency sine wave is not
useful in data communications
 We need to send a composite signal, a
signal made of many simple sine waves.
 According to Fourier analysis, any
composite signal is a combination of
simple sine waves with different
frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.

3.28
 Composite Signals and
Periodicity
 If the composite signal is periodic, the
decomposition gives a series of signals
with discrete frequencies.
 If the composite signal is nonperiodic, the
decomposition gives a combination of
sine waves with continuous frequencies.

3.29
 Example

Figure shows a periodic composite signal with frequency

f. This type of signal is not typical of those found in data
communications. We can consider it to be three alarm
systems, each with a different frequency. The analysis of
this signal can give us a good understanding of how to
decompose signals.

A composite periodic signal

3.30
 Figure 3.10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and
frequency domains

3.31
 Example

Figure shows a nonperiodic composite signal. It can be

the signal created by a microphone or a telephone set
when a word or two is pronounced. In this case, the
composite signal cannot be periodic, because that
implies that we are repeating the same word or words
with exactly the same tone.

The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

3.32
 Bandwidth and Signal
Frequency
 The bandwidth of a composite signal is
the difference between the highest and
the lowest frequencies contained in that
signal.

3.33
 Figure The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

3.34
 Example

If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves with frequencies of 100,
300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz, what is its bandwidth? Draw the spectrum,
assuming all components have a maximum amplitude of 10 V.
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the
bandwidth. Then

The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz
3.35
 Example

A periodic signal has a bandwidth of 20 Hz. The highest frequency is 60 Hz.

What is the lowest frequency? Draw the spectrum if the signal contains all
frequencies of the same amplitude.
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the
bandwidth. Then

The spectrum contains all integer frequencies.

3.36
 Example 3.8

A nonperiodic composite signal has a bandwidth of 200 kHz, with a middle

frequency of 140 kHz and peak amplitude of 20 V. The two extreme
frequencies have an amplitude of 0. Draw the frequency domain of the signal.
Solution
The lowest frequency must be at 40 kHz and the highest at 240
kHz. Figure shows the frequency domain and the bandwidth.

3.37
 3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS

In addition to being represented by an analog signal,

information can also be represented by a digital signal.
For example, a 1 can be encoded as a positive voltage
and a 0 as zero voltage. A Digital signal is also called as
Discrete signal

Actual representation of a Digital signal

These are just the

transitions in

between the levels

3.38
 Figure 3.16 Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels

A digital signal
can have more
than two levels.

3.39
 Example 3.16

2 levels => we can send 1 bit per level

4 levels => we can send 2 bits per level
8 levels => we can send 3 bits per level

We calculate the number of bits from the formula

If Bits=Number of Bits per level
And L=Number of levels

Bits=log2L

L=2B

3.40
 Example 3.17

A digital signal has nine levels. How many bits are

needed per level?
We calculate the number of bits by using the formula.
Each signal level is represented by 3.17 bits. However,
this answer is not realistic. The number of bits sent per
level needs to be an integer as well as a power of 2. For
this example, 3 bits can represent one level.

3.41
 Example 3.18

Assume we need to download text documents at the rate

of 100 pages per sec. What is the required bit rate of the
channel?
Solution
A page is an average of 24 lines with 80 characters in
each line. If we assume that one character requires 8
bits (ascii), the bit rate is

3.42
 Example 3.19

A digitized voice channel, as we will see later, is made by

digitizing a 4-kHz bandwidth analog voice signal. We
need to sample the signal at twice the highest frequency
(two samples per hertz). We assume that each sample
requires 8 bits. What is the required bit rate?

Solution
The bit rate can be calculated as

3.43
 Example 3.20

What is the bit rate for high-definition TV (HDTV)?

Solution
HDTV uses digital signals to broadcast high quality
video signals. The HDTV screen is normally a ratio of
16 : 9. There are 1920 by 1080 pixels per screen, and the
screen is renewed 30 times per second. Twenty-four bits
represents one color pixel.

The TV stations reduce this rate to 20 to 40 Mbps

through compression.
3.44
 Figure 3.17 The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic
digital signals

A digital signal is a composite analog signal with an infinite bandwidth.

3.45
 Baseband Transmissions

Figure 3.18 Baseband transmission

Figure 3.20 Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium

3.46
 Figure 3.19 Bandwidths of two low-pass channels

3.47
 Note

Baseband transmission of a digital

signal that preserves the shape of the
digital signal is possible only if we have
a low-pass channel with an infinite or
very wide bandwidth.

3.48
 Figure 3.22 Simulating a digital signal with first three harmonics

3.49
 Note

In baseband transmission, the required

bandwidth is proportional to the bit rate;
Inifbaseband
we need to send
transmission, bitsbandwidth
the required faster,is we needto
proportional

morethe bandwidth.
bit rate;

if we need to send bits faster, we need more bandwidth.

Table 3.2 Bandwidth requirements

3.50
 Example 3.22

What is the required bandwidth of a low-pass channel if

we need to send 1 Mbps by using baseband transmission?

Solution
The answer depends on the accuracy desired.
a. The minimum bandwidth, is B = bit rate /2, or 500 kHz.

b. A better solution is to use the first and the third

harmonics with B = 3 × 500 kHz = 1.5 MHz.

c. Still a better solution is to use the first, third, and fifth

harmonics with B = 5 × 500 kHz = 2.5 MHz.
3.51
 Figure 3.23 Bandwidth of a bandpass channel

Note
If the available channel is a bandpass channel, we
cannot send the digital signal directly to the channel;
we need to convert the digital signal to an analog
signal before transmission.

3.52
 Example 3.24

An example of broadband transmission using

modulation is the sending of computer data through a
telephone subscriber line, the line connecting a resident
to the central telephone office. These lines are designed
to carry voice with a limited bandwidth. The channel is
considered a bandpass channel. We convert the digital
signal from the computer to an analog signal, and send
the analog signal. We can install two converters to
change the digital signal to analog and vice versa at the
receiving end. The converter, in this case, is called a
modem

3.53
 Figure 3.24 Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass
channel

Modem Modem

3.54
 Example 3.25

A second example is the digital cellular telephone. For

better reception, digital cellular phones convert the
analog voice signal to a digital signal (see Chapter 16).
Although the bandwidth allocated to a company
providing digital cellular phone service is very wide, we
still cannot send the digital signal without conversion.
The reason is that we only have a bandpass channel
available between caller and callee. We need to convert
the digitized voice to a composite analog signal before
sending.

3.55
 3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

Signals travel through transmission media, which are not

perfect. The imperfection causes signal impairment. This
means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is
not the same as the signal at the end of the medium.
What is sent is not what is received. Three causes of
impairment are attenuation, distortion, and noise.

Topics discussed in this section:

 Attenuation
 Distortion
 Noise

3.56
 Figure 3.25 Causes of impairment

3.57
 Attenuation
 Means loss of energy -> weaker signal
 When a signal travels through a medium it
loses energy overcoming the resistance of
the medium
 Amplifiers are used to compensate for this
loss of energy by amplifying the signal.

3.58
 Figure 3.26 Attenuation

3.59
 Measurement of Attenuation
 To show the loss or gain of energy the unit
“decibel” is used.

dB = 10log10P2/P1
P1 - input signal
P2 - output signal

3.60
 Example 3.26

Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its

power is reduced to one-half. This means that P2 is (1/2)P1. In this
case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be calculated as

A loss of 3 dB (–3 dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the power.

3.61 P1 P2
 Example 3.27

A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased

10 times. This means that P2 = 10P1 . In this case, the
amplification (gain of power) can be calculated as

3.62 P1 P2
 Example 3.28

One reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the changes
in the strength of a signal is that decibel numbers can be added
(or subtracted) when we are measuring several points (cascading)
instead of just two. In Following Figure a signal travels from
point 1 to point 4. In this case, the decibel value can be calculated
as

3.63
 Example 3.29

Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power

in milliwatts. In this case, it is referred to as dBm and is
calculated as dBm = 10 log10 Pm , where Pm is the power in
milliwatts. Calculate the power of a signal with dB m =
−30.

Solution
We can calculate the power in the signal as

3.64
 Example 3.30

The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per kilometer

(dB/km). If the signal at the beginning of a cable with −0.3 dB/km
has a power of 2 mW, what is the power of the signal at 5 km?
Solution
The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) = −1.5 dB. We can
calculate the power as

3.65
 Distortion
 Means that the signal changes its form or shape
 Distortion occurs in composite signals
 Each frequency component has its own
propagation speed traveling through a medium.
 The different components therefore arrive with
different delays at the receiver.
 That means that the signals have different phases
at the receiver than they did at the source.

3.66
 Figure 3.28 Distortion

3.67
 Noise
 There are different types of noise
 Thermal - random noise of electrons in the wire
creates an extra signal
 Induced - from motors and appliances, devices
act are transmitter antenna and medium as
receiving antenna.
 Crosstalk - same as above but between two
wires.
 Impulse - Spikes that result from power lines,
lighning, etc.

3.68
 Figure 3.29 Noise

3.69
 Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
 To measure the quality of a system the SNR
is often used. It indicates the strength of the
signal wrt the noise power in the system.
 It is the ratio between two powers.
 It is usually given in dB and referred to as
SNRdB.

3.70
 Example 3.31

The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the

noise is 1 μW; what are the values of SNR and SNRdB ?

Solution
The values of SNR and SNRdB can be calculated as
follows:

3.71
 Example 3.32

The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel

are

We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.

3.72
 Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR

3.73
 3-5 DATA RATE LIMITS

A very important consideration in data communications

is how fast we can send data, in bits per second, over a
channel. Data rate depends on three factors:
1. The bandwidth available
2. The level of the signals we use
3. The quality of the channel (the level of noise)

Topics discussed in this section:

 Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate
 Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity
 Using Both Limits

3.74
 Capacity of a System
 The bit rate of a system increases with an increase
in the number of signal levels we use to denote a
symbol.
 A symbol can consist of a single bit or “n” bits.
 The number of signal levels = 2n.
 As the number of levels goes up, the spacing
between level decreases -> increasing the
probability of an error occurring in the presence of
transmission impairments.

3.75
 Note

Increasing the levels of a signal

increases the probability of an error
occurring, in other words it reduces the
reliability of the system. Why??

3.76
 Nyquist Theorem
 Nyquist gives the upper bound for the bit rate of a
transmission system by calculating the bit rate
directly from the number of bits in a symbol (or
signal levels) and the bandwidth of the system
(assuming 2 symbols/per cycle and first
harmonic).
 Nyquist theorem states that for a noiseless
channel:
C = 2 B log2 L
C= capacity in bps
B = bandwidth in Hz
L= level in signals
3.77
 Example 3.33

Does the Nyquist theorem bit rate agree with the

intuitive bit rate described in baseband transmission?

Solution
They match when we have only two levels. We said, in
baseband transmission, the bit rate is 2 times the
bandwidth if we use only the first harmonic in the worst
case. However, the Nyquist formula is more general than
what we derived intuitively; it can be applied to baseband
transmission and modulation. Also, it can be applied
when we have two or more levels of signals.
3.78
 Example 3.34

Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000

Hz transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The
maximum bit rate can be calculated as

3.79
 Example 3.35

Consider the same noiseless channel transmitting a

signal with four signal levels (for each level, we send 2
bits). The maximum bit rate can be calculated as

3.80
 Example 3.36

We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with

a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal levels do we
need?
Solution
We can use the Nyquist formula as shown:

Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either

increase the number of levels or reduce the bit rate. If we
have 128 levels, the bit rate is 280 kbps. If we have 64
levels, the bit rate is 240 kbps.
3.81
 Shannon’s Theorem
 Shannon’s theorem gives the capacity of a
system in the presence of noise.

C = B log2(1 + SNR)

3.82
 Example 3.37

Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value

of the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. In other
words, the noise is so strong that the signal is faint. For
this channel the capacity C is calculated as

This means that the capacity of this channel is zero

regardless of the bandwidth. In other words, we cannot
receive any data through this channel.

3.83
 Example 3.38

We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a

regular telephone line. A telephone line normally has a
bandwidth of 3000. The signal-to-noise ratio is usually
3162. For this channel the capacity is calculated as

This means that the highest bit rate for a telephone line
is 34.860 kbps. If we want to send data faster than this,
we can either increase the bandwidth of the line or
improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
3.84
 Example 3.39

The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels.

Assume that SNRdB = 36 and the channel bandwidth is 2
MHz. The theoretical channel capacity can be calculated
as

3.85
 Example 3.40

For practical purposes, when the SNR is very high, we

can assume that SNR + 1 is almost the same as SNR. In
these cases, the theoretical channel capacity can be
simplified to

For example, we can calculate the theoretical capacity of

the previous example as

3.86
 Example 3.41

We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR

for this channel is 63. What are the appropriate bit rate
and signal level?

Solution
First, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper
limit.

3.87
 Example 3.41 (continued)

The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, the upper limit.

For better performance we choose something lower, 4
Mbps, for example. Then we use the Nyquist formula to
find the number of signal levels.

3.88
 Note

The Shannon capacity gives us the

upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us
how many signal levels we need.

3.89
 3-6 PERFORMANCE

One important issue in networking is the performance of

the network—how good is it? We discuss quality of
service, an overall measurement of network performance,
in greater detail in Chapter 24. In this section, we
introduce terms that we need for future chapters.
Topics discussed in this section:
 Bandwidth - capacity of the system
 Throughput - no. of bits that can be
pushed through
 Latency (Delay) - delay incurred by a
bit from start to finish
 Bandwidth-Delay Product
3.90
 Note
In networking, we use the term
bandwidth in two contexts.
 The first, bandwidth in hertz, refers to the
range of frequencies in a composite signal
or the range of frequencies that a channel
can pass.
 The second, bandwidth in bits per second,

refers to the speed of bit transmission in a

channel or link. Often referred to as
Capacity.
3.91
 Example 3.42

The bandwidth of a subscriber line is 4 kHz for voice or

data. The bandwidth of this line for data transmission
can be up to 56,000 bps using a sophisticated modem to
change the digital signal to analog.

3.92
 Example 3.43

If the telephone company improves the quality of the line

and increases the bandwidth to 8 kHz, we can send
112,000 bps by using the same technology as mentioned
in Example 3.42.

3.93
 Example 3.44

A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can pass only an

average of 12,000 frames per minute with each frame
carrying an average of 10,000 bits. What is the
throughput of this network?

Solution
We can calculate the throughput as

The throughput is almost one-fifth of the bandwidth in

this case.
3.94
 Propagation & Transmission delay

 Propagation speed - speed at which a bit

travels though the medium from source to
destination.
 Transmission speed - the speed at which all
the bits in a message arrive at the
destination. (difference in arrival time of
first and last bit)

3.95
 Propagation and Transmission Delay

 Propagation Delay = Distance/Propagation speed

 Transmission Delay = Message size/bandwidth bps

 Latency = Propagation delay + Transmission delay +

Queueing time + Processing time

3.96
 Example 3.45

What is the propagation time if the distance between the

two points is 12,000 km? Assume the propagation speed
to be 2.4 × 108 m/s in cable.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation time as

The example shows that a bit can go over the Atlantic

Ocean in only 50 ms if there is a direct cable between the
source and the destination.
3.97
 Example 3.46

What are the propagation time and the transmission

time for a 2.5-kbyte message (an e-mail) if the
bandwidth of the network is 1 Gbps? Assume that the
distance between the sender and the receiver is 12,000
km and that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission time
as shown on the next slide:

3.98
 Example 3.46 (continued)

Note that in this case, because the message is short and

the bandwidth is high, the dominant factor is the
propagation time, not the transmission time. The
transmission time can be ignored.

3.99
 Example 3.47

What are the propagation time and the transmission

time for a 5-Mbyte message (an image) if the bandwidth
of the network is 1 Mbps? Assume that the distance
between the sender and the receiver is 12,000 km and
that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission
times as shown on the next slide.

3.100
 Example 3.47 (continued)

Note that in this case, because the message is very long

and the bandwidth is not very high, the dominant factor
is the transmission time, not the propagation time. The
propagation time can be ignored.

3.101
 Figure 3.31 Filling the link with bits for case 1

3.102
 Example 3.48

We can think about the link between two points as a

pipe. The cross section of the pipe represents the
bandwidth, and the length of the pipe represents the
delay. We can say the volume of the pipe defines the
bandwidth-delay product, as shown in Figure 3.33.

3.103
 Figure 3.32 Filling the link with bits in case 2

3.104
 Note

The bandwidth-delay product defines

the number of bits that can fill the link.

Concept of bandwidth-delay product

3.105