CS307

DATA
COMMUNICATION
Text Books
● Curt M. White, Fundamentals of Networking and
Communication 7/e, Cengage learning. [Chapter
3,4,9,10]
● Forouzan B. A., Data Communications and Networking,
5/e, Tata McGraw Hill, 2013. [Chapters:3,4, 5, 6,7,8]
● Schiller J., Mobile Communications, 2/e, Pearson
Education, 2009. [Chapters:2,3]
● William Stallings, Data and Computer Communication
9/e, Pearson Education, Inc. [Chapters: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].
References
● Forouzan B. A., Data Communications and
Networking, 4/e, Tata McGraw Hill, 2007.
● Tanenbaum A. S. and D. Wetherall, Computer
Networks, Pearson Education, 2013.

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Module 1
● Data Transmission: Communication model Simplex,
half duplex and full duplex transmission –
● Periodic Analog signals: Sine wave, phase, wavelength,
time and frequency domain, bandwidth - Digital
Signals;
● Digital data Transmission:- Analog & Digital data,
Analog & Digital signals, Analog &Digital transmission –
● Transmission Impairments: Attenuation, Delay
distortion, Noise –
● Channel capacity: Nyquist Bandwidth, Shannon's
Capacity formula 4
Introduction to Data
Communication
Data communication 
refers to the exchange of
data between a source
and a receiver via some
form of transmission
media such as cable
media or wireless media.
Telecommunication
○ Telecommunication is communication at a
distance using electrical signals or electromagnetic
waves.
○ Examples of telecommunications systems are the
■ Telephone network,
■ Radio broadcasting system,
■ Computer networks
■ Internet.
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Data
○ Data is information presented in whatever form is
agreed upon by the parties creating and using the
data.

○ Can exist in a variety of forms such as numbers, text,

bits and bytes,multimedia etc. 

○ When we communicate, we are sharing

information(data). 8
● The effectiveness of a data communications system
depends on four fundamental characteristics:

○ Delivery

○ Accuracy

○ Timeliness

○ Jitter

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● Delivery:
○ The system must deliver data to the correct
destination.
○ Data must be received by the intended device or
user and only by that device or user.

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● Accuracy:
○ The system must deliver the data without error and
accurately.
○ Data that have been altered in transmission and left
uncorrected are unusable

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● Timeliness:
○ The system must deliver data in a timely manner.
○ Data delivered late are useless.
○ In the case of video and audio, timely delivery
means delivering data as they are produced, in the
same order that they are produced, and without
significant delay. This kind of delivery is called
real-time transmission.

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● Jitter:
○ Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival
time.
○ It is the uneven delay in the delivery of audio or
video packets.
○ For example, let us assume that video packets are
sent every 30 ms. If some of the packets arrive with
30-ms delay and others with 40-ms delay, an
uneven quality in the video is the result.
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Components of data communication

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● Message:
○ The message is the information (data) to be
communicated.
○ Popular forms of information include text, numbers,
pictures, audio, and video.

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● Sender:
○ The sender is the device that sends the data
message.
○ It can be a computer, workstation, telephone
handset, video camera, and so on.

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● Receiver:
○ The receiver is the device that receives the
message.
○ It can be a computer, workstation, telephone
handset, television.

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● Transmission medium:
○ The transmission medium is the physical path by
which a message travels from sender to receiver.
○ i.e., channel through which data is sent from one
place to another.
○ Some examples of transmission media include
twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable,
and radio waves.

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● Protocol:
○ A protocol is a standard set of rules that allow
electronic devices to communicate with each other.
○ It represents an agreement between the
communicating devices.
○ These rules include what type of data may be
transmitted, what commands are used to send and
receive data, and how data transfers are confirmed. 

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○ Without a protocol, two devices may be connected
but not communicating, just as a person speaking
French cannot be understood by a person who
speaks only Japanese.

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A Communication Model

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● The fundamental purpose of a communications
system is the exchange of data between two parties

● The key elements of this model are:

○ Source - generates data to be transmitted
○ Transmitter - converts data into transmittable
signals

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○ Transmission System - carries data from source to
destination
○ Receiver - converts received signal into data
○ Destination – takes incoming data

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Data representation
● Data can be of different forms:
○ Text
■ In data communication, text is a sequence of 0’s
and 1’s which can be represented using various
codes
■ E.g
● Unicode(32-bit code)
● ASCII(7-bit code)(American Standard Code
for Information Interchange)
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○ Numbers
■ Represented by bit patterns
■ Numbers are directly converted to a binary
number
■ Several numbering systems are available:
decimal,binary,hexadecimal etc.

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○ Audio
■ May be sound or music.
■ Different from image ,text or numbers.
■ It is continuous ,not discrete.
■ Microphone change voice or music to an
electrical signal which is continuous.

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○ Images
■ Images are also represented by bit patterns.
■ Image is composed of matrix of pixels.
■ Each pixel is assigned a bit value.
■ For black and white image one bit is sufficient
■ For gray scale image more bit patterns are
needed.
■ For color image RGB pattern can be used.
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Communication tasks
● Transmission System utilization
○ Efficient use of transmission facilities that are
shared among a number of communicating
devices.
○ Techniques like Multiplexing is used to allocate the
total capacity of a transmission medium among a
number of users.
○ Congestion control techniques are required to
assure that the system is not overwhelmed by
excessive demand for transmission services.
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● Interfacing
○ To communicate, a device must interface with the
transmission system
○ The data are communicated as electromagnetic
waves propagated over the transmission medium.

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● Signal Generation
○ Once the interface is established ,signals has to be
generated.
○ Properties of signals such as form and intensity
must be such that the signal is:
■ Capable of being propagated through the
transmission system
■ Interpretable as data at the receiver

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● Synchronization

○ The signals are generated based on the transmission

media and receiver.

○ There must be some form of synchronization between

transmitter and receiver.

○ The receiver must be able to determine when a signal

begins to arrive and when it ends.

○ It must also know the duration of each signal 31

● Exchange Management
○ In telephone conversation ,the caller dial the
number of other which results in ringing of phone
in the called side.

○ Connection is completed when the called party lift

the phone.

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○ In data processing devices, connection
establishment is required.

○ Along with that it has to decide whether both

devices transmit simultaneously, or must take
turns, the amount of data sent at one time, the
format of the data and what to do if certain
contingencies such as error arise

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● Error Detection and Correction
○ In all communication system there is a high
potential for error i.e. the transmitted signal get
distorted to some extent before reaching their
destination.
○ Error detection and correction is required where
errors cannot be tolerated.
○ Usually needed in data processing.
○ E.g. File transfer

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● Flow Control
○ Flow control is required to assure that the source
does not overwhelm the destination by sending
data faster than they can be processed and
absorbed.

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● Addressing and Routing

○ When more than two devices share a transmission

facility ,a source system must indicate the identity
of the intended system

○ The transmission system must assure that only the

destination system receives the data.

○ Various paths may be available to the destination

and a specific path must be chosen.
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○ Routing is the process of selecting a path for traffic
in a network or between or across multiple
networks. 

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● Recovery

○ Recovery techniques are needed in situations in

which an information exchange ,such as a database
transaction or file transfer ,is interrupted due to
fault somewhere in the system.

○ The objective is either to resume activity at the

point of interruption or restore the state of the
systems involved to the condition prior to the
beginning of the exchange 38
● Message Formatting

○ An agreement has to be made between the parties

as to the form of the data to be exchanged or
transmitted ,such as binary code for characters.

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● Security

○ The sender of data may wish to be assured that

only the intended receiver actually receives the
data.

○ And the receiver of data may wish to be assured

that the received data have not be altered in transit
and that the data actually come from the trusted
senders.
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● Network management

○ Data communication system is a complex system

that cannot create or run itself.

○ Network management capabilities are needed to

configure the system, monitor its status, react to
failures and overloads and plan intelligently for
future growth.

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Data Communication Model
● Suppose the source and transmitter be the components
of a personal computer.
● The user of the PC wishes to send a message m to
another user.
● Activate the email and type the message.
● The message is buffered in memory as a sequence of bits
,g.
● The PC is connected to some transmission media, such
as a telephone line or a LAN using a modem or a local
network transceiver.
● The input data is transmitted to the transceiver as a
sequence of voltage shifts ,g(t).
● The transmitter is directly connected to the
transmission media and it converts the incoming data
stream into signal ,s(t) suitable for transmission
● But the signal s(t) presented to the medium is subject
to various impairments before it reaches the receiver.
● Thus the received signal r(t) received by receiver may
differ from s(t).

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● The receiver will attempt to estimate the original
s(t),based on r(t) and its knowledge about the medium
producing a sequence of bits g'(t).
● These bits are sent to the output personal computer
and it is stored in memory as g
● Destination system will attempt to determine if an
error occurred and try to correct it .

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● This data is presented to the user via an output device,
like printer or screen.
● The message m‘ will be the exact copy of message m

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1.

Data Transmission
Transmission Terminology
● Data transmission occurs between transmitter and
receiver over some transmission media
● Transmission media can be classified as:

○ Guided media

○ Unguided media
● In both cases the communication is in the form of
electromagnetic waves
● Guided media

○ The waves are guided along a physical path.

○ E.g. Coaxial cable, Twisted Pair, Optical fiber.

● Unguided media

○ Also called wireless media.

○ It provides a means for transmitting

electromagnetic waves but do not guide them.

○ E.g. propagation through air, vacuum or sea water

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● Direct link
○ Transmission path between two devices in which
signals propagate directly from transmitter to
receiver with no intermediate devices, other than
amplifiers or repeaters used to increase signal
strength

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● Point to point

○ Point to point communication means the channel

is shared between two devices.

○ There is dedicated link between two nodes.

○ The entire capacity is reserved between these

connected two devices.

○ There is one transmitter and one receiver

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● Multipoint

○ Multipoint Communication means the channel is

shared among multiple devices or nodes.

○ Link is provided all times for share the connection

among nodes.

○ The entire capacity is depend on the quick sharing.

○ There is one transmitter and many receivers

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12
● Data Data transmission mode means transferring of
data between two devices.
● It is also known as communication mode.
● Buses and networks are designed to allow
communication to occur between individual devices
that are interconnected .
● Transmission Mode defines the direction of the flow of
information between two communication devices.

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● There are three types of transmission mode:

○ Simplex Mode

○ Half-Duplex Mode

○ Full-Duplex Mode

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Simplex mode

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● Communication can take place in one direction
● connected devices are either a send only or receive only
device.
● The simplex mode can use the entire capacity of the
channel to send data in one direction.
● There is no mechanism for information to be
transmitted back to the sender.
● Communication is unidirectional.
● Simplex transmission generally involves dedicated
circuits.
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● Examples of Simplex mode
○ A Communication between a Computer and a
keyboard
○ A television broadcast
○ loudspeaker system
● An announcer speaks into a microphone and
his/her voice is sent through an amplifier and
then to all the speakers.
○ Simplex circuits are analogous to escalators,
doorbells,fire alarms and security systems.

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Half Duplex

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● A half duplex system can transmit data in both
directions,but only in one direction at a time.
● When one device is sending the other can only receive
and vice-versa.
● the entire capacity of the channel can be utilized for
each direction

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● Example

○ A walkie-talkie operates in half duplex mode. It can

only send or receive a transmission at any given
time. It cannot do both at the same time.

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Full duplex

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● Full duplex system can transmit data simultaneously in
both directions on transmission path
● The channel capacity is shared by both
communicating devices at all times.
● It represents bi-directional system as both the
connected devices can transmit and receive at the
same time.
● The link may contain two separate transmission paths
one for sending and another for receiving
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● This sharing can occur in two ways:
○ Either the link must contain two physically separate
transmission paths ,one for sending and other for
receiving
○ The capacity of channel is divided between signals
travelling in both directions

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● Example of Full duplex mode:

○ Telephone networks operate in full duplex mode

when two persons talk on telephone line, both can
listen and speak simultaneously.

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Signals
Basics of signals
● Information is transmitted in the form of
electromagnetic signals across a transmission media.
● Information can be in the form of data, voice, picture,
and so on.
● Generally the information usable to a person or
application is not in a form that can be transmitted
over a network.
● The information must be converted into a form that
transmission media can accept.
● A signal is the physical representation of a certain
information.
● Data must be transformed to electromagnetic signals
to be transmitted.

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ANALOG AND DIGITAL
● Signals and data are classified as analog or digital.
● Analog refers to something that is continuous- a set of
data and all possible points between.
● Digital refers to something that is discrete –a set of
specific points of data with no other points in between.

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● Analog data take on continuous values.
● When someone speaks, an analog wave is created in
the air. This can be captured by a microphone and
converted to an analog signal or sampled and
converted to a digital signal.

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● Digital data take on discrete values.
● For example, data are stored in computer memory in
the form of 0s and 1s. They can be converted to a digital
signal or modulated into an analog signal for
transmission across a medium.

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7
● Analog signal
○ Continuously varying electromagnetic wave that
may be propagated over a variety of media,
depending upon the spectrum.

○ It has infinitely many levels of intensity over a

period of time.

○ Media can be guided media such as twisted pair or

coaxial cable or unguided media such as
atmosphere or space propagation.
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● Digital signal
○ Sequence of voltage pulses that may be
transmitted over a wire medium.

○ Can have only limited number of defined values.

○ For e.g., a constant positive voltage represent binary

0 and a constant negative voltage may represent a
binary 1.

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Time Domain Representation
● Signals can be plotted on a pair of perpendicular axes.
● Vertical axes represents the value or strength of the
signal.
● Horizontal axes represents the time.

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11
● Both analog and digital signals can take one of the
forms:

○ Periodic or

○ Non periodic(Aperiodic)
● In data communications, we commonly use periodic
analog signals and non periodic digital signals.

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Perodic & Nonperiodic(aperiodic)
signals
● Periodic signal
○ Periodic signal is a signal which repeats itself after
specific interval of time.
○ Periodic signal can be represented by a
mathematical equation.
○ The value of periodic signal can be determined at
any point in time.
○ Periodic signal are deterministic signals.
○ Sinusoidal wave, cosine wave, triangle wave and
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square wave are example of periodic signal
● A periodic signal
completes a pattern
within a measurable
time frame, called a
period, and repeats that
pattern over
subsequent identical
periods.
● The completion of one
full pattern is called a
cycle

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15
● Aperiodic Signal

○ Aperiodic signal is a signal which does not repeat

itself after a specific interval of time.

○ Aperiodic signal cannot be represented by any

mathematical equation.

○ The value of aperiodic signal cannot be determined

with certainty at any given point of time.

○ Aperiodic signal are random signals.

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● Example of aperiodic signal is signal created by
microphone or telephone when one or two words are
pronounced.
● Signal propagated by AM radio station or FM radio
stations are all aperiodic signal.

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18
Sine Wave
● A geometric waveform that oscillates (moves up, down
or side-to-side) periodically, and is defined by the
function y = sin x.
● It is an s-shaped, smooth wave that oscillates above
and below zero.

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Periodic Analog Signals
● Mathematically ,a signal s(t) is defined to be periodic if
and only if
s( t +T )=s(t), -∞ < t< +∞

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● The Sine wave can be represented by three parameters:

○ Peak Amplitude(A)

○ Frequency(f)

○ Phase(Ø)

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22
● Peak amplitude

○ The maximum value or strength of the signal over

time

○ The peak amplitude of a signal is the absolute value

of its highest intensity, proportional to the energy it
carries.

○ For electric signals, peak amplitude is normally

measured in volts.
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● Period

○ Period is the time it takes a wave to complete one

cycle.

○ We measure the period in seconds, and we

symbolize it with the capital letter T. 

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● Frequency

○ The rate at which signal repeats

○ A wave's frequency is the number of cycles that are

completed in a certain amount of time.

○ The symbol for frequency is the lowercase f, and we

measure it in cycles(periods) per second, which is
the same as the unit hertz.

○ A wave with a frequency of 20 Hz completes 20

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● Frequency and period are the inverse of each other.

f = 1/T T =1/f
● Period is formally expressed in seconds.
● Frequency is formally expressed in Hertz (Hz), which is
cycle per second.
● Change in a short span of time means high frequency
● Change over a long span of time means low frequency

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● If a signal changes does not change at all,its frequency
is zero
● If a signal changes instantaneously,its frequency is
infinite

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

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Problem 1
● The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz
(50 Hz in Europe). The period of this sine wave
T =1/ f
=1/60
= 0.0166 s = 0.0166 x 103 ms =16.6 ms
● This means that the period of the power for our lights
at home is 0.0116 s, or 16.6 ms.
● Our eyes are not sensitive enough to distinguish these
rapid changes in amplitude.

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● Phase

○ The relationship between two or more signals that

share the same frequency.

○ Phase is the position of the wave relative to time 0.

○ The phase involves the relationship between the

position of the amplitude crests and troughs of two
waveforms.

○ Phase can be measured in distance, time, or

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● If the peaks of two signals with the same frequency are
in exact alignment at the same time, they are said to
be in phase. Conversely, if the peaks of two signals with
the same frequency are not in exact alignment at the
same time, they are said to be out of phase.

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● A phase shift of 360° corresponds to a shift of a
complete period.
● A phase shift of 180° corresponds to a shift of one-half
of a period.
● A phase shift of 90° corresponds to a shift of
one-quarter of a period.

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● A sine wave with a phase of 0° is not shifted.
● A sine wave with a phase of 90° is shifted to the left by
1/4 cycle. However, note that the signal does not really
exist before time 0.
● A sine wave with a phase of 180° is shifted to the left by
1/2 cycle. However, note that the signal does not really
exist before time 0.

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● The general sine wave can be written as:

S(t)=A sin(2∏f t+Ø)

This function is known as sinusoid.

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Three sine waves(periodic analog signals) with the same
amplitude and frequency, but different phases

35
● A sine wave with phase 0° starts at time 0 with zero
amplitude. The amplitude is increasing.

● A sine wave with a phase of 90° starts at time 0 with a

peak amplitude. The amplitude is decreasing.

● A sine wave with phase of 180° starts at time 0 with a

zero amplitude .The amplitude is decreasing.

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38
● Wavelength

○ The wavelength is the distance a simple signal can

travel in one period.

○ Wavelength is the distance between the crest of

two waves.

○ The wavelength depends on both the frequency

and the medium.

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○ If we represent wavelength by ‫ג‬, propagation speed
by c (speed of light), and frequency by f, we get

○ Wavelength = propagation speed x period

= propagation speed / frequency

○ Light is propagated with a speed of 3 x 108 m/s. That

speed is lower in air and even lower in cable.

○ The wavelength is normally measured in

micrometers (microns) instead of meters.
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Problem 2
● For example, the wavelength of red light (frequency =4
x 1014) in air is
● ‫ =ג‬c/f = 3x108 / 4x 1014
=0.75 x 10-6 m =0.75µm
● In a coaxial or fiber-optic cable, however, the
wavelength is shorter (0.5 µm) because the
propagation speed in the cable is decreased.
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42
Problem 3

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Problem 4

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Problem 5

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DIGITAL SIGNALS
• 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 can have more than two levels.
• In this case, we can send more than 1 bit for
each level.
•
• A digital signal is one in which the signal
intensity maintains a constant level for some
period of time and then changes to another
constant level.
• Most digital signals are nonperiodic.
• So frequency and period are not appropriate
characteristics.
• Bit rate
– bit rate (instead of frequency)—is used to
describe digital signals.
– The bit rate is the number of bits sent in 1s,
expressed in bits per second (bps).
• Bit length
– The bit length is the distance one bit occupies on
the transmission medium.
– Bit length =propagation speed x bit duration
– The bit interval is the time required to send one
single bit
Digital Data Transmission
 Terminologies
• Data
– entities that convey meaning
• Signals
– electric or electromagnetic representations of data.
• Signalling
– physically propagates along medium
• Transmission
– communication of data by propagation and processing
of signals
Digital Signal as a Composite signal
• Based on Fourier analysis ,a digital signal is a
composite analog signal.
• The bandwidth is infinite.
• A digital signal in the time domain ,comprises
connected vertical and horizontal line segments .
• A vertical line in the time domain means a frequency
of infinity(sudden change in time)
• A horizontal line in the time domain means a
frequency of zero(no change in time)
• Going from a frequency of zero to a frequency of
infinity (and vice versa) implies that all frequencies in
between are part of domain
• Baseband transmission
– Baseband transmission means sending a digital
signal over a channel without changing the digital
signal to an analog signal.
Analog and Digital signaling of Analog
and Digital data
• Analog signaling
– Data can be encoded into signals in a variety of
wayes
• Digital signaling
• Analog Transmission
– Is a means of transmitting analog signals without
regard to their content.
– Signals may represent analog data(voice) or digital
data(binary data that pass through a modem)
– In either case, the signal will attenuate after a certain
distance.
– Amplifiers are added to boost the energy of the
signals, but it boosts the noise components also.
– Cascading of amplifiers cause distortion in the signal.
– Analog data will tolerate distortion to some extent,
but digital data causes errors.
• Digital Transmission
– Assumes binary content of the signal.
– Digital signals can be transmitted only to a limited
distance.
– Get affected by attenuation ,noise etc.
– Repeaters are used to achieve greater distance.
• receives digital signal and recovers the pattern of 1’s
and 0’s in the signal and retransmits a new signal.
– The repeaters will recover the digital data from
analog signal and generates a new ,clean analog
signal.
– Digital transmission is considered to better than
analog transmission for various reasons.
• Advantages
1. Digital Technology
• The advent of large scale integration (LSI ) and very-large
scale integration (VLSI) technology has caused a continuing
drop in cost and size of digital circuitry.
2. Data Integrity
• With the use of repeaters rather than amplifiers, the
effects of noise and other signal impairments are not
cumulative.
• Thus it is possible to transmit data longer distances and
over lower quality lines by digital means while maintaining
the integrity of the data.
3. Capacity Utilization
• It is more economical to build transmission links of high
bandwidth ,including satellite channels and optical
fiber.
• A high degree of multiplexing is needed to utilize such
capacity effectively.
• This is achieved more easily and cheaply with
digital(time division) rather than analog( frequency
division)
4. Security and Privacy
• Encryption techniques can be readily applied to digital
data and to analog data that have been digitized.
5. Integration
• By treating both analog and digital data digitally, all
signals have the same form and can be treated
similarly.

• Economies of scale and convenience can be achieved

by integrating voice ,video and digital data.
 Analog - Audio Signals
• Freq range 20Hz-20kHz (speech 100Hz-7kHz)
• Sound waves whose amplitude is measured in terms of
loudness is easily converted into electromagnetic
signals.
• And electromagnetic signals whose amplitude is
measured in terms of volts.
• In transmission, we need to consider fidelity of the
sound and cost of transmission.
• 100 Hz to 7 kHz is standard spectrum for voice channel.
• But a much narrower frequency range/bandwidth of
300-3400Hz is only required to reproduce sound cost
effectively.
Analog - Audio Signals
 Digital Data
• As generated by computers etc.
• Has two dc components
• Bandwidth depends on data rate
 Advantages & Disadvantages
of Digital Signals
• Cheaper
• Less susceptible to noise
• But greater attenuation
• Digital now preferred choice
 Analog Data - Speech
• Analog data take on continuous values in some
interval,
• Audio, which, in the form of acoustic sound
waves, can be perceived directly by human
beings.
• Frequency components of typical speech may be
found between approximately 100 Hz and 7 kHz.
• Frequencies below 600 or 700 HZ add very little to
intelligibility of speech to human ear.
• Speech has a dynamic range of about 25 dB (a
shout is approx 300 times louder than whisper).
 Analog Data - Video
• In video, electron beam scans across the surface
of the screen from left to right and top to bottom.
• To achieve adequate resolution, the beam
produces a total of 483 horizontal lines at a rate
of 30 complete scans of the screen per second.
• Tests have shown that this rate will produce a
sensation of flicker rather than smooth motion.
• To provide a flicker-free image without increasing
the bandwidth requirement, a technique known
as interlacing is used.
• The odd numbered scan lines and the even numbered
scan lines are scanned separately, with odd and even
fields alternating on successive scans.
• The odd field is the scan from A to B and the even field
is the scan from C to D.
• The beam reaches the middle of the screen’s lowest
line after 241.5 lines. At this point, the beam is quickly
repositioned at the top of the screen and
recommences in the middle of the screen’s topmost
visible line to produce an additional 241.5 lines
interlaced with the original set.
• Thus the screen is refreshed 60 times per second
rather than 30, and flicker is avoided.
Transmission Impairments
▪ 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.
▪ Three causes of impairment are
▫ Attenuation
▫ Distortion
▫ Noise

3
Attenuation

▪ Attenuation means a loss of energy.

▪ The strength of a signal falls off with distance over any
transmission medium.

4
▪ For guided media,
▫ this reduction in strength, or attenuation, is
generally exponential
▫ typically expressed as a constant number of decibels
per unit distance.
▪

5
▪ For unguided media,
▫ attenuation is a more complex function of distance
and the makeup of the atmosphere

6
▪ Attenuation introduces three considerations for the
transmission engineer.
1. a received signal must have sufficient strength so
that the electronic circuitry in the receiver can
detect the signal.
2. the signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher
than noise to be received without error.
3. attenuation varies with frequency.
7
▪ To compensate for signal strength loss, amplifiers are
used to amplify the signal
▪ For a point-to-point link, the signal strength of the
transmitter must be strong enough to be received
intelligibly, but not so strong as to overload the circuitry
of the transmitter or receiver, which would cause
distortion.

8
▪ Beyond a certain distance, the attenuation becomes
unacceptably great, and repeaters or amplifiers are used
to boost the signal at regular intervals.

9
▪ Attenuation with frequency is noticeable for analog
signals.
▪ As the attenuation varies as a function of frequency, the
received signal is distorted, reducing intelligibility.
▪ To overcome this problem, techniques are available for
equalizing attenuation across a band of frequencies.

10
11
decibel (dB)

▪ To show that a signal has lost or gained strength,

engineers use the unit of the decibel.
▪ The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths of two
signals or one signal at two different points.
▪ decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if
a signal is amplified

12
 dB=10log10 (P2/P1),
▫ where variables PI and P2 are the powers of a
signal at points 1 and 2, respectively.

▪ Power is proportional to the square of the voltage,

so the formula can be rewritten as:
▪ dB =20 log 10 (V2/V1)

13
frequency components at the upper end of the voice band are
attenuated much more than those at lower frequencies.

14
Problem 1

▪ Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium

and its power is reduced to one-half.Calculate the
attenuation (loss of power) .
P2 is (1/2)P1.

15
Problem 2

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

increased 10 times.Calculate attenuation
P2= 10*P1
In this case, the amplification (gain of power) can be
calculated as

16
Problem 3

▪ 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?

17
▪ The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) =
−1.5 dB. We can calculate the power as

18
▪ 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.

19
Problem 4

▪ Calculate the power of a signal with dBm = −30.

Solution
We can calculate the power in the signal as

20
▪ 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.

21
In Figure a signal travels from point 1 to point 4. In this case, the decibel
value can be calculated as

22
Distortion

▪ Distortion means that the signal changes its form or

shape.
▪ Distortion can occur in a composite signal made of
different frequencies.
▪ Each signal component has its own propagation speed
through a medium and, therefore, its own delay in
arriving at the final destination.
1
▪ Differences in delay may create a difference in phase if
the delay is not exactly the same as the period duration.
▪ signal components at the receiver have phases different
from what they had at the sender. The shape of the
composite signal is therefore not the same.

2
3
▪ Delay distortion is particularly critical for digital data.
▪ Consider that a sequence of bits is being transmitted,
using either analog or digital signals.
▪ Because of delay distortion, some of the signal
components of one bit position will spill over into other
bit positions, causing inter symbol interference, which is
a major limitation to maximum bit rate over a
transmission channel. 4
Noise

▪ For any data transmission event, the received signal will

consist of the transmitted signal, modified by the various
distortions imposed by the transmission system, plus
additional unwanted signals that are inserted
somewhere between transmission and reception.
▪ The latter, undesired signals are referred to as noise.
▪ Noise is the major limiting factor in communications
system performance.
5
▪ Noise may be divided into four categories:
▫ Thermal noise
▫ Intermodulation noise / Induced noise
▫ Crosstalk
▫ Impulse noise

6
▪ Thermal noise :
▫ Thermal noise is due to thermal agitation of electrons.
▫ It is present in all electronic devices and transmission
media and is a function of temperature.
▫ Thermal noise is uniformly distributed across the
bandwidths typically used in communications systems
and hence is often referred to as white noise.

7
▫ Thermal noise is particularly significant for satellite
communication.
▫ The noise is assumed to be independent of
frequency.

8
▪ thermal noise in watts present in a bandwidth of B Hertz
can be expressed as
N = kTB (Unit:Watts)
Where T = temperature in kelvins ,
k = Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38 * 10-23 J/K
B is bandwidth.
▪ In decibel-watts, N= 10 log( kTB )
i.e N= -228.6 + 10 log T + 10 log B 9
Problem 5

▪ Given a receiver with an effective noise temperature of

294 K and a 10-MHz bandwidth, the thermal noise level at
the receiver’s output is
Solution
N= -228.6 + 10 log T + 10 log B
=-228.6 + 10 log (294) + 10 log (107)
= -133.9 dBW

10
▪ Intermodulation noise :
▫ When signals at different frequencies share the
same transmission medium, the result may be
intermodulation noise.
▫ The effect of intermodulation noise is to produce
signals at a frequency that is the sum or difference
of the two original frequencies or multiples of those
frequencies.
11
▫ For example, the mixing of signals at frequencies f1
and f2 might produce energy at the frequency f1+f2.

12
▪ Crosstalk:
▫ it is an unwanted coupling between signal paths.
▫ It can occur by electrical coupling between nearby
twisted pairs or, rarely coax cable lines carrying
multiple signals.
▫ Crosstalk can also occur when microwave antennas
pick up unwanted signals.

13
▪ Crosstalk has been experienced by anyone who, while
using the telephone, has been able to hear another
conversation;

14
▪ Impulse noise:
▫ Impulse noise is noncontinuous, consisting of
irregular pulses or noise spikes of short duration and
of relatively high amplitude.
▫ It is generated from a variety of causes, including
external electromagnetic disturbances, such as
lightning, and faults and flaws in the communications
system.
15
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)

▪ To measure the quality of a system the SNR is often

used.
▪ It indicates the strength of the signal with respect to the
noise power in the system.
▪ It is the ratio between two powers.

16
▪ SNR is actually the ratio of what is wanted (signal) to
what is not wanted (noise).
▪ A high SNR means the signal is less corrupted by noise; a
low SNR means the signal is more corrupted by noise.

17
 SNR=average signal power / average noise power.

▪ It is usually given in dB and referred to as SNRdB.

SNRdB = 10 log 10 SNR

=10 log 10 (average signal power / average noise

power)

18
19
Problem 6

▪  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 ?

20
Channel Capacity

21
▪ The maximum rate at which data can be
transmitted over a given communication path,
or channel, under given conditions, is referred
to as the channel capacity.
There are four concepts :
1. Data rate: The rate, in bits per second (bps), at which
data can be communicated.
2. Bandwidth: Bandwidth measures how much data can be
transferred along a communications channel. The more
frequencies available to the communications channel,
the more data that can be transferred at once.
Bandwidth is expressed in cycles per second, or Hertz.
23
3. Noise: The average level of noise over the
communications path.
4. Error rate: The rate at which errors occur, where an
error is the reception of a 1 when a 0 was transmitted or
the reception of a 0 when a 1 was transmitted.

24
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

1
▪ Two theoretical formulas were developed to calculate the
data rate: one by Nyquist for a noiseless channel. another
by Shannon for a noisy channel.

2
▪ Nyquist Bandwidth
▫ In noiseless environment,the limitation on data rate
is simply the bandwidth of the signal.
▫ A formulation of this limitation, due to Nyquist,
states that “ if the rate of signal transmission is 2B,
then a signal with frequencies no greater than B is
sufficient to carry the signal rate”. The converse is
also true:”
3
▪ Given a bandwidth of B, the highest signal rate that can
be carried is 2B”.
C = 2 x B x log2M
where C is BitRate or capacity ,
B is Bandwith ,
M is number of levels.

4
Problem 7

▪ Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth

of 3000 Hz transmitting a signal with two signal
levels. What is the maximum bit rate?

5
▪ Shannon Capacity Formula
▫ In reality, we cannot have a noiseless channel; the
channel is always noisy.
▫ Shannon Theorem states that if the actual
information rate on a channel is less than the
error-free capacity, then it is theoretically possible
to use a suitable signal code to achieve error-free
transmission through the channel.
6
▪ In 1944,Claude Shannon introduced a formula, called the
Shannon capacity, to determine the theoretical highest
data rate for a noisy channel:
C=B X log2 (1 +SNR),
Where B is Bandwith ,
SNR is the signal-to noise ratio, and
capacity is the capacity of the channel in bits
per second.
7
Problem 8

▪ Let’s 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. What is
the channel capacity?

8
Factors affecting the performance of a network in data transmission.

▪ Bandwidth:
▫ Bandwidth in Hertz- the range of frequencies
contained in a composite signal or the range of
frequencies a channel can pass.
▫ Bandwidth in Bits per Seconds - the number of bits
per second that a channel, a link, or even a network
can transmit.

9
▪ Throughput
▫ The throughput is a measure of how fast we can
actually send data through a network.
▫ A link may have a bandwidth of B bps, but we can
only send T bps through this link with T always less
than B.
▫ In other words, the bandwidth is a potential
measurement of a link; the throughput is an actual
measurement of how fast we can send data.
10
▪ Example: 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
Throughput= 12,000/60 x 10,000 =2 Mbps
So the throughput is almost one-fifth of the bandwidth in
this case
11
▪ Latency:
▫ The latency or delay defines how long it takes for an
entire message to completely arrive at the
destination from the time the first bit is sent out
from the source.

12
▫ We can say that latency is made of four
components: propagation time,
transmission time, queuing time and
processing delay.
▫ Latency =propagation time +transmission
time +queuing time + processing delay

13
▪ Propagation Time
▫ Propagation time measures the time required for a
bit to travel from the source to the destination.
▫ The propagation time is calculated by dividing the
distance by the propagation speed.

14
Problem 9

▪ What is the propagation time if the distance between the

two points is 12,000 km? Assume the propagation speed
to be 2.4 x 108 m/s in cable.
Solution
We can calculate the propagation time as ..
12000 x 1000 / 2.4 x 108
Propagation tIme = 50 ms

15
▪ Transmission Time
▫ In data communications we don't send just 1 bit, we send
a message.
▫ The first bit may take a time equal to the propagation
time to reach its destination; the last bit also may take
the same amount of time.
▫ However, there is a time between the first bit leaving the
sender and the last bit arriving at the receiver.

16
▪ The time required for transmission of a message
depends on the size of the message and the bandwidth
of the channel.

17
Problem 10

▪ What are the propagation time and the transmission time for
a 2.5kbyte 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 x 108 mls.
Solution
Propagation time = 12000 x 1000/2.4 x 108 =50 ms
transmission time =2500x 8/109 =0.020 ms

18
▪ Queuing Time
▫ The third component in latency is the queuing time,
the time needed for each intermediate or end device
to hold the message before it can be processed.
▫ The queuing time is not a fixed factor; it changes
with the load imposed on the network.
▫ When there is heavy traffic on the network, the
queuing time increases.
19
▪ Jitter
▫ Another performance issue that is related to delay is
jitter.
▫ Jitter is a problem if different packets of data
encounter different delays and the application using
the data at the receiver site is time-sensitive.

20
▪ audio and video data, example
▪ If the delay for the first packet is 20 ms, for the second is
45 ms, and for the third is 40 ms, then the real-time
application that uses the packets endures jitter.

21
▪ Data rate:
▫ The rate, in bits per second (bps), at which data can
be communicated

22
▪ Error rate:
▫ The rate at which errors occur, where an error is the
reception of a 1 when a 0 was transmitted or the
reception of a 0 when a 1 was transmitted.

23