1

Nyquist Pulses
Instructor: M.A. Ingram
ECE4823
Receiver Filter
Baseband output is a superposition of
filtered pulses plus filtered noise
) ( ) ( t n nT t p x aA
S
n
n
+

Receiver
Filter
q(t)
) ( ) (
~
t v nT t p x aA
S
n
n
+

d q t p t p

+

= ) ( ) (
2
1
) (
~
Sampling in the Receiver
The baseband representation of the receiver
in additive Gaussian white noise (AWGN) :
Receiver
Filter
q(t)
S
T
) ( ) (
~
t v nT t p x aA
S
n
n
+

m S S
n
n
v nT mT p x aA +

) (
~
m
th
sample
zero-mean
Gaussian RVs
Ideal Situation
Ideally, the m
th
sample depends on only
the m
th
symbol and the noise
Receiver
Filter
q(t)
S
T
m m m S S
n
n
v aAx v nT mT p x aA + = +

) (
~
Necessary Condition
To have this ideal situation, we must have
or, alternatively,

=
=
n m
n m
nT mT p
S S
0
1
) (
~
) ( ) ( ) (
~
t nT t t p
n
S
=

+
=
0 T
S
2T
S
3T
S
-T
S
-2T
S
-3T
S
Received Signal Example
Suppose the m-1
st
, m
th
, and m+1
st
symbols were +1, +1, -1, respectively
(m+1)T
S
(m+2)T
S
(m+3)T
S
(m-1)T
S
(m-2)T
S
(m-3)T
S
mT
S
The signal is constrained only at the sample points
2
Non-Ideal Situation
Suppose the received pulse did not satisfy the
condition, but did this instead:
0 T
S
2T
S
3T
S
-T
S
-2T
S
-3T
S
) ( 3 . 0 ) ( 3 . 0 ) ( ) ( ) (
~
S S
n
S
T t T t t nT t t p + + + =

+
=

Intersymbol Interference (ISI)
(m+1)T
S
(m+2)T
S
(m+3)T
S
(m-1)T
S
(m-2)T
S
(m-3)T
S
mT
S
The m-1
st
, m
th
, and m+1
st
received
samples become
1 1
7 . 0 , 1 , 3 . 1
+
+ + +
m m m
v v v
The Negative Effect of ISI
The worst case dominates the
probability if bit error
(m+1)T
S
(m+2)T
S
(m+3)T
S
(m-1)T
S
(m-2)T
S
(m-3)T
S
mT
S
1 1
7 . 0 , 1 , 3 . 1
+
+ + +
m m m
v v v
Nyquist Pulses
Pulses that satisfy the condition for no
ISI are called Nyquist Pulses
) ( ) ( ) (
~
t nT t t p
n
S
=

+
=
Sinc Pulse
The sinc pulse is a Nyquist pulse
0 T
S
2T
S
3T
S
-T
S
-2T
S
-3T
S
S
S
S
T t
T t
T t
/
) / sin(
) / ( sinc

=
1
Fourier Transform of Sinc
Pulse
The F.T. of the sinc pulse is the brick
wall characteristic
0
S
T 2
1
S
T 2
1

S
T
) (
sinc
f H
f
3
Pros and Cons of Sinc
The F.T. has the narrowest possible
bandwidth of all Nyquist pulses
Noncausal
Roll-off too gradual
Popular Alternative: Raised
Cosine
Single parameter
0
S
T 2
1
S
T 2
1

S
T
) (
RC
f H
f
S
T
1
S
T
1

0 =
5 . 0 =
1 =
Raised Cosine Formulas
( )
( ) ( )
( )

+
+

(

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
f T
T f T
T f
T
f
T T
T
f H
S
S S
S
S
S S
S
2 / 1
2 / 1 2 / 1
2 / 1 0
0
2
1
sin 1
2
) (
RC

{ }
2 2 2
1
RC
/ 4 1
/ cos
/
/ sin
) ( ) (
S
S
S
S
RC
T t
T t
T t
T t
f H F t p

= =

[Pahlavan `95]
Excess Bandwidth
The bandwidth of any pulse will be X%
greater than that of the sinc Nyquist pulse
This percentage is the excess bandwidth
0
S
T 2
1
S
T 2
1

S
T
) (
RC
f H
f
S
T
1
S
T
1

100%
50%
0%
Pros of Raised Cosine
Smooth F.T.
Easy to build filters that approximate it
Falls off as 1/t
3
Can approximate a delayed pulse with a
causal filter response
0
t
Summary
Intersymbol interference (ISI) can dominate
BER
Nyquist Pulses are pulses that do not cause
ISI in an AWGN channel
Sinc is the Nyquist Pulse with the least
bandwidth, but it is impractical
Raised Cosine is a popular Nyquist Pulse
Excess Bandwidth indicates how much
broader is the bandwidth than that of the sinc
Nyquist Pulse
4
References
[Rapp, 02] T.S. Rappaport, Wireless
Communications, Prentice Hall, 2002
[Stuber, 01] Gordon Stuber, Principles
of Mobile Communication, 2
nd
ed,
Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001
[Pahlavan, 95] Pahlavan and Levesque,
Wireless Information Networks, Wiley
Interscience, 1995