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Analog and Digital Modulations

September 2011
Lectured by
Assoc Prof. Dr. Thuong Le-Tien
Slides with references from HUT Finland, La Hore uni.,
Mc. Graw Hill Co., and A.B. Carlsons Communication Systems
book.
Textbook:
A . B . Carlson, et al. "Communication Systems", third ed.,
McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, 1986, 2002 ISBN: 0-07-100560-9
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Communications
Communications = Information transfer
This course is about communications
Limited to information in electrical form
We will not consider delivering newspapers
We will primarily cover information transfer
at systems level
We will not deal [too much] with circuits, chips,
signal processing, microprocessors, protocols,
and networks
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What exactly is information?
Information is a word that is too
generic for our purposes
We will use the word message
A physical manifestation of information
What do communication systems have
to do with messages?
Communication systems are responsible for
producing an acceptable replica of
message at the destination
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Is Signal = Message?
Just like information, signal is also a generic
word
Derived directly from information
Scientists and Engineers use signal to denote
information in electrical form
We will use signal and message interchangeably
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Can we classify signals?
Messages or signals can be classified:
Analog
A physical quantity that varies with time, usually in a
smooth or continuous fashion
Fidelity describes how close is the received signal to the
original signal. Fidelity defines acceptability
Digital
An ordered sequence of symbols selected from a finite set of
discrete elements
When digital signals are sent through a communication
system, degree of accuracy within a given time defines the
acceptability
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Examples
Analog Signals
Values are taken from an
infinite set
Digital Signals
Values are taken from a
discrete set
Binary Signals
Digital signals with just
two discrete values
t
t
t
1
0 0 0
1
1
0
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Elements of
Communication Systems
Transmitter
Modulation
Coding
Channel
Attenuation
Noise
Distortion
Interference
Receiver
Detection
(Demodulation+Decoding)
Filtering (Equalization)
(Modulator)
Analog
or Digital
Demodulator
m(t )
s(t )
h(t )
n(t )
Transmitter
Channel
Receiver
) (t m

What does modulation do?

Encodes messages (analog) or bits (digital)
into amplitude, frequency, or phase of a
carrier signal
Also makes transmitted signal robust
against channel impairments
Coding
Source coding remove redundancy
Channel coding add redundancy
Transmitter
Channels
Channel introduces impairments
Noise
Thermal noise is the most significant
Additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN)
Distortion
Inter-symbol interference
Attenuation and fading
Constant attenuation
Variable attenuation
Interference
Crosstalk
Receiver
What does demodulator do?
Extracts messages or bits from the
received signal
Mitigates channel impairments by making
use of equalizers
Decodes the signal, especially if channel
coding was performed at the transmitter
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Fundamental Limitations
If practical implementation is not a concern and we
dont worry about feasibility, is there something else
that limits acceptable communications?
Bandwidth
Channel must be able to allow signal to pass through
Channels usually have limited bandwidth
Can we reduce signal bandwidth? Do something at source
Noise
Can we reduce it?
Can we reduce its effects?
Do something at the transmitter and receiver
Signal to Noise Ratio
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Performance Criterion
How a good communication system can be
differentiated from a sloppy one?
For analog communications
How close is to ? Fidelity!
SNR is typically used as a performance metric
For digital communications
Data rate and probability of error (BER)
No channel impairments, no error
With noise, error probability depends upon data
rate, signal and noise powers, modulation scheme
m(t ) ) (t m

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Limits on data rates
Shannon obtained formulas that provide
fundamental limits on data rates (1948)
Without channel impairments, an infinite data
rate is achievable with probability of error
approaching zero
For bandlimited AWGN channels, the
capacity of a channel is:
C = B log(1+ SNR)
Bits/second
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Example: PSTN, ADSL
Public Switched Telephone Network,
Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line
Components
Phone set (analog signal is generated), MODEM
Local exchange (A/D conversion)
Long-haul exchange
Characteristics
Circuit-switched network
Designed for voice communications and Internet
Faxes and modems use PSTN for transmission of
digital data in analog form
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Example: PSTN
Local
exchange
International
exchange
Long distance
exchange
Local
exchange
Local line
Long distance line
Long distance line
International line
Long distance
users
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
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Local Carrier End Office
Line Splitter
Customer Premises
Telephone
DSL Modem
Hub
Computer
Computer
Local Loop
Main
Dist ribution
Frame
Customer
Premises
Customer
Premises
Voice
Telephone
Network
DSL Access
Multiplexer
ATM Switch
ISP POP
ISP POP
ISP POP
ISP POP
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Example: Cellular
Islamabad
MTSO
PSTN
MTSO
Lahore
MTSO: Mobile Telephone
Switching Office
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Example: Cellular
Cellular Communication System
A cell is assigned some number of channels
Typically one channel is allocated to a user
Users communicate with a base station
Base station is connected to MTSO/PSTN
AMPS is an analog system
Uses FM and frequency-division multiple access
Digital systems use digital modulation
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Example: Radio broadcast
Two modes are used
AM
Amplitude modulation
600-1600kHz (MW), 1600kHz-22MHz (SW)
10kHz channels
FM
Frequency modulation
88-108MHz
Channels centered at 200kHz intervals starting at
88.1MHz
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Example: Wireless LANs
Various standards
IEEE 802.11a/b/g popular
IEEE 802.11b
11Mb/s data rate
2.4-2.4835GHz band
Modulation: Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS),
Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)
IEEE 802.11a
55Mb/s data rate
5.725-5.825GHz band (in U.S.)
Uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)
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Example: LANs and WANs
Local Area Networks (LANs)
Connect closely located computers
Data bits are transmitted in chunks (packets) for
efficiency/feasibility reasons
Various LAN protocols are used in practice
Wide Area Networks (WANs)
A wide area backbone network connects different
LANs
A standard protocol is needed for such
communication (TCP/IP)
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Example: Ad Hoc Networks
Various devices connected to each other
without using an infrastructure
Sensor Networks
Similar to ad hoc Networks (may be considered a special
case of ad hoc networks)
Have power constraints (Use non-rechargeable battery)
Mesh Networks
Another example of ad hoc networks
Used for provide communications to remote areas
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