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EPL476 Mobile Networks

Transmission Fundamentals


Instructor: Dr. Vasos Vassiliou

Slides adapted from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller and W. Stallings
Electromagnetic Signal
Function of time
Can also be expressed as a function of frequency
Signal consists of components of different frequencies
Time-Domain Concepts
Analog signal - signal intensity varies in a smooth
fashion over time
No breaks or discontinuities in the signal
Digital signal - signal intensity maintains a
constant level for some period of time and then
changes to another constant level
Periodic signal - analog or digital signal pattern
that repeats over time
s(t +T ) = s(t )
where T is the period of the signal
Time-Domain Concepts
Aperiodic signal - analog or digital signal pattern
that doesn't repeat over time
Peak amplitude (A) - maximum value or strength
of the signal over time; typically measured in volts
Frequency (f )
Rate, in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz) at which the
signal repeats
Time-Domain Concepts
Period (T ) - amount of time it takes for one
repetition of the signal
T = 1/f
Phase (|) - measure of the relative position in time
within a single period of a signal
Wavelength () - distance occupied by a single
cycle of the signal
Or, the distance between two points of corresponding
phase of two consecutive cycles
Sine Wave Parameters
General sine wave
s(t ) = A sin(2tft + |)
Figure 2.3 shows the effect of varying each of the
three parameters
(a) A = 1, f = 1 Hz, | = 0; thus T = 1s
(b) Reduced peak amplitude; A=0.5
(c) Increased frequency; f = 2, thus T =
(d) Phase shift; | = t/4 radians (45 degrees)
note: 2t radians = 360 = 1 period
Sine Wave Parameters
Time vs. Distance
When the horizontal axis is time, as in Figure 2.3,
graphs display the value of a signal at a given
point in space as a function of time
With the horizontal axis in space, graphs display
the value of a signal at a given point in time as a
function of distance
At a particular instant of time, the intensity of the signal
varies as a function of distance from the source
Frequency-Domain Concepts
Fundamental frequency - when all frequency
components of a signal are integer multiples of
one frequency, its referred to as the fundamental
frequency
Spectrum - range of frequencies that a signal
contains
Absolute bandwidth - width of the spectrum of a
signal
Effective bandwidth (or just bandwidth) - narrow
band of frequencies that most of the signals
energy is contained in
Frequency-Domain Concepts
Any electromagnetic signal can be shown to
consist of a collection of periodic analog signals
(sine waves) at different amplitudes, frequencies,
and phases
The period of the total signal is equal to the period
of the fundamental frequency
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The Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum and its uses
for communication.
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Signal Properties
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Signal Properties
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Figure 1.8 Modes of transmission: (a) baseband
transmission
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Figure 1.8 Modes of transmission: (b) modulated
transmission
Relationship between Data Rate and
Bandwidth
The greater the bandwidth, the higher the
information-carrying capacity
Conclusions
Any digital waveform will have infinite bandwidth
BUT the transmission system will limit the bandwidth
that can be transmitted
AND, for any given medium, the greater the bandwidth
transmitted, the greater the cost
HOWEVER, limiting the bandwidth creates distortions
Data Communication Terms
Data - entities that convey meaning, or
information
Signals - electric or electromagnetic
representations of data
Transmission - communication of data by the
propagation and processing of signals
Examples of Analog and Digital
Data
Analog
Video
Audio
Digital
Text
Integers
Analog Signals
A continuously varying electromagnetic wave that
may be propagated over a variety of media,
depending on frequency
Examples of media:
Copper wire media (twisted pair and coaxial cable)
Fiber optic cable
Atmosphere or space propagation
Analog signals can propagate analog and digital
data
Digital Signals
A sequence of voltage pulses that may be
transmitted over a copper wire medium
Generally cheaper than analog signaling
Less susceptible to noise interference
Suffer more from attenuation
Digital signals can propagate analog and digital
data
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Analog Signals Carrying Analog
and Digital Data
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Digital Signals Carrying Analog
and Digital Data
Reasons for Choosing Data and
Signal Combinations
Digital data, digital signal
Equipment for encoding is less expensive than digital-
to-analog equipment
Analog data, digital signal
Conversion permits use of modern digital transmission
and switching equipment
Digital data, analog signal
Some transmission media will only propagate analog
signals
Examples include optical fiber and satellite
Analog data, analog signal
Analog data easily converted to analog signal
Analog Transmission
Transmit analog signals without regard to content
Attenuation limits length of transmission link
Cascaded amplifiers boost signals energy for
longer distances but cause distortion
Analog data can tolerate distortion
Introduces errors in digital data
Digital Transmission
Concerned with the content of the signal
Attenuation endangers integrity of data
Digital Signal
Repeaters achieve greater distance
Repeaters recover the signal and retransmit
Analog signal carrying digital data
Retransmission device recovers the digital data from
analog signal
Generates new, clean analog signal
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Digital Data, Digital Signal
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Encoding
Signals propagate over a physical medium
modulate electromagnetic waves
e.g., vary voltage
Encode binary data onto signals
e.g., 0 as low signal and 1 as high signal
known as Non-Return to zero (NRZ)
Bits
NRZ
0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
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Encodings (cont)
Bits
NRZ
Clock
Manchester
NRZI
0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
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Other Encoding Schemes
Nonreturn to Zero-Level (NRZ) Unipolar
Nonreturn to Zero-Level (NRZ) Polar
Nonreturn to Zero Inverted (NRZI)
Bipolar -AMI
Manchester
Differential Manchester

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1 0 1
0
1 1 0 0 1
Unipolar
NRZ
NRZ-Inverted
(Differential
Encoding)
Bipolar
Encoding
Manchester
Encoding
Differential
Manchester
Encoding
Polar NRZ
Figure 3.25
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Digital Data, Analog Signal
Use modem (modulator-demodulator)
Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
Frequency shift keying (FSK)
Phase shift keying (PSK)

Modulation
Digital modulation
digital data is translated into an analog signal (baseband)
ASK, FSK, PSK - main focus in this chapter
differences in spectral efficiency, power efficiency, robustness
Analog modulation
shifts center frequency of baseband signal up to the radio carrier
Motivation
smaller antennas (e.g., /4)
Frequency Division Multiplexing
medium characteristics
Basic schemes
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Frequency Modulation (FM)
Phase Modulation (PM)
Modulation and demodulation
synchronization
decision
digital
data
analog
demodulation
radio
carrier
analog
baseband
signal
101101001
radio receiver
digital
modulation
digital
data
analog
modulation
radio
carrier
analog
baseband
signal
101101001
radio transmitter
Digital modulation
Modulation of digital signals known as Shift Keying

Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK):
very simple
low bandwidth requirements
very susceptible to interference

Frequency Shift Keying (FSK):
needs larger bandwidth


Phase Shift Keying (PSK):
more complex
robust against interference
1 0 1
t
1 0 1
t
1 0 1
t
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Modulation Techniques
Advanced Frequency Shift
Keying
bandwidth needed for FSK depends on the distance between
the carrier frequencies
special pre-computation avoids sudden phase shifts
MSK (Minimum Shift Keying)
bit separated into even and odd bits, the duration of each bit is
doubled
depending on the bit values (even, odd) the higher or lower
frequency, original or inverted is chosen
the frequency of one carrier is twice the frequency of the
other
Equivalent to offset QPSK

even higher bandwidth efficiency using a Gaussian low-pass
filter GMSK (Gaussian MSK), used in GSM
Example of MSK
data
even bits
odd bits
1 1 1 1 0 0 0
t
low
frequency
high
frequency
MSK
signal
bit
even 0 1 0 1
odd 0 0 1 1
signal h n n h
value - - + +
h: high frequency
n: low frequency
+: original signal
-: inverted signal
No phase shifts!
Advanced Phase Shift Keying
BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying):
bit value 0: sine wave
bit value 1: inverted sine wave
very simple PSK
low spectral efficiency
robust, used e.g. in satellite systems
QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift
Keying):
2 bits coded as one symbol
symbol determines shift of sine wave
needs less bandwidth compared to
BPSK
more complex
Often also transmission of relative,
not absolute phase shift: DQPSK -
Differential QPSK (IS-136, PHS)

11 10 00 01
Q
I
0 1
Q
I
11
01
10
00
A
t
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A
k
B
k
16 levels/ pulse
4 bits / pulse
4W bits per second
A
k
B
k
4 levels/ pulse
2 bits / pulse
2W bits per second
2-D signal
2-D signal
Figure 3.33
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A
k
B
k
4 levels/ pulse
2 bits / pulse
2W bits per second
A
k
B
k
16 levels/ pulse
4 bits / pulse
4W bits per second
Figure 3.34
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Quadrature PSK
More efficient use by each signal element
representing more than one bit
e.g. shifts of t/2 (90
o
)
Each element represents two bits
Can use 8 phase angles and have more than one
amplitude
9600bps modem use 12 angles , four of which
have two amplitudes

Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
combines amplitude and phase modulation
it is possible to code n bits using one symbol
2
n
discrete levels, n=2 identical to QPSK
Bit error rate increases with n, but less errors
compared to comparable PSK schemes
Example: 16-QAM (4 bits = 1 symbol)
Symbols 0011 and 0001 have
the same phase , but different
amplitude a. 0000 and 1000 have
different phase, but same amplitude.
0000
0001
0011
1000
Q
I
0010

a
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Modems (2)
(a) QPSK.
(b) QAM-16.
(c) QAM-64.
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Modems (3)
(a) V.32 for 9600 bps.
(b) V32 bis for 14,400 bps.
(a) (b)
Hierarchical Modulation
DVB-T modulates two separate data streams onto a single
DVB-T stream
High Priority (HP) embedded within a Low Priority (LP)
stream
Multi carrier system, about 2000 or 8000 carriers
QPSK, 16 QAM, 64QAM
Example: 64QAM
good reception: resolve the entire
64QAM constellation
poor reception, mobile reception:
resolve only QPSK portion
6 bit per QAM symbol, 2 most
significant determine QPSK
HP service coded in QPSK (2 bit),
LP uses remaining 4 bit
Q
I
00
10
000010 010101
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Analog Data, Digital Signal
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Signal Sampling and Encoding
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Digital Signal Decoding
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Alias generation due to
undersampling
About Channel Capacity
Impairments, such as noise, limit data rate that can
be achieved
For digital data, to what extent do impairments
limit data rate?
Channel Capacity the maximum rate at which
data can be transmitted over a given
communication path, or channel, under given
conditions
Concepts Related to Channel
Capacity
Data rate - rate at which data can be
communicated (bps)
Bandwidth - the bandwidth of the transmitted
signal as constrained by the transmitter and the
nature of the transmission medium (Hertz)
Noise - average level of noise over the
communications path
Error rate - rate at which errors occur
Error = transmit 1 and receive 0; transmit 0 and receive
1
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Nyquist Bandwidth
If rate of signal transmission is 2B then
signal with frequencies no greater than B is
sufficient to carry signal rate
Given bandwidth B, highest signal rate is
2B
Given binary signal, data rate supported by
B Hz is 2B bps
Can be increased by using M signal levels
C= 2B log
2
M


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Transmission Impairments
Signal received may differ from signal
transmitted
Analog - degradation of signal quality
Digital - bit errors
Caused by
Attenuation and attenuation distortion
Delay distortion
Noise

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Attenuation
Signal strength falls off with distance
Depends on medium
Received signal strength:
must be enough to be detected
must be sufficiently higher than noise to be
received without error
Attenuation is an increasing function of
frequency



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Noise (1)
Additional signals inserted between
transmitter and receiver
Thermal
Due to thermal agitation of electrons
Uniformly distributed
White noise
Intermodulation
Signals that are the sum and difference of
original frequencies sharing a medium
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Noise (2)
Crosstalk
A signal from one line is picked up by another
Impulse
Irregular pulses or spikes
e.g. External electromagnetic interference
Short duration
High amplitude
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signal
noise
signal + noise
signal
noise
signal +
noise
High
SNR
Low
SNR
SNR =
Average Signal Power
Average Noise Power
SNR (dB) = 10 log
10
SNR
t
t
t
t
t
t
Figure 3.12
Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Ratio of the power in a signal to the power
contained in the noise thats present at a particular
point in the transmission
Typically measured at a receiver
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR, or S/N)


A high SNR means a high-quality signal, low
number of required intermediate repeaters
SNR sets upper bound on achievable data rate
power noise
power signal
log 10 ) (
10 dB
= SNR
Shannon Capacity Formula
Equation:

Represents theoretical maximum that can be
achieved
In practice, only much lower rates achieved
Formula assumes white noise (thermal noise)
Impulse noise is not accounted for
Attenuation distortion or delay distortion not accounted
for
( ) SNR 1 log
2
+ = B C
Example of Nyquist and Shannon
Formulations
Spectrum of a channel between 3 MHz and 4 MHz
; SNR
dB
= 24 dB



Using Shannons formula



( )
251 SNR
SNR log 10 dB 24 SNR
MHz 1 MHz 3 MHz 4
10 dB
=
= =
= = B
( ) Mbps 8 8 10 251 1 log 10
6
2
6
= ~ + = C
Example of Nyquist and Shannon
Formulations
How many signaling levels are required?
( )
16
log 4
log 10 2 10 8
log 2
2
2
6 6
2
=
=
=
=
M
M
M
M B C
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