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Digital vs. Analog Transmission

Nyquist and Shannon Laws
Required reading:
Garcia 3.1 to 3.5

CSE 3213, Fall 2010

Instructor: N. Vlajic

Transmission Impairments

Transmission / Signal caused by imperfections of transmission

media
Impairments

for analog signals, impairments can

degrade signal quality
Sent

for digital signals, impairments can cause

bit errors
Sent

Received

Received

main types of transmission impairments:

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation

Attenuation reduction / loss in signal power

when a signal travels through a medium it loses some

of its energy by overcoming the resistance of medium

main challenges in combating attenuation:

(1) received signal must have sufficient strength so that

receiver can detect signal, but should not be too strong

to overload transmitter/receiver circuitry

Less of a
problem for
digital signal !!!

(2) signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than

noise at all times, to be received without error

to compensate for loss, analog amplifiers / digital

repeaters are used to boost the signal at regular intervals

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Attenuation (cont.) def. loss in signal power as it is transferred

across a system (medium)

>

Pin

Pout

determined for each individual frequency

apply sinwave of freq. f and power Pin to channel

input and observe signal power Pout at output

Attenuation(f) = L(f) = 10 log10

Amplitude Response
1

A(f)=

Aout (f)
Ain (f)

aka magnitude of frequency response

Pin (f)
A in (f)2
1
L(f) =
=
=
Pout (f) A out (f)2 A(f)2
Atten.(f) = L(f) = 20 log10

See Garcia pp. 125.

Pin (f)
[dB]
Pout (f)

1
[dB]
A(f)

channels amplitude response function A(f)

Which frequencies are

better passed through
the medium?

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Why decibel (log function)?

1.

Signal strength often falls off exponentially, so loss is easily expressed

in terms of decibels linear function in log-plot.

2.

The net gain or loss in a cascaded transmission path can be calculated

with simple addition and subtraction.
In figure below, a signal travels a long distance from point 1 to point 4.
The signal is attenuated by the time it reaches point 2. Between points
2 and 3, the signal is amplified. Again, between points 3 and 4, the
signal is attenuated. We can find the resultant attenuation just by
adding the decibel measurements between each set of points.
-1 dB
3dB

Pin

-7dB

3 dB

Pout

In this case, the attenuation can be calculated as: 3-7+3 = -1, which
means that the signal has gained power.

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Example [ attenuation ]
Consider a series of transmission elements as shown in the figure below.
The input signal has the power of P1 = 4 mW. The 1st element is a
transmission line with a loss of 5 (x), the 2nd element is an amplifier
with a gain of 7 (x), nd the 3rd element is a transmission line with a loss
of 3 (x).
Calculate the output power P4.

loss = 5

gain = 7

loss = 3

P1 = 4 mW

P4 = ???

P4 P4 P3 P2 1 7 1
= = = 0.47
P1 P3 P2 P1 5 1 3

P4 = 0.47 4 [mW] = 1.88 [mW]

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

G1

G2

G3

P1 = 4 mW

P4 = ???

P4 P4 P3 P2
1 1 1
= = G1 G2 G3 =
P1 P3 P2 P1
L1 L 2 L 3

10 log

P4
[dB] = 10 log(G1 G2 G3 ) = 10 log(G1 ) + 10 log(G2 ) + 10 log(G3 )
P1
10 log

P4
[dB] = G1[dB] + G2 [dB] + G3 [dB]
P1

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Example [ attenuation ]
Consider a series of transmission elements as shown in the figure below.
The input signal has the power of P1 = 4 mW. The 1st element is a
Transmission line with a 12 dB loss, the 2nd element is an amplifier with
a 35 dB gain, and the 3rd element is a transmission line with a 10 dB loss.
Calculate the output power P4.
-13 dB
12 dB

-35 dB

10 dB

P1 = 4 mW

P4 = ???

10 log

G [dB]

Pout

Pin
= 13 [dB]
Pout

L [dB]

Pin
= -1.3 = Pin 101.3 = 4 19.95 = 79.8 [mW]
10

Transmission Impairments: Delay Distortion

10

Delay Distortion change in signals form / shape

each signal component has its own propagation

speed through a medium, and therefore, its own
delay in arriving at the final destination

critical for composite-analog & digital signals

some of the signal components of one bit position
will spill over into other bit, causing intersymbol
interference
major limitation to achieving high bit rates

in bandlimited channels, velocity tends to be

highest near the center frequency and fall off
towards the edges of the band

Transmission Impairments: Noise

11

Noise unwanted signals that get inserted / generated somewhere

between transmitter and receiver

major limiting factor in communications system performance

cannot be predicted appears at random!

presence of noise limits the reliability with which the receiver

can correctly determine the information that was transmitted

main categories of noise:

(1) thermal noise
(2) intermodulation noise
(3) crosstalk
(4) impulse noise

Transmission Impairments: Noise (cont.)

12

(1) Thermal Noise result of random motion of electrons appears in

all electronic devices and transmission media
cannot be eliminated

function of temperature

uniformly distributed across frequency spectrum

aka white noise

noise power density (No) = amount of thermal noise

to be found in a bandwidth of 1Hz

No = k T [W/Hz]
where k = Boltzmanns constant = 1.3803*10-23 [J/K]
T = temperature [K]

thermal noise (N) in [W], in a bandwidth of B [Hz]

N = k T B [W]
Example Calculate N on 20C and 1GHz: N = k*(273+20)*109 = 3.8*10 -12 .

13

Transmission Impairments: Noise (cont.)

(2) Intermodulation Noise signals that are sum / difference of original

frequencies sharing a medium
result of nonlinearity in transmission medium

output signal is a complex function of the input

Vo(t)

linear channel

Vo(t)

Vi(t)

non-linear channel

Vi(t)

(3) Crosstalk effect of one wire on the other one wire acts as a sending
antenna and the other as the receiving antenna
can be reduced by careful shielding and using twisted pairs
of the same magnitude, or less, than thermal noise

(4) Impulse Noise non-continuous, consisting of irregular pulses or

noise spikes of short duration and of relatively high
amplitude
induced by external electromagnetic disturbances, such

as lightening, faults and flaws in communication system

Transmission Impairments: Noise (cont.)

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Signal to Noise Ratio ratio of the power in the desired signal

to the power in the superimposed noise
(SNR)
SNR =

average signal power

average noise power

SNR (dB) = 10 log10 SNR

high SNR high-quality signal & low number

of required amplifiers / repeaters

Analog Transmission
Analog Long-Distance
Communications

each repeater attempts to restore analog

signal to its original form

restoration (noise removal) is imperfect

noise gets amplified too !

Goals:
1) restore amplitude
2) remove delay distortion
3) remove noise

15

if signal only had components in certain freq.

band, repeater could remove noise components

outside signal band but, not those inside /

signal quality decreases with # of repeaters

communications is distance-limited

analogy: copy a song using cassette recorder

Attenuated and
distorted signal
+
noise

Recovered signal
+
residual noise

Amp

Equalizer

Repeater

16

17

Digital Transmission
Digital Long-Distance
Communications

regenerator does not need to completely

recover the original shape of the transmitted
signal it only needs to determine whether
the original pulse was positive or negative

original signal can be completely recovered

each time communication over very long
distance is possible

analogy: copy an MP3 file

compensate for
distortion
introduced by the
channel

Decision circuit
and signal
regenerator

Amplifier
equalizer
keep track of
intervals that
define each pulse

Timing
recovery

sample signal
at midpoint
of each pulse to
determine its
polarity

18

Digital Transmission (cont.)

Example [ transmission impairments in digital transmission ]
Digital transmission can easily recover from various types of channel
impairments.

0.5
1
0

So, is digital transmission the ultimate winner?!

Analog vs. Digital Transmission

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Low-pass Channel bandwidth = [0, f1)

entire medium/bandwidth dedicated to 2 devices

devices alternate in transmission

Band-pass Channel bandwidth = [f1, f2)

medium is shared among multiple users

each pair of users gets a portion of overall

bandwidth

Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

Digital Transmission
Advantages

Digital Transmission
Disadvantages

signal can be transmitted over long-distance

without loosing any quality

can operate with lower signal levels lower

system cost

easier to apply encryption

easier integration of voice, video and data

20

digital signal theoretically needs a bandwidth

[0, ) upper limit can be relaxed if we decide
to work with a limited number of harmonics
digital transmission needs a low-pass channel

analog transmission can use a band-pass

channel

Both analog and digital data may be transmitted on suitable transmission

media using either digital coding or analog modulation.

Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

digital or
analog
data

digital or
analog
data

low-pass channel
(digital signal)

band-pass channel
(analog signal)

digital or
analog
data

digital or
analog
data

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Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

Example [ digital transmission of digital and analog data ]
Digital Data Digital Signal: Line Coding

Analog Data Digital Signal: PCM (Pulse Code Modul.) or

Delta Modulation

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Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

Example [ analog transmission of digital and analog data ]
Digital data Analog Signal: Digital Modulation

Analog data Analog Signal: Analog Modulation

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Last Note about Signals

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Throughput measurement of how fast data can pass through an

entity in the network (computer, router, channel, etc.)

if we consider this entity as a wall through which bits

pass, throughput is the number of bits that can pass this
wall in one second

e.g. R=56 kbps

Example [ throughput ]
If the throughput at the connection between a device and the transmission
medium is 56 kbps, how long does it take to send 100,000 bits out of this
device?

t=

N [bits ] 100000 [bit]

=
= 1,786 [sec]
R [bps] 56000 [bps]

Last Note about Signals (cont.)

Propagation Time measures the time required for a signal (or a
bit) to travel from one point of transmission
medium to another
d
p = [sec]
c
d length of physical link [m]
c signal propagation speed in medium 2*108 [m/s]

Example [ propagation time ]

The light of the Sun takes approximately 8 minutes to reach the Earth?
What is the distance between the Sun and the Earth?

m
8 m
d = p [sec] c [
] = 8 * 60 [sec] 3 10 [
] = 144 10 9 [m] = 144 10 6 [km]
sec
sec

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Last Note about Signals (cont.)

Overall Delay

L [bits]
R [bps]
d [m]
c [m/s]

number of bits in message

speed of digital transmission system
distance in meters
speed of light (3x108 m/s in vacuum)

Time to deliver a block of L bits:

Delay = tpropagation + ttransmission = d/c + L/R seconds

How can

Use data compression to reduce L.

theUse
time
to speed
download
a filetobe
minimized???
higher
modem/cable
increase
R.
Place server closer to reduce d.

http://media.pearsoncmg.com/aw/aw_kurose_network_2/applets/transmission/delay.html

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Data Rate Limits in Digital Transmission

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Max Data Rate [bps] depends on three factors:

bandwidth available
Over a Channel?

# of levels in digital signal

quality of channel level of noise

Nyquist Theorem defines theoretical max bit rate in noiseless

channel [1924]

even perfect (noiseless) channels have limited

capacity

Shannon Theorem Nyquist Theorem extended [1949] defines

theoretical max bit rate in noisy channel

if random noise is present, situation deteriorates

rapidly!

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

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Intersymbol Interference the inevitable filtering effect of any practical

channel will cause spreading of individual
data symbols that pass through the channel
this spreading causes part of symbol energy

to overlap with neighbouring symbols causing

intersymbol interference (ISI)
ISI can significantly degrade the ability of the

data detector to differentiate a current symbol

from the diffused energy of adjacent symbols
impulse response:
delayed pulse with ringing

narrow pulse

Bandwidth:
B[Hz]

Ts = 1/2B

As the channel bandwidth B increases, the width of the impulse response decreases
pulses can be input in the system more closely spaced, i.e. at a higher rate.

29

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

Impulse Response response of a low-pass channel (of bandwidth B)

to a narrow pulse h(t), aka Nyquist pulse:

s(t) =

sin(2Bt)
2Bt

zeros: where sin(2Bt)=0 t =

1
2B

1.2
1.21
0.8
1
0.6
0.8
0.4
0.6
0.2
0.4
-7

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-7T

-6T

-5T

T
-4

T
-3

T
-2

0.20
-1-0.2 0
0
-0.4 0
T
-1-0.2

T1

T2

T 3

T 4

T 5

T 6

T 7

-0.4

TS =

1
2B

2
2B

3
2B

What is the minimum pulse/bit duration time to avoid significant ISI?!

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Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

Example [ system response to binary input 110 ]
1

0TS
-2

-1

TS

-2

-1

-1

TS

-2

-1

three separate pulses

combined signal

Assume: channel bandwidth = max analog frequency passed = B [Hz].

New pulse is sent every TS sec data rate = 1/TS [bps] = 2B [bps]
The combined signal has the correct values at t = 0, 1, 2.

rmax

1 pulse
pulses
=
= 2W = 2B
TS second
second

Maximum signaling rate that is achievable through an ideal low-pass channel.

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

Nyquist Law max rate at which digital data can be transmitted
over a comm. channel of bandwidth B [Hz] is
Cnoiseless = 2 B log2M [bps]

M number of discrete levels in digital signal

M C , however this places increased burden

on receiver instead of distinguishing one of two
possible signals, now it must distinguish between M
possible signals
especially complex in the presence of noise

max
amplitude

if spacing between
levels becomes too
small, noise signal
can cause receiver to
make wrong decision
Typical noise

min
amplitude

Four signal levels

Eight signal levels

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Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

Example [ multilevel digital transmission ]

2-level encoding: C=2B [bps]

one pulse one bit

4-level encoding: C=2*2=4B [bps]

one pulse two bits

8-level encoding: C=2*3=6B [bps]

one pulse three bits

100110100011010010

100110100011010010

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Data Rate Limits: Shannon Theorem

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Shannon Law max transmission rate over a channel with bandwidth

B, with Gaussian distributed noise, and with signal-tonoise ratio SNR=S/N, is

Cnoisy = B log2 (1+ SNR) [bps]

theoretical limit there are numerous impairments in every

real channel besides those taken into account in Shannon's

Law (e.g. attenuation, delay distortion, or impulse noise)
no indication of levels no matter how many levels we use,

we cannot achieve a data rate higher than the capacity of

the channel
in practice we need to use both methods (Nyquist & Shannon)

to find what data rate and signal levels are appropriate for
each particular channel:

The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit!

The Nyquist formula tells us how many levels we need!

Data Rate Limits

Example [ data rate over telephone line ]
What is the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line?
A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3000 Hz (300 Hz to 3300 Hz).
The signal-to-noise ratio is usually 35 dB (3162) on up-link channel
(user-to-network).
Solution:
We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line
as:

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) =
= 3000 log2 (1 + 3162) =
= 3000 log2 (3163)
C = 3000 11.62 = 34,860 bps

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Data Rate Limits

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Example [ data rate / number of levels ]

We have a channel with a 1 MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63;
what is the appropriate bit rate and number of signal level?
Solution:
First use Shannon formula to find the upper limit on the channels data-rate

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 106 log2 (1 + 63) = 106 log2 (64) = 6 Mbps

Although the Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, this is the upper limit.
For better performance choose something lower, e.g. 4 Mbps.
Then use the Nyquist formula to find the number of signal levels.

C = 2 B log2M [bps]
4 Mbps = 2 1 MHz log2 L L = 4