DIGITAL TRANSMISSION

✓Digital transmission : the transmittal of digital signals between two or

more points in a communications system.
✓ The signals can be binary or any other form of discrete-level digital
pulses.
✓ The original source may be in digital form, or it could be analog
signals that have been converted to digital pulses prior to transmission
and converted back to analog signals in the receiver.
✓ With digital transmission systems, a physical facility (pair of wires,
coaxial cable, optical fiber cable) is required to interconnect the various
points within the system. The pulses are propagate down the cable.
Digital pulses cannot be propagated through a wireless transmission
system (Earth’s atmosphere or free space (vacuum).
 ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL
TRANSMISSION
Noise immunity
 Digital signals are less susceptible than analog signals to
interference caused by noise. With digital signals it is not necessary
to evaluate the precise amplitude, frequency, or phase to as certain
its logic condition. Instead, pulses are evaluated during a precise
time interval
Suitable for signal processing
 Digital Signal Processing (DSP) - processing of signals using digital
methods and includes bandlimiting the signal with filters, amplitude
equalization, and phase shifting
Suitable for multiplexing
 Multiplexing is a signal combining technique. It is the transmission of
information (in any form) from one or more source to one or more
destination over the same transmission medium (facility).
 ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL
TRANSMISSION
Simple storage
 Digital signals are much simpler to be stored than analog signals. The
transmission rate of digital signals can be easily changed to adapt to
different environments and to interface with different types of
equipment.
Resistant to additive noise
 Digital transmission systems are more resistant to additive noise than
analog signals because they use signal regeneration rather than
signal amplification. Noise produced in electronic circuits is additive
(i.e., it accumulates); therefore, the signal-to-noise ratio deteriorates
each time an analog signal is amplified.
Further transmission distance
 Digital regenerators sample noisy signals and then reproduce an
entirely new digital signal with the same signal-to-noise ratio as the
original transmitted signal. Conversely, the number of circuits the
signal must past through limits the total distance analog signals can
be transmitted. Therefore, digital signals can be transported for
longer distance than analog signals.
 ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL
TRANSMISSION
Simple to measure and evaluate
 Digital signals are simpler and easier to measure and evaluate than
analog signals. Therefore, it is easier to compare the error
performance of one digital system to another digital system
Easy error detection and correction
 Digitals signals allow transmission errors to be detected and
corrected more easily and accurately than is possible with analog
signals.
 DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL
TRANSMISSION
Higher bandwidth requirement
 The transmission of digitally encoded analogs signals requires
significantly more bandwidth than simply transmitting the original
analog signal. Bandwidth is one of the most important aspects of any
communications system because it is costly and limited.
Additional coding circuits’ requirement
 Analog signals must be converted to digital pulses prior to
transmission and converted back to their original analog form at the
receiver, thus necessitating additional encoding and decoding
circuitry.
Precise time synchronization requirement
 Digital transmission requires precise time synchronization between
clocks in the transmitters and receivers.
System incompatibility
 Digital transmission systems are incompatible with older transmission
systems.
 PULSE MODULATION
• Pulse Modulation consists essentially :
✓ Sampling analog information signal
✓ Converting samples into discrete pulses
✓ Transport the pulses from source to destination over
physical transmission medium.
 Four (4) Methods
1. PAM
Analog Pulse Modulation
2. PWM
3. PPM
Digital Pulse Modulation
4. PCM
CONT’D...
Analog Pulse Modulation
 Carrier signal is pulse waveform and the modulated
signal is where one of the carrier signal’s characteristic
(either amplitude, width or position) is changed according
to information signal.
PULSE AMPLITUDE MODULATION (PAM)
• The amplitude of pulses is varied in accordance with the information
signal.
• Width & position constant.
PULSE WIDTH MODULATION (PWM)
Sometimes called Pulse Duration Modulation (PDM).
The width of pulses is varied in accordance to information
signal.
Amplitude & position constant.
The maximum analog signal amplitude produces the widest
pulse, the minimum analog signal amplitude produces the
narrowest pulse.
CONT’D...
 PULSE POSITION MODULATION
(PPM)

•Modulation in which the temporal positions of the pulses are varied in

accordance with some characteristic of the information signal.
•Amplitude & width constant.
•The higher the amplitude of the sample, the farther to the right the
pulse is positioned within the prescribed time slot.
•The highest amplitude sample produces a pulse to the far right, and
the lowest amplitude sample produces a pulse to the far left.
 SAMPLING
Sampling : A process of taking samples of information signal at
a rate of Nyquist’s sampling frequency.
The Nyquist sampling theorem establishes the minimum sampling
rate (fs) that can be used for a given PCM system.
Nyquist’s Sampling Theorem :

The original information signal can be reconstructed at the receiver

with minimal distortion if the sampling rate in the pulse modulation
system equal to or greater than twice the maximum information
signal frequency.
fs ≥ 2fm(max)

where: fs = minimum Nyquist sample rate (hertz)

fm(max) = highest frequency to be sampled (hertz)
 CONT’D...
Consequently, the minimum sampling rate is equal to twice the
highest audio input frequency.
If fs is less than two times fm, distortion will result. This distortion
is called aliasing or foldover distortion.
.
 3 basic conditions of sampling process :
i. Sampling at fs = 2fa(max)
✓ When the modulating signal is sampled at a
minimum sampling rate, the frequency spectrum
is shown above.
✓ In practice, it is difficult to design a low pass
filter which can pass only the highest modulating
frequency in order to restore the original modulating
signal
 Sampling at fs > 2fa(max)
✓ The sampling rate creates a guard band between fa(max) and the lowest
frequency component (fs - 2fa(max)) of the sampling harmonics.
✓ More practical low pass filter can be used to restore the modulating signal.
Sampling at fs < 2fa(max)
✓The side frequencies from one harmonic fold over into the
sideband of another harmonic.
✓The frequency that folds over is an alias of the input signal
(hence the name “aliasing” or “foldover distortion”). If an
alias side frequency from the first harmonic folds over into the
input audio spectrum, it cannot be removed through filtering
or any other technique.
NATURAL SAMPLING

Tops of the sample pulses retain their natural

shape during the sample interval.
Frequency spectrum of the sampled output is
different from an ideal sample.
Amplitude of frequency components produced
from narrow, finite-width sample pulses decreases
for the higher harmonics
 Requiring the use of frequency equalizers
NATURAL SAMPLING
FLAT-TOP SAMPLING
Common used in PCM systems.
Accomplish in a sample-and-hold circuit
 To periodically sample the continually changing analog input voltage & convert to a
series of constant-amplitude PAM voltage levels.

The input voltage is sampled with a narrow pulse and then held
relatively constant until the next sample is taken.
CONT’D…
Sampling process alters the frequency spectrum & introduces aperture
error.
The amplitude of the sampled signal changes during the sample pulse
time.
Advantages:
 Introduces less aperture distortion
 Can operate with a slower ADC
FLAT-TOP SAMPLING