Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Physical Layer
Data Rate Limits and Performance

Engr. Usman Raza

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

DATA RATE LIMITS

• A very important consideration in data communications is how

fast we can send data, in bits per second, over a channel.

• Data rate depends on three factors:

– The bandwidth available.
– The level of the signals we use.
– The quality of the channel (the level of noise).

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Nyquist Theorem
• Defines theoretical max bit rate in noiseless channel in 1924.

• Even a perfect (noiseless) channels have limited capacity.

• Nyquist theorem states that for a noiseless channel:

C = 2 B log2L
C= capacity in bps
B = bandwidth in Hz

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Shannon Capacity
• In reality, we cannot have a noiseless channel; the channel is
always noisy.
• In 1944, Claude Shannon introduced a formula, called the
Shannon capacity, to determine the theoretical highest data
rate for a noisy channel:

C = B log2(1 + SNR)

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Combination Of Nyquist and Shannon

• In practice, we need to use both methods to find the limits and
signal levels.
• Shannon Capacity is used to determine the Highest Data Rate
of the channel.
• Nyquist is used to determine the no. of signal levels that can be
used in a signal.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Performance of the Network

• Performance of the Network depend upon the following
Factors:
– Bandwidth
– Throughput
– Latency
– Bandwidth-Delay Product
– Jitter

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Bandwidth
• Bandwidth is the raw capability of a communications channel to
move data through that channel.

• Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can move from

one point to another over a given amount of time.

• Typically measured in bits or bytes per second (or some,

possibly large, multiple thereof).

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Throughput
• The throughput is a measure of how fast we can actually send
data through a network.

• Typically measured in bits or bytes per second (or some,

possibly large, multiple thereof).

• Are Bandwidth and Throughput are same…?

• If “NO”, then what’s the difference?

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Latency
• The latency or delay defines how long it takes for an entire
message to completely arrive at the destination from the time
the first bit is sent out from the source.
• Latency is made of four components:
– Propagation time
– Transmission time
– Queuing time
– Processing delay.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Latency
• Propagation Delay
– This is simply the time it takes for a bit to travel between one place (Source) and
another (Destination).

• Transmission Time
– How long does it take to transmit the whole message from one place to another.

• Queuing Time
– The third component in latency is the queuing time, the time needed for each intermediate
or end device to hold the message before it can be processed.
– It is not a fixed factor; it changes with the load imposed on the network.

• Processing Delay:
– Time taken to process the message

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Band-Width Delay Product

• Bandwidth-delay product refers to the product of a data link's capacity
(bps) and its delay time (in seconds).

• The result, an amount of data measured in bits (or bytes), is equivalent to

the maximum amount of data on the network circuit at any given time, i.e.,
data that has been transmitted but not yet acknowledged.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Jitter
• Jitter is a problem if different packets of data encounter different
delays.

• If the delay for the first packet is 20 ms, for the second is 45
ms, and for the third is 40 ms, then the real-time application that
uses the packets endures jitter.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 8: Physical Layer – Data Rate Limits and Performance CS 313: CCNET

Reference
• Data Communications and Networking (Chapter 3),
5th Edition or Higher by BEHROUZ A. FOROUZAN

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi