Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM) Technique

 In PCM, a message signal is represented by a sequence of coded pulses, which is

accomplished by representing the signal in discrete form in both time and
amplitude.

 The basic operations performed in the transmitter of a PCM system are

sampling, quantization and encoding, the low-pass filter (anti-aliasing filter)
prior to sampling is included only to prevent aliasing of the message signal.

 The quantizing and encoding operations are performed in an analog-to-digital

converter.

 The basic operations in the receiver are regeneration of impaired signals,

decoding and reconstruction of the train of quantized samples.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
Operations in the Transmitter

1. Sampling: The incoming message signal is sampled with a train of rectangular

pulses, narrow enough to closely approximate the instantaneous sampling
process. The sampling rate must be greater than twice the highest frequency
component W of the message signal. An anti-alias (low-pass) filter is used at the
front end of the sampler in order to exclude frequencies higher than W prior to
sampling.

2. Non-uniform Quantization: The use of a non-uniform quanitzer is equivalent

to passing the message signal through a compressor and then applying the
compressed signal to a uniform quanitzer. A particular form of compression law
is called μ-law, A-law.

3. Encoding: An encoding process is to translate the discrete set of sample values

to a more appropriate form of signal. If R denotes the number of bits per sample,
we can represent a total of 2R distinct numbers.
For example, a sample quantized into one of 256 levels may be represented
by an 8-bit code word.

Regeneration along the Transmission Path

The most important feature of a PCM system lies in the ability to control the effects
of distortion and noise produced by transmitting a PCM signal over a channel. This
capability is accomplished by reconstructing the PCM signal by means of a chain of
regenerative repeaters located sufficiently close spacing along the transmission
route.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
Three basic functions are performed by a regenerative repeater: equalization, timing,
and decision making. The equalizer shapes the received pulses so as to compensate
for the effects of amplitude and phase distortion produced by the transmission
characteristic of the channel. The timing circuitry provides a periodic pulse train,
derived from the received pulses; this is done for renewed sampling of the equalized
pulses at the instants of time when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a maximum.

The extracted sample is compared to a predetermined threshold in the decision-

making device. In each bit interval, a decision is then made on whether the received
symbol is a 1 or 0 on the basis of whether the threshold is exceeded or not. If the
received signal is above the threshold, a clean new pulse representing symbol 1 is
transmitted to the next repeater, otherwise, another clean new pulse representing
symbol 0 is transmitted. Thus, the accumulation of distortion and noise in a repeater
span is removed, provided the disturbance is not too large to cause an error in the
decision-making process.

Operation in the Receiver

1. Decoding and Expanding: The first operation in the receiver is to regenerate

the received pulses. These clean pulses are then regrouped into code words and
decoded into a quantized PAM signal. The sequence of decoded samples
represents an estimate of the sequence of compressed samples produced by the
quanitzer in the transmitter. In order to restore the sequence of decoded
samples to their correct relative level, we use an expander with a characteristic
complementary to the compressor, used in the transmitter. Ideally, the
compression and expansion are exactly inverse, except for the effect of
quantization. The combination of a compressor and an expander is referred as a
compander.

2. Reconstruction: This operation is achieved by passing the expander output

through a low-pass reconstruction filter whose cut-off frequency is equal to the
bandwidth of the message signal. The recovery of the message signal is only the
estimation not exact reconstruction.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
Multiplexing Techniques

The process of sending number of separate signals together over the same
transmission medium (metallic-wires/twisted-pair-cables/coaxial-cables/optical-
fiber-cables/satellite-microwave-system) is known as multiplexing.

1. Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)

- FDM divides the total bandwidth available to the system into non-overlapping
frequency sub-bands for transmission over a single digital communication
channel.

Figure: Basic of Frequency Division Multiplexing

- Each data signal is modulated onto a carrier with a different frequency and all
signal travel simultaneously over a channel. Hence, many relatively narrow band
channels can be transmitted over a single wideband transmission system.

- FDM usually utilizes guard bands to separate the digital data transmissions. It is a
broadband analog transmission technique and is used for band-pass data
transmission nor for base band data transmission.

- It requires the assignment and coordination of carrier frequencies which can be

problematic.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
 Fig: Block-diagram of FDM system.

- A simple example of FDM is shown in above figure, where three band signals f1(t),
f2(t) and f3(t) modulate three separate carrier signals with the frequency ω1, ω2 and
ω3 spaced in frequency domain with reasonable margin (guard band) to avoid
overlapping, crosstalk & intermodulation. The output of the each modulator is then
added to produce a composite signal having tree multiplexed message signals. On
its counterpart, each multiplexed band is frequency selective by band pass filter
(BPF) and demodulated for required signal.

Figure: FDM & Guard Band

- FDM is used in telephone system, commercial television broadcast, telemetry and

in communication network. A typical application of FDM in FM broadcasting over
a cable system is depicted in figure below.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
 Figure: FM Broadcasting over a Cable System (Application of FDM)

FDM in Telephony & FDM Hierarchy: Telephone channel is band limited to 300–
3400 Hz (BW 3.1 kHz). Frequency slot of 4 kHz is assigned to each telephone channel
so that there is guard band of 900 Hz for each channel. The first three channel are
multiplexed at 12, 16 and 20 kHz to form a pre-group of 3 telephone channels. The
modulation (frequency shifting/multiplexing) is SSB- USB.

A. Message Channel:
The message channels is the basic building block of the FDM hierarchy. The basic
message channel was originally intended for voice transmission that utilize voice
band frequency (VB) circuit is called 3002 channel and is actually band limited to
300 Hz to 3400 Hz band, although for practical consideration it is considered a 4
kHz channel.

B. Basic Group
It is the first step for multiplexing the message channel. A basic group consists of
12 voice-band channels stacked next to each other in the frequency domain.
Group BW = 12 ×4 = 48 kHz Fout = Fc – Fi
(Fc = carrier frequency, Fi = Channel Frequency Spectrum: 0–4 kHz)
Example: For channel 12, Fc = 112 – 4×12 = 64 kHz.
Fout = 64 – (0 to 4 kHz) = 60 – 64 kHz.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
C. Super Group
Five groups are combined to form a super group. The frequency spectrum for each
group is 60 – 108 kHz. The carrier frequency for a group is derived from the
following expression:
Fc = 372 + 48n; kHz (n = group number)
BW being 240 kHz.

D. Basic Master Group

5 super group makes a master group of BW: 240×5 = 1.2 MHz

E. Super Master Group

3 basic master groups makes a super master group containing 900 telephone
channels BW being 3.6 MHz

Filter and Oscillator Requirement in FDM: In FDM the guard band between two
adjacent frequency slots is not very large, the frequency stability of the oscillators
should be very high in order to avoid overlapping. Generally highly stable quartz
controller oscillator with stability factor of 10–5 or higher is employed. Similarly SSB-
filters are also necessary for the same reason mention above in oscillator.

2. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

- TDM is a baseband data transmission technique, in which individuals circuit are

identified by their position in a stream. Analog inputs are digitized using PCM and
the digitized information are inserted into the fixed timing called Timed Slot.

Figure: Basic of Time Division Multiplexing

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
- It is a digital transmission technology that allows a number of users to access a
single radio-frequency (RF) channel without interference by allocating unique
time slots to each user within each channel.

- The TDM time slots have to be chosen properly. If the time slots are too small then
the multiplexer and de-multiplexer must switch rapidly. If the time slots are too
large then the data must be buffered and delay would be produced.

- The time domain is divided into several recurrent timeslots of fixed length, one
for each sub-channel. A sample byte or data block of sub-channel 1 is transmitted
during timeslot 1, sub-channel 2 during timeslot 2, etc. The concept of TDM is
illustrated by the block diagram as shown below:

Fig: Block-diagram of TDM system.

- The signals to be multiplexed are first individually band limited by low pass-filter
and passed to a commutator system at fixed interval of time. Samples are then
transmitted to the pulse amplitude modulator to transform the multiplexed signal
into the form suitable for transmission over the common channel. The reverse
operation at the receiver end is performed to get a required samples.

- Synchronization between transmitter and receiver is essential for the satisfactory

operation of the system.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
- If the data sources have different rates a multiplexer scheme must reconcile the
disparate rates.

Figure: TDM for Several Data Bit Rate Messages

- The data rates are in the lowest possible ratio 8:16:24 or 1:2:3 for a total 1+2+3 =
6 slots. The slots are apportioned to the channels as: a b b c c c and the channel
data rate is 48 Kbps.

- Another example is data rate of 10, 15, 20 and 30 Kbps which reduces to 2:3:4:6
for a total of 2+3+4+6 = 15 slots and the channel data rate is 45 Kbps.

TDM Types

1. Synchronous TDM: It uses pre allocated and fixed time slot. Each time slot will
be allocated even there is no data transfer.

Figure: Synchronous Vs Statistical TDM

2. Statistical TDM: Statistical TDM, also known as asynchronous TDM

dynamically allocate time slots on demand. The statistical multiplexer does not
send empty slots if there are any other data to send.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
TDM-PCM Telephony System

T1 – System

- T1 carriers system (developed by Bell-System in US) is designed to accommodate

24 – voice channels primarily for short distance.
- The voice signal is passed through a low pass filter (LPF) with a cut-off frequency
of about 3.4 KHz prior to sampling.
- The filter voice signal is usually sampled at a slightly higher rate i.e. 8 KHz, which
is standard sampling rate in telephone system.
- With the sampling rate of 8 KHz each frame of the multiplexed signal occupies a
period of 125 µSec (= 1/8000 sec).
- In particular, it consists of 24, 8-bit words plus a single bit i.e. added at the end of
each frame for the purpose of synchronization. Hence, each frame consists of
24X8+1 = 193 bits.

x(t)

Ts = 1/fs = 1/8000 = 125 µsec

Ts

Ts

1 2 3 … 23 24

1 extra slot of 1 bit

for synchronization
1 2 3 … 8

Figure: T1 Carrier System, Frame Structure

Here; Total no. of bits/frame = 24 x 8 + 1 = 193

Frame duration = 125 µSec
Bit Duration (Tb) = 125/193 = 0.647 µSec
Bit Rate (Rb) = 1/Tb = 1/0.647 = 1.544 Mbps

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
Modulation Technique in TDM System

The most common type of modulation used with TDM system is PCM (Pulse Code
Modulation). Two or more voice band channels are sampled, converted to PCM codes,
and then time division multiplexed onto a single channel.

Figure: Sampling Sequence

Figure: Single channel PCM transmission system

Figure: Block Diagram of T1 Digital Carrier System

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
E1 – System

- In Europe and the rest of the world, E1 system as international standard has been
adopted.
- This carrier system has 30 channels, multiplexed signals giving the data rate of
2.048 Mbps.
- Two extra slots of each 8 bits are added to the frame for synchronization and
signalling purpose.

Frame Duration (Ts = 1/8000 = 125µs)

1 2 3 … 29 30
2 Extra Slots of 8-bits each,
for synchronization and signalling

1 2 … 7 8

1 Slot

Figure: E1 Carrier System Frame Structure

Here, Total no. of bits/frame = 32 x 8 = 256

Bit duration (Tb) = 125/256 = 0.488 µsec
Bit Rate (Rb) = 1/Tb = 1/0.488 = 2.048 µsec

Comparison between T1 and E1 systems

Differences T1 Carrier System E1 Carrier System

No of voice channels 24 30
Sampling frequency 8 KHz 8 KHz
Bits/sample 8 bits 8 bits
Synchronization 1 bit/frame 2 words/frame
Slots/frame 24 32
Bits/frame 193 256

Table: Comparative analysis of T1 and E1 systems

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
 1 64Kbps
2
1.544Mbps 1 6.312 Mbps 1

T1 MUX
2 2

T2 MUX
3 3 44.736 Mbps 1

T3 MUX
4 4 2 274.176 Mbps 1

T4 MUX
23 5 3

T5 MUX
24 6 4 560.16 Mbps
1 64 Kbps 7 5

……
2 6 2

……
T1' MUX

……
23
24
……

1 64Kbps
2
2.048 Mbps 1 8.448 Mbps
T1 MUX

2 1
T2 MUX

3 2 34.368 Mbps 1

T2 MUX
4 3 2 139.26 Mbps 1

T2 MUX
29 4 3 2

T2 MUX
30 4 3 564.992 Mbps
1 64 Kbps 4
……

2
……
T1' MUX

……
29
30
……

Figure: T1 (Top) & E1 (Bottom) Digital Hierarchy

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka
Lecturer, AITM - Nepal
# Space Division Multiplexing (SDM)

- Utilizes the spatial separation of the users in order to optimize the use of the
frequency spectrum.

- A primitive form of SDM is when the same frequency is reused in different cells in
a cellular wireless network. It controls the radiated energy for each user in space
as shown in figure below.

Figure: The Basic of SDMA

- SDM serves different users by using spot beam antenna, may be served by the same
or different frequencies. However for limited co-channel interference it is required
that the cells be sufficiently separated.

- This limits the number of cells a region can be divided into and hence limits the
frequency re-use factor. Therefore it becomes imperative to use other multiple
access techniques in conjunction with SDM.

- When different areas are covered by the antenna beam, frequency can be re-used,
in which case TDM or CDM is employed, for different frequencies FDM can be used.

Prepared By: Er. Shree Krishna Khadka

Lecturer, AITM – Nepal, KIST, NCIT, MAMTS