MCA - III

DATA COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES

Paper : CS-DE-31 Written by – Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya

Lesson No. : 5
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 OBJECTIVE
5.3 CONTENTS
5.3.1 BIT RATE AND BAUD
5.3.2BANDWIDTH AND CHANNEL CAPACITY
5.3.3TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT
5.3.4DATA TRANSMISSION AND ENCODING
5.3.5 DIGITAL TRANSMISSION
5.3.5.1 DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION
Line Coding
Line Coding Schemes
Unipolar: NRZ
Polar: NRZ-L, NRZ-I
Biphase: Manchester, Differential Manchester
Bipolar: AMI & Pseudoternary
Multilevel: 2B1Q, 8B6T
Block Coding Schemes: 4B/5B, 8B/10B
Scrambling Techniques: B8ZS
5.3.5.2 ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION
Pulse Code Modulation
Delta Modulation
5.4 SUMMARY
5.5 SUGGESTED READINGS
5.6 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1
5.1 INTRODUCTION

The main functionality of data and computer networks is the transport of digital data between
end systems. To achieve this purpose, we need transmission systems to carry the digital data
and we need encoding devices to reshape data signals generated by end system to a form that
is more conducive for transmission;
In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits , characters or
symbols (baud rate), per unit time passing between equipment in a data transmission system.
Most commonly, measurements of data transfer rate are reported in multiples of unit bits per
second (bit/s) or occasionally in bytes per second (B/s). The data rates of modern residential
high-speed Internet connections are most commonly expressed in multiples of bits per
second, such as megabits per second (Mbit/s) or kilobits per second (kbit/s).
When a signal is transmitted over a communication channel, it is subjected to different types
of impairments because of imperfect characteristics of the channel. As a consequence, the
received and the transmitted signals are not the same. Outcome of the impairments are
manifested in two different ways in analog and digital signals. These impairments introduce
random modifications in analog signals leading to distortion. On the other hand, in case of
digital signals, the impairments lead to error in the bit values.
Data or information can be stored in two ways, analog and digital. For a computer to use the
data, it must be in discrete digital form. Similar to data, signals can also be in analog and
digital form. This information needs to be converted to either digital signal or
analog signal for transmission. To transmit data digitally, it needs to be first converted
to digital form. Various techniques exist for converting digital and analog data to digital
signals.

5.2 OBJECTIVE

In this lesson, first, characterization of data transmission in terms of bit rate, baud, bandwidth

and channel capacity is described in sections 5.3.1 and 5.3.2.

Data may get errored during transmission due to attenuation, distortion, and noise. These

transmission impairments are discussed in section 5.3.3.

Computers encode and transmit data, voice, and video over networks via various transmission
media. Encoding is the process of transforming information into digital and analog signals.

2
Section5.3.4 describes the concept of data transmission and encoding. Digital transmission is
the highlight of section 5.3.5. Under this section, digital-to-digital and analog-to-digital
conversion techniques are discussed in sections 5.3.5.1 and 5.3.5.2. In these sections, a brief
overview of all digital-to-digital conversion techniques is provided to demark the capabilities
and limitations of all the techniques. However, Manchester and Differential Manchester
encoding techniques are discussed in detail as these are the widely used techniques in
Ethernet and token ring LANs and are a component of the syllabus. A discussion of other
techniques is done to bring out the distinctive features of Manchester and Differential
Manchester encoding. Pulse code modulation and Delta modulation are discussed under
analog-to-digital conversion techniques.

5.3 CONTENTS
5.3.1 BIT RATE AND BAUD
Most data communications over networks occurs via serial-data transmission. Data bits
transmit one at a time over some communications channel, such as a cable or a wireless
path. Serial-data speed is usually stated in terms of bit rate. However, another often-quoted
measure of speed is baud rate. 

Bit Rate and Bit Interval

Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted per second or bps. A bit is the smallest unit of
information that a computer can process and can have one of two values, either 0 or 1.
The bit interval is the time required to send one single bit. The bit rate is the number of bit
intervals per second. This means that the bit rate is the number of bits sent in one second,
usually expressed in bps (bit per second).

Figure 5.1 Bit rate and bit interval

3
Bit rate, as the name implies, describes the rate at which bits are transferred from one
location to another. In other words, it measures how much data is transmitted in a given
amount of time. Hence we also sometimes refer to it as data rate.
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or
processed per unit of time.
Bit rate is commonly measured in bits per second (bps), kilobits per second (Kbps), or
megabits per second (Mbps). For example, a DSL connection may be able to download data
at 768 kbps, while a Firewire 800 connection (High Speed Serial Bus) can transfer data up to
800 Mbps.
The bit rate is quantified using the bits per second unit (symbol: "bit/s"), often in conjunction
with an SI prefix such as "kilo" (1 kbit/s = 1000 bit/s), "mega" (1 Mbit/s = 1000 kbit/s),
"giga" (1 Gbit/s = 1000 Mbit/s) or "tera" (1 Tbit/s = 1000 Gbit/s). The non-standard
abbreviation "bps" is often used to replace the standard symbol "bit/s", so that, for example,
"1 Mbps" is used to mean one million bits per second.
One byte per second (1 B/s) corresponds to 8 bit/s.

Standards for unit symbols and prefixes

Unit symbol
The ISQ (International System of Quantities) symbols for the bit and byte are bit and B,
respectively. In the context of data rate units, one byte consists of 8 bits, and is synonymous
with the unit octet. The abbreviation bps is often used to mean bit/s, so that when
a 1 Mbps connection is advertised, it usually means that the maximum achievable bandwidth
is 1 Mbit/s (one million bits per second), which is 0.125 MB/s (megabyte per second), or
about 0.1192 MiB/s (mebibyte per second).
Prefix
In both the SI (International System of Units) and ISQ, the prefix k stands for kilo, meaning
1,000, while Ki is the symbol for the binary prefix kibi-, meaning 1,024. The letter K is often
used as a non-standard abbreviation for 1,024, especially in "KB" to mean KiB, the kilobyte
in its binary sense.

Variations

The prefixes kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, tebi-, pebi-, and exbi- were introduced to be used in
specifying binary multiples of a quantity. The name is derived from the first two letters of the

4
original SI prefixes followed by bi (short for binary). It also clarifies that the SI prefixes be
used only to mean powers of 10 and never powers of 2.

Table 5.1 provides the quantification of the different units in decimal and binary prefixes
Table 5.1

Bit rates

Name Symbol Multiple

bit per second bit/s 1 1

Decimal prefixes (SI)

103 10001
kilobit per second kbit/s

106 10002
megabit per second Mbit/s

109 10003
gigabit per second Gbit/s

1012 10004
terabit per second Tbit/s

Binary prefixes 

210 10241
kibibit per second Kibit/s

220 10242
mebibit per second Mibit/s

gibibit per second Gibit/s 230 10243

tebibit per second Tibit/s 240 10244

Decimal multiples of bits

Kilobit per second

Kilobit per second (symbol kbit/s or kb/s, often abbreviated "Kbps") is a unit of data

transfer rate equal to:

 1,000 bits per second

5
 125 bytes per second

Megabit per second

Megabit per second (symbol Mbit/s or Mb/s, often abbreviated "Mbps") is a unit of data

transfer rate equal to:

 1,000,000 bits per second

 1,000 kilobits per second
 125,000 bytes per second
 125 kilobytes per second

Gigabit per second

Gigabit per second (symbol Gbit/s or Gb/s, often abbreviated "Gbps") is a unit of data

transfer rate equal to:

 1,000 megabits per second
 1,000,000 kilobits per second
 1,000,000,000 bits per second
 125,000,000 bytes per second

Terabit per second

Terabit per second (symbol Tbit/s or Tb/s, sometimes abbreviated "Tbps") is a unit of data

transfer rate equal to:

 1,000 gigabits per second
 1,000,000 megabits per second
 1,000,000,000 kilobits per second
 1,000,000,000,000 bits per second
 125,000,000,000 bytes per second
Binary multiples of bits
Kibibit per second

The Kibibit per second (Kibit/s) is a unit of data transfer rate equal to:

 1,024 bits per second

6
Mebibit per second

The Mebibit per second (Mibit/s) is a unit of data transfer rate equal to:

 1,048,576 bits per second (220)

 1,024 kibibits per second(210)

Gibibit per second

The Gibibit per second (Gibit/s) is a unit of data transfer rate equal to:

 1,073,741,824 bits per second (230)

 1,048,576 kibibits per second
 1,024 mebibits per second

Tebibit per second

The Tebibit per second (Tibit/s) is a unit of data transfer rate equal to:

 1,099,511,627,776 bits per second (240)

 1,073,741,824 kibibits per second
 1,048,576 mebibits per second
 1,024 gibibits per second
Examples of bit rates in networking technologies
Table 5.2

Quantit bits per bytes per

Unit Field Description
y second second

Networkin 56kbit modem – 56

56 kbit/s 56,000 7,000
g kbit/s – 56,000 bit/s

64kbit/s in
an ISDN B channel
Networkin
64 kbit/s 64,000 8,000 or best quality,
g
uncompressed
telephone line.

7
 Quantit bits per bytes per
Unit Field Description
y second second

107 bit/s is the speed

Networkin of classic Ethernet:
10 Mbit/s 10,000,000 1,250,000
g 10BASE2, 10BASE5,
10BASE-T

Networkin 802.11g, Wireless G
54 Mbit/s 54,000,000 6,750,000
g LAN

Networkin
100 Mbit/s 100,000,000 12,500,000 Fast Ethernet
g

Networkin 802.11n, Wireless N

600 Mbit/s 600,000,000 75,000,000
g LAN

Networkin
10 Gbit/s 10,000,000,000 1,250,000,000 10 Gigabit Ethernet
g

Networkin
100 Gbit/s 100,000,000,000 12,500,000,000 100 Gigabit Ethernet
g

Baud
To understand the meaning of Baud, we need to first identify the time-domain concept of
signals.

Time-domain concepts of signals

 A signal is continuous over a period, if there is no break in the signal.
 A signal is discrete if it takes on only a finite number of values.
 A signal is a periodic signal if it completes a pattern within a measurable time frame.

8
A periodic signal is characterized as follows:

Most signals on a communications channel consist of oscillating waveforms as shown in

figure 5.2 (a) Error: Reference source not found The oscillating signal has three

characteristics that can be varied in order to convey computer generated data : amplitude,

frequency /wavelength and phase (figure 5.3).

(a) (b)

Figure 5.2 (a) Oscillating signal (b) Waves at different amplitudes

Figure 5.3 Characteristics of an oscillating signal: Amplitude, Frequency, Phase

The amplitude or voltage is determined by the amount of electrical charge inserted on the
wire. Figure 5.2 (b) shows that this voltage can be set high or low depending on the binary
state, that is, a 1 or a 0.
The frequency describes how many times per second that the signal repeats itself or number
of oscillations made by the wave per unit time (figure 5.4(a)). The unit for frequency is Hertz
(Hz), which is the number of cycles occurring each second (figure 5.4(b)). For example, an

9
802.11b wireless LAN operates at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, which means that the signal
includes 2,400,000,000 cycles per second.

(a)

(b)

Figure 5.4 (a) Frequency of 10 Hz (b) Waves at different frequencies

Phase is a definition of the position of a point in time (instant) on a waveform cycle. A

complete cycle is defined as 360 degrees of phase as shown in Illustration A below (figure
5.5(a)). Phase can also be an expression of relative displacement between or among waves
having the same frequency (figure 5.5 (b)) .The phase corresponds to how far the signal is
offset from a reference point. As a convention, each cycle of the signal spans 360 degrees.
For example, a signal might have a phase shift of 90 degrees, which means that the offset
amount is one quarter (90/360 = 1/4) of the signal. A variation in phase is often useful for
conveying information. For example, a signal can represent a binary 1 as a phase shift of 30
degrees and a binary 0 with a shift of 60 degrees. 
Phase difference, also called phase angle, in degrees is conventionally defined as a number
greater than -180, and less than or equal to +180. Leading phase refers to a wave that occurs
"ahead" of another wave of the same frequency. Lagging phase refers to a wave that occurs
"behind" another wave of the same frequency. When two signals differ in phase by -90 or
+90 degrees, they are said to be in phase quadrature. When two waves differ in phase by 180
degrees (-180 is technically the same as +180), the waves are said to be in phase opposition.

10
Illustration B in figure 5.5 (a) shows two waves that are in phase quadrature. The wave
depicted by the dashed line leads the wave represented by the solid line by 90 degrees.

(a) (b)

Figure 5.5 (a) A. Complete cycle of 360 phase; B. Two signals differing in phase by 90
degrees (b) phase shift
Baud

Baud is a commonly used term in data communications. This term describes the rate of

change of the signal on the line, that is, how many times (per second) the signal changes its

pattern. A signal element is a discrete (voltage, phase or frequency value). In order to

transmit a character, the time T required depends on both the encoding method and the

signaling speed [the number of times per second that the signal changes its value e.g. its

voltage]. As described, this number of changes per second is measured in baud.

A b baud line does not necessarily transmit b bits/sec, since each signal might convey several

bits. If the voltages 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 were used, each signal values (8 different amplitudes

of a signal wave) could be used to convey 3 bits, so the bit rate would be three times the band

rate. Similarly, a variation in frequencies or phase may identify a signal in various states /

levels. More the number of levels, more will be the number of bits carried per signal. A signal

can also have variations by combining more than one of its characteristics. For e.g., a signal

11
may have a variation w.r.t. its amplitude as well as phase, giving it a wider range of states,

which may lead to the transmission of more number of bits per signal. As said earlier, the rate

of change of signal is referred as baud. Hence a baud may carry more number of bits if the

signal is represented by a larger number of variations.

For eg, in Figure 5.6, the sending device assembles the bits into groups of two and then

modifies the oscillating wave form (that is, changes the signal state) to one of four amplitudes

to represent any combination of 2 bits (00, 01, 10, 11). In the example of figure 5.6, the bit

transfer rate across the communications path is twice the baud (or rate of signal change).

Figure 5.6 Two bits sent per baud (signal) by varying the amplitudes at four different
levels

Figure 5.7 represents a 2-level digital signal transmitting 1 bit per signal (1 bit per baud) and
a 4-level digital signal transmitting 2 bits per signal (2 bits per baud).

12
 Figure 5.7 Single bit per baud and two bits per baud

Figure 5.8 depicts the relationship between bit rate and baud rate. In figure 5.8 (a), the baud
rate (number of bauds per second) is the same as the bit rate since the signal is represented
using two levels only. This means that one signal can carry only one bit. If 8 signals can be
transmitted in one second, then the baud rate will be 8 and the bit rate will also be 8.
In figure 5.8 (b), the signal has four levels and hence two bits can be carried per signal. This
means 2 bits per baud. This may increase the bit rate by a factor of two. The baud rate in this
case is 8 bauds per second, but the bit rate will be 16 bits per second.

Figure 5.8 Two digital signals: (a) two signal levels and (b) four signal levels

13
 (a) (b)
Figure 5.9 (a) A digital signal using two levels, (b) A digital signal using four levels
Figure 5.9 above indicates a comparison in the time domain when (a) a digital signal uses two
levels (transmitting a single bit per signal and (b) a digital signal uses four levels
(transmitting two bits per signal). In (b), when signal uses four levels and transmits two bits
per baud, 8 bits are sent in half the time as compared to a signal that uses two levels and
transmits a single bit per baud.
Figure 5.10 shows a comparison of bit rate and baud rate with 1, 2, 3 and 4 bits per baud.

Figure 5.10 Bit Rate Vs Baud Rate

Bit rate is the number of bits per second. Baud rate is the number of signal units (symbols)

per second. Baud rate is less than or equal to the bit rate.

Relationship between baud, signal levels, and bit rate is:

14
 bit rate = baud X [ log2 (levels) ]

Example: What is the bit rate (in bps) of a 16 – level signal transmitted at 20 baud?

Bit rate = 20 X [log2 (16)] = 20 X 4 = 80 bps

5.3.2 BANDWIDTH AND CHANNEL CAPACITY

Bandwidth

The frequency spectrum of a signal is the collection of all the component frequencies it
contains and is shown using a frequency domain graph. The bandwidth of a signal is the
width of the frequency spectrum (Figure 5.11)
Bandwidth refers to the range of component frequencies, and frequency spectrum refers to
the elements within that range. To calculate the bandwidth, subtract the lowest frequency
from the highest frequency of the range. Bandwidth indicates the range of frequencies
measured in hertz (cycles per second), which can be successfully transmitted over the line.

The bandwidth of an analog signal is the difference between the highest and lowest
frequencies of the constituent parts.
It is extremely simple to compute the bandwidth of a signal, given a "plot in the frequency
domain" -- a plot of frequency versus amplitude. In figure 5.11, the bandwidth can be
computed as the maximum frequency minus minimum frequency which is 4 KHz (5 - 1).

Figure 5.11 A frequency domain plot of an analog signal with a bandwidth of 4 KHz

Capacity of a Channel

Capacity of a channel is determined in terms of its bit rate. Bit rate is the number of bits

transmitted during one second. Baud rate refers to the number of signal units per second that

are required to represent those bits. In data transmission, we are concerned with how

15
efficiently we can move that data from place to place, whether in pieces or blocks. The fewer

signal units required, the more efficient the system and the less bandwidth required for

transmitting more bits; the baud rate determines the bandwidth required to send the signal.

Relationship between Bandwidth, Data Rate and Channel Capacity

As we have seen, Channel Bandwidth is the range of signal bandwidths or range of
frequencies allowed by a communication channel without significant loss of energy.
Channel Capacity or Maximum Data rate is the maximum rate (in bps) at which data can
be transmitted over a given communication link, or channel.
In general, information is conveyed by change in values of the signal in time.  Since
frequency of a signal is a direct measure of the rate of change in values of the signal, the
more the frequency of a signal, more is the achievable data rate or information transfer rate.
So, whether it is analog or digital transmission, an increase in the bandwidth of the signal,
implies a corresponding increase in the data rate. For e.g. if we double the signal
bandwidth, then the data rate would also double.
In practice however, we cannot keep increasing the signal bandwidth infinitely. The
telecommunication link or the communication channel acts as a police and has limitations on
the maximum bandwidth that it would allow. Apart from this, there are standard transmission
constraints in the form of different channel noise sources that strictly limit the signal
bandwidth to be used.  So the achievable data rate is influenced more by the channel’s
bandwidth and noise characteristics than the signal bandwidth.
Nyquist and Shannon have given methods for calculating the channel capacity (C) of
bandwidth limited communication channels.

Nyquist Criteria for maximum data rate for noiseless channels

Given a noiseless channel with bandwidth B Hz., Nyquist stated that it can be used to carry
atmost 2B signal changes (symbols) per second. The converse is also true, namely for
achieving a signal transmission rate of 2B symbols per second over a channel, it is enough if
the channel allows signals with frequencies up to B Hz.
Also, signals could have more than two different levels. In such cases, each signal value
could represent more than 1 digital bit.
Nyquist’s formula for multi-level signaling for a noiseless channel is:

C = 2 X B X log2M

16
where C is the channel capacity in bits per second, B is the maximum bandwidth allowed by
the channel, M is the number of different signaling values or symbols and log is to the base 2.
For example, assume a noiseless 3-kHz channel.
If 2 binary signals are used, then M= 2 and hence maximum channel capacity or achievable
data rate is:
C = 2 X 3000 X log22 = 6000 bps.
Similarly, if M = 4, the maximum channel capacity  is:
C = 2 X 3000 X log24 = 2 X 3000 X 2 = 12000bps.
Thus, theoretically, by increasing the number of signaling values or symbols, we could keep
on increasing the channel capacity C indefinitely. But however, in practice, no channel is
noiseless and so we cannot simply keep increasing the number of symbols indefinitely, as the
receiver would not be able to distinguish between different symbols in the presence of
channel noise.
It is here that Shannon’s theorem comes in handy, as he specifies a maximum theoretical
limit for the channel capacity C of a noisy channel.

Shannon’s channel capacity criteria for noisy channels

Given a communication channel with bandwidth of B Hz. and a signal-to-noise ratio of S/N,
where S is the signal power and N is the noise power, Shannon’s formulae for the maximum
channel capacity C of such a channel is
C = B X log2 (1 + S/N)    
For example, for a channel with bandwidth of 3 KHz and with a S/N value of 1000, like that
of a typical telephone line, the maximum channel capacity is:
   C = 3000 X log2 (1 + 1000) = 30000 bps (approx.)
Using the previous examples of Nyquist criteria, we saw that for a channel with bandwidth 3
KHz, we could double the data rate from 6000 bps to 12000 bps., by using M= 4 instead of M
= 2. Using Shannon’s criteria for the same channel, we can conclude that irrespective of the
line encoding technique used, we cannot increase the channel capacity of this channel beyond
30000bps.
In practice however, due to receiver constraints and due to external noise sources, Shannon’s
theoretical limit is never achieved.

Thus to summarize the relationship between bandwidth, data rate and channel capacity,
In general, greater the signal bandwidth, the higher the information-carrying capacity
17
But transmission system & receiver’s capability limit the bandwidth that can be transmitted
Hence data rate depends on:
 Available bandwidth for transmission
 Channel capacity and Signal-to-Noise Ratio
 Receiver Capability

More the frequency allotted, more the channel bandwidth, more the processing capability of
the receiver, greater the information transfer rate that can be achieved.

5.3.3 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

Signals travel through the transmission media, which may not be perfect. The imperfection
causes signal impairment. This means that the signal which is received by a receiver may not
be the same as the one transmitted over the medium by a sender.

With any communications system, it must be recognized that the received signal will differ
from the transmitted signal due to various transmission impairments. For analog signals,
these impairments introduce various random modifications that degrade the signal quality.
For digital signals, bit errors are introduced: A binary 1 is transformed into a binary 0 and
vice versa. Transmission impairment can be summarized as:

 Signal received may differ from signal transmitted

 For analog signal these impairments can degrade the signal quality
 For digital signals bit errors may be introduced, a binary 1 can be transformed into a
binary 0 and vice versa.

The most significant communication impairments are as shown in figure 5.12:

18
 Figure 5.12 Causes of impairment: Attenuation, Delay distortion, and Noise

Attenuation
Attenuation means a loss of energy. The strength of a signal falls off with distance over any
transmission medium. When a signal travels through a medium, it loses some of its energy in
overcoming the resistance of the medium. That is why a wire carrying electric signals gets
warm after a while as some of the electrical energy in the signal is converted to heat.
Signals loose power with time.

Figure 5.13 Effect of Attenuation

Issues:

1. Signals must be sufficiently strong so that the receiver will be able to detect and
interpret them
2. Signals should maintain a sufficient high level to make them distinguishable from
noise
3. Too strong signals can overload the circuitry of the transmitter and result in distortion.

For guided media, this reduction in strength, or attenuation, is generally logarithmic and is
thus typically expressed as a constant number of decibels per unit distance. To compensate
for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify the signal.

Figure 5.14 shows the effect of attenuation and amplification.

Figure 5.14 Attenuation

19
For unguided media, attenuation is a more complex function of distance and of the makeup of
the atmosphere. Attenuation introduces three considerations for the transmission engineer.
First, a received signal must have sufficient strength so that the electronic circuitry in the
receiver can detect and interpret the signal. Second, the signal must maintain a level
sufficiently higher than noise to be received without error. Third, attenuation is an increasing
function of frequency.
A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased 10 times
To summarize:

 Signal strength falls off with distance

 Attenuation depends on medium:
o For guided media: it is exponential and expressed as a constant number of
decibels per unit distance.
o For unguided media: it is a complex function of distance and makeup of the
atmosphere.
 The received signal strength must be:
o Enough to be detected by the electronic circuitry in the receiver.
o Sufficiently higher than noise to be received without error
 Attenuation is an increasing function of frequency

Decibel is the unit used to show that a signal has lost or gained strength. The decibel (dB)
measures the relative strengths of two signals or one signal at two different points. The
decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if a signal is amplified.
dB = 10 log10 (P2 / P1)
Variables P1 and P2 are the powers of a signal at points 1 and 2, (figure 5.14) respectively.
Example 1: Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its power is reduced
to one-half. This means that P2 = ½ P1. In this case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be
calculated as:
10 log10 (P2 / P1) = 10 log10 (0.5P1 / P1) = 10 log10 0.5 = 10 (-0.3)= -3 dB
A loss of 3 dB (-3dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the power
Example 2: A signal strength travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased 10
times. This means that P2 = 10 P1. In this case, the amplification (gain of power) can be
calculated as:
10 log10 (P2 / P1) = 10 log10 (10P1 / P1) = 10 log10 10 = 10 (1)= 10 dB

20
Delay Distortion
Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape. Delay distortion is a phenomenon
peculiar to guided transmission media. The distortion is caused by the fact that the velocity of
propagation of a signal through a guided medium varies with frequency. For a band limited
signal, the velocity tends to be highest near the centre frequency and lower toward the two
edges of the band.
Thus, various frequency components of a signal will arrive at the receiver at different times.
This effect is referred to as delay distortion, as the received signal is distorted due to
variable delay in its components.

Figure 5.15 Received signal distorted due to variable delay in its components
Distortion can occur in a composite signal made of different frequencies. Each signal
component has its own propagation speed through a medium and, therefore, its own delay in
arriving at the final destination. Differences in delay may create a difference in phase if the
delay is not exactly the same as the period duration. In other words, signal components at the
receiver have phases different from what they had at the sender. The shape of the composite
signal is therefore not the same. The distortion effect on a composite signal is shown in figure
5.16.

Figure 5.16: Distortion

Delay distortion is particularly critical for digital data. Consider that a sequence of bits is
being transmitted, using either analog or digital signals. Because of delay distortion, some of
the signal components of one bit position will spill over into other bit positions, causing  inter
symbol interference, which is a major limitation to maximum bit rate over a transmission
control. To summarize:

21
  Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape. Distortion can
occur in a composite signal made of different frequencies.
 Propagation velocity varies with frequency. Hence various frequency
components arrive at different times

Noise
Noise refers to any unwanted signal. For any data transmission event, the received signal will
consist of the transmitted signal, modified by the various distortions imposed by the
transmission system, plus additional unwanted signals that are inserted somewhere between
transmission and reception; the latter, undesired signals are referred to as noise-a major
limiting factor in communications system performance.

Figure 5.17 Effect of noise on analog signal

Noise

Signal

Signal + Noise
Figure 5.18 Effect of Noise on digital signal

Signals are reconstructed by sampling. Noise may lead to misinterpretation of bits after

sampling leading to errors (figure 5.19).

22
 Figure 5.19 Reconstruction of digital signals by sampling
Increased data rate implies "shorter" bits with higher sensitivity to noise.

Sources of noise:
 Thermal Agitates the electrons in conductors, and is a function of the temperature. It
is often referred to as white noise, because it affects uniformly the different
frequencies.
 Intermodulation Resulting from interference of different frequencies sharing the
same medium. It is caused by a component malfunction or when a signal with
excessive strength is used.
o For example, the mixing of signals at frequencies f1 and f2 might produce
energy at the frequency f1 + f2 . This derived signal could interfere with an
intended signal at frequency f1 + f2 .
 Crosstalk Foreign signal enters the path of the transmitted signal.
 Impulse Irregular disturbances, such as lightning, and flawed communication
elements. It is a primary source of error in digital data.

5.3.4 DATA TRANSMISSION AND ENCODING

A Computer Network is a system that is capable of exchanging data and messages among its
interconnected computers, or DTEs. (DTE, Data Terminal Equipment, a generic term used
for any digital data generating equipment, including PC workstations, servers, switches, etc.)
To do so, the system must consist of the following components:
 Transmission media (within transmission system), which 'carries' signal from one end
to the other. Cables, optic fibers, etc.

23
  Data Encoding (within DCE), which reshapes the user data to a form that is more
conducive to be 'carried' by the transmission media. Modem, Codec, etc.
 Switching devices (within data network), which route data from one end user to
another. Routers, switches, etc.
 Communication protocols (within DTE), which are a set of rules allowing end users
and switching devices to send and receive data in an orderly and structured manner.
TCP/IP, LAN access protocols, etc.

Figure 5.20 Communication system

The following steps depict the process of sending data from a PC to its server computer
shown in figure 5.20.

1. The PC appends its user data with protocol data for communicating with the data

network and the server.
2. The data block, consisting of the user data and protocol data, is encoded by an
encoding device, which is contained in the Data-Circuit Terminating Equipment,
DCE. If the transmission system is provided by a common carrier, which is
conventionally known as the "telephone company", a DCE is often a separate device
sitting between a DTE and the common carrier (e.g. Modem). If the transmission
system is part of a local area network, usually there is not such a separate DCE
device. Instead, the encoding functions are integrated into the DTE (Network
Interface Card or NIC)

24
 3. The encoded data block goes into the data network, which can be as simple as a single
transmission line or a complicated interconnection of switching devices and
transmission lines.
4. When the encoded data reaches the encoding device at the destination server, it is
decoded.
5. The decoded data block is sent to the server computer, where the protocol data is
stripped and the user data is sent to its application process

Under most situations, data signals are reshaped, using an 'encoding' procedure, to a form
that is more conducive to be 'carried' by the transmission media. For DTEs connecting to a
public carrier, the encoding procedure is often implemented in a hardware device that
demarcates the user DTEs and the public carrier. Such a device is called Data Circuit-
terminating Equipment or DCE (e.g. Modem).
 
Data Encoding
Encoding is a procedure that reshapes the user data to a form that is more conducive to be
'carried' by the transmission media. As a signal traverses through a transmission media, it
experiences distortion, noises and loss in strength. Different types of signals may experience
different levels of distortion and loss, and may have different susceptibility to noise. Higher
frequency signals can transmit longer distance with less distortion and loss than lower
frequency ones. Analog signals can transmit longer distance with less distortion and loss than
digital ones. But it is easier for a transmission system to filter out distortion and noise from
digital signals than from analog signals.

 Encoding reshapes the user data to a form that is more conducive to be 'carried' by the
transmission media. The choice of one encoding technique among many different
ones depends on transmission media, distance, speed, and other operating conditions.
 Thus, data encoding makes it practical for signals generated by end systems to be
carried by transmission systems. It allows data to be transmitted over a transmission
system. With encoding, the transmission system becomes a data transmission system.
 A data transmission system refers to the system that combines the transmission
system with the associated DCEs. (Data transmission System = Transmission System
+ Data Encoding.)

25
  The encoding function is commonly performed in a device called DCE (Data-Circuit
terminating Equipment), which resides between the end systems and the transmission
system.

Figure 5.21 depicts the concept described above. A digital signal is converted to an analog or
a digitally encoded signal by the DCE before transmission, and the original digital signal is
recovered by the DCE at the receiving end.

Figure 5.21 Basic Data Communication System

Analog and Digital Transmissions through a Telephone Network

Figure 5.22 The use of both analog and digital transmission for a computer to computer
call. Conversion is done by the modems and codecs
Figure 5.22 indicates that digital data generated by a computer needs to be superimposed onto
analog carrier using a modem (modulation). Analog signals received by a Codec needs to be
converted to digital signals over fiber trunks which then travel in digital form from toll office
to toll office. Receiving Codec may again convert digital signals to analog for handling over

26
to the receiving modem. The receiving modem demodulates the signal and hands over digital
data to the receiving ISP. This whole process indicates that a conversion between digital
and analog signals is a requirement of a communication system. The rest of this lesson
covers these conversion coding (encoding) techniques.

Data Encoding Techniques

Digital and analog data and signals were discussed in lesson 4. Now we will discuss the
encoding / modulation techniques:

Figure 5.23 Encoding and Modulation

Encoding and Modulation are two techniques used to provide the means of mapping
information or data into different waveforms such that the receiver can recover the
information in a reliable manner. Encoding is the process by which the data is converted into
digital format for efficient transmission or storage. Modulation is the process of converting
information (signals or data) to an electronic or optical carrier, so that it can be transmitted to
comparatively large distance without getting affected by noise or unwanted signals. These
two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Figure 5.23 illustrates the concept of
encoding and modulation.
Encoding:
Digital data to digital signal
Analog data to digital signal

27
Modulation:
Digital data to analog signal
Analog data to analog signal

5.3.5 DIGITAL TRANSMISSION

First we discuss digital-to-digital conversion techniques which convert digital data to digital
signals. Next, we will discuss analog-to-digital conversion techniques, which change an
analog signal to a digital signal. Following techniques belong to these categories:
 Digital Data, Digital Signals [wired LAN ]
 Line Coding Schemes
o NRZ
 NRZ-L
 NRZ-I
o RZ
o Manchester
o Differential Manchester
 Block Coding Schemes
o 4B/5B
o 8B/10B
 Scrambling
 Analog Data, Digital Signals [codec ]
o Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) [T1 ]
o Delta Modulation

5.3.5.1 DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION

In this section we will see how we can represent digital data by using digital signals. The
conversion involves three techniques: line coding; block coding; and scrambling;
Line coding is always needed; block coding and scrambling may or may not be needed. We
will discuss all these in brief. Manchester and Differential Manchester will be stressed upon
because these are used in the most common LAN standards namely IEEE 802.3 Ethernet and
IEEE 802.5 Token ring.

28
A digital signal is sequence of discrete, discontinuous voltage pulses. Each pulse is a signal
element. Encoding scheme is an important factor in how successfully the receiver interprets
the incoming signal.

Commonly, any transmission in a digital format (without being modulated on to an analog

carrier) has been termed by many as the baseband. 
Baseband transmission refers to the case where data signals are sent as they are without any
reshaping. Under this situation, baseband transmission is mostly used for limited distance
only.

Line Coding
Line coding is the process of converting digital data to digital signals. We assume that data,
in the form of text, numbers, graphical images, audio, or video, are stored in computer
memory as sequence of bits.
Line coding converts a string of 1’s and 0’s (digital data) into a sequence of signals that
denote the 1’s and 0’s. For example a high voltage level (+V) could represent a “1” and a
low voltage level (0 or -V) could represent a “0”.
Line coding converts a sequence of bits to a digital signal. At the sender, digital data are
encoded into a digital signal; at the receiver, the digital data are recreated by decoding the
digital signal.

Figure 5.24 Line Coding and Decoding

Characteristics of Line coding
Before discussing different line coding schemes, we discuss their common characteristics:
1. Mapping Data symbols onto Signal level:
A data element or a bit is the smallest entity that can represent a piece of information. In
digital data communications, a signal element carries data elements. A signal element is the

29
shortest unit (time wise) of a digital signal. In other words, data elements are what we need to
send; signal elements are what we can send. Data elements are being carried; signal elements
are the carriers. 

We define a ratio r which is the number of data elements carried by each signal element.
Figure 5.25 shows several situations with different values of r.

In part a of figure 5.25, one data element is carried by one signal element (r = 1). In part b of
the figure, we need two signal elements (two transitions) to carry each data element (r =1/2).
In part c of the figure, a signal element carries two data elements (r = 2). In part d, a group of
4 bits is being carried by a group of three signal elements (r = 4/3). For every line coding
scheme r value should be defined.

Figure 5.25 Signal element/s versus data element/s

• A data symbol (or element) can consist of a number of data bits: 1 , 0 or 11, 10, 01, ……
• A data symbol can be coded into a single signal element or multiple signal elements
1  +V, 0  -V
1  +V and -V, 0  -V and +V
• The ratio ‘r’ is the number of data elements carried by a signal element.

2. Data Rate versus Signal Rate: 

30
The data rate defines the number of data elements (bits) sent in 1s. The unit is bits per second
(bps). The signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in 1s. The unit is the baud. The
data rate is sometimes called the bit rate; the signal rate is sometimes called the pulse rate, the
modulation rate, or the baud rate. 

One goal in data communications is to increase the data rate while decreasing the signal rate.
Increasing the data rate increases the speed of transmission; decreasing the signal rate
decreases the bandwidth requirement.

4. Relationship between data rate and signal rate

 The data rate defines the number of bits sent per sec - bps. It is often referred
to as the bit rate.
 The signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in a second and is
measured in bauds. It is also referred to as the modulation rate.
 Goal is to increase the data rate whilst reducing the baud rate.
 The relationship between data rate and signal rate can be formulated as:

S = c X N X 1/r bauds
where N is data rate (bps), c is the case factor (worst, best & avg.); S is the
number of signal elements; and r is the ratio between data element &
signal element.
Example: A signal is carrying data in which one data element is encoded as one
signal element (r = 1). If the bit rate is 100kbps, what is the average value
of the baud rate if c is between 0 and 1.
Solution: We assume the average value of c as ½. The baud rate is then;
S = c X N X 1/r = ½ X 100,000 X 1/1 = 50,000 = 50 kbaud

4. Bandwidth:

Digital signal that carries information is non-periodic. The bandwidth of a non-periodic

signal is continuous with an infinite range. However, most digital signals we encounter in real
life have a bandwidth with finite values. In other words, the bandwidth of a digital signal is
theoretically infinite, but many of the components have such a small amplitude that they can
be ignored. Thus the effective bandwidth of a digital signal is finite.

5. Baseline Wandering:

31
In decoding a digital signal, the receiver calculates a running average of the received signal
power. This average is called the baseline. The incoming signal power is evaluated against
this baseline to determine the value of the data element. A long string of 0’s or 1’s can cause
a drift in the baseline (baseline wandering) and make it difficult for the receiver to decode
correctly. A good line coding scheme needs to prevent baseline wandering.

Figure 5.26 Baseline Wandering

6. DC Components:

When the voltage level in a digital signal is constant for a while, the spectrum creates very
low frequencies (results of Fourier analysis). These frequencies around zero, called DC
(direct-current) components, present problems for a system that cannot pass low frequencies
or a system that uses electrical coupling (via a transformer). For example, a telephone line
cannot pass frequencies below 200Hz. For these systems, we need a scheme with no DC
component.

7. Self-synchronization: 

To correctly interpret the signals received from the sender, the receiver's bit intervals must
correspond exactly to the sender's bit intervals. If the receiver clock is faster or slower, the bit
intervals are not matched and the receiver might misinterpret the signals. Figure 5.27
represents the synchronization problem. Figure 5.27 shows a situation in which the receiver
has shorter bit duration. The sender sends 10110001, while the receiver receives
110111000011.

A self-synchronizing digital signal includes timing information in the data being transmitted.
This can be achieved if there are transitions in the signal that alert the receiver to the

32
beginning, middle, or end of the pulse. If the receiver’s clock is out of synchronization, these
points can reset the clock.

Figure 5.27 Effect of lack of synchronization

8. Built-in Error Detection:

It is desirable to have a built-in error-detecting capability in the generated code to detect

some of or all the errors that occurred during transmission. Some encoding schemes that we
will discuss have this capability to some extent. Errors occur during transmission due to line
impairments. Some codes are constructed such that when an error occurs it can be detected.
For example: a particular signal transition is not part of the code. When it occurs, the receiver
will know that a symbol error has occurred.

9. Immunity to Noise and Interference:

Another desirable code characteristic is a code that is immune to noise and other
interferences. There are line encoding techniques that make the transmitted signal “immune”
to noise and interference. This means that the signal cannot be corrupted; it is stronger than
error detection.

10. Complexity:

A complex scheme is more costly to implement than a simple one. For example, a scheme
that uses four signal levels is more difficult to interpret than one that uses only two levels.
The more robust and resilient the code, the more complex it is to implement and the price is
often paid in baud rate or required bandwidth.

Line Coding Schemes

33
Three techniques involve digital-to-digital conversion: Line coding; Block coding; and
Scrambling. First, we discuss Line coding.

Five categories of Line coding

Unipolar - the signal levels are on one side of the time axis, either above or below.
Traditionally, a unipolar scheme was designed as a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) scheme in
which the positive voltage defines bit 1 and the zero voltage defines bit O.
Polar - the voltages are on both sides of the time axis. In polar NRZ encoding, we use two
levels of voltage amplitude. For example, the voltage level for 0 can be positive and the
voltage level for 1 can be negative. We can have two versions of polar NRZ: NRZ-L and
NRZ-I. Other examples are Return to Zero (RZ) and Biphase: Manchester and
Differential Manchester.
Bipolar - there are three voltage levels: positive, negative, and zero. The voltage level for
one data element is at zero, while the voltage level for the other element alternates between
positive and negative. Examples are Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI) and Pseudoternary.
Multilevel - The desire to increase the data speed or decrease the required bandwidth has
resulted in the creation of many schemes. The goal is to increase the number of bits per baud
by encoding a pattern of m data elements into a pattern of n signal elements. Examples are
2BIQ and 8B6T.
Multitransition / Multiline- MLT-3, a scheme that maps one bit to one signal element. The
signal rate is the same as that for NRZ-I, but with greater complexity (three levels and
complex transition rules). It turns out that the shape of the signal in this scheme helps to
reduce the required bandwidth.

Unipolar Scheme
 All signal levels are on one side of the time axis – either above or below
 NRZ – Non Return to Zero scheme is an example of this code. The signal level does
not return to zero during a symbol transmission.
 Scheme is prone to baseline wandering and DC components. It has no
synchronization or any error detection. It is simple but costly in power consumption.

Non-Return-To-Zero (NRZ) NRZ codes share the property that voltage level is constant
during a bit interval. High level voltage = bit 1 and Low level voltage = bit 0 (figure 5.28). A

34
problem arises when there is a long sequence of 0s or 1s and the voltage level is maintained
at the same value for a long time. This creates a problem on the receiving end because now,
the clock synchronization is lost due to lack of any transitions and hence, it is difficult to
determine the exact number of 0s or 1s in this sequence (figure 5.29).

Figure 5.28 Unipolar NRZ scheme

Figure 5.29 Loss of clock synchronization due to lack of any transition in consecutive 0’s

Polar Schemes
 The voltages are on both sides of the time axis.
 Polar NRZ scheme can be implemented with two voltages. E.g. +V for 1 and    -V for
0.

The two variations are as follows:

1. NRZ-Level: In NRZ-L encoding, the polarity of the signal changes only when
the incoming signal changes from a 1 to a 0 or from a 0 to a 1. i.e. The level of the
voltage determines the value of the bit. NRZ-L method looks just like the NRZ
method, except for the first input one data bit. This is because NRZ does not
consider the first data bit to be a polarity change, where NRZ-L does. NRZ-L is used
for short distances between terminal and modem or terminal and computer.
1 negative voltage
0  positive voltage

35
 2. NRZ-Inverted: In NRZ-I encoding, the transition at the beginning of bit
interval is bit 1 and No Transition at beginning of bit interval is bit 0 or vice versa.
i.e. the change or lack of change in the level of the voltage determines the value of
bit. If there is no change, the bit is 0; If there is a change, the bit is 1. NRZ-I is a
differential encoding scheme (i.e., the signal is decoded by comparing the polarity of
adjacent signal elements.)
 1  existence of a signal transition at the beginning of the bit time (either a
low-to-high or a high-to-low transition)
 0  no signal transition at the beginning of the bit time
NRZ-I has an advantage over NRZ-L. Consider the situation when two data wires are
wrongly connected in each other's place. In NRZ-L all bit sequences will get reversed
(B'coz voltage levels get swapped).Whereas in NAZ-I since bits are recognized by
transition the bits will be correctly interpreted. A disadvantage in NRZ codes is that a
string of 0's or 1's will prevent synchronization of transmitter clock with receiver clock
and a separate clock line need to be provided.
 NRZ – Level (NRZ-L) – positive voltage for one symbol and negative for the other
 NRZ – Inversion (NRZ-I) – the change or lack of change in polarity determines the
value of a symbol. E.g. a “1” symbol inverts the polarity a “0” does not.

(a) (b)
Figure 5.30(a)Polar NRZ-L and NRZ-I b) Difference between Unipolar and Polar
NRZ

Return-To-Zero(RZ)
 The Return to Zero (RZ) scheme uses three voltage values:  +, 0, -. (figure 5.31(a))
 Each symbol has a transition in the middle. Either from high to zero or from low to zero.
 This scheme has more signal transitions (two per symbol) and therefore requires a wider
bandwidth.

36
 No DC components or baseline wandering.
 Self synchronization – transition indicates symbol value.
 More complex as it uses three voltage level. It has no error detection capability.

Biphase encoding: 
Biphase codes –
 require at least one transition per bit time and may have as many as two transitions.
 the maximum modulation rate is twice that of NRZ
 greater transmission bandwidth is required.
Advantages:
 Synchronization – with a predictable transition per bit time the receiver can “synch”
on the transition [selfclocking].
 No d.c. component
 Error detection – the absence of an expected transition can be used to detect errors.
It has following characteristics:
3. Modulation rate twice that of NRZ and bandwidth correspondingly greater.
(Modulation is the rate at which signal level is changed).
4. Because there is predictable transition during each bit time, the receiver can
synchronize on that transition i.e. clock is extracted from the signal itself.
5. Since there can be transition at the beginning as well as in the middle of the bit
interval the clock operates at twice the data transfer rate.
Types of Bi-phase Encoding
 Biphase-Manchester: Transition from high to low in middle of interval
represents 1 and Transition from low to high in middle of interval represents 0.
 Differential-Manchester: Always a transition in middle of interval. No
transition (lack of transition) at beginning of interval represents 1 and transition at
beginning of interval represents 0.

37
Figure 5.31 (a) Polar RZ scheme (b) Manchester and Differential Manchester encoding

Manchester Coding
In telecommunication and data storage, Manchester coding (also known as phase encoding,
or PE) is a line code in which the encoding of each data bit is either low then high, or high
then low, of equal time. It therefore has no DC component, and is self-clocking, which means
that a clock signal can be recovered from the encoded data.

The name comes from its development at the University of Manchester, where the coding
was used to store data on the magnetic drum of the Manchester Mark 1 computer.

Manchester coding is widely used in LANs (e.g., in Ethernet (IEEE 802.3)). There are more
complex codes, such as 8B/10B encoding, that use less bandwidth to achieve the same data
rate but may be less tolerant of frequency errors and jitter in the transmitter and receiver
reference clocks. Manchester encoding introduces some difficult frequency-related problems
that make it unsuitable for use at higher data rates.

38
Figure 5.32 Manchester encoding as per G.E. Thomas (low-to-high for 0, high-to-low for
1) and as per IEEE 802.3(low-to-high for 1, high-to-low for 0)
Summary:
 Each bit is transmitted in a fixed time (the "period").
 A 0 is expressed by a low-to-high transition, a 1 by high-to-low transition (according
to G.E. Thomas' convention—in the IEEE 802.3 convention, the reverse is true).
 The transitions which signify 0 or 1 occur at the midpoint of a period.
 Transitions at the start of a period are overhead and don't signify data.

Manchester code always has a transition at the middle of each bit period and may (depending
on the information to be transmitted) have a transition at the start of the period also. The
direction of the mid-bit transition indicates the data. Transitions at the period boundaries do
not carry information. They exist only to place the signal in the correct state to allow the mid-
bit transition. The existence of guaranteed transitions allows the signal to be self-clocking,
and also allows the receiver to align correctly; the receiver can identify if it is misaligned by
half a bit period, as there will no longer always be a transition during each bit period. The
price of these benefits is a doubling of the bandwidth requirement compared to
simpler NRZ coding schemes.

Differential Manchester Coding

Differential Manchester encoding Scheme is a line code in which data and clock signals are

combined to form a single 2-level self-synchronizing data stream. It is a differential
encoding, using the presence or absence of transitions to indicate logical value. It is not
necessary to know the polarity of the sent signal since the information is not kept in the actual
values of the voltage but in their change: in other words it does not matter whether a logical 1
or 0 is received, but only whether the polarity is the same or different from the previous
value; this makes synchronization easier.

 1  absence of transition at the beginning of the bit interval

 0  presence of transition at the beginning of the bit interval

39
 Figure 5.33 Differential Manchester encoding

Differential Manchester encoding has the following advantages over some other line codes:

 A transition is guaranteed at least once every bit, allowing the receiving device to
perform clock recovery.
 Detecting transitions is often less error-prone than comparing against a threshold in a
noisy environment.
 Unlike with Manchester encoding, only the presence of a transition is important, not
the polarity. Differential coding schemes will work exactly the same if the signal is
inverted (wires swapped).
 If the high and low signal levels have the same voltage with opposite polarity, coded
signals have zero average DC voltage, thus reducing the necessary transmitting power
and minimizing the amount of electromagnetic noise produced by the transmission line.

These positive features are achieved at the expense of doubling clock frequency - the symbol
rate is twice the bit rate of the original signal. Each bit period is divided into two half-periods:
clock and data. The clock half-period always begins with a transition from low to high or
from high to low. The data half-period makes a transition for one value and no transition for
the other value. One version of the code makes a transition for 0 and no transition for 1 in the
data half-period; the other makes a transition for 1 and no transition for 0. Thus, if a "1" is
represented by one transition, then a "0" is represented by two transitions and vice versa,
making Differential Manchester a form of frequency shift keying. Either code can be
interpreted with the clock half-period either before or after the data half-period.

40
 Figure 5.34 Clock synchronization in Differential Manchester coding

Differential Manchester is used in the IEEE 802.5 standard for token ring LANs, and is used
for many other applications, including magnetic and optical storage.

Differential Manchester is both differential and bi-phase. Note – the coding is the opposite
convention from NRZ-I.

* Modulation rate for Manchester and Differential Manchester is twice the data rate
which means it may be inefficient encoding for long distance applications

* Mid-bit transition is ONLY for clocking

Example

Represent the bit sequence 01001110 using both Manchester and differential Manchester
encoding on the same vertical axis. Assume that a positive to negative transition represents a
zero in the case of Manchester encoding, while the presence of a transition means binary zero
in Differential Manchester.

Figure 5.35 Plotting of Manchester and Differential Manchester coding for the bit
sequence 01001110

41
Bipolar – AMI and Pseudoternary
 Code uses 3 voltage levels: +, 0, – to represent the symbols.
 Voltage level for one symbol is at “0” and the other alternates between + & -.
 Bipolar Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI) – the “0” symbol is represented by zero
voltage and the “1” symbol alternates between +V and -V.
 Pseudoternary is the reverse of AMI.

Figure 5.36 Bipolar- AMI and pseudoternary

Advantages of Bipolar 
 It is a better alternative to NRZ.
 Has no DC component or baseline wandering.
 Has no self synchronization because long runs of “0”s results in no signal transitions.
 No error detection.

Comparison of Unipolar, Polar and Bipolar line coding schemes

Following is a plot to bring out a comparison between the line coding techniques discussed
above for the bit sequence 101011100.

Figure 5.37 Comparison of line coding techniques

42
 Multilevel Schemes
 In these schemes, we increase the number of data bits per symbol thereby increasing
the bit rate and decrease the required bandwidth.
 The goal is to increase the number of bits per baud by encoding a pattern of m data
elements into a pattern of n signal elements.
 Since we are dealing with binary data we only have 2 types of data element- a 1 or a
0.
 A group of m data elements can produce a combination of “2 m” symbols (data
patterns).
 We can have different types of signal elements by allowing different signal levels.
 If we have L different signal levels, we can use “n” signal elements to create Ln signal
patterns.
 Now we have 2m symbols and Ln signals.
 If 2m > Ln then we cannot represent the data elements, we don’t have enough signals.
 If 2m = Ln then we have an exact mapping of one data pattern on one signal pattern.
 If 2m < Ln then we have more signals than symbols and we can choose the signals that
are more distinct to represent the symbols and therefore have better noise immunity and error
detection as some signals are not valid.
 The code designers have classified these types of coding as mBnL, where m is the
length of the binary pattern, B means binary data, n is the length of the signal pattern, and L
is the number of levels in the signaling.
 A letter is often used in place of L: B (binary) for L = 2, T (ternary) for L = 3, and Q
(quaternary) for L = 4.
 The first two letters define the data pattern, and the second two define the signal
pattern.

Multilevel: 2B1Q scheme

Two binary, one quaternary (2B1Q) uses data patterns of size 2 and encodes the 2-bit
patterns as one signal element belonging to a four-level signal. In this type of encoding, m =
2, n = 1, and L = 4(quarternary). Figure shows an example of 2B1Q scheme.
2B1Q is used in DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technology to provide a high-speed
connection to the Internet by using subscriber telephone lines.

43
 Figure 5.38 Multilevel: 2B12Q scheme
Multilevel: 8B6T scheme
This code is used with 100BASE-4T cable. The idea is to encode a pattern of 8 bits as a
pattern of 6 signal elements, where the signal has three levels (ternary). In this type of
scheme, we can have 28 = 256 different data patterns and 3 6 = 478 different signal
patterns. Figure shows an example of three data patterns encoded as three signal
patterns. The three possible signal levels are represented as -,0, and +. The first 8-bit
pattern 00010001 is encoded as the signal pattern – 0 – 0 + + with weight 0. The second
8-bit pattern is 01010011 is encoded as - + - + + 0 with weight +1. The third bit pattern
should be encoded as + - - + 0 + with weight +1. To increase DC balance, the sender
inverts the actual signal. The receiver can easily recognize that this is an inverted pattern
because the weight is -1. The pattern is inverted before decoding.

Figure 5.39 Multilevel: 8B6T scheme

Block Coding Schemes

 For a code to be capable of error detection, we need to add redundancy, i.e., extra bits
to the data bits.
 Synchronization also requires redundancy – transitions are important in the signal
flow and must occur frequently.
 Block coding is done in three steps: division, substitution and combination.
 It is distinguished from multilevel coding by use of the slash – xB/yB.

44
 The resulting bit stream prevents certain bit combinations that when used with line
encoding would result in DC components or poor synchronization quality.

Figure 5.40 Block Coding: Division, Substitution, Line Coding

Examples of Block coding are:

4B/5B - A block coding technique in which 4 bits are encoded into a 5-bit code. The four
binary/five binary (4B/5B) coding scheme was designed to be used in combination
with NRZ-I.
 In Manchester encoding scheme, there is a transition after every bit. It means that we must
have clocks with double the speed to send same amount of data as in NRZ encodings. In
other words, we may say that only 50% of the data is sent. This performance factor can be
significantly improved if we use a better encoding scheme. This scheme may have a
transition after fixed number of bits instead of every other bit. Like if we have a transition
after every four bits, then we will be sending 80% data of actual capacity. This is a significant
improvement in the performance.     This scheme is known as 4B/5B. So here we convert 4-
bits to 5-bits, ensuring at least one transition in them. The basic idea here is that 5-bit code
selected must have:
 one leading 0
 no more than two trailing 0s
Thus it is ensured that we can never have more than three consecutive 0s. Now these 5- bit
codes are transmitted using NRZ-I coding thus problem of consecutive 1s is solved.

45
 Figure 5.41 Using block coding 4B/5B with NRZ-I line coding scheme

Figure 5.42 Substitution in 4B/5B block coding

Table 5.3 below shows the corresponding pairs used in 4B/5B encoding. The first two
columns pair a 4-bit group with a 5-bit group. A group of 4 bits can have only 16 different
combinations while a group of 5 bits can have 32 different combinations. This means that
there are 16 groups that are not used for 4B/5B encoding. Some of these unused groups are
used for control purpose; the others are not used at all. The latter provides a kind of error
detection. If a 5-bit group arrives that belongs to the unused portion of the table, the receiver
knows that there is an error in the transmission.

4B/5B coding as shown below is used in FDDI LANs (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)

46
8B/10B - A block coding technique in which 8 bits are encoded into a l0-bit code. The
8B/10B encoding is similar to 4B/5B except that a group of 8 bits of data is now substituted
by a 10-bit code. It provides greater error detection capability than 4B/5B.

Table 5.3 : 4B/5B Mapping Codes

Scrambling techniques
Biphase schemes (Manchester and differential Manchester) that are suitable for dedicated
links between stations in a LAN are not suitable for long-distance communication because of
their wide bandwidth requirement. The combination of block coding and NRZ line coding
(4B/5B & 8B/10B) is not suitable for long-distance encoding either, because of the DC
component. Bipolar AMI encoding, on the other hand, has a narrow bandwidth and does not
create a DC component. However, a long sequence of 0s upsets the synchronization. If we
can find a way to avoid a long sequence of 0s in the original stream, we can use bipolar AMI
for long distances. One solution to this is called as scrambling. We modify part of the AMI
rule to include scrambling, as shown in the following figure. Note that scrambling, as
opposed to block coding, is done at the same time as encoding. The system needs to insert the
required pulses based on the defined scrambling rules.

47
 Figure 5.43 AMI used with scrambling

Two common scrambling techniques are B8ZS and HDB3.

B8ZS - bipolar with 8-zero substitution (B8ZS), a scrambling technique in which a stream of
8 zeros are replaced by a predefined pattern to improve bit synchronization.
In this technique, eight consecutive zero-level voltages are replaced by the sequence
000VB0VB. The V in the sequence denotes violation; this is a nonzero voltage that breaks an
AMI rule of encoding (opposite polarity from the previous). The B in the sequence denotes
bipolar which means a nonzero level voltage in accordance with the AMI rule. There are two
cases, as shown in the following figure. Note that the scrambling in this case does not change
the bit rate. Also, the technique balances the positive and negative voltage levels (two
positives and two negatives), which means that the DC balance is maintained. Note that the
substitution may change the polarity of a 1 because, after the substitution, AMI needs to
follow its rules. In this technique the letter V (violation) or B (bipolar) here is relative. The V
means the same polarity as the polarity of the previous nonzero pulse and B means the
polarity opposite to the polarity of the previous nonzero pulse.

Figure 5.44 Two cases of B8ZS scrambling technique

HDB3 - High-density bipolar 3-zero (HDB3) is commonly used outside of North
America. Four consecutive zero-level voltages are replaced with a sequence of 000V or
B00V. The reason for two different substitutions is to maintain the even number of nonzero
pulses after each substitution.

48
5.3.5.2 ANALOG –TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION
Analog transmission is not particularly efficient. When the signal-to-noise ratio of an analog
signal deteriorates due to attenuation, amplifying the signal also amplifies noise. Digital
signals are more easily separated from noise and can be regenerated in their original state.
The conversion of analog signals to digital signals therefore eliminates the problems caused
by attenuation.
The process is called digitization. Sampling frequency must be at least twice that of highest
frequency present in the signal so that it may be fairly regenerated. Quantization - Max. and
Min values of amplitude in the sample are noted. Depending on number of bits (say n) we
divide the interval (min, max) into 2n number of levels. The amplitude is then approximated
to the nearest level by an ‘n’ bit integer. The digital signal thus consists of blocks of n bits.
On reception the process is reversed to produce analog signal. But a lot of data can be lost if
fewer bits are used or sampling frequency not so high.

Pulse Code Modulation

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is the simplest form of waveform coding. Waveform coding
is used to encode analogue signals (for example speech) into a digital signal. The digital
signal is subsequently used to reconstruct the analogue signal. The accuracy with which the
analogue signal can be reproduced depends in part on the number of bits used to encode the
original signal. Pulse code modulation is an extension of Pulse Amplitude
Modulation (PAM), in which a sampled signal consists of a train of pulses where each pulse
corresponds to the amplitude of the signal at the corresponding sampling time (the signal is
modulated in amplitude). Each analogue sample value is quantized into a discrete value for
representation as a digital code word. Pulse code modulation is the most frequently used
analogue-to-digital conversion technique. The main parts of a conversion system are
the encoder (the analogue-to-digital converter) and the decoder (the digital-to-analogue
converter). The combined encoder/decoder is known as a codec.
The human voice uses frequencies between 100Hz and 10,000Hz, but it has been found that
most of the energy in speech is between 300 Hertz and 3400 Hertz - a bandwidth of
approximately 3100 Hertz. Before converting the signal from analog to digital, the unwanted
frequency components of the signal are filtered out. This makes the task of converting the

49
signal to digital form much easier, and results in an acceptable quality of signal reproduction
for voice communication.

A PCM encoder performs three functions:

 sampling
 quantizing
 encoding

Figure 5.45 Pulse Code Modulation

Sampling
 As shown in Figure 5.46, Sampling is reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal.
Sampling is the process of reading the values of the filtered analogue signal at discrete time
intervals (i.e. at a constant sampling frequency, called the sampling frequency). It is also
called digitization of time. It results in a sample, which is discrete (digital) in time but
continuous (analog) in amplitude. Sampling rate, i.e. samples taken per second, is an
important factor while doing sampling. Human beings can hear frequencies in the range of
20Hz to 20KHz. Nyquist theorem says that sampling rate should be double the frequency of
highest frequency signal. Nyquist discovered that the original analogue signal could be
reconstructed if enough samples were taken. So, in order to preserve the quality of sound
sensed by the human ear, roughly 40Khz sampling rate is required.

50
 Figure 5.46 Sampling

Quantization
Quantization is the process of assigning a discrete value from a range of possible values to
each sample obtained. The number of possible values will depend on the number of bits used
to represent each sample. Quantization can be achieved by either rounding the signal up or
down to the nearest available value, or truncating the signal to the nearest value which is
lower than the actual sample. The process results in a stepped waveform resembling the
source signal. The difference between the sample and the value assigned to it is known as
the quantization noise (or quantization error).
Common PCM samples are of 8, 16, 20 and 24 bits wide.

Figure 5.47 Quantization

Quantization noise can be reduced by increasing the number of quantization intervals,
because the difference between the input signal amplitude and the quantization interval
decreases as the number of quantization intervals increases. This would, however, increase
the PCM bandwidth. Uniform quantization uses equal quantization levels throughout the
entire range of an input analogue signal.

Encoding
Encoding is the process of representing the sampled values as a binary number in the
range 0 to n. The value of n is chosen as a power of 2, depending on the accuracy required.
Increasing n reduces the step size between adjacent quantization levels and hence reduces the
quantization noise. The down side of this is that the amount of digital data required to
represent the analogue signal increases.

51
 Figure 5.48 Encoding

Delta Modulation

PCM is a complex technique. Delta modulation has been developed to reduce the complexity
of PCM. A delta modulation (DM or Δ-modulation) is an analog-to-digital and digital-to-
analog signal conversion technique used for transmission of voice information where quality
is not of primary importance. PCM finds the value of the signal amplitude for each sample;
DM finds the change from the previous sample. DM is the simplest form of differential pulse-
code modulation (DPCM) where the difference between successive samples are encoded into
n-bit data streams. In delta modulation, the transmitted data are reduced to a 1-bit data
stream. Figure shows the process.

Delta Modulation attempts to represent an analog signal with a resolution of 1 bit. This is

accomplished by successive steps, either up or down, by a preset step size. In delta
modulation, we have the step size (Δ or ) that is defined for each sampler, and we have the
following rules for output:

1. If the input signal is higher than the current reference signal, increase the reference by
Δ, and output a 1.

2. If the input signal is lower than the current reference signal, decrease the reference by
Δ, and output a 0.

52
 Figure 5.49 Delta Modulation

Its main features are:

 The analog signal is approximated with a series of segments.
 Each segment of the approximated signal is compared to the original analog wave to
determine the increase or decrease in relative amplitude.
 The decision process for establishing the state of successive bits is determined by this
comparison.
 Only the change of information is sent, that is, only an increase or decrease of the
signal amplitude from the previous sample is sent whereas a no-change condition
causes the modulated signal to remain at the same 0 or 1 state of the previous sample.

The sample values of analog waveforms of real world processes are very often predictable --
i.e. the average change from sample to sample is very small. Hence we can make "educated
guess" of what the next sample value depending on the current sample value.

5.4 SUMMARY
1.  Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted per second. Baud rate is the number
of signal units transmitted per second. One signal unit can represent one or more bits.
2. Line coding is the process of converting digital data to a digital signal.
3. Line coding methods must eliminate the dc component and provide a means of
synchronization between the sender and the receiver. 
4. NRZ, RZ, Manchester, and differential Manchester encoding are the most popular
polar encoding methods. 
5. AMI is a popular bipolar encoding method. In bipolar encoding, we use three levels:
positive, zero, and negative.
6. In NRZ-L the level of the voltage determines the value of the bit. In NRZ-I the
inversion or the lack of inversion determines the value of the bit.
7. In Manchester and differential Manchester encoding, the transition at the middle of
the bit is used for synchronization.
8. The minimum bandwidth of Manchester and differential Manchester is 2 times that of
NRZ.
9. Block coding provides redundancy to ensure synchronization and inherent error
detection. Block coding is normally referred to as mB/nB coding; it replaces each m-
bit group with an n-bit group. 

53
 10. In mBnL schemes, a pattern of m data elements is encoded as a pattern of n signal
elements in which 2m ≤ Ln.
11. B8ZS substitutes eight consecutive zeros with 000VB0VB.
12. Scrambling provides synchronization without increasing the number of bits. Two
common scrambling techniques are B8ZS and HDB3.
13. The most common technique to change an analog signal to digital data (digitization)
is called pulse code modulation (PCM).
14. PCM involves sampling, quantizing, and line coding. 
15. Other sampling techniques have been developed to reduce the complexity of PCM.
The simplest is delta modulation. PCM finds the value of the signal amplitude for
each sample; DM finds the change from the previous sample.

5.5 SUGGESTED READINGS

1. Michael A. Gallo, William M. Hancock, “Computer Communications and
Networking Technologies”, Cengage Learning.
2. Andrew S. Tanenbaun, “Computer Networks”, Pearson Education.
3. Behrouz A. Forouzan, “Data Communications and Networking”, Tata McGraw Hill.
4. William Stallings, “Data and Computer Communications”, PHI.
5. William A. Shay, “Understanding Data Communications & Networks”, Thomson
Learning, Vikas Publications.
6. Fred Halsall, “Data Communications, Computer Networks and Open Systems”,
Addison Wesley.
7. Alberto Leon-Garcia, Indra Widjaja, “Communication Networks – Fundamental
Concepts & key architectures,”, McGraw-Hill
8. Relevant Websites

5.6 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Distinguish between bit rate and baud rate. Define baud?
2. How are the terms bit rate, bandwidth, and channel capacity related?
3. Define the following terms as they relate to electrical signals: amplitude, frequency,
period, and phase.
4. What will be the bit rate of a channel if 4 bits are carried per baud and the baud rate is
10 bauds per second?

54
5. Distinguish between attenuation distortion and delay distortion. What is crosstalk?
6. Assuming there is no noise in a medium of B = 4KHz, determine channel capacity
for the encoding level 4.
7. What do you mean by line coding? Describe any two line coding techniques.
8. Plot the Manchester and differential Manchester encoding for the bit sequence
110001010.
9. What are the benefits and drawbacks of Manchester and differential Manchester
encoding over other encoding schemes?
10. Describe any two schemes each for digital-to-digital conversion and analog-to-digital
conversion.
11. What is Pulse Code Modulation? Describe the functions performed by a PCM
encoder.
12. Distinguish between pulse code modulation and delta modulation.

55