Optical Communication Theory and Techniques

Part I: Communication Theory and Digital Transmission

January 30, 2013

A transmission system employs the following four equally probable signals

√
si (t) = 2A cos(ω0 t − π/4) + A cos(ω0 t − αi ) , 0≤t≤T

where
π
αi = (i − 1) , i = 1, 2, 3, 4
2
and ω0 T is an integer multiple of 2π. The channel is wideband and the noise is additive, white and
Gaussian, with mean zero and power spectral density N0 /2.

1. Determine the images of the signals with respect to a suitable basis.

2. Sketch the decision zones of an optimum receiver.

3. Find and sketch the structure of an optimum receiver employing only two correlators.

4. Compute the probability of error.

5. Determine an equivalent set of signals with minimum average energy (give their expression as
a function of time).
Solution:

1. Using the trigonometric expansion cos(θ − β) = cos θ cos β + sin θ sin β, it is easy to see that the
signals are a linear combination of cos ω0 t and sin ω0 t

si (t) = A(1 + cos αi ) cos ω0 t + A(1 + sin αi ) sin ω0 t .

As ω0 T = N2π, with N an integer, cos ω0 t and sin ω0 t turn out to be orthogonal on (0, T ). Thus,
normalizing them, a basis for the signal space is
r
2
σ1 (t) = cos ω0 t
T
r , 0≤t≤T
2
σ2 (t) = sin ω0 t
T
and the images of the signals are si = (si1 , si2 )T , i = 1, 2, 3, 4, where
ˆ T  √

 A T /2(1 + cos αi ) , j = 1

si j = si (t)σ j (t)dt = 
 √
0  A T /2(1 + sin αi ) , j = 2

σ2
√ s2
A 2T

√ s3 s1
A T/2

s4
√ √ σ1
A T/2 A 2T

2. As the signals are equally probable, the optimum receiver is a maximum likelihood receiver and
the decision zone Di for si is the set of points nearest to si . Thus, the decision zones are as
shown in the following figure

σ2
√ s2
A 2T

D2
√ s3 s1
A T/2 D3 D1
D4
s4
√ √ σ1
A T/2 A 2T
3. The optimum decision strategy is
(ˆ T )
m̂ = argmax r(t)si (t)dt + Ci
mi 0

where, as the signals are equally probable,


Ei 
 25 A2 T ,
 i = 1, 2
Ci = − , Ei = ksi k2 = 
 .
2  1 A2 T ,
2
i = 3, 4

As known, the projection of the received waveform r(t) onto the signal space is a sufficient
statistic. Thus, letting ˆ T
ri = r(t)σi (t)dt
0
and using

r(t) ≡ r1 σ1 (t) + r2 σ2 (t)

si (t) = si1 σ1 (t) + si2 σ2 (t) ,

the decision strategy becomes

   
m̂ = argmax r1 si1 + r2 si2 + Ci = argmax rT si + Ci
mi mi

and can be implemented by the following structure

C1
σ1(t) r T s1
RT r1 C2
CHOOSE MAX
COMPUTE rT si

0 r T s2
r(t) m̂
C3
σ2(t) r s3
T
RT r2
0 C4
r T s4

4. The probability of error is invariant to a rigid-body displacement of the signal constellation.

Thus, moving the constellation such that the decision zones coincide with the four quadrants,
we obtain
σ2

s′2
√
A T s′1
2

D2′ D1′
√ √
σ1
− A2T D3′ D4′
A T
2
√
s′3 − A 2 T s′4

Being the transmitted signals equiprobable, for symmetry we have

ˆ ˆ
P(E) = P(E|m1 ) = 1 − P(C|m1 ) = 1 − pn (r − s1 )dr = 1 − pn (r − s01 )dr ,
D1 D10
 where
1  kr − s0 k2  1  (r − s0 )2 + (r − s0 )2 
1 1 11 2 12
pn (r − s01 ) = exp − = exp −
2πσ 2 2σ 2 2πσ 2 2σ 2
with σ 2 , N0 /2. Taking into account that s110
= s12
0
, we have
ˆ ˆ ∞ˆ ∞  (r − s0 )2 + (r − s0 )2 
1 1 11 2 12
pn (r − s1 )dr =
0
exp − dr1 dr2
0 2πσ 2σ
2 2
D10 0
ˆ ∞  (r − s0 )2  ˆ ∞  (r − s0 )2 
1 1 11 1 2 12
= √ exp − dr1 × √ exp − dr2
0 2πσ 2σ 2
0 2πσ 2σ 2
ˆ ∞ 0 2! !2
1 (r1 − s11 )
= √ exp − dr1 .
2πσ 0 2σ 2
After the change of variable x = (r1 − s11 0
)/σ, we obtain
ˆ  ˆ ∞ 2 0 ! 0 !!2
 1 2 /2  s11 s11
pn (r − s1 )dr =  √
0
e −x
dx  = Q − 2
= 1−Q
D10 2π −s110 /σ σ σ
√ √
such that, replacing s11 0
= A T /2 and σ = N0 /2, we get
 s 2 s  s 
  A2 T   A2 T   A2 T 
P(E) = 1 − 1 − Q   = 2Q 
  
 − Q2 
 
 .
2N0    2N0   2N0 

5. As the signals are equally probable, the√barycenter √ of the constellation coincides with its ge-
ometrical center, i.e., with the point (A T /2, A T /2)T where the boundaries of the decision
zones cross each other. A signal set with minium average energy can be obtained by displacing
the constellation such that its barycenter concides with the origin. For example, the constella-
tion used for computing the probability of error in part (4) provides such a set of signals. In this
case we would have
√ √ A A
s10 (t) = 21 A T σ1 (t) + 21 A T σ2 (t) = √ cos ω0 t + √ sin ω0 t = A cos(ω0 t − π/4)
2 2
√ √ A A
s20 (t) = − 21 A T σ1 (t) + 21 A T σ2 (t) = − √ cos ω0 t + √ sin ω0 t = A cos(ω0 t − 3π/4)
2 2
√ √ A A
s30 (t) = − 21 A T σ1 (t) − 21 A T σ2 (t) = − √ cos ω0 t − √ sin ω0 t = A cos(ω0 t − 5π/4)
2 2
√ √ A A
s40 (t) = 21 A T σ1 (t) − 21 A T σ2 (t) = √ cos ω0 t − √ sin ω0 t = A cos(ω0 t − 7π/4)
2 2
or, in a more compact form,

si0 (t) = A cos(ω0 t − αi − π/4), i = 1, 2, 3, 4 .

Instead, rotating clockwise this constellation by π/4 (see fig- σ2

ure on the right), we would have
q
s′′2
A T2

si00 (t) = A cos(ω0 t − αi ), i = 1, 2, 3, 4 .

s′′3 s′′1
q q σ1
−A T2 A T2
q
−A T2
s′′4