DEFINITION: Pulse code modulation (PCM) is essentially analog-to-digital conversion

of a special type where the information contained in the instantaneous samples of

an analog signal is represented by digital words in a serial bit stream.

The advantages of PCM are:

 Relatively inexpensive digital circuitry may be used extensively.

 PCM signals derived from all types of analog sources may be merged with data
signals and transmitted over a common high-speed digital communication
system.

 In long-distance digital telephone systems requiring repeaters, a clean PCM

waveform can be regenerated at the output of each repeater, where the input
consists of a noisy PCM waveform.

 The noise performance of a digital system can be superior to that of an analog

system.

 The probability of error for the system output can be reduced even further by
the use of appropriate coding techniques.

The PCM signal is generated by carrying out three basic operations:

 Sampling
 Quantizing
 Encoding

1. Sampling operation generates a flat-top PAM signal.

2. Quantizing operation approximates the analog values by using a finite number

of levels. This operation is considered in 3 steps
 Uniform Quantizer
 Quantization Error
 Quantized PAM signal output

3. PCM signal is obtained from the quantized PAM signal by encoding each
quantized sample value into a digital word.

The Analog-to-digital Converter (ADC) performs

three functions:
Sampling
 Makes the signal discrete in time.

 If the analog input has a bandwidth of W Hz, then

the minimum sample frequency such that the
signal can be reconstructed without distortion.
Quantization
 Makes the signal discrete in amplitude.
 Round off to one of q discrete levels.

Encode
 Maps the quantized values to digital words that are v bits long.

 If the (Nyquist) Sampling Theorem is satisfied, then only quantization

introduces distortion to the system.

Quantization
 The output of a sampler is still continuous in amplitude.
-- Each sample can take on any value e.g. 3.752, 0.001, etc.
-- The number of possible values is infinite.

 To transmit as a digital signal we must restrict the number of possible values.

 Quantization is the process of “rounding off” a sample according to some rule.

-- E.g. suppose we must round to the nearest tenth, then:
3.752 --> 3.8 0.001 --> 0
Uniform Quantizers:
 Most ADC’s use uniform quantizers.

 The quantization levels of a uniform

quantizer are equally spaced apart.

 Uniform quantizers are optimal when

the input distribution is uniform. When
all values within the Dynamic Range of
the quantizer are equally likely.
Encoding
 The output of the quantizer is one of M possible signal levels.
-- If we want to use a binary transmission system, then we need to map each quantized
sample into an n bit binary word.
M  2 n
, n  lo g 2 ( M )

 Encoding is the process of representing each quantized sample by an v bit code word.
-- The mapping is one-to-one so there is no distortion introduced by encoding.
-- Some mappings are better than others.
-- A Gray code gives the best end-to-end performance.
-- The weakness of Gray codes is poor performance when the sign bit (MSB) is received in error.
Practical PCM Circuits
 Three popular techniques are used to implement the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) encoding
operation:
1. The counting or ramp, ( Maxim ICL7126 ADC)
2. Serial or successive approximation, (AD 570)
3. Parallel or flash encoders. ( CA3318)

 The objective of these circuits is to generate the PCM word.

 Parallel digital output obtained (from one of the above techniques) needs to be serialized
before sending over a 2-wire channel

 This is accomplished by parallel-to-serial converters [Serial Input-Output (SIO) chip]

 UART,USRT and USART are examples for SIO’s

Bandwidth of PCM Signals

 The spectrum of the PCM signal is not directly related to the spectrum of the
input signal.

 The bandwidth of (serial) binary PCM waveforms depends on the bit rate R and
the waveform pulse shape used to represent the data.

 The Bit Rate R is

R=nfs

 Where n is the number of bits in the PCM word (M=2n) and fs is the sampling
rate.

 For no aliasing case (fs≥ 2B), the MINIMUM Bandwidth of PCM Bpcm(Min) is:
Bpcm(Min) = R/2 = nfs//2

The Minimum Bandwidth of nfs//2 is obtained only when sin(x)/x pulse is used
to generate the PCM waveform.

 For PCM waveform generated by rectangular pulses, the First-null Bandwidth is:
Bpcm = R = nfs
What is a communication system?
 Communication systems are designed to transmit information.

 Communication Systems Design concerns:

• Selection of the information–bearing waveform;
• Bandwidth and power of the waveform;
• Effect of system noise on the received information;
• Cost of the system.

Digital and Analog Sources and Systems

Basic Definitions:
 Analog Information Source:
An analog information source produces messages which are defined on a continuum.
(E.g. :Microphone)

 Digital Information Source:

A digital information source produces a finite set of possible messages. (E.g. :Typewriter)

Digital and Analog Sources and Systems

 A digital communication system transfers information from a digital source to the intended
receiver (also called the sink).

 An analog communication system transfers information from an analog source to the sink.

 A digital waveform is defined as a function of time that can have a discrete set of amplitude
values.

 An Analog waveform is a function that has a continuous range of values.

Block Diagram of A Communication System

 All communication systems contain three main sub systems:
1. Transmitter
2. Channel
3. Receiver
Block Diagram of A Communication System
TRANSMITTER:
 The signal-processing block is used for more efficient transmission.
Examples:
 In an analog system, the signal processor may be an analog low-pass filter to restrict the
bandwidth of m(t).

 In a hybrid system, the signal processor may be an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to

produce digital signals that represent samples of the analog input signal.

 The transmitter carrier circuit converts the processed base band signal into a frequency band
that is appropriate for the transmission medium of the channel.

Channel:
 Channels represents the path in which signals travel from transmitter to receiver. Very general
classification of channels are:
 Wire: Twisted-pair telephone line, coaxial cable, waveguide, and fiber-optic cables.
 Wireless: Air vacuum, and seawater. In general, the channel medium attenuates the signal
so that the delivered information deteriorated from that of the source. The channel noise may arise
from natural electrical disturbances or from artificial sources.

Block Diagram of A Communication System

Receiver:
 The receiver takes the corrupted signal at the channel output and converts it to be a base band
signal that can be handled by the receiver’s base band processor.

 The base band processor cleans up this signal and delivers an estimate of the source information
m(t) to the communication system output.

 In digital systems, the measure of signal deterioration is usually taken to be the probability of bit
error P(e) – also called Bit Error Rate (BER) of the delivered data m(t).

 In analog systems, the performance measure is usually taken to be the Signal-to-noise Ratio
(SNR) at the receiver output.
What makes a Communication System GOOD?
 We can measure the “GOODNESS” of a communication system in many ways:

 How close is the estimate to the original signal m(t) ?

 Better estimate = higher quality transmission
 Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for analog m(t)
 Bit Error Rate (BER) for digital m(t)

 How much power is required to transmit s(t)?

 Lower power = longer battery life, less interference

 How much bandwidth B is required to transmit s(t)?

 Less B means more users can share the channel
 Exception: Spread Spectrum -- users use same B.

 How much information is transmitted?

 In analog systems, information is related to B of m(t).
 In digital systems, information is expressed in bits/sec.

Two types of Signals

- An analog signal:
amplitude can take any value over a continuous range.

- Digital signals:
amplitude can take only discrete and finite values.

- Note:
We can convert an analog signal to a digital signal.

Analog and Digital Signal conversion

- One can convert an analog signal to a digital signal by sampling and quantizing (collectively called
analog-to-digital conversion, or ADC).

-The processed signals are then converted back into analog signals using a reconstruction or
interpolation operation (called digital-to-analog conversion, or DAC).

Modulation
Modulation is the process of varying one or more parameters
(amplitude, frequency, phase) of a carrier signal in accordance with
the instantaneous values of the message signal.

Two types of Analog Modulation

- CW modulation: a parameter of a sinusoidal carrier wave is varied continuously in accordance with
the message signal.
Amplitude, frequency and phase.

- Pulse Modulation: signal is transmitted at discrete intervals of time.

- Pulse modulation can be analog pulse modulation or digital pulse modulation.

Sampling Process
- The sampling process is a basic operation in the digital communication.

- In this process, the continuous-time analog signal is sampled by measuring its amplitude at a
discrete instants.

- So, the continuous-time analog signal is converted into a corresponding sequence of samples that
are usually spaced uniformly in time.

- It is necessary to choose the sampling rate properly, so the sequence of samples uniquely defines
the original analog signal.
Sampling
- The sampling theorem states that a band-limited signal x(t) with a bandwidth W ( W is the highest
frequency) can be reconstructed from its sample values if the sampling rate (frequency) fs =1/Ts is
greater than or equal to twice the bandwidth W of x(t)

-The minimum sampling rate of fs for an analog band-limited signal is called the Nyquist rate.
2
There are 3 sampling methods:
• Ideal - an impulse at each sampling instant.
• Natural - a pulse of short width with varying amplitude.
• Flattop - sample and hold, like natural but with single
amplitude value.
Sampling
- As long as the sampling of the analog signal is taken with a sufficiently high frequency (higher than
the minimum Nyquist rate of twice the signal largest frequency), it can be shown that there is no loss
in information as a result of taking discrete samples.

PAM Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)
- In the PAM, the amplitude of periodic pulse train is varied with a amplitude of the corresponding
sample value of a continuous message signal.

- In PAM: width and position are fixed but amplitude varies.

Natural vs Flat top Sampling
 Flat top PAM is the best for transmission because we can easily remove the noise and we can
also easily recognize the noise.

 When we compare the difference between the flat top PAM and natural PAM, flat top PAM
principle of sampling uses sample and hold circuit.

 In natural principle of sampling, noise interference is minimum, but in flat top PAM noise
interference maximum.

 Flat top PAM and natural PAM are practical and sampling rate satisfies the sampling criteria
.
Advantages of PAM
 It is the base for all digital modulation techniques and it is simple process for both modulation
and demodulation technique.

 No complex circuitry is required for both transmission and reception.

 Transmitter and receiver circuitry are simple and easy to construct.

 PAM can generate other pulse modulation signals and can carry the message or information at
same time.

Disdvantages of PAM
 Bandwidth should be large for transmitting the pulse amplitude modulation signal.

 The frequency varies according to the modulating signal or message signal. Due to these
variations in the signal frequency, interferences will be present, and noise will be great.

 For PAM, noise immunity is less when compared to other modulation techniques. It is almost
equal to amplitude modulation.

 Pulse amplitude signal varies, so power required for transmission will be more. Even at the
receiving end, greater value of peak power is required to receive the pulse amplitude signal.

Applications of PAM
 It is mainly used in Ethernet which is type of computer network communication, we know that
we can use Ethernet for connecting two systems and transfer data between the systems.

 It is also used for photo biology which is a study of photosynthesis.

 PAM signal is also used as electronic driver for LED lighting.

 PAM signal is used in many micro-controllers for generating control signals, etc