DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS /

COMMUNICATIONS 2
 Chapter 3
Digital Transmission

■ Subtopics: 1) Pulse Modulation Schemes, 2) Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)

■ At the end of the chapter, the learner should be able to:
– Differentiate the various pulse modulation schemes
– Define terms & concepts of PCM
– Solve problems involving PCM
Pulse Modulation Schemes
Subtopic #1
• Transmission of digital signals between two or more
points in a communication system.

• If the information to be transmitted is analog, it must be

converted to digital prior to transmission.

• Requires a physical facility (metallic or fiber optic cable)

between the transmitter and receiver.
• Noise immunity

• Better suited for processing and multiplexing

• More resistant to additive noise since it uses regeneration

rather than amplification

• Digital signals are simpler to measure and evaluate

• Requires greater bandwidth

• Requires encoding and decoding circuits

• Requires synchronization

• Incompatible with the older analog systems

• Analog information is sampled and then converted into
discrete pulses.

• There are four predominant methods of pulse modulation:

• Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)
• Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
• Pulse Position Modulation (PPM)
• Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
Pulse Amplitude
Modulation

the amplitude of a
constant width and
constant position
pulse is varied.
Pulse Width
Modulation

the width of a
constant amplitude
pulse is varied, also
PDM or PLM.
Pulse Position
Modulation

the position of a
constant width pulse
is varied within a
prescribed time slot.
Pulse Code
Modulation

the analog signal is

sampled and then
converted into a serial
n-bit binary code for
transmission.
• Invented by Alex Reeves in 1937

• It is a digitally encoded modulation scheme.

• The pulses have fixed length and amplitude.

• The pulse or an absence of pulse represents

either a logic 1 or logic 0 condition.
• It involves sampling and analog to digital
conversion at the transmitter.

• The PCM code is transmitted serially via the

communications channel.

• Used in Public Switched Telephone Network

(PSTN)
Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
Subtopic #2
• A process that converts continuous-time signal into a
discrete-time signal.

• To periodically sample the continually changing analog

input voltage and convert those samples to a series of
constant-amplitude pulses that can more easily be
converted to binary PCM code.
Ideal Sampling
Natural Sampling

The natural sampling

method retains the
natural shape of the
sample analog
waveform.
Flat-top Sampling
The most common method
used for sampling voice
signals in PCM where the
sample-and-hold circuit
convert those samples to a
series of constant-amplitude
PAM levels
The Nyquist sampling theorem states that the minimum
sampling rate should be at least twice the highest analog input
signal frequency.

𝒇𝒔 ≥ 𝟐𝒇𝒂

If this is not satisfied, then foldover distortion or aliasing occurs.

The misidentification of a signal frequency, introducing
distortion or error.
For a PCM system with a maximum audio input frequency of 4 kHz, determine the minimum
sampling rate and the alias frequency produced if a 5 kHz signal were allowed to enter the
sample and hold circuit.

Ans. 𝒇𝒔 ≥ 𝟖 𝐤𝐇𝐳, alias frequency = 3kHz

• It is the process of rounding the amplitude of the flat-top
sample to a discrete level.

• Resolution – magnitude of the smallest step size.

• The smaller step size means higher resolution.

• The difference between the adjacent steps is called the

quantization interval or quantum.
• The rounding process creates quantization error (or
quantization noise).

𝟏
𝑸𝒆(𝒎𝒂𝒙) = 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝟐
• Increasing the sampling rate produces PAM that closely
resembles the original analog signal but it does not reduce
the Qe of the sample
• The quality of PAM signal can be improved by:

• Using PCM codes with more bits

• Reducing the magnitude of the quantum
• Improving the resolution
• Using a higher sampling rate
• It is the ratio of the largest possible magnitude to the
resolution.

𝑽𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑫𝑹 =
𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
• Resolution – minimum voltage level other than zero that
can be decoded at the receiver
• The dynamic range is usually expressed in dB:

𝑽𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑫𝑹(𝒅𝑩) = 𝟐𝟎𝒍𝒐𝒈
𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
• The number of PCM bits used for PCM code depends on
the dynamic range.

𝒏
𝟐 − 𝟏 ≥ 𝑫𝑹
• If n is minimum and the sign bit is excluded.
• It is a numerical indication of how efficiently a PCM code is
utilized.

𝒎𝒊𝒏. 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒔
𝒄𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 = 𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒔

• The sign bit is included.

Determine the dynamic range for a 10-bit sign magnitude PCM code.

Ans. 𝟓𝟒.𝟏𝟕 𝒅𝑩
Determine the actual number of bits required in a PCM code for a dynamic range of 54 dB.
Determine also the resolution and the quantization error and the coding efficiency if the
maximum decoded voltage at the receiver is 2.75 V.

Ans. 10, 5.487 mV, 2.743 mV, 99.721%

• The worst case SQR occurs when the input signal is at its
minimum value.
𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝑺𝑸𝑹(𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆) = =𝟐
𝑸𝒆(𝒎𝒂𝒙)
• SQR is not constant

• Higher values of SQR is desirable

• In unitless,

𝟑 𝟐
𝑺𝑸𝑹 = 𝑴
𝟐
• In dB,

𝑺𝑸𝑹 = 𝟔. 𝟎𝟐𝒏 + 𝟏. 𝟕𝟔 𝒅𝑩
Determine the signal-to-noise ratio in dB, if an audio signal with a bandwidth of 3.2 kHz is
converted to PCM signal by sampling at 8 kilosamples/sec and with a data rate of 64 kbps.

Ans. 49.92 dB
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QUESTIONS?