Dept.

of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering Indian

Institute of Technology Kharagpur

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION LAB

(EC39002)

Experiment No: 1

Name: Gondi Harshith Reddy

Roll No: 21EC10028
Group No.: 16
Experiment No: 1

Title of Expt.: Line Coding

Date of Submission: 21/01/2024

INTRODUCTION:

Line coding is a technique used to convert digital data into a format suitable for transmission over a
medium. It involves using a specific set of rules to encode data into a signal that can be sent over a
physical channel. Examples include Manchester, differential Manchester, and PCM. Line coding helps
reduce errors and noise in digital communication systems.

Brief Theory:

Line coding is a method that enables the transmission of signals over a transmission line by converting
digital data into a format that is suitable for transmission. The main objective of line coding is to prevent
distortion and inter-symbol interference and it's mainly used for the transmission of baseband channels.
The aim of line coding is to transfer more bits per signal, thus significantly reducing the bandwidth
required.

There are three major types of line coding techniques:

1. Unipolar Line Coding: Unipolar signaling is also called as On-Off Keying or simply OOK.
The presence of a pulse represents a 1 and the absence of a pulse represents a 0. It has the
advantage of being compatible with TTL logic. The signal is either present or absent, with no
intermediate values. Unipolar line coding is simple and easy to implement, but it is not as
efficient as other line coding methods, such as polar or bipolar, as it requires a larger bandwidth
to transmit the same amount of data. However, unipolar line coding is still used in some systems
due to its simplicity and ease of implementation.

2. Polar Line Coding: Polar line coding is a method of encoding digital data for transmission
over a communication channel. In this method, the digital data is represented by the amplitude or
phase of a signal, rather than the signal's voltage or current level. The two most common types
of polar line coding are polar NRZ (Non-Return-to-Zero) and polar RZ (Return-to-Zero). In
polar NRZ, the signal's amplitude is used to represent a "1" or "0" bit, while in polar RZ, the
signal's amplitude is used to represent a "1" bit and the signal's phase is used to represent a "0"
bit.

3. Bipolar Line Coding: This is an encoding technique which has three voltage levels namely +, -
and 0. Such a signal is called as duo-binary signal. An example of this type is Alternate Mark
Inversion (AMI). For a 1, the voltage level gets a transition from + to – or from – to +, having
alternate 1s to be of equal polarity. A 0 will have a zero voltage level. This is the code used on
compact discs (CD), USB ports, and on fiber-based Fast Ethernetat100-Mbit/s.
Line coding techniques offer several benefits including:

● The ability to transmit more bits per signal, reducing the bandwidth required.
● More efficient use of power for a given bandwidth.
● Reduced probability of errors.
● Error detection and correction capabilities, depending on the chosen technique.
● Avoidance of long strings of 1s and 0s for better signal transparency.

It's important to note that the selection of a line coding technique is based on the specific requirements of
the application and the transmission channel used. Each technique has its own pros and cons and the best
one will depend on the specific scenario.

Polar RZ: In this type of Polar signaling, a High in data, though represented by a Mark pulse, its duration
is less than the symbol bit duration. Half of the bit duration remains high but it immediately returns to
zero and shows the absence of pulse during the remaining half of the bit duration. However, for a Low
input, a negative pulse represents the data, and the zero level remains the same for the other half of the bit
duration.

Manchester: In Manchester code each bit of data is signified by at least one transition. Manchester
encoding is therefore considered to be self-clocking, which means that accurate clock recovery from a
data stream is 2 possible. In addition, the DC component of the encoded signal is zero.

Key Objectives:
To design a circuit for generating different line coding schemes of the PN – sequence. The line coding
techniques to be implemented are:
1. Return to Zero Coding
2. Manchester Line Coding
3. AMI Line Coding
4. 3-Level Line coding
Components Used:
1. IC 7486(Quad 2-i/p XOR gate)
2. IC 7404(NOT Gate)
3. IC 7432(OR Gate)
4. IC 7408(AND gate)
5. IC 7474(D-flip flop)
6. IC 7476(JK Flip flop)
7. IC 741(Op-amp)
8. Resistors(1k Ohms)
9. Digital Oscilloscope
10. Function Generator
11. Connecting Wires
12. Breadboard
13. Power Supply(+5V, 0V, -5V)

Circuit Diagrams:
 Return Zero:

Manchester:

AMI:
3-Level Coding:
Results:

Return to Zero Coding

Manchester Line Coding

 AMI Output

3-level Coding Output

Discussion & Conclusion:
● Line coding is a technique used to convert digital data into a format suitable for transmission over
a communication channel. Two common types are RZ and Manchester coding.
● A line coding is used for data transmission of a digital signal over a transmission line that is
suitable for transmission over baseband channels.
● In RZ coding, transition of bit happens exactly at the centre of bit period whenever data=1, which
has high frequency content, but it is more susceptible to noise and no error correction is done. It is
produced by AND of two inputs-Data, Clock.
● In Manchester coding, transition of bit happens exactly at the centre of bit period, which has low
frequency content. Here, accurate clock recovery from a data stream is possible It is produced by
XNOR of two inputs- Data, Clock.
● AMI coding has three voltage levels, which can be produced by dividing the RZ signal into two
different signals even 1’s(High) and odd 1’s(High) then, subtracting them. This used in various
applications like compact disks(CD’s) and USB ports.
● 3-level coding has three voltage levels(goes from +5V0V-5V0V+5V) whenever
data=1(High).
● The choice between different line coding depends on it’s advantages and disadvantages.
● The choice between RZ and Manchester coding depends on the requirements of the
communication system, and the trade-offs between susceptibility to noise, complexity, and clock
recovery.

References:
● Lab Manual