PULSE CODE

MODULATION
Signal-to-
Quantization Noise
Ratio
 Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio (SQR / SNR)
❖ Measure of quality showing the relationship between the
quantized signal voltage and maximum Qe.

SQR depends
on the signal
voltage
(varying)

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio (SQR)
❖ Expressed as average signal power to average noise power,

Normalized (same R’s)

R = resistance (Ω)
v = rms signal voltage (V)
q = quantization interval (V)
v2/R = average signal power (W)
(q2/12)/R = average Qe power (W)

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 Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio (SQR)
❖ For an N-bit quantizer

N = number of bits

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 Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio (SQR)
Example: Given an audio signal represented as
i. determine the SQR when quantized by 10-bit sign-
magnitude PCM
ii. Number of bits needed to achieve SQR = 40 dB

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio (SQR)
Example: Given an audio signal represented as
i. determine the SQR when quantized by 10-bit sign-
magnitude PCM

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio (SQR)
Example: Given an audio signal represented as
ii. Number of bits needed to achieve SQR = 40 dB

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 Linear vs Nonlinear PCM Codes
Linear (uniform) codes

❖ Resolution/step size is the same

❖ SQR is less for low signal level

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 Linear vs Nonlinear PCM Codes

Nonlinear (non-uniform) codes

❖ More codes at low signal level

❖ Resolution increases with
amplitude
❖ DR is increased

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Linear vs Nonlinear PCM Codes

Why use nonlinear PCM codes?

❖ Many signals such as voice have a

non-linear distribution

❖ Follows logarithmic characteristic

Difficult to design nonlinear
quantizers.

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Midtread vs Midrise Quantization

Midtread Midrise
Quantization Quantization

❖ Minimized small-signal noise ❖ More sensitive to noise

❖ Zero is a quantization value at low signal levels

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Midtread vs Midrise Quantizing

Midtread Midrise
Quantization Quantization

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CODING METHODS
 Pulse Code Modulation

PAM
Analog Signal PCM Code
BPF S/H Quantizer Encoder
Signal 10110001…

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 Level-at-a-Time Coding

❖ Quantized PAM signal is compared to a ramp (sawtooth)

every sampling time.

❖ Binary counter increments from 0 to 2n levels.

❖ If Vramp ≥ VPAM, counter contains PCM code.

❖ Requires very fast clocks.

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Digit-at-a-Time Coding

❖ Every digit of the PCM code is determined every sampling

time

❖ Employed Successive Approximation Register (SAR) ADC

❖ Requires relatively slower clocks

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Word-at-a-Time Coding

❖ Uses Flash ADC’s where entire PCM word is determined

every sampling time

❖ Fastest encoding but impractical for applications requiring

high resolution.

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COMPANDING
 Companding

❖ Nonlinear quantizers are difficult to design

❖ Speech signals are naturally nonlinear with low-level

signals occurring more frequent

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 Companding

❖ How do we implement this?

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 Companding

❖ Process of compressing and expanding the analog signal

prior to sampling and linear quantization

❖ High-level analog signals are compressed (lower gain)

prior to transmission and expanded (higher gain) in the
receiver

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Companding

PAM
Signal Encoder
Analog Analog PCM Code
BPF S/H Quantizer (ADC + PS
Signal Compressor 10110001…
Converter)

Decoder
Reconstructed Analog PCM Code
BPF LPF (SP Converter +
Signal Expander 10110001…
DAC)

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 Companding

μ-Law Companding

❖ Used in USA and Japan

Vmax = maximum analog input

Vin = instantaneous input voltage level
μ = degree of compression

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 Companding μ-Law companding

No compression
μ=0

❖ μ = 255 for USA and Japan

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 Companding μ-Law companding

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 Companding

A-Law companding

❖ Used in Europe and rest of world

❖ Slightly flatter SQR than μ-law
❖ Inferior to μ-law for small-voltage
inputs (idle channel noise)
❖ A = 87.6 for Europe Vmax = maximum analog input
Vin = instantaneous input voltage level
A = degree of compression

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 Companding A-Law Companding

No compression
A=1

❖ μ = 87.6 for Europe

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 Example:
For μ = 255,

(a) find Vout, AV(comp), and the dynamic range for the following input
voltages: Vin = 4 (Vmax), 3, 2, 1.

(b) find the needed AV(expand) at the receiver to recover the signals.

(c) Repeat using A law for A = 87.6

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DIGITAL
COMPANDING
 Digital Companding

❖ Digital compression in the transmitter after the encoder,

and digital expansion in the receiver before the decoder

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 Digital Companding

PAM
Signal Encoder
Analog Digital Compressed
BPF S/H Quantizer (ADC + PS
Signal Compressor PCM Code
Converter)

Decoder
Reconstructed Digital Compressed
BPF LPF (SP Converter +
Signal Expander PCM Code
DAC)

ECE106 Modulation and Coding Techniques SE Maestre, ECE, MSEE

 Digital Companding:
12-Bit Linear to 8-Bit Compressed PCM Code

16 combinations of ABCD

Correction here!

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 Digital Companding
❖ Segment 0 and 1 has no compression with 16 codes (combinations of 1’s and 0’s)
❖ Segment 2 has 32 codes → compression ratio: 2
❖ Segment 3 has 64 codes → compression ratio: 4
❖ Segment 7 has 1024 codes → compression ratio: 64

❖ Subsegment → combinations of ABCD (16 of them)

❖ Code → combinations of X’s
❖ Segment 0 and 1 → 16 subsegments
❖ Segment 2 → 16 subsegments with 2 codes each
❖ Segment 3 → 16 subsegments with 4 codes each
❖ Segment 7 → 16 subsegments with 64 codes each

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 Digital Companding Encoding Algorithm
❖ Sign Bit:
❖ directly copy to compressed code
❖ Segment Number:
❖ count number of leading 0’s in the 11-
bit magnitude part
❖ Subtract number from 7 (7 – #zeros)
❖ Convert to 3-bit binary
❖ Interval/Subsegment:
❖ LSB of 8-bit compressed code

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 Digital Companding Decoding Algorithm
❖ Segment Identifier:
❖ Convert to decimal, subtract
from 7, result is the leading
zeros, followed by “1”.
❖ Truncated Bits (X’s):
❖ MSB → “1”
❖ remaining bits → “0”

Shortcut Tip: insert 1’s before and after ABCD.

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 Digital Companding Algorithm
Example: Determine the 12-bit linear code, 8-bit compressed PCM
code, decoded 12-bit code, Qe, and compression error for a resolution
of 0.01V for the following sampled voltage values: 0.053V, -0.318V,
10.234V.

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 Vocoders (Voice Coders)
❖ Special encoders/decoders used to digitize and transmit human
voice.
❖ Encodes the minimum amount of speech information necessary to
reproduce a perceptible message with fewer bits
❖ Used in limited bandwidth applications

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 Vocoders (Voice Coders)
❖ Channel Vocoder:

❖ First developed by Homer Dudley

in 1928.
❖ BPF (200 Hz BW) are used to
separate the speech waveform
(~200 Hz to 3.2kHz) into
narrower sub-bands.
❖ Sub-bands are rectified, filtered
and digitally encoded
❖ Poor quality, synthetic sounding
speech, operates at 2 ~ 2.4 kbps

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 Vocoders (Voice Coders)
❖ Formant Vocoder:

❖ Formant – peak frequencies of audio signal, amplified by shape of vocal

tract
❖ Theoretically, there are infinite formants, but only 4~5 are relevant (not
spread throughout the spectrum)
❖ First lowest 2 formants → responsible for vowels
❖ 3 formants up → color of our voice

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 Vocoders (Voice Coders)

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 Vocoders (Voice Coders)
❖ Formant Vocoder:

❖ Determines the location of 3 to 4 formants plus the pitch and encodes

these formants only.
❖ Can operate at lower bit rates, 1kbps
❖ Difficulty in tracking the formants

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 Vocoders (Voice Coders)
❖ Linear Predictive Coders (LCP):

❖ Extracts significant portions of speech from time-domain waveform of

signal
❖ Produces time-varying modal of human vocal tract
❖ Provides more natural sounding
❖ Widely used in speech coding and speech synthesis
❖ Operates at 1.2 ~ 2.4 kbps

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