Chapter 5 Signal Encoding and

Modulation Techniques

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Encoding and Modulation Techniques

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Digital Signaling Versus Analog

Signaling

Digital signaling

Digital or analog data is encoded into a digital signal

Encoding may be chosen to conserve bandwidth or to
minimize error

Analog Signaling
Digital or analog data modulates analog carrier signal
The frequency of the carrier fc is chosen to be compatible
with the transmission medium used
Modulation: the amplitude, frequency or phase of the carrier
signal is varied in accordance with the modulating data
signal
by using different carrier frequencies, multiple data signals
(users) can share the same transmission medium
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Digital Signaling
Digital data, digital signal
Simplest encoding scheme: assign one voltage level to
binary one and another voltage level to binary zero
More complex encoding schemes: are used to improve
performance (reduce transmission bandwidth and minimize
errors).
Examples are NRZ-L, NRZI, Manchester, etc.

Analog data, Digital signal

Analog data, such as voice and video
Often digitized to be able to use digital transmission facility
Example: Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), which involves
sampling the analog data periodically and quantizing the
samples
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Analog Signaling
Digital data, Analog Signal
A modem converts digital data to an analog signal so that it
can be transmitted over an analog line
The digital data modulates the amplitude, frequency, or
phase of a carrier analog signal
Examples: Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift
Keying (FSK), Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

Analog data, Analog Signal

Analog data, such as voice and video modulate the
amplitude, frequency, or phase of a carrier signal to produce
an analog signal in a different frequency band
Examples: Amplitude Modulation (AM), Frequency
Modulation (FM), Phase Modulation (PM)
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Digital Data, Digital Signal

Digital signal
discrete, discontinuous voltage pulses
each pulse is a signal element
binary data encoded into signal elements

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Periodic signals
Data element: a single binary 1 or 0
Signal element: a voltage pulse of constant amplitude
Unipolar: All signal elements have the same sign
Polar: One logic state represented by positive voltage the other
by negative voltage
Data rate: Rate of data (R) transmission in bits per second
Duration or length of a bit: Time taken for transmitter to emit
the bit (Tb=1/R)

Modulation rate: Rate at which the signal level changes,

measured in baud = signal elements per second. Depends on
type of digital encoding used.
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Interpreting Signals
Need to know
timing of bits: when they start and end
signal levels: high or low

factors affecting signal interpretation

Data rate: increase data rate increases Bit Error Rate (BER)
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): increase SNR decrease BER
Bandwidth: increase bandwidth increase data rate
encoding scheme: mapping from data bits to signal elements

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Comparison of Encoding Schemes

signal spectrum
Lack of high frequencies reduces required bandwidth,
lack of dc component allows ac coupling via transformer,
providing isolation,
should concentrate power in the middle of the bandwidth

Clocking
synchronizing transmitter and receiver with a sync
mechanism based on suitable encoding

error detection
useful if can be built in to signal encoding

signal interference and noise immunity

cost and complexity: increases when increases data rate
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Encoding Schemes
Positive level (+5V)
Negative level (-5V)

Positive level (+5V)

No line signal (0V)
Negative level (-5V)

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Encoding Schemes

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NonReturn to Zero-Level (NRZ-L)

Two different voltages for 0 and 1 bits
Voltage constant during bit interval
no transition, i.e. no return to zero voltage
more often, negative voltage for binary one
and positive voltage for binary zero

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NonReturn to Zero INVERTED (NRZI)

Nonreturn to zero inverted on ones
Constant voltage pulse for duration of bit
Data encoded as presence or absence of signal
transition at beginning of bit time
transition (low to high or high to low) denotes binary 1
no transition denotes binary 0

Example of differential encoding since have

data represented by changes rather than levels
more reliable detection of transition rather than level

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Advantages and disadvantages of

NRZ-L, NRZI
Advantages
easy to engineer
good use of
bandwidth

Disadvantages
dc component
lack of synchronization
capability

Unattractive for signal transmission applications

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Multilevel Binary
Bipolar Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI)
Use more than two levels (three levels,
positive, negative and no line signal)
Bipolar-AMI
zero represented by no line signal
one represented by positive or negative pulse
one pulses alternate in polarity
no loss of sync if a long string of ones
long runs of zeros still a problem
no net dc component
lower bandwidth
easy error detection
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Multilevel Binary
Pseudoternary
Binary one represented by absence of line
signal
Binary zero represented by alternating
positive and negative pulses
No advantage or disadvantage over
bipolar-AMI
Each used in some applications

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Multilevel Binary Issues

Advantages:
No loss of synchronization if a long string of 1s occurs, each
introduce a transition, and the receiver can resynchronize on
that transition
No net dc component, as the 1 signal alternate in voltage
from negative to positive
Less bandwidth than NRZ
Pulse alternating provides a simple mean for error detection

Disadvantages
receiver distinguishes between three levels: +A, -A, 0
a 3 level system could represent log23 = 1.58 bits
requires approx. 3dB more signal power for same probability
of bit error

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Theoretical Bit Error Rate (BER) For

Various Encoding Schemes

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Manchester Encoding
has transition in middle of each bit period
low to high represents binary one
transition serves as clock and data
high to low represents binary zero
used by IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) LAN standard

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Differential Manchester Encoding

midbit transition is clocking only
transition at start of bit period representing binary 0
no transition at start of bit period representing binary 1
used by IEEE 802.5 token ring LAN

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Advantages and disadvantages of

Manchester Encoding
Disadvantages
at least one transition per bit time and possibly two
maximum modulation rate is twice NRZ
R
L
D : Modulation rate, [baud ]
R : Data Rate, [bps ]
L : number of bits per signal elements
D

requires more bandwidth

Advantages
synchronization on mid bit transition (self clocking codes)
has no dc component
has error detection capability (the absence of an expected
transition can be used to detect errors)

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Modulation Rate versus Data Rate

Data rate (expressed in bps)
Data rate or bit rate R=1/Tb=1/1s=1Mbps

Modulation Rate (expressed in baud) is the rate at

which signal elements are generated
Maximum modulation rate
for Manchester is
D=1/(0.5Tb)=2/1s=2Mbaud

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Scrambling
Use scrambling to replace sequences that would
produce constant voltage
These filling sequences must
produce enough transitions to maintain synchronization
be recognized by receiver & replaced with original
be same length as original

Design goals
have no dc component
have no long sequences of zero level line signal
have no reduction in data rate
give error detection capability
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B8ZS and HDB3

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Bipolar with 8-Zero Substitution

(B8ZS)
ToovercomethedrawbackoftheAMIcodethata
longstringofzerosmayresultinlossof
synchronization,theencodingisamendedwiththe
followingrules:
If8zerosoccursandthelastvoltagepulsewaspositive,
thenthe8zerosareencodedas000+0+
Ifzerosoccursandthelastvoltagepulsewasnegative,
thenthe8zerosareencodedas000+0+

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High Density Bipolar-3 zeros (HDB3)

Theschemereplacesstringswith4zerosbysequences
containingoneortwopulses
Ineachcase,thefourthzeroisreplacedwithacode
violation(V)
successiveviolationsareofalternatepolarity

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Digital Data, Analog Signal

Main use is public telephone system
has freq range of 300Hz to 3400Hz
use modem (modulator-demodulator)

The digital data modulates the amplitude A,

frequency fc , or phase of a carrier signal

A cos(2f c t )

Modulation techniques
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
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Modulation Techniques

Amplitude Shift Keying

(ASK)

Binary Frequency Shift

Keying (BFSK)

Binary Phase Shift Keying

(BPSK)
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Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)

In ASK, the two binary values are represented by to
different amplitudes of the carrier frequency
The resulting modulated signal for one bit time is
A cos(2f c t ), binary 1
s (t )
binary 0
0,

Susceptible to noise
Inefficient modulation technique
used for
up to 1200bps on voice grade lines
very high speeds over optical fiber
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Binary Frequency Shift Keying (BFSK)

The most common form of FSK is Binary FSK (BFSK)
Two binary values represented by two different
frequencies ( f1 and f2 )
A cos( 2f1t ), binary 1
s (t )
A cos( 2f 2t ), binary 0

f2

f2

f1

f1

f2

f1

f2

f2

f2

f1

f2

less susceptible to noise than ASK

used for
up to 1200bps on voice grade lines
high frequency radio (3 to 30MHz)
even higher frequency on LANs using coaxial cable

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Full-Duplex BFSK Transmission on

a Voice-Grade line
Voice grade lines will pass voice frequencies in the range 300
to 3400Hz
Full duplex means that signals are transmitted in both directions
at the same time

f1

f2

f3

f4

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Multiple FSK (MFSK)

More than two frequencies (M frequencies) are used
More bandwidth efficient compared to BFSK
More susceptible to noise compared to BFSK
MFSK signal:
si (t ) A cos(2f i t ),

1 i M

where
f i f c ( 2i 1 M ) f d
f c the carrier frequency
f d the difference frequency
M number of different signal elements 2 L
L number of bits per signal element
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Multiple FSK (MFSK)

MFSK signal:

si (t ) A cos(2f i t ),

1 i M

where
f i f c (2i 1 M ) f d
M number of different signal elements 2 L
L number of bits per signal element

Period of signal element

Ts LTb ,

Ts : signal element period

Tb : bit period

Minimum frequency separation

1 / Ts 2 f d

1 /( LTb ) 2 f d 1 / Tb 2 Lf d (bit rate)

MFSK signal bandwidth:

Wd M ( 2 f d ) 2 Mf d
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Example
With fc=250KHz, fd=25KHz, and M=8 (L=3 bits), we have the
following frequency assignment for each of the 8 possible 3-bit
f i f c ( 2i 1 M ) f d
data combinations:
000

f1 75 KHz
f 2 125 KHz

001

010

011

f 4 225 KHz

100

101

f 5 275 KHz

f 6 325 KHz

110

f 7 375 KHz

111

f 3 175 KHz

bandwidth Ws 2 Mf d 400 KHz

f 8 425 KHz

This scheme can support a data rate of:

1 / Tb 2 Lf d 2(3bits )(25 Hz ) 150 Kbps

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Example
The following figure shows an example of MFSK with M=4. An
input bit stream of 20 bits is encoded 2bits at a time, with each
of the possible 2-bit combinations transmitted as a different
frequency.
f i f c ( 2i 1 M ) f d
00

i 1

f1 f c 3 f d

01

i2

f2 fc fd

10

i3

f3 fc f d

11

i4

f4 fc 3 fd

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Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

Phase of carrier signal is shifted to represent data
Binary PSK (BPSK): two phases represent two
binary digits
binary 1
A cos(2f c t ),
s (t )

A cos( 2f c t ), binary 0
binary 1
A cos( 2f c t ),

A cos(2f c t ), binary 0
Ad (t ) cos( 2f c t ),

d (t ) 1

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Differential PSK (DPSK)

In DPSK, the phase shift is with reference to the previous bit
transmitted rather than to some constant reference signal
Binary 0:signal burst with the same phase as the previous one
Binary 1:signal burst of opposite phase to the preceding one

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Four-level PSK: Quadrature PSK

(QPSK)

More efficient use of bandwidth if each signal element

represents more than one bit

eg. shifts of /2 (90o)

each signal element represents two bits
split input data stream in two & modulate onto the phase of the carrier

A cos( 2f c t 4 )

3
A cos(2f c t
)

4
s (t )
3
A cos( 2f c t
)
4

A cos( 2f c t 4 )

11

01

00

10

can use 8 phase angles & more than one amplitude

9600bps modem uses 12 phase angles, four of which have two

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QPSK and Offset QPSK (OQPSK)

Modulators

QPSK :
OQPSK :

1
1
I (t ) cos( 2f c t )
Q (t ) sin( 2f c t )
2
2
1
1
s (t )
I (t ) cos( 2f c t )
Q (t Tb ) sin( 2f c t )
2
2
s (t )

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Example of QPSK and OQPSK

Waveforms
for QPSK :
1 11 1

3
4
3
0 0 1 1
4

1 0 1 1
4
0 1 1 1

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Performance of ASK, FSK, MFSK, PSK

and MPSK
Bandwidth Efficiency
ASK/PSK:
MPSK:

data rate
R
1

,
transmission bandwidth BT 1 r

R log 2 M

,
BT
1 r

0 r 1

M : number of different signal elements

R
log 2 M

MFSK:
BT (1 r ) M

Bit Error Rate (BER)

bit error rate of PSK and QPSK are about 3dB superior to
ASK and FSK (see Fig. 5.4)
for MFSK & MPSK have tradeoff between bandwidth
efficiency and error performance

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Performance of MFSK and MPSK

MFSK: increasing M decreases BER and decreases bandwidth Efficiency
MPSK: Increasing M increases BER and increases bandwidth efficiency

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Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

(QAM)
QAM used on asymmetric digital subscriber line
(ADSL) and some wireless standards
combination of ASK and PSK
logical extension of QPSK
send two different signals simultaneously on
same carrier frequency
use two copies of carrier, one shifted by 90
each carrier is ASK modulated

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QAM modulator

QAM :

s (t ) d1 (t ) cos( 2f c t ) d 2 (t ) sin( 2f c t )


ASK

ASK

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QAM Variants
Two level ASK (two different amplitude levels)
each of two streams in one of two states
four state system
essentially QPSK

Four level ASK (four different amplitude levels)

combined stream in one of 16 states

Have 64 and 256 state systems

Improved data rate for given bandwidth
but increased potential error rate
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