Data Communication

and
Computer Networks

Lecture 2.2

Lecture Focus:
 Transmission Impairment
 Basic Bandwidth Concepts
 One characteristic that measures network performance is
bandwidth.
 However, the term can be used in two different contexts
with two different measuring values:
 bandwidth in hertz and
 bandwidth in bits per second

Bandwidth in Hertz
 Bandwidth in hertz is the range of frequencies contained in
a composite signal or the range of frequencies a channel
can pass.
 For example, we can say the bandwidth of a subscriber
telephone line is 4 kHz.
 Bandwidth

Bandwidth in Bits per Seconds

 The term bandwidth can also refer to the number of bits per
second that a channel, a link, or even a network can
transmit.
 For example, one can say the bandwidth of a Fast Ethernet
network (or the links in this network) is a maximum of 100
Mbps. This means that this network can send 100 Mbps.

Example
•If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves with
frequencies of 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz, what is the signal
bandwidth? Draw the spectrum, assuming all components have a
maximum amplitude of 10 V.
Bandwidth
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency,
and B the bandwidth. Then

The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900
Hz.
 Digital signal representation
 Using 2 levels, 1 can be encoded as a positive voltage and a 0 as zero
voltage.
 A digital signal can have more than two levels. In this case, we can send
more than 1 bit for each level.
 Transmission Impairment

 Signals travel through transmission media, which are not

perfect. The imperfection causes signal impairment. This
means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is
not the same as the signal at the end of the medium.
 What is sent is not what is received.
 Three causes of impairment are:
 Attenuation
 Distortion
 Noise
 Transmission Impairment

Attenuation
 loss of signal strength with distance over any transmission
medium.
 For guided media, attenuation, is generally exponential and
thus is typically expressed as a constant number of decibels per
unit distance. Due to resistance
 For unguided media, attenuation is a more complex function of
distance and the makeup of the atmosphere.

 To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify the

signal.
 Attenuation varies with frequency.
 Transmission Impairment

Impairment types
Attenuation
 Figure below shows the effect of attenuation and amplification.
 Transmission Impairment

Attenuation
Decibel
 To show that a signal has lost or gained strength, we use the
unit of the decibel.
 The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths of two
signals or one signal at two different points.
 Note that the decibel is:
 Negative if a signal is attenuated and
 Positive if a signal is amplified.

 PI and P2 are the powers of a signal at points 1 and 2, respectively.

 Transmission Impairment

Attenuation
Example
 Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and
its power is reduced to one-half. This means that P2 = ½ P1.
 In this case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be calculated
as:
dB = 10 log10 (P2 / P1)
= 10 log10 (1/2 P1 / P1)
= 10 log10 (0.5))
= 10 (-0.3)
dB = -3
 Transmission Impairment

Decibel value will be Positive if a signal is amplified.

Example
 Transmission Impairment

Distortion
 Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape.
 Distortion can occur in a composite signal made of different
frequencies.
 Each signal component has its own propagation speed through a
medium and, therefore, its own delay in arriving at the final
destination.
 Differences in delay may create a difference in phase if the delay is
not exactly the same as the period duration.
 In other words, signal components at the receiver have phases
different from what they had at the sender.
 The shape of the composite signal is therefore not the same.

Due to propagation speeds

 Transmission Impairment

Distortion
 Figure below shows the effect of distortion on a composite
signal.
 Noise
 Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons in a wire which
creates an extra signal not originally sent by the transmitter.
 Thermal noise is uniformly distributed across the systems and
hence is often referred to as white noise, cannot be eliminated.

 Intermodulation noise When signals at different frequencies share

the same transmission medium.
 It produce signals at a frequency that is the sum or difference of
the two original frequencies or multiples of those frequencies.

 Cross-talk it is an unwanted coupling between signal paths. It can

occur by electrical coupling between nearby twisted pairs.
 Impulse noise is a spike (a signal with high energy in a very short
time) that comes from power lines, lightning, and so on. It has
much effect on digital data.
 Transmission Impairment

Noise

 Figure shows the effect of noise on a signal.

 Transmission Impairment

Noise

 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

 To find the theoretical bit rate limit, we need to know
the ratio of the signal power to the noise power.
 The signal-to-noise ratio is defined as:
SNR = average signal power / average noise
power
 We need to consider the average signal power and the
average noise power because these may change with
time.
 Transmission Impairment

Noise
 Figure shows the idea of SNR
 Transmission Impairment

Noise

 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

 SNR is actually the ratio of what is wanted (signal) to what is

not wanted (noise).
 A high SNR means the signal is less corrupted by noise;
 A low SNR means the signal is more corrupted by noise.

 Because SNR is the ratio of two powers, it is often described

in decibel units, SNRdB, defined as:
SNRdB = 10 log10 SNR
Transmission Impairment

Noise
 Channel capacity - Data Rate Limits

 A very important consideration in data communications is

how fast we can send data, in bits per second over a channel
despite these impairments.
 Data rate depends on three factors:
1. The bandwidth available
2. The level of the signals we use
3. The quality of the channel (the level of noise)
 Aim how to maximize the data rate or channel performance with the
available BW. The main constraint is noise and data recovery.
 Two theoretical formulas were developed to calculate the
data rate:
 By Nyquist: For a noiseless channel
 By Shannon: For a noisy channel.
 Data Rate Limits

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

 For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula

defines the theoretical maximum bit rate

capacity or Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x 10g2 L

 In this formula, bandwidth is the bandwidth of the

channel, L is the number of signal levels used to represent
data, and Bit Rate is the bit rate in bits per second.
 Data Rate Limits

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x 10g2 L

 According to the formula, we might think that, given a
specific bandwidth, we can have any bit rate we want by
increasing the number of signa1 leve1s.
 Although the idea is theoretically correct, practically there
is a limit. When we increase the number of signal 1eve1s,
we impose a burden on the receiver.
 If the number of levels in a signal is just 2, the receiver
can easily distinguish between a 0 and a 1.
 If the level of a signal is 64, the receiver must be very
sophisticated to distinguish between 64 different levels.
 In other words, increasing the levels of a signal reduces
the reliability of the system.
 Data Rate Limits

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

Example
 Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz
transmitting a signal with two signal levels. What is the
maximum bit rate?

Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x 10g2 L

 Bit Rate =2 x 3000 x log2 2 =6000 bps

 Data Rate Limits

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

Example
 Consider the same noiseless channel transmitting a signal
with four signal levels (for each level, we send 2 bits).
What is the maximum bit rate?

Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x 10g2 L

Bit Rate =2 x 3000 x log2 4 =12, 000 bps

 Data Rate Limits

Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

 In reality, we cannot have a noiseless channel; the channel
is always noisy.
 Shannon introduced a formula, called the Shannon
capacity, to determine the theoretical highest data rate for a
noisy channel:

Capacity =bandwidth X log2 (1 +SNR)

• The formula represents the theoretical maximum that can be
achieved.
• In practice, however, only much lower rates are achieved.
One reason for this is that the formula assumes thermal noise.
Impulse noise, attenuation or delay distortion are not
accounted .
 Data Rate Limits

Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

Capacity =bandwidth X log2 (1 +SNR)

 Note that in the Shannon formula there is no indication of

the signal level, which means that no matter how many
levels we have, we cannot achieve a data rate higher than
the capacity of the channel.
 In other words, the formula defines a characteristic of the
channel, not the method of transmission.
 Data Rate Limits

Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity Example

 Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value of
the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. In other words, the
noise is so strong that the signal is faint. For this channel
the capacity C is calculated as:
Capacity = bandwidth X log2 (1 +SNR)
= bandwidth X log2 (1 +0)
= bandwidth X log2 (1)
= bandwidth X 0
=0
 This means that the capacity of this channel is zero regardless of the
bandwidth.
 In other words, we cannot receive any data through this channel.
Exercise
 Determine the minimum SNR required to achieve a
transmission rate of 28 kbps over a telephone channel
carrying voice signals of frequencies ranging between
30 Hz and 3.13 kHz. Express your answer in dB.