PULSE CODE

MODULATION
GROUP 7
 TOPICS
Pulse Code Modulation
Elements of PCM
Analog to Digital Conversion
Quantization
Encoding
Application of PCM
Bandwidth of PCM Signals
Problem Solving

2 P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
DEFINITION OF PCM

PULSE CODE MODULATION (PCM) - is the process of

changing a binary pulse signal to represent the information to be
transmitted.
The primary benefits of transmitting information by binary
techniques are
• Noise tolerance
• Ability to regenerate a degraded signal.
ADVANTAGES OF PCM
1. Analog signals can be transmitted over a high-speed digital
communication system.
2. The probability of occurring error will reduce by the use of appropriate
coding methods.
3. PCM is used in Telkom system, digital audio recording, digitized video
special effects, digital video, voice mail.
4. PCM is also used in Radio control units as transmitters and also a receiver
for remote-controlled cars, boats, planes.
5. The PCM signal is more resistant to interference than normal signals.
ELEMENTS OF PCM

P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
ELEMENTS OF PCM
It is composed of a transmitter, a
transmission path and a receiver.
1. The transmitter performs the sampling,
quantizing and encoding of the signal.
2. The transmission path includes
regenerative receivers that recover the
signal from the undesired noise effects.
3. Lastly, the receiver section that performs
decoding of the coded signal after
regeneration of the signal at the receiver.
Figure 1: Elements of PCM
PCM TRANSMITTER

Figure 2: PCM Transmitter

LPF – This filter eliminates the high frequency components present in the input analog
signal which is greater than the highest frequency of the message signal, to avoid aliasing of
the message signal.

SAMPLER - This is the technique which helps to collect the sample data at instantaneous
values of message signal, so as to reconstruct the original signal.

QUANTIZER - A quantizer is a unit that rounds off each sample to the nearest discrete level.

ENCODER - An encoder performs the conversion of the quantized signal into binary codes.
TRANSMISSION PATH IN A PCM
SYSTEM

Figure 3: Transmission Path

REGENERATIVE REPEATER - This section increases the signal strength. The

output of the channel also has one regenerative repeater circuit, to compensate
the signal loss and reconstruct the signal, and also to increase its strength.
PCM RECEIVER

REGENERATOR - A regenerative
repeater is placed at the receiving end
also so as to have an exact PCM
transmitted signal. It eliminates the
channel induced noise and reshapes the
pulse.

DAC AND SAMPLER - Digital to analog

converter performs the conversion of
Figure 4: PCM Receiver
digital signal again into its analog form
by making use of the sampler. As the
actual message signal was analog thus
at the receiver end there is a necessity
to again convert it into its original form.
PCM RECEIVER

LPF - The sampler generates

analog signal but that is not the
original message signal. Thus,
the output of the sampler is fed
Figure 4: PCM Receiver to the LPF having cutoff
frequency fm.
ANALOG TO DIGITAL
CONVERSION

P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
ANALOG TO DIGITAL
CONVERSION
The Analog-to-digital Converter (ADC) performs
three functions:

1. SAMPLING

- Makes the signal discrete in time.

- If the analog input has a bandwidth of W Hz,

then the minimum sample frequency such that the
signal can be reconstructed without distortion.

2. QUANTIZATION

- Makes the signal discrete in amplitude.

Figure 5: Analog to Digital - Round off to one of q discrete levels.

Conversion
ANALOG TO DIGITAL
CONVERSION

3. ENCODE
- Maps the quantized values to digital
words that are v bits long.

If the (Nyquist) Sampling Theorem is

satisfied, then only quantization introduces
distortion to the system.

Figure 5: Analog to Digital

Conversion
QUANTIZATION

P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
QUANTIZATION
 QUANTIZATION - is the process of “rounding off” a sample according to some
rule.
E.g. suppose we must round to the nearest tenth, then:
3.752 --> 3.8 0.001 --> 0

 The output of a sampler is still continuous in amplitude.

Each sample can take on any value e.g. 3.752, 0.001, etc.
The number of possible values is infinite.

 To transmit as a digital signal we must restrict the number of possible values.

TYPES OF
QUANTIZATION
There are two types of Quantization - Uniform Quantization and
Non-uniform Quantization.

UNIFORM QUANTIZATION – it is the type of quantization in which the

quantization levels are uniformly spaced.

NON-UNIFROM QUANTIZATION – it is the type of quantization in

which the quantization levels are unequal and mostly the relation
between them is logarithmic.
UNIFORM
QUANTIZATION
 Most ADC’s use uniform quantizers.
 The quantization levels of a
uniform quantizer are equally
spaced apart.
 Uniform quantizers are optimal
when the input distribution is
uniform. When all values within the
Dynamic Range of the quantizer
Figure 6: Uniform Quantization are equally likely.
Example: Uniform  =3 bit quantizer

q=8 and X Q = {1,3,5,7}

TYPES OF UNIFORM
QUANTIZATION
MID-RISE TYPE
The Mid-Rise type origin lies in
the middle of a raising part of the
stair-case like graph. The
quantization levels in this type are
even in number.

Figure 7: Mid-Rise Type

TYPES OF UNIFORM
QUANTIZATION
MID-THREAD TYPE
The Mid-tread type origin lies
in the middle of a tread of the
stair-case like graph. The
quantization levels in this type are
odd in number.

Figure 8: Mid-Thread Type

QUANTIZATION EXAMPLE

(A) Analogue Signal

(B) Sampling Timing

(C) Quantization levels.

Quantized to 5-levels

(D) Quantization levels.

Quantized to 10-levels
ILLUSTRATION OF THE
QUANTIZATION ERROR

Figure 9: Illustration of the

Quantization Error
PCM TV TRANSMISSION

(a) 5-bit resolution (b) 8-bit resolution

Figure 10: PCM TV Transmission

ENCODING

P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
ENCODING
 ENCODING - is the process of representing each quantized sample
by a v bit code word.
- The mapping is one-to-one so there is no distortion introduced by
encoding.
- Some mappings are better than others.
- A Gray code gives the best end-to-end performance.
- The disadvantage of Gray codes is that they will give poor
performance when the sign bit (MSB) is received in error.
ENCODING
 
 The output of the quantizer is one of M possible signal
levels.
 If we want to use a binary transmission system, then we
need to map each quantized sample into an n bit binary
word.
PCM ENCODING
EXAMPLE

Figure 11: Encoded Levels Using Table

PCM ENCODING
EXAMPLE

Figure 12: Quantization and digitalization of a Figure 13: Process of restoring a signal.
signal. PCM encoded signal in binary form:

Signal is quantized in 11 time points & 8 101 111 110 001 010 100 111 100 011 010 101
quantization segments. Total of 33 bits were used to encode a signal
GRAY CODES
 With gray codes adjacent samples differ only in one bit position.

Example (3 bit quantization):

XQ Natural coding Gray Coding

+7 111 110

+5 110 111

+3 101 101

+1 100 100

-1 011 000

-3 010 001

-5 001 011

-7 000 010

 With this gray code, a single bit error will result in an amplitude error of only 2.

- Unless the MSB is in error.

APPLICATION OF PCM

P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
APPLICATION OF PCM
PCM CIRCUITS:
1. The counting or ramp - ( Maxim ICL7126 ADC)

2. Serial or successive approximation - (AD 570)

3. Parallel or flash encoders - ( CA3318)

 The objective of these circuits is to generate the PCM word.

 Parallel digital output obtained (from one of the above techniques) needs to be
serialized before sending over a 2-wire channel
 This is accomplished by parallel-to-serial converters [Serial Input-Output (SIO) chip]
 UART, USRT and USART are examples for SIO’s
BANDWIDTH OF PCM SIGNALS

P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
BANDWIDTH OF PCM
SIGNALS
 
 The spectrum of the PCM signal is not directly related to the spectrum of
the input signal.
 The bandwidth of (serial) binary PCM waveforms depends on the bit rate
R and the waveform pulse shape used to represent the data.
 The Bit Rate R is

Where n is the number of bits in the PCM word

is the sampling rate.
BANDWIDTH OF PCM
SIGNALS
 
 For no aliasing case , the MINIMUM Bandwidth of PCM is:

The Minimum Bandwidth of is obtained only when sin(x)/x pulse is

used to generate the PCM waveform.

 For PCM waveform generated by rectangular pulses, the First-null

Bandwidth is:
PROBLEM SOLVING

P U L S E C O D E M O D U L AT I O N
PROBLEM SOLVING
Problem 1: We want to digitize the human voice. What is the bit rate,
assuming 8 bits per sample?

Solution:
The human voice normally contains frequencies from 0 to 4000 Hz.
So the sampling rate and bit rate are calculated as follows:
PROBLEM SOLVING
Problem 2: What is the required bandwidth of the PCM system for
256 quantization levels when 48 telephone channels, each
bandlimited to 4kHz, are to be time-division multiplexed by this PCM?

Given:
f = 4khz
L = 256
PROBLEM SOLVING
 
Formula:


Solution:
PROBLEM SOLVING
 

Now for 48 such channels, the required bandwidth will be: