2.

The Physical Layer

Analog and Digital data, Analog and Digital signals,
 Digital Signals-Bit rate, Bit length Baseband Transmission,
Broadband Transmission
Transmission Impairments– Attenuation, Distortion and Noise
Data Rate Limits– Noiseless channel: Nyquist’s bit rate, noisy
channel : Shannon’slaw
Performance of the Network Bandwidth, Throughput,
Latency(Delay),Bandwidth – Delay Product, Jitters Line
Coding Characteristics,
Line Coding Schemes–Unipolar -NRZ,Polar-NRZ-I, NRZ-L, RZ,
Manchester and Differential Manchester, Problems
Transmission Modes, Parallel Transmission and Serial
Transmission–Asynchronous and Synchronous
Switching-Circuit Switching, Message Switching and Packet
Switching
3.1
 Introduction
■ The Physical Layer is the lowest layer in
the ISO-OSI model.
■ It concerns with the transmission of raw bits
over communication channel.
■ It interact with the transmission media to
move bits from one node in the n/w to
another

3.2
 Tasks Performed
■ Representation of bits
■ Transmission rate
■ Synchronization of bits
■ Transmission modes
■ Multiplexing
■ Switching

3.3
 Data and signals
■ To be transmitted, data must be transformed into a
signal that can be sent across the medium.
■ The most important function of the physical layer
is to move data in the form electromagnetic
signals across a transmission medium.
■ The data as well as signals which represent the
data can be of two types:
1. Analog
2. Digital

3.4
 Analog Data
■ The term analog data
refers to information that
is continuous;
■ e.g. clock and human
voice.
■ Human voice is a
continuously varying
pattern, data collecetd by
sensors(temperature,
pressure) are continuous.
■ These are analog in nature

3.5
 Digital Data
■ Digital data refers to
information that has
discrete states.
■ Digital data take on
discrete values.
■ E.g Computer data has
only two discrete
values 0 and 1.
■ A digital clock has
discrete state.

3.6
 Analog and Digital Signal
■ Signaling : The term signaling refers to
methods for using electromagnetic energy to
communicate.
■ Signals can be
1. Analog Signal
2. Digital. Signal

3.7
 1. Analog Signal
■ An signal is a continuous
varying signal over a
period of time.
■ Analog signals can have
an infinite number of
values in a range.
■ E.g Telephone system and
television system have
used analog signals to
transmit analog data.

3.8
 2.Digital Signal
■ Digital signals can have
only a finite (limited
number) of values. i.e. it is
a discrete signal.
■ Each value can be either 1
or 0.
■ The signal maintains
constant level for some
time and then changes to
another level.
■ E.g Computer data( 0 or
1)
3.9
 Comparison of analog and digital signals

3.10
 Terms Analog Signal Digital Signal

1.Signal Continuous signal Discrete time signal

2.Waves Denoted by sign wave Square wave

3.Representation Continuous range of values Discrete value
4.Example Clock, human voice in air, Television, computer
5.Flexibility Not flexible flexible
6.Uses Only analogy device Computing and digital
electronics
7.Application Thermometer PCs
8.Power Draw large power Only negligible power

9.Cost Low cost to portable High and not easily

portable
10.Impedane Low high

3.11
 Periodic and Non-Periodic signals

3.12
 Periodic signals
■ A periodic signal has a
repetitive pattern over
identical periods of
time.
■ Each repeating pattern
is called a cycle.
■ E.g Sine wave

3.13
 Non-Periodic signals
■ A non periodic or
aperiodic signal does
not have a fixed pattern
over a period of time.

3.14
 Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency

3.15
 DIGITAL SIGNALS
■ In addition to being represented by an analog
signal, information can also be represented
by a digital signal.
■ For example, a 1 can be encoded as a
positive voltage and a 0 as zero voltage.
■ Digital signal used to represent data.
■ Most digital signal are non-periodic and thus,
period or frequency is not appropriate.
■ Two term-bit interval, bit rate are used to
describe digital signal instead of period and
3.16 frequency .
 ■ Bit Interval
■ it is time required to send one single bit

3.17
 Bit Rate
■ The bit rate is number of signals sent in 1 second.
■ It is the number of bit intervals per second.
■ It is expressed as bps(bits per second).
■ A digital signal can have more than two levels.
■ In this case, we can send more than 1 bit for each
level.
■ If a digital data has L levels, the number of bits
each level represents can be calculated as
■ Bits per level=log2L bits

3.18
 Example 1. A digital signal has 2 levels, each level can
represent
Bits per level = log2L bits
i.e Bits per level = log 2 = 1 bit

3.19
 ■ Ex1.A digital signal has eight levels. How
many bits are needed per level?
■ Ans-number of bits per level=log2 L=log2 8=3
■ Therefore ,each signal level is represented by
3 bit.

3.20
 Example 2. A digital signal has 4 levels, each level can
represent
Bits per level = log2L bits
i.e Bits per level = log 4 = 2 bits

3.21
 Example 3. A digital signal has eight levels.
How many bits are needed per level?
Answer : We calculate the number of bits
from the formula

Bits per level = log2L bits

i.e Bits per level = log 8 = 3 bits

Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

3.22
 Note

If L is not a power of 2 , consider the

nearest higher power of 2 to calculate
number of bits

23
McGraw-Hill ©The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000
 Example 4. A digital signal has 10 levels.
How many bits are needed per level?
Answer : We calculate the number of bits
from the formula
Bits per level = log2L bits
If L is not a power of 2 , consider the nearest higher power
of 2 to calculate number of bits
i.e Bits per level = log 16 = log 24= 4 bits.
Each signal level is represented by 4 bits.

2*2*2*2=16
3.24
 Bit Length
■ The bit length is the amount of distance one
bit occupies on the transmission medium.
■ It depends upon the bit duration i.e. time for
which one bit is transmitted and
propagation speed i.e the speed at which the
bit travels on the medium.
■ Bit Length = bit duration x propagation speed
■ The propagation speed can be calculated
from the bandwidth (in bps) 1/bandwidth.

3.25
 Example: Calculate the bit length in a channel
with the propagation speed of 2 x 108 m/s if
the channel bandwidth is
i) 1 Mbps ii) 10 Mbps iii) 100Mbps
Answer :
Bit Length = bit duration x propagation speed
i)Bit Duration = 1/ bandwidth = 1/106=10-6s
Bit Length = 10-6s X 2 x 108 m/s = 200m.

3.26
 ii)Bit Duration = 1/ bandwidth = 1/107=10-7s
Bit Length = 10-7s X 2 x 108 m/s = 20m.

iii)Bit Duration = 1/ bandwidth = 1/108=10-8s

Bit Length = 10-8s X 2 x 108 m/s = 2m.

3.27
 Baseband Transmission
■ In this method the digital
signal is transmitted over
the communication
without converting the
signal to analog.
■ In this case, only one
signal can occupy the
channel at a time.
■ 2 case-low pass channel
with a wide bandwidth
■ Low pass channel with a
limited bandwidth
3.28
 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 same as what is
received.

3.29
 ■ Three causes of impairment are
1.Attenuation
2.Distortion
3.Noise.

3.30
 1 Attenuation
■ Means loss of energy -> weaker signal
■ When a signal travels through a medium it
loses energy because it has to overcome the
resistance of the medium.
■ The amount of attenuation depends upon the
medium characteristics and distance travels.

3.31
 Attenuation

3.32
 Measurement of Attenuation
■ Attenuation (the loss or gain of energy) is
measured in decibel(dB).
Attenuation= (10log10P2 )/P1

Where P1 - input signal(Original signal)

P2 - output signal(Attenuated Signal)

3.33
 Example 1: Suppose a signal travels through a
transmission medium and its power is
reduced to one-half. Calculate the
attenuation.
Answer This means that P2 is (1/2)P1. In this
case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be
calculated as :

3.34
 Example 2: A signal travels through an
amplifier, and its power is increased 10
times. Calculate the amplification.(gain of
power).
Answer: This means that P2 = 10P1 . In this
case, the amplification (gain of power) can
be calculated as

3.35
 2.Distortion
■ Means that the signal changes its form or
shape.
■ Distortion occurs in composite signals
■ Each frequency component has its own
propagation speed traveling through a
medium.
■ The different components therefore arrive
with different delays at the receiver.
■ That means that the signals have different
phases at the receiver than they did at the
sender.
3.36
 Distortion

3.37
 3.Noise
■ Noise is nothing but the other signals near the medium
which corrupt the data signal.
■ This is an important cause of impairment.
■ There are different types of noise
■ Thermal - random noise of electrons(molecules) in the
wire creates an extra signal.
■ Induced – comes from motors and appliances like
microwaves etc.
■ Crosstalk – The effect of one wire on the other.
■ Impulse – This is a spikes which having very high
power but for short time. It cause due to high power
lines, lightning and fluctuations in voltage etc.

3.38
 Noise

3.39
 Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
■ Noise is nothing but the other signal near
the medium corrupt the signal.
■ An important measure of noise is the Signal
to Noise Ratio (SNR) which is defined as:
SNR= average signal power/average noise power
It is represented in decibel as:
SNRdB = 10log10 SNR

3.40
 Example: The power of a signal is 10 mW
and the power of the noise is 1 μW; what
are the values of SNR and SNRdB ?
Solution:
■ The values of SNR and SNRdB can be
calculated as follows:

3.41
 Data Rate Limits
■ A very important consideration in data
communications is how fast we can send
data, in bits per second, over a channel.
Data rate depends on three factors:
1. The bandwidth of communication channel
2. number of the signal levels
3. The amount of the noise present(quality of
the channel)

3.42
 ■ Two important formulae were
developed which calculate the data rate
of the communication channel.
1.Nyquist formula for noiseless channel.
2.Shannon formula for noisy channel.

3.43
 Noiseless channel:Nyquist’s Bit Rate formula

■ Nyquist’s Bit Rate formula defines the

theoretical maximum bit rate.
Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x log2L
Where
Bandwidth = bandwidth of channel
L= no. of signal levels used to represent data
Bit Rate = bit rate in bits per second.

3.44
 Example 1 : Consider a noiseless channel
with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz transmitting a
signal with two signal levels. Calculate bit
rate.
Solution :The maximum bit rate can be
calculated as
Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x log2L

3.45
 Example 2: Consider a noiseless channel with
a bandwidth of 5000 Hz transmitting a
signal with 4 signals levels. Calculate bit
rate.
Solution: The maximum bit rate can be
calculated as
Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x log2L
Bit Rate= 2 X 5000 x log2 4
= 10000 x 2
= 20000bps
3.46
 ■ Example 3: We need to send 265 kbps over
a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 20
kHz .How many signal levels do we need?
Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x log2L
265000 =2 * 20000 * log 2 L
265000 =log2 L
2*20000
■
265 =6.625= 2 6.625=98.7
40

3.47
 Noisy channel: Shannon’s
capacity formula
■ The channel is always noisy in reality.
■ Capacity= Bandwidth x log2(1+SNR)
Where
Bandwidth = bandwidth of channel
SNR = Signal to noise ratio
Capacity = Capacity of channel in bits per
second.

3.48
 Example 1: 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

■ 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.
3.49
 Example 2:We can calculate the theoretical
highest bit rate of a regular telephone line.
A telephone line normally has a bandwidth
of 3000. The signal-to-noise ratio is usually
3162. Calculate the capacity of the channel.
Solution: For this channel the capacity is
calculated as

3.50
 Example 3:The signal-to-noise ratio is often
given in decibels. Assume that SNRdB = 36
and the channel bandwidth is 2 MHz.
Calculate the capacity of the channel.
Solution: The theoretical channel capacity
can be calculated as

3.51
 Example 4: We have a channel with a 1-MHz
bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63.
What are the appropriate bit rate and signal
level?
Solution :
■ First, we use the Shannon formula to find
the upper limit.

3.52
 ■ The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, the
upper limit. For better performance we
choose something lower, 4 Mbps, for
example. Then we use the Nyquist formula
to find the number of signal levels.

■ 4Mbps=2MHz X log2 L

log2 L=4Mbps / 2MHz

log2 L=2
3.53 L=22 L=4
 Note

The Shannon capacity gives us the

upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us
how many signal levels we need.

McGraw-Hill ©The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

 Performance of the Network
■ One important issue in networking is the
performance of the network—how good is
it?
1. Bandwidth
2. Throughput
3. Latency (Delay)
4. Bandwidth-Delay Product
5. Jitter

3.55
 1.Bandwidth
■ Bandwidth represents capacity of
the channel.
■ In networking, we use the term
bandwidth in two contexts
1.Bandwidth in Hz(hertz)
2.Bandwidth in Bits/Sec(bits per
second)

3.56
 1)Bandwidth in Hz: .It is range of frequencies
that a channel can pass. It is calculated as
the difference between the lowest
frequency and highest frequency.
E.g We can say that bandwidth of a
telephone line is 4KHz.
Bandwidth HZ = fh-fl
2)Bandwidth in Bits/Sec: It refers to the
number of bits per second that a channel or
link can transmit over a network.
e.g. Bandwidth of a fast Ethernet is 100Mbps.

3.57
 2.Throughput
■ The throughput is a measure of data through
a network.
■ It is measure of the actual speed at which
data was transmitted through the network.
■ The throughput T of the n/w <= the
bandwidth B in bps.

3.58
 Example A network with bandwidth of 10
Mbps can pass only an average of 12,000
frames per minute with each frame carrying
an average of 10,000 bits. What is the
throughput of this network?
Solution:
We can calculate the throughput as

3.59
 ■ 12000 X 10000
■ 60

■ 200 X 10000 = 20,00,000 bps

■ = 2 Mbps

3.60
 3.Latency (Delay)
■ The latency is a measure of the total time
taken for an entire message to reach the
destination from the time its first bit was
transmitted at the source.
■ It is calculated as:
■ Latency = Propagation Time +Transmission
Time + Queuing Time + Processing Time

3.61
 Where
Propagation Time: It is the time required for a
single bit to travel from the source to
destination. It is calculated as:
Propagation Time = Distance/Propagation Speed
Transmission Time: It is the time required for all
bits of a message to arrive at the destination. It
is calculated as:
Transmission Time = Message size/Bandwidth

3.62
 ■ What is the propagation time for a 2.5 kbyte
msg if the bandwidth of the network is 1
Gbps?Assume that the distance between the
sender and receiver is 12,000 km and that
light travels at 2.4 X 108 m/s.
Ans =>Propagation time= Distance
Propagation speed

12000 X 1000

2.4 X 108
12
240 =0.05 s=50 ms
3.63
 Transmission Time = Message
size/Bandwidth
■ Transmission Time= 2500 X 8(bits)
109 (1Gbps)
=0.020 ms

3.64
 Queuing Time : It is the time taken by
intermediate or end devices to store the
entire message before it is processed.
It depends upon the n/w traffic and the device
characteristics.
Processing Time: It is the time taken by a
device to process the message.
It includes inspecting message headers to
read source and destination address,
calculate checksum to indentify errors etc.

3.65
 ■ What is the propagation time if the distance
between the two points is 12,000
km.Assume the propagation speed to be 2.4
X 108 m/s in cable.
■ Propagation time= Distance
Propagation speed

12000 X 1000
2.4 X 108

12000 X 1000
240000000 12
240

0.05 s

5 m/s

3.66
 4.Bandwidth-Delay Product
■ The bandwidth-delay product defines the number
of bits that can fill the link.
■ This is used to calculate how many bits can be sent
at a time before the acknowledgment is received so
that the channel does not remain idle.
■ E.g.: Let us consider a channel bandwidth of 1bps
and a delay for 5s. This means that when the
sender sends 1 bit, it reaches the receiver after 5
seconds. If the sender has to wait for an
acknowledgement before sending the next bit, the
channel will be idle for 4 seconds.

3.67
 Bandwidth-Delay Product

3.68
 5.Jitter
■ Jitter is defined as a variation in the delay of
received packets.
■ Jitter is a problem if different packets of data
encounter different delays and application using
the data at receiver site is time sensitive.

3.69
 Line Coding
■ Line Coding is the process of converting
digital data to digital signal.
■ Means Converting a string of 1’s and 0’s
(digital data) into a sequence of signals
that denote the 1’s and 0’s.
■ Line coding converts digital data into
digital signal at sender side and receiver
side the digital data are recreated by
decoding the digital signal

3.70
 Line coding and decoding

3.71
 Line coding Characteristics
1. Signal Element Vs Data Element
2. Data Rate Vs Signal Rate
3. Bandwidth
4. Baseband Wandering
5. DC Components
6. Self Synchronization
7. Built-In-Error-Detection
8. Immunity to Noise & Interference
9. Complexity
3.72
 1.Signal Element Vs Data Element :
■ A Data Element is smallest entity that can
represent a piece of information(this is the
bit) .
■ A Signal Element is the shortest unit
(time wise) of a digital signal.
■ Data elements are being carried while
signal elements are carriers.
■ Data Element = bit
■ Signal Element =Shortest time

3.73
 Signal element versus data element

3.74
 2.Data Rate Vs Signal Rate
■ The Data Rate defines the number
of bits sent per second(bps). (Bit
Rate)
■ The Signal Rate defines the
number of signal elements sent per
seconds(Baud Rate).

3.75
 3.Bandwidth : This represents the range
of frequencies supported by
communication channel.
The bandwidth is proportional to signal
rate.

3.76
 4. Baseband Wandering:
■ While decoding a receiver will evaluate the
average power of the received signal (called the
baseline).
■ The incoming signal power is compared with this
baseline to identify a 1 or a 0.
■ A long string of 0’s and 1’s can cause this
baseline to drift(baseline wandering) making it
difficult for the receiver to identify bit correctly.
■ A line encoding scheme should prevent baseline
wandering.

3.77
 5. DC Component:
■ The transmitted digital signal sometimes
creates very low frequencies around zero
called DC(Direct Current) Components.
■ Some systems can’t pass frequencies so it
can cause a problem.
■ E.g. A telephone line can’t pass frequencies
below 200 Hz . So that we need a line
coding scheme with no DC components.

3.78
 6. Self synchronization
■ For correct interpretation of signals
received from the sender , the receivers bit
intervals must match exactly to the senders
bit intervals.
■ A self synchronizing digital signal includes
timing information in the data being
transmitted.
■ The encoding scheme must include timing
information in the beginning, in the middle
or at the end of the pulse.
3.79
 7.Built-In-Error-Detection: It is desirable to have
a built –in error detecting capability in the
generated code to detect some of or all the errors
that occurred during transmission.
8.Immunity to Noise & Interference: Noise and
interference distort the signal. It will be
preferable to use an encoding scheme which is
immune(protection) to noise and interference.
9.Complexity: A complex scheme is more difficult
and costly to implement than a simple scheme.
E.g It is difficult to interpret 4 signal levels than
only 2 levels.

3.80
 Line Encoding Schemes

3.81
 1. Unipolar:
■ This is the simplest encoding scheme.
■ In this method only one polarity is
used.
i.e. all signal levels are on one side of
the time axis – above or below.

3.82
 NRZ (Non Return To Zero)
■ In this scheme the positive voltage defines bit 1 and
zero voltage defines bit 0.
■ It is called NRZ because the signal does not return to
zero at the middle of the bit.
■ E.g. Binary data 10110

3.83
 2. Polar:
■ Polar Encoding Scheme uses two voltage
levels, positive and negative on both sides
of the zero axis.
■ The types of polar encoding are:
1.NRZ- Non Return to Zero
2.RZ - Return to Zero
3.Manchester
4.Differential Manchester

3.84
 NRZ- Non Return to Zero
■ Here the signal level is always either
positive or negative but never zero.
■ It has two variations:
1.NRZ-L(NRZ Level):- In this 0 is a positive
voltage and 1 is negative voltage.
However for a long series of 1;’s and 0’s it
can lead to synchronization problems.
■ 0 : +ve voltage
■ 1: -ve Voltage
3.85
 Example : Binary Data 01001110

0 : +ve voltage 1: -ve Voltage

3.86
 ■ NRZ-I(NRZ Invert ):- In this method , fixed
voltage represent 0 or 1 but an inversion of an
existing voltage level represents a 1 and non-
inversion of level represents 0.
■ Example : Binary Data 01001110

3.87
 NRZ-L and NRZ-I

3.88
 2. RZ (Return To Zero):
■ It uses 3 levels : Positive negative and
zero.
■ It requires the signal to return to 0 in
the middle of its bit period i.e. for every
bit , there has to be a transition in the
middle .
■ Bit 1 : represents as Positive to 0
■ Bit 0 : represents as Negative to 0

3.89
 Example : Binary Data 01001

Bit 1 : Positive to 0 Bit 0 : Negative to 0

3.90
 3. Manchester :The idea of RZ
and NRZ-L are combined
together into Manchester scheme.
In this Method:
■A negative to positive transition
represents 1
■A Positive to negative represents
0
3.91
 Example : Binary Data 010011

3.92
 4.Differential Manchester
■ The idea of RZ and NRZ-I is combined .
■ A transition at the beginning of the next
means 0 and no transition means 1.

3.93
 Example : Binary Data 010011

3.94
 Bipolar Signaling
■ 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 AMIAMI. 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.
■ Even in this method, we have two types.
■ Bipolar NRZ
3.95
 Bipolar Line Coding
■ Bipolar consists of three voltage levels which are
positive negative and zero. While representing, the
voltage level for one bit of data is at zero, and the
other bit inverts of transits or alternates between
positive and negative voltage.
■ ALTERNATE MARK INVERSION(AMI): the
representation here follows a simple logic that is,
for representing logical 0 we use zero voltage, and
while representing logical 1 we use alternating
positive and negative voltages, which can be seen
in the image below.

3.96
3.97
 Pesudoternary: this is the opposite of AMI, as we
kept logical 0 at 0 volts or neutral in the above
section, here we will be keeping logical 1 as neutral
(i.e. at 0 volts) and we will keep alternating logical
zero, we can see that in the image below.

3.98
 Draw Graph for NRZ-L,NRZ-I, Manchester and
differential Manchester coding for the following
data: 1) 00000000

3.99