Noiseless Channels and Nyquist

Theorem
For a noiseless channel, Nyquist theorem gives the relationship
between the channel bandwidth and maximum data rate that can
be transmitted over this channel.
Nyquist Theorem

C  2 B log 2 m

C: channel capacity (bps)

B: RF bandwidth
m: number of finite states in a symbol of transmitted signal

Example: A noiseless channel with 3kHz bandwidth can only transmit

a maximum of 6Kbps if the symbols are binary symbols.

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 Shannon’s Bound for noisy channels

There is a fundamental upper bound on achievable bandwidth efficiency.

Shannon’s theorem gives the relationship between the channel

bandwidth and the maximum data rate that can be transmitted over
a noisy channel .
Shannon’s Theorem

C S
 B max   log 2 (1  )
B N
C: channel capacity (maximum data-rate) (bps)
B or W : RF bandwidth
S/N: signal-to-noise ratio (no unit)
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Shannon limit …
 Shannon theorem puts a limit on transmission
data rate, not on error probability:

 Theoretically possible to transmit information at

any rate Rb , where Rb  C with an arbitrary small
error probability by using a sufficiently complicated
coding scheme.

 For an information rate Rb > C , it is not possible to

find a code that can achieve an arbitrary small error
probability.

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Shannon limit …
Unattainable
region
C/B [bits/s/Hz]

Practical region

SNR [dB] 4
 Shannon limit …
 S
C  B log 2 1  
 N C  Eb C 
 log 2 1  
S  EbC B
  N0 B 
N  N0 B
C
As B   or  0, we get :
B
Shannon limit
Eb 1
  0.693  1.6 [dB]
N0 log 2 e

 There exists a limiting value of Eb / N 0 below which there can be no

error-free communication at any information rate.

 By increasing the bandwidth alone, the capacity cannot be increased

to any desired value.
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 Shannon limit …

B/C [Hz/bits/s] Practical region

Unattainable
region

-1.6 [dB] Eb / N 0 [dB] 6

 R>C

Bandwidth efficiency plane

Unattainable region

M=64
M=256

R=C
M=16
M=8
R/B [bits/s/Hz]

M=4
Bandwidth limited
M=2

M=4 M=2 R<C

M=8 Practical region

M=16

Shannon limit MPSK

MQAM PB  10 5
Power limited MFSK

Eb / N 0 [dB]
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 Power and bandwidth limited systems

 Two major communication resources:

 Transmit power and channel bandwidth

 In many communication systems, one of these resources is more

precious than the other. Hence, systems can be classified as:

 Power-limited systems:
 save power at the expense of bandwidth

(for example by using coding schemes)

 Bandwidth-limited systems:
 save bandwidth at the expense of power

(for example by using spectrally efficient modulation schemes)

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Goals in designing a System
 Goals:
 Maximizing the transmission bit rate
 Minimizing probability of bit error
 Minimizing the required power
 Minimizing required system bandwidth
 Maximizing system utilization
 Minimize system complexity

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Limitations in designing a
system

 The Nyquist theoretical minimum bandwidth

requirement
 The Shannon-Hartley capacity theorem (and the
Shannon limit)
 Government regulations
 Technological limitations
 Other system requirements (e.g satellite orbits)

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