ECE301

Digital Communication
 Unit - I

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 Digital Communication
• Communication is a Process of transmitting information from the source end to Destination
end
• A communications system may be digital either by the nature of the information (also known
as data) which is passed or in the nature of the signals which are transmitted
• If either of these is digital then for our purposes it is considered to be a digital
communications system
• There are four possible combinations of data and signal types:
 Analog data, analog signal; (Analog Systems)
 Digital data, analog signal; (ASK, FSK, PSK)
 Analog data, digital signal; (Compact Disk)
 Digital data, digital signal. (Line Coding)
 Digital Communication
• Signal – a detectable physical quantity or impulse (as a voltage, current, or magnetic field strength) by which messages or
information can be transmitted (Webster Dictionary)

• Sensors: are devices that convert other physical quantities (temperature, pressure, etc.) to electrical signals.

• Signal Characteristics:
– Signals are Physical Quantities:
– Signals are Measurable
– Signals are Analog
– Signals Contain Information.

• Examples:
– Temperature [oC]
– Pressure [Newtons/m2] or [Pa]
– Mass [kg]
– Speed [m/s]
– Acceleration [m/s2]
– Torque [Newton*m]
– Voltage [Volts]
– Current [Amps]
– Power [Watts]
 Digital Communication
• Transmitter converts the electrical signal in to a form that is suitable for transmission
• Transducer is used to convert input physical message in to electrical signal
• Operations of transmitter
– amplification
– Filtering
– Modulation
• Channel is the physical medium that is used to send the signal from transmitter to receiver
• Receiver serves the reverse operation to transmitter.
• Operations of Receiver
– Amplification
– Demodulation
Digital Communication
 Why Digital Communication?
• There are many reasons
– The primary advantage with digital signals as compared to analog
signal, are regenerative.
• The shape of the waveform is affected by two mechanisms:
– As all the transmission lines and circuits have some non-ideal
transfer function, there is a distorting effect on the ideal pulse.
– Unwanted electrical noise or other interference further distorts the
pulse waveform.
• Both of these mechanisms cause the pulse shape to degrade as a
function of distance
Why Digital Communication?
 Goals in Communication System Design
• To maximize transmission rate, R
• To maximize system utilization capacity, U
• To minimize bit error rate, Pe
• To minimize required systems bandwidth, W
• To minimize system complexity, Cx
• To minimize required power, Eb/No
Elements of Digital Communication Systems
Digital Communication Systems
 Digital Communication Systems
Analog to Signal Conversion
• Sampling
– Sample values of analog signals at uniform spaced discrete instants of time are retained

• Quantization
– Each sample value is approximated by the nearest level in a finite set of discrete levels

• Encoding
– The selected level is represented by a codeword that consist of a prescribed number of code
elements
Digital Communication Systems
 Digital Communication Systems
• Extraction of Information
– Amplitude • Generate Feedback Control Signal
– Phase
– Robotics
– Frequency Why Processing
– Vehicle Manufacturing
– Spectral Content Signals?
• Transform the Signal – Process Control
– FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) • Extraction of Signal in Noise
– TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)
– Filtering
– CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
• Compress Data – Autocorrelation
– ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code – Convolution
Modulation)
• Store Signals in Digital Format for Analysis
– CELP (Code Excited Linear Prediction)
– MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group)
– FFT
– HDTV (High Definition TV) – …
 Digital Communication Systems

 Objective of source encoder is to eliminate or reduce redundancy

 Source encoder does one to one mapping
 Main benefit is to reduce bandwidth requirement
 Here, every binary ‘0’ or ‘1’ is called bit, means binary digit
 Group of bits is called codeword

 Source encoder assigns codeword to symbols

 The number of symbol representation increases as the number of bits increases
 Digital Communication Systems

 Objective of channel encoder is to provide reliable communication over a noisy

channel and interference
 It is done by introducing (adding) redundancy in a prescribed fashion, defined logic
 Eg: We need to add a bit sequence to the output of source encoder in such a way that the
encoded word remain even (known as even parity)
 At receiver if odd number of 1’s are detected then the receiver come to know there is an
error in the received signal
 Digital Communication Systems
FORMATTING

Differential Pulse Code Modulation

(DPCM)
Delta modulation
Adaptive delta modulation

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Digital Communication Systems
Digital Communication Systems
Digital Communication Systems
Detailed Elements of Digital
Communication Systems
Basic Digital Communication
Transformation
 WAVEFORM REPRESENTATION OF
BINARY DIGITS

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 Digital Telephone Communication System

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 Limitations of Analog Signal Processing
• Accuracy limitations due to
– Component tolerances
– Undesired nonlinearities

• Limited repeatability due to

– Tolerances
– Changes in environmental conditions
✔ Temperature
✔ Vibration

• Sensitivity to electrical noise

• Limited dynamic range for voltage and currents

• Inflexibility to changes

• Difficulty of implementing certain operations

– Nonlinear operations
– Time-varying operations

• Difficulty of storing information

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 Advantages of digital communication

 Digital data can be edited.

 Digital data can be compressed.
 Digital data can be encrypted.
 Digital signals can be reproduced
 Digital signals can convey information with less noise, distortion, and
interference.
 The probability of error occurrence are often reduced by employing error
detection and correction codes.
 Digital communication systems are more accurate
 Digital signals can be easily stored 
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 Digital Communication is Everywhere
• Sound Devices
– Compression, special effects, synthesis, recognition, echo cancellation,…
– Cell Phones, MP3 Players, Movies, Dictation, Text-to-speech,…
• Wireless Communication
– Modulation, coding, detection, equalization, echo cancellation,…
– V2X, 5G/6G, LEO Satellite,…
• Automotive
– ABS, GPS, Active Noise Cancellation, Cruise Control, Parking,…
• Medical
– Magnetic Resonance, Tomography, Electrocardiogram,…
• Military
– Radar, Sonar, Space photographs, remote sensing,…
• Image and Video Applications
– DVD, JPEG, Movie special effects, video conferencing,…
 Digital Communication Systems
b) Amplitude Quantized Signal c) Amplitude & Time
a) Continuous Signal
Quantized – Digital Signal
fs

x(t) Analog Sample

Low-pass and
xa(nT)
Filter Hold

Quantizer
x[n] DSP

y[n] Digital to ya(nT)

Analog
DSP Analog Low-pass
y(t)

Converter Filter
a) Digital Output Signal b) Analog Signal c) Continuous Low-pass filtered Signal
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