UNIT 3:

Telecommunications

T HAIDUWA
Learning outcome
•Understand the fundamentals/principles of telecommunications.
 Telecommunications
Telecommunication is derived from the word ―”tele”, meaning long distance.
Telecommunication is a process of communicating (transmitting) information
over a distance through various means: Optical, electrical signals,
electromagnetic (light, or radio) waves, etc.
The study of telecommunications encompasses a vast range of technologies
and concepts.
Basics of Telecommunications include transmission, modulation and
demodulation, multiplexing and demultiplexing, communication protocols,
switching techniques , signaling, security and encryption, etc.
Basic Principles of Telecommunication System
•Fundamental Blocks of Communication Systems.
•Shannon Theory
Elements of the communication system
& their functions
1. Source (Sender) : Originates the message (e.g., human voice, TV picture, teletype message
or data).
2. Input Transducer: Convert physical message into electrical signal called “baseband signal”.
3. Transmitter: Modifies the baseband signal for efficient transmission
4. Transmission Medium: Is Transmission Channel/Media (Guided or Unguided) such as wire,
coaxial cable, radio waves
5. Receiver : Reprocesses the signal from the channel
6. Output Transducer: converts the electrical signal to its original form – the message.
7. Destination: the unit/device to which the message is communicated.
 Signaling
Signaling is process of sending control information between devices or
systems to coordinate and manage communication.
 Signaling plays a crucial role in establishing, maintaining, and terminating
communication connections.
Signaling is carried out with the help of specific signals (messages that
indicate to the other end what is requested of it by this connection).
Signaling Techniques

Types of signaling techniques.

1. Baseband
2. Broadband
 Signals
Signals can be analog or digital.
Signals are a physical representation of data.
In electrical system, the physical variables might be a voltage,
current, amount of charge, etc.
A communication system has an information.
Users can exchange data/information through the transmission of
signals.
Analog and Digital Signals
Types of Telecommunication Signals:
1) Analog signals –a continuous signal that keeps changes with a time period
2) Digital signals - is signals that have a discrete (finite) domain and range.

Terms to describe signals are Continuous-time/ Continuous-Value Signal and

Discrete-time/ Discrete-Value Signal, referring to signals where the independent
variable denotes time and takes on either a continuous or discrete set of values,
respectively.
Signal Conversion
Sometimes a signal that starts out as an analog signal needs to be
digitized (i.e., converted to a digital signal). This is known as analog-
to-digital conversion.
There are also situations in which analog signals are more
appropriate hence, we need Digital-to-Analog conversion – A
process of changing one of the characteristics of an analog signal
based on the information in digital data.
Analog-to-Analog conversion – refers to representation of analog
information by an analog signal.
Analog to Analog Conversion
•Why we need to modulate an analog signal if it is
already analog?
1. Modulation is needed if the medium is band pass(narrow
bandwidth ) in nature. E.g. radio.
2. The analog signal produced by each station is a low-pass
signal, all in the same range.
Example: To be able to listen to different stations, the low-
pass signals need to be shifted, each to a different range.

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 Analog to Digital
Why is message signal converted from analog to digital message?
We need shift from analog modulation technique to digital modulation technique
because:
1. The effect of noise is more on analog systems as compared to digital signals.
2. Since the effect of noise is less for digital systems, it is suitable for long distance transmission.
3. Digital signals are easy to handle (store and process) with computers.
4. Redundant information can be easily removed from digital transmission.
5. Multiplexing techniques can be implemented in digital system easily.
6. In digital modulation, we make use of repeaters in the communication channel. The role of
repeater is to remove the noise from the incoming signal and regenerate a fresh noise less signal.

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 Why Digital?
1. Problem of attenuation
◦ Decrease in signal strength as a function of distance.
◦ Increase in attenuation as a function of frequency.
2. Rejuvenation of signal
◦ Amplifiers (analog) and
◦ Repeaters (digital).
• Analog: Amplification amplifies noise—filtering out just noise.
• Digital: Repeater just generates a new square waves.
3. Detection
◦ Detection of a digital signal is easier than an analog signal
4. Distance
◦ Digital signal can have greater range.
5. Noise
◦ Noise does not accumulate when you have digital devices like in analog systems
6. Delay distortion
◦ Different frequency components travel at different speeds.

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Digital-to-Analog Conversion
In Digital to Analog conversion , digital data needs to be carried on an analog
signal.
 A carrier signal (frequency fc) performs the function of transporting the digital
data in an analog waveform.
A modem (from modulator–demodulator) can perform both operations.

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Signal Representation
•Signals are represented in many forms.
•Different representations of signals include:
1. Amplitude Domain
2. Frequency Spectrum
3. Phase State Diagram
 Frequency of Signals
Digital signals:
• An infinite frequencies for perfect transmission .
• Modulation with a carrier frequency for transmission of (analog signal).
Frequency is measured in cycles per second, called Hertz.
Electromagnetic radiation can be used in ranges of increasingly higher frequency.
Electromagnetic spectrum frequencies:
◦ Radio (< GHz)
◦ Microwave (1 GHz – 100 GHz)
◦ Infrared (100 GHz - 300 THz)
◦ Light (380-770 THz)

Higher frequencies can carry more bits/second.

Digital vs Analog Data Transmission
•Data Transmission - Movement of data from one place to another
•Two Forms of Data Transmission:
1. Digital data transmission: data transmission using square waves.
2. Analog data transmission: data transmission using all other waves.

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 Analogy vs Digital Data
Communications
 Analog Communication
◦ Analog information changes continuously and can take on many different values.
Example:
◦ clock’s hands move constantly.
◦ Music itself exists in an analog form, as waves in the air, but these sounds are then translated into a
digital form that is encoded onto the disk.
Digital Communication
◦ Digital information is characterized by discrete states.
Example:
◦ Light bulb can be on or off. The message to be transmitted is in the form of digits 0 and 1 with
constant amplitude, constant frequency and constant phase.
◦ Computers are digital because they consist of discrete units called bits that are either on or off(1s, 0s).

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Attenuation
• Attenuation is a loss of energy or decrease in signals.
• When a signal travels through a medium, it loses some of its
energy in overcoming the resistance of the medium.
• Decrease in signal strength as a function of distance.
• Increase in attenuation as a function of frequency.

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 Cont’d …

Decibel
• To show that a signal has lost or gained strength, engineers use the unit of the decibel.
• The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths of two signals or one signal at two
different points.

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 Amplifiers vs Repeaters
A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it
at a higher level or higher power. A repeater does not amplify the signal it
only regenerates the signal.
An amplifier is a device for increasing the power of a signal by increasing
the amplitude of electrical signals.
• Analog: Amplification also amplifies noise - filtering out
just noise.
• Digital: Repeater just generates a new square wave.

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Digital Units
•Bytes, Bits, Symbols, Bauds and Bandwidth are concepts
related to data communication and networking.
•They are the fundamental building block of digital data
transmission.
Bits
•The Bit is an abbreviation of binary digit.
•A bit is the smallest unit of digital information and can have one of two
values, typically represented as 0 or 1. (1 bit =1/0),
•Bits are used to represent digital data, from characters, numbers,
text ,images, audio and video.
•On its own, a bit can't convey very much information.
•Several bits grouped together can represent numbers, alphanumeric
values, punctuation characters, etc. e.g., 30 Mb
•Bit rate is the total number of bits transmitted per second.
Bytes

•A byte is a fundamental unit of digital information storage

and transmission
•Byte typically consisting of 8-bit.
•Byte multiples are usually defined in terms of binary
powers.
• In a byte, each bit can have one of two values: 0 or 1.
•Prefixes: kilo, mega and giga are used.
•Example: kilobyte=210 or 1,024 bytes
•Each Number and character(ASCII and UTF-8) is often
represented by 8 bits which = one byte.
Baud
•Baud refers to the measure of the rate of signal/symbols
per second in a communication channel.
•Baud is a rate at which bits are transmitted in a
communication channel.
•It's sometimes referred to as "baud rate" .
•Baud rate - the number of signal/symbols/bits transmitted
per second.
Symbol
•A symbol is a signalling element.
•Symbol is used to represent data.
•Symbols are typically graphical representations that
convey information quickly and efficiently.
•Example: Telephone, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB , Power and
On/Off Symbols
Bandwidth
•Bandwidth refers to the capacity (or the data-carrying capacity) of a
communication channel.
•Bandwidth is measured in bits per second (bps), kilobits per second
(Kbps), megabits per second (Mbps), or gigabits per second (Gbps),
depending on the speed of the channel.
• Bandwidth is used to describe how much data can be transmitted
over a network connection in a given amount of time.
•For example, an internet connection with a bandwidth of 100 Mbps
can transmit 100 megabits of data per second.
Bandwidth vs Throughput
•Bandwidth refers to the maximum data transfer rate of a network or
communication channel.
•Throughput refers to the actual data transfer rate achieved in a
network or communication channel.
•All are typically measured in bits per second (bps), kilobits per
second (Kbps), megabits per second (Mbps), gigabits per second
(Gbps), or even terabits per second (Tbps).
•For example, an internet connection with a bandwidth of 100 Mbps, if the
network is congested, your actual download throughput may be much lower, i.e.,
50 Mbps, due to the impact of congestion and other factors.
Latency
•Latency - Time delay between the moment something is
initiated and the moment its effect begins.
 Data rates
•Internet Connection Bitrates
Connection Type IEEE Standard Bitrate Description
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3i 10 Mbps Standard Ethernet over twisted pair cable used in local area networks

Fast Ethernet IEEE 802.3u 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet over twisted pair cable common in LAN.

Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3ab 1 Gbps Gigabit Ethernet over twisted pair cable used in large computer networks to connect servers,
routers and switches.
WiFi (also called WiFi 4; .4 GHz and 5 IEEE 802.11n 600 Mbps Wireless network connections are frequently used in LAN and home networks. It work over
GHz ranges) distances of up to 30 metres, although data rates tend to fall off with distance.
Dial-up ITU-T 56 kbps Dial-up Internet connection over analogue telephone lines. used in rural areas where
broadband is not available.
ISDN ISDN BRI 128 kbps Integrated Services Digital Networks Basic Rate Interface. Provides a 64-bit digital voice channel
and a 64-bit Internet connection. ISDN used to be widely deployed in Germany, France and
United Kingdom to provide digital telephony, fax services, and Internet access over analogue
telephone lines. ISDN is replaced in these areas by Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology.
Cable broadband Data Over 20-100 Mbps Cable Internet access. E.g., cable modem
Cable Service
Interface
Specification
Baseband bandwidth, Passband
bandwidth and Broadband bandwidth
The bandwidth of a signal generally falls into one of two categories:
oBaseband: refers to the range of frequencies that encompass the
original signal or data in its unmodulated form(without any modulation
or conversion). Baseband - Single data signal sent at a time over the full
bandwidth of the cable.
oPassband: refers to the range of frequencies that are allowed to pass
through a filter or communication channel.
oBroadband: refers to high-speed internet access that is faster and more
efficient. Several data signals sent simultaneously each at a different
frequency. Used in devices such as Broadband Modems and Routers