COMMUNICATION

CHANNEL
A communication channel is a medium or
pathway through which information is
transmitted from one party to another.
Communication channels can take various
forms and can be classified into different
categories based on their characteristics.
The choice of communication channel depends on
various factors, including the nature of the
message, the audience, the desired level of
interactivity, and the available technology.
Effective communication often involves selecting
the most appropriate channel for the specific
context and goals.
DISCRETE MEMORYLESS CHANNEL

Discrete memory less channel, the counterpart of a discrete

memoryless source is a statistical model with an input X and
an output Y that is a noisy version of X; both X and Y are
random variables. Every unit of time, the channel accepts an
input symbol X selected from an alphabet x and, in response,
it emits an output symbol Y from an alphabet y . The channel
is said to be "discrete" when both of the alphabets x and y
have finite sizes. It is said to be "memoryless" when the
current output symbol depends only on the current input
symbol and not any of the previous ones.
If alphabet and are finite than the channel is discrete channel.
The channel is represented by the conditional probability , where is the
conditional probability of obtaining an output when the input is known and
it it called channel transition probability. So, a channel is completely
characterized by channel transition probability in the form of channel matrix.

where, is called a channel matrix or channel transition matrix.

4. Binary Symmetric Channel (BSC):

A BSC has two inputs and two outputs , here . The channel matrix is

where, p is the transition probability.

Signal flow graph or channel diagram –

p
𝒙𝟏 𝒚𝟏
1-p

1-p
p
𝒙𝟐 𝒚𝟐
5. Binary Erasure Channel (BEC):

The channel matrix of BEC is

Signal flow graph or channel diagram –

p
0 0
q
0
𝒚

q 0
1 1
p
BEC is one of the important types of channel used in digital communication.
Whenever an error occurs the symbol will be received as y and no decision will be
made about the information, but an immediate request will be made for
retransmission, rejecting what has been received. Thus, ensuring 100% correct
data recovery. This channel is also a type of symmetric channel.

,
The joint probability matrix can be found by multiplying the rows of by and respectively.

can be found by dividing the column of joint probability matrix and respectively.
6. Cascaded Channel:
Signal flow graph or Channel diagram –

𝒚𝟏 p
𝒙𝟏 p 𝒛𝟏

q
q
X Y
q
q 𝒛𝟐
𝒙𝟐
p 𝒚𝟐 p

Channel diagram of Cascaded Channel is a merger of two BSC diagrams.

The equivalent circuit is
The message from reaches in two ways and . Both probabilities are and .
Now,

Similarly, the message from to will reach in two ways and . Therefore,
Thus, the cascaded channel is equivalent to a single binary symmetric channel with
error probability equal to .
Now, capacity of BSC

So, capacity of cascaded channel

For is always greater than q. Hence, the channel capacity of two cascaded binary
symmetric channel is less than the single binary symmetric channel as expected.
LOSSLESS CHANNEL

Output uniquely specifies the input.

• H(X/Y) = 0 Noise less channel

• Matrix has one and only one non-zero element in each

column . Channel with error probability 0 as well as 1
are noiseless channels.
Deterministic channel

• Input uniquely specifies the output.

• H(Y/X) = 0
• Matrix has one and only one non-zero
element in each row.
• Also Sum in row should be 1.
• Elements are either 0 or 1.