Ms.

Bushra
Computer 💻 Networks 🌐
 Chapter # 03
Data and Signals
 Topics
i. Analog And Digital
ii. Periodic Analog Signal
iii. Digital Signal
iv. Transmission Impairment
v. Performance
Mr. M Faizan
1. Analog and Digital Data
2. Analog Signals
3. Digital Signals
4. Diff b/w Analog and Digital Signals
5. Periodic and Non-Periodic Signal
 Digital and Analog
Both data and the signals that represent them can be either analog or digital in form.

Analog and Digital Data

Data can be analog or digital. The term analog data refers to information that is continuous;
digital data refers to information that has discrete states. For example, an analog
clock that has hour, minute, and second hands gives information in a continuous form;
the movements of the hands are continuous. On the other hand, a digital clock that
reports the hours and the minutes will change suddenly from 8:05 to 8:06.
Analog data, such as the sounds made by a human voice, take on continuous values.
When someone speaks, an analog wave is created in the air. This can be captured by a
microphone and converted to an analog signal or sampled and converted to a digital
signal.
Digital data take on discrete values. For example, data are stored in computer
memory in the form of 0s and 1s. They can be converted to a digital signal or modulated
into an analog signal for transmission across a medium.
 Analog Signals
An Analog signal or Analogue signal is any continuous signal representing some other
quantity, i.e., analogous to another quantity.

For Example : In an analog audio signal, The instantaneous signal voltage varies
continuously with the pressure of the sound waves.

Diagram :
 Digital Signals
A digital signal is a signal that represents data as a sequence of discrete values; at any given
time it can only take on, at most, one of a finite number of values.

Diagram :
 Difference b/w
Analog and Digital
Signals
What are the 3 main Differences between Analog and Digital Signals?
• Analog Signals are Continuous in nature, whereas Digital Signals are Discrete.
• Analog Signal wave type is Sinusoidal, whereas a Digital Signal is a Square wave.
• Analog Signal medium of transmission is Wire or Wireless, whereas a Digital signal is a wire.
 Periodic and Non-Periodic
Signals

Periodic Signal :
A signal is said to be periodic signal if it has a definite pattern and
repeats itself at a regular interval of time.
Non-Periodic Signal :
Whereas, the signal which does not at the regular interval of
time is known as an aperiodic signal or non-periodic signal
Mr. Hassam Aziz
1. Periodic Analog Signal
2. Sine Wave
3. Peak Amplitude
4. Frequency and Period
5. Phase
6. Wavelength
7. Composite Signals
8. Bandwidth
 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or composite. A simple periodic

analog signal, a sine wave, cannot be decomposed into simpler signals. A composite
periodic analog signal is composed of multiple sine waves.
 Sine Wave
The sine wave is the most fundamental form of a periodic analog signal.
A sine wave:

A sine wave can be represented by three parameters:

• The Peak Amplitude
• The Frequency
• The Phase
These three parameters fully describe a sine wave.
 Peak Amplitude
The peak amplitude of a signal is the absolute value of its highest intensity, proportional to the
energy it carries. For electric signals, peak amplitude is normally measured in volts.
 Period and Frequency
Period refers to the amount of time, in seconds, a signal needs to complete 1 cycle.
Frequency refers to the number of periods in I s. Note that period and frequency are just
one characteristic defined in two ways. Period is the inverse of frequency, and frequency
is the inverse of period, as the following formulas show.

NOTE : "Frequency and period are the inverse of each other.“

Theory about Frequency :
• Frequency is the rate of change with respect to time. Change
in a short span of time means high frequency. Change over a
long span oftime means low frequency.
• If the value of a signal changes over a very short span of
time, its frequency is high.
• If it changes over a long span of time, its frequency is low.
• If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is zero.
• If a signal changes instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.
 UNITS
Period is formally expressed in seconds. Frequency is formally expressed in Hertz (Hz), which is
cycle per second.
 Phase
The term phase describes the position of the waveform relative to time O. If we think of the wave as
something that can be shifted backward or forward along the time axis, phase describes the amount of
that shift. It indicates the status of the first cycle.

"Phase describes the position ofthe waveform relative to time O."

Looking at the figure, we can say that:

1 . A sine wave with a phase of 0°

starts at time 0 with a zero amplitude.
The amplitude is increasing.

2. A sine wave with a phase of 90°

starts at time 0 with a peak amplitude.
The amplitude is decreasing.

3. A sine wave with a phase of 180°

starts at time 0 with a zero amplitude.
The amplitude is decreasing.
 Wavelength
Wavelength is another characteristic of a signal traveling through a transmission medium. Wavelength binds the
period or the frequency of a simple sine wave to them propagations. The wavelength is the distance a simple
signal can travel in one period.
Wavelength can be calculated if one is given the propagation speed (the speed of light) and the period of the
signal. However, since period and frequency are related to each other, if we represent wavelength by propagation
speed by c (speed of light), and frequency by1, we get :
 Composite Signals
A single frequency sine wave is not useful in data communications; we need to send a composite signal, a signal
made of many simple sine waves.
Composite signal is a combination of simple sine waves with different frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.
A composite signal can be periodic or nonperiodic. A periodic composite signal can be decomposed into a series
of simple sine waves with discrete frequencies that have integer values (1, 2, 3, and so on). A nonperiodic
composite signal can be decomposed into a combination of an infinite number of simple sine waves with
continuous frequencies, frequencies that have real values.
 Bandwidth
The range of frequencies contained in a composite signal is its bandwidth. The bandwidth is
normally a difference between two numbers. For example, if a composite signal contains
frequencies between 1000 and 5000, its bandwidth is 5000 - 1000, or 4000.

Note : The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the highest and the lowest
frequencies contained in that signal. " B = fh - fl "
Mr. Sumair Qaisar
1. Digital Signals
2. Bit Rate
3. Transmission of Digital Signal
4. Baseband Transmission
5. Broadband Transmission
 DIGITAL SIGNALS
A digital signal is a sequence of voltage represented in binary form. Actually digital signals are
in the form of ON and OFF electrical pulses is called digital signals.

Diagram # 1 Diagram # 2
 Bit Rate
Number of Bits sent in 1 second is known as Bit Rate.
It is also known as Bit Per Second (bps).

Transmission of Digital Signals

Digital Transmission is a type of signal transmission in which the signals vary
discretely with time between two values: one representing the binary number 0
and the other representing 1. The variable quantity in copper cabling is generally the
voltage or electrical potential.
There are 2 methods of Transmission of Digital Signals
that are following:
• Baseband Transmission
• Broadband Transmission
 Baseband Transmission

Baseband transmission is transmission of the encoded signal using its own

baseband frequencies i.e. without any shift to higher frequency ranges. It is used
for short distances.
 Broadband Transmission

Broadband refers to various high-capacity transmission technologies that transmit

data, voice, and video across long distances and at high speeds. Common
mediums of transmission include coaxial cables, fiber optic cables, and radio waves.
Broadband is always connected and removes the need for dial-up.

Coaxial Cable Fiber Optics Radio Waves

Mr. Taha Aamir
1. Transmission Impairment
2. Attenuation
3. Distortion
4. Noise
 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 what is received.
Three causes of impairment are: • Attenuation
• Distortion
• Noise.

Impairment Causes

Attenuation Distortion Noise

 Attenuation
Attenuation means a loss of energy. When a signal, simple or composite, travels through a
medium, it loses some of its energy in overcoming the resistance of the medium. That is why wire
carrying electric signals gets warm, if not hot, after a while. Some of the electrical energy in the
signal is converted to heat. To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify the signal.

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. Note that the
decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if a signal is amplified.
 Distortion
Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape. Distortion can occur in a composite
signal made of different frequencies. Each signal component has its own propagation speed
through a medium and, therefore, its own delay in arriving at the final destination. Differences
in delay may create a difference in phase if the delay is not exactly the same as the period
duration. In other words, signal components at the receiver have phases different from what
they had at the sender. The shape of the composite signal is therefore not the same.
 Noise
Noise is another cause of impairment that may corrupt the signal.
Several types of noise are: • Thermal noise
• Induced noise
• Crosstalk
• Impulse noise
• Thermal Noise is the random motion of electrons in a wire which creates an extra signal
not originally sent by the transmitter.
• Induced Noise comes from sources such as motors and appliances. These devices act as
a sending antenna and the transmission medium acts as the receiving antenna.
• Crosstalk is the effect of one wire on the other. One wire acts as a sending antenna and
the other as the receiving antenna.
• Impulse Noise is a spike (a signal with high energy in a very short time) that comes
from power lines, lightning and so on.
Diagram of Noise
Mr. Samiullah
1. Bandwidth
2. Throughput
3. Latency
4. Jitter
 Performance
We can check the Performance or Measurement of Data Transfer
by these 4 methods that are following :
• Bandwidth
• Throughput
• Latency
• Jitter
 Bandwidth
This is about the volume of data that can be transferred over a network. The standard
measurement for data transfer speed is megabits per second (Mbps).

106 1mbps 109 1gbps

 Throughput
While bandwidth tells you how much data
could theoretically be transferred across the
network, throughput indicates how much data
was actually transferred from a source at any
given time.
 Latency
This measures the time it takes for data to get to
its destination across the network. It is commonly
measured as a round trip delay.
Latency is usually measured in milliseconds (ms).
Another performance issue that is related to delay is Jitter.
Jitter
We can roughly say that jitter is a problem if different packets of data encounter different
delays and the application using the data at the receiver site is time-sensitive (audio and video
data).
For Example :
If the delay for the first packet is 20 ms, for the second is 45 ms, and for the third
is 40 ms, then the real-time application that uses the packets endures jitter.
Thank You