6.

02Fall2012
Lecture#8

6.02 Fall 2012

Noise:badthingshappentogoodsignals!
Signaltonoiseratioanddecibel(dB)scale
PDFs,means,variances,Gaussiannoise
Biterrorrateforbipolarsignaling
Lecture 8, Slide #1

SingleLinkCommunicationModel
Originalsource
Original
source

Digitize
iti
(ifneeded)
(ifneeded)

Endhost
computers

Receivingapp/user
Receivingapp/user
ga

Render/display,
etc.
etc

Sourcebinarydigits
S
ourcebinarydigits
(messagebits)
(messagebits)

Sourcecoding
Source
coding
Bitstream
B
itstream
t
m

Sourcedecoding
Source
de
decoding
Bitstream
B
itstream

Channel
Channel
Mapper
Recv
Decoding
Bits
Coding Bits
+
samples
Signals
((reducingor
(biterror
Xmit (Vo
+
(Voltages)
ltages)
removing
over
correction)
samples
Demapper
biterrors)
physicallink
6.02 Fall 2012

Le t
Le
Lecture
8, Slide #2

FromBasebandtoModulatedSignal,and
Back
codeword
bitsin
1001110101

generate
digitized
symbols

x[n]
modulate

DAC

NOISY & DISTORTING ANALOG CHANNEL

ADC
,PDJHE\0,72SHQ&RXUVH:DUH

6.02 Fall 2012

demodulate
&filter

y[n]

sample&
threshold

1001110101
codeword
bitsout

Lecture 8, Slide #3

MappingBitstoSamplesatTransmitter
codeword
bitsin
1001110101

6.02 Fall 2012

generate
digitized
symbols

x[n]
16samplesperbit

1001110101

Lecture 8, Slide #4

SamplesafterProcessingatReceiver

codeword
bitsin

1001110101

generate
digitized
symbols

DAC

modulate

x[n]

NOISY & DISTORTING ANALOG CHANNEL

y[n]
ADC

demodulate

filter

Assumingnonoise,
onlyendtoend distortion

y[n]

6.02
.02 Fall 2012

Lectur
Lecture
ure 8, Slide #5
ur

MappingSamplestoBitsatReceiver
codeword
bitsin

generate
digitized
symbols

1001110101

DAC

modulate

n=sampleindex
j=bitindex

x[n]

NOISY & DISTORTING ANALOG CHANNEL

y[n]
ADC

demodulate
&filter

b[j]
sample&
threshold

b[j]

1001110101

codeword
bitsout

16samplesperbit

1001110101
Threshold

6.02
.02 Fall 2012

Lect
Le
Lecture
ctur
ct
urre 8,
u
8 Slide
Sliide #6

Fornow,assumenodistortion,only
AdditiveZeroMeanNoise
Receivedsignal
y[n]=x[n]+w[n]
i.e.,receivedsamplesy[n]are
thetransmittedsamplesx[n]+
zeromeannoisew[n]oneachsample,assumediid
(independentandidenticallydistributedateachn)

SignaltoNoiseRatio(SNR)
usuallydenotestheratioof
(timeaveragedorpeak)signalpower,i.e.,squaredamplitude
ofx[n]
to
noisevariance,i.e.,expectedsquaredamplitudeofw[n]

6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #7

SNRExample

Changingtheamplificationfactor
(gain)AleadstodifferentSNRvalues:
LowerAlowerSNR
Signalqualitydegradeswith
lowerSNR
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #8

SignaltoNoiseRatio(SNR)
TheSignaltoNoiseratio(SNR)isuseful
injudgingtheimpactofnoiseonsystem
performance:

PPsignal
SNR =
PPnoise

SNRforpowerisoftenmeasuredin
decibels(dB):

PPsignal
SNR(db) = 10 log10

P
Pnoise

Caution:Formeasuringratiosof
amplitudesratherthanpowers,take
20log10(ratio).

6.02 Fall 2012

3.01dbisafactorof2
inpowerratio

10logX

100

10000000000

90

1000000000

80

100000000

70

10000000

60

1000000

50

100000

40

10000

30

1000

20

100

10

10

10

0.1

20

0.01

30

0.001

40

0.0001

50

0.000001

60

0.0000001

70

0.00000001

80

0.000000001

90

0.0000000001

100

0.00000000001
Lecture 8, Slide #9

NoiseCharacterization:
FromHistogramtoPDF

Experiment:createhistogramsof
samplevaluesfromindependent
trialsofincreasinglengths.
Histogramtypicallyconvergestoa
shapethatisknownafter
normalizationtounitareaasa
probabilitydensityfunction(PDF)
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #10

UsingthePDFinProbabilityCalculations
WesaythatXisarandomvariablegovernedbythePDF
fX(x)ifXtakesonanumericalvalueintherangeofx1tox2
withaprobabilitycalculatedfromthePDFofX as:

p(x1 < X < x2 ) =

x2
x1

f X (x)dx

APDFisnotaprobabilityitsassociatedintegralsare.
Notethatprobabilityvaluesarealwaysintherangeof0to1.
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #11

TheUbiquityofGaussianNoise
Thenetnoiseobservedatthereceiverisoftenthesumofmany
small,independentrandomcontributionsfrommanyfactors.
Iftheseindependentrandomvariableshavefinitemeanand
variance,theCentralLimitTheoremsaystheirsumwillbea
Gaussian.
Thefigurebelowshowsthehistogramsoftheresultsof10,000
trialsofsumming100randomsamplesdrawnfrom[1,1]
usingtwodifferentdistributions.

1
6.02 Fall 2012

Triangular
PDF

Uniform
PDF

0.5
1

Lecture 8, Slide #12

MeanandVarianceofaRandomVariableX

x
ThemeanorexpectedvalueJXisdefinedandcomputedas:

X =

x f X (x)dx

ThevarianceX2istheexpectedsquaredvariationordeviation
oftherandomvariablearoundthemean,andisthuscomputed
as:
2
X

(x X ) f X (x)dx
2

Thesquarerootofthevarianceisthestandarddeviation,X
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #13

VisualizingMeanandVariance

Changesinmeanshiftthe
centerofmassofPDF
6.02 Fall 2012

Changesinvariancenarrow
orbroadenthePDF(but
areaisalwaysequalto1)

Lecture 8, Slide #14

TheGaussianDistribution
AGaussianrandom
variableWwith
meanJand
variance2hasaPDF
describedby

fW (w) =

6.02 Fall 2012

e
2

( w
)

2 2

Lecture 8, Slide #15

NoiseModelforiidProcessw[n]
Assumeeachw[n]isdistributedastheGaussian
randomvariableWontheprecedingslide,butwith
mean0,andindependentlyofw[.]atallother
times.

6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #16

Estimatingnoiseparameters
Transmitasequenceof0bits,i.e.,holdthe
voltageV0atthetransmitter
Observereceivedsamplesy[n],n=0,1,...,K1
Processthesesamplestoobtainthestatisticsofthenoise
processforadditivenoise,undertheassumptionofiid
(independent,identicallydistributed)noisesamples(or,
moregenerally,anergodicprocessbeyondourscope!).

Noisesamplesw[n]=y[n]V0
ForlargeK,canusethesamplemeanmto
estimate1,andsamplestandarddeviationsto
estimate:

6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #17

Backtodistinguishing1from0:
Assumebipolarsignaling:
TransmitLsamplesx[.]at+Vp(=V1)tosignala1
TransmitLsamplesx[.]atVp(=V0)tosignala0

Simplemindedreceiver:takeasinglesamplevalue
y[nj]atanappropriatelychoseninstantnjinthe
jthbitinterval.Decidebetweenthefollowingtwo
hypotheses:
y[nj]=+Vp+w[nj] (==>1)
or
y[nj]=Vp+w[nj] (==>0)
wherew[nj]isGaussian,zeromean,variance2
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #18

ConnectingtheSNRandBER
V p = ES
2 2 = N 0

P(1)=0.5
1=Vp

=
noise

P(0)=0.5
1=Vp

=
noise
Vp

+Vp

Vp
ES
1
1
BER = P(error ) = erfc(
)
) = erfc(
N0
2
2
2
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #19

BitErrorRateforBipolarSignalingSchemewith
SingleSampleDecision

0.5erfc(sqrt(Es/N0))
Es/N0dB
6.02 Fall 2012

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&RXUWHV\RI.ULVKQD6DQNDU0DGKDYDQ3LOODL8VHGZLWKSHUPLVVLRQ

Lecture 8, Slide #20

Butwecandobetter!
Whyjusttakeasinglesamplefromabitinterval?
Instead,averageM(L)samples:

y[n]=+Vp+w[n] so avg{y[n]}=+Vp+avg{w[n]}

avg{w[n]}isstillGaussian,stillhasmean0,butits
varianceisnow2/Minsteadof2SNRis
increasedbyafactorofM
Sameanalysisasbefore,butnowbitenergyEb=
M.EsinsteadofsampleenergyEs:
Vp M
1
Eb
1

)
BER = P(error) = erfc(
) = erfc(
6.02 Fall 2012
2
N0
2
2

Lecture 8, Slide #21

ImplicationsforSignalingRate
Asthenoiseintensityincreases,weneedtoslow
downthesignalingrate,i.e.,increasethenumber
ofsamplesperbit(K),togethigherenergyinthe
(MK)samplesextractedfromabitinterval,ifwe
wishtomaintainthesameerrorperformance.
e.g.Voyager2wastransmittingat115kbits/swhenit
wasnearJupiterin1979.Lastmonthitwasover9billion
milesaway,13lighthoursawayfromthesun,twiceasfar
awayfromthesunasPluto.Andnowtransmittingatonly
160bits/s.ThereceivedpowerattheDeepSpaceNetwork
antennasonearthwhenVoyagerwasnearNeptunewas
ontheorderof10^(16)watts!!20billiontimessmaller
thananordinarydigitalwatchconsumes.Thepowernow
isestimatedat10^(19)watts.
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #22

Flippedbitscanhaveserious
consequences!
OnNovember30,2006,atelemeteredcommandtoVoyager2was
incorrectlydecodedbyitsonboardcomputerinarandomerror
asacommandtotur nontheelectricalheatersofthespacecraft's
magnetometer.Theseheatersremainedtur nedonuntilDecember4,
2006,andduringthattime,therewasaresultinghightemperature
above130C(266F),significantlyhigherthanthemagnetometers
weredesignedtoendure,andasensorrotatedawayfromthecorrect
orientation.Ithasnotbeenpossibletofullydiagnoseandcorrectfor
thedamagecausedtotheVoyager2'smagnetometer,although
effortstodosoareproceeding.
OnApril22,2010,Voyager2encounteredscientificdataformat
problemsasreportedbytheAssociatedPressonMay6,2010.
OnMay17,2010,JPLengineersrevealedthataflippedbitinan
onboardcomputerhadcausedtheissue,andscheduledabitreset
forMay19.OnMay23,2010,Voyager2hasresumedsending
sciencedatafromdeepspaceafterengineersfixedtheflippedbit.
6.02
Fall 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2

Lecture 8, Slide #23

Whatifthereceivedsignalisdistorted?
Supposey[n]=x0[n]+w[n]inagivenbitslot(L
samples),wherex0[n]isknown,andw[n]isstilliid
Gaussian,zeromean,variance2.
Computeaweightedlinearcombinationofthey[.]
inthatbitslot:
any[n]=anx0[n]+anw[n]
ThisisstillGaussian,meananx0[n],butnowthe
varianceis2(an)2
Sowhatchoiceofthe{an}willmaximizeSNR?
Simpleanswer: an=x0[n]matchedfiltering
ResultingSNRforreceiverdetectionanderror
performanceis(x0[n])2/2,i.e.,againtheratioof
bitenergyEbtonoisepower.
6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #24

Themoralofthestoryis
ifyouredoingappropriate/optimalprocessingat
thereceiver,yoursignaltonoiseratio(andtherefore
yourerrorperformance)inthecaseofiidGaussian
noiseistheratioofbitenergy(notsampleenergy)to
noisevariance.

6.02 Fall 2012

Lecture 8, Slide #25

MITOpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu

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Fall201

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