Lecture #09 ELEC 464/864 Digital Communication Systems Spring 2015

Power Spectra of Linear Time-Invariant Systems

Consider an LTI system where the input/output relationship is given by the
convolution
y(t) = h(t) ? x(t).
It can be shown that

h(t)dt

y = x

Rxy ( ) = Rxx ( ) ? h( )
Ryy ( ) = Rxx ( ) ? h( ) ? h( ).
Thus, in the frequency domain we have
y = x H(0)
F{h( )}=H (f )

z }| {
Sxy (f ) = Sxx (f ) H (f )

and

Syx (f ) = Sxx (f )H(f )

Syy (f ) = Sxx (f )|H(f )|2

Gaussian and White Random Processes

Thermal noise generated in resistors and semiconductors is modeled as a
zero-mean, stationary Gaussian random process N (t) with PSD that is flat
over a wide range of frequencies.
Why Gaussian?
Thermal noise causes many electrons to move in random directions.
Sum the tiny currents Central Limit Theorem Gaussian
The PSD of thermal noise is approximated as
Snn (f ) =

kT
.
2

where k = 1.38 1023 joules/kelvin is Boltzmans constant and T is the

temperature in kelvin (cool electronics = low noise). This PSD describes a
white process, i.e., it contains equal amounts of all frequencies.
What is wrong with this approximation?
A more accurate approximation is
Snn (f ) =

~f


2 e
1

~f
kT

February 6, 2015

Lecture #09 ELEC 464/864 Digital Communication Systems Spring 2015

where ~ is Plancks constant (6.6 1034 Jsec).

Max at f = 0: kT
2
At T = 300 K and f = 2 1012 : Snn (f ) = 0.9 kT
2
Thus, the approximation is accurate for frequencies used in traditional wireless communications.
The PSD of white noise is commonly labelled as
Snn (f ) =

N0
2

from to , where N0 = kT . This is sometimes referred to as the

two-sided PSD.
PSD and autocorrelation:
Snn (f )

Rnn ( )

N0
2

N0
2

where Rnn ( ) = N20 ( ).

N (t) and N (t + ) are independent for all 6= 0. If N (t) is the input to
an LTI system with impulse response h(t), then the system output y(t) is a
Gaussian random process.
Band-Limited Noise Processes
Consider an ideal bandpass filter centered around some frequency fc .
(
1 |f fc | W
H(f ) =
0 otherwise
The PSD of the filtered noise is given by
(
Sxx (f ) = Snn (f )|H(f )|2 =

N0
2

|f fc | W
otherwise

From this, we can calculate the amount of noise present in a band-limited

signal.

February 6, 2015

Lecture #09 ELEC 464/864 Digital Communication Systems Spring 2015

We can also decompose x(t) into its quadrature and in-phase components
x(t) = xI cos(2fc t) xQ sin(2fc t),
where
xQ and xI are zero-mean, lowpass, jointly WSS, jointly Gaussian processes.
R
Total power Px = Sx (f )df = PxQ = PxI
Understanding of xI and xQ is very important to analyzing digital
communication schemes like quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

Chapter 8: Digital Modulation in an Additive White

Gaussian Noise (AWGN) Baseband Channel
AWGN channel: One of the simplest models for wireless and wired communications.
AWGN = analog channel We now consider transmitting analog waveforms.
In this chapter, well assume:
Baseband transmission
One-shot communications (no intersymbol interference (ISI))
x[n]
Source

Modulator

m(t)

AWGN Channel

r(t) = m(t) + n(t)

Receiver
Well begin by considering the modulator:
3

February 6, 2015

Lecture #09 ELEC 464/864 Digital Communication Systems Spring 2015

Binary Modulation: x[n] = {0, 1} and modulator transmits s1 (t) for 0

and s2 (t) for 1.
M -ary Modulation: Use M = 2k waveforms to transmit k bits at a
time.
To simplify analysis, we will develop a vector representation of analog signal
waveforms.

February 6, 2015