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Digital vs. Analog Transmission Nyquist and Shannon Laws

Required reading: Garcia 3.1 to 3.5

CSE 3213, Fall 2010 Instructor: N. Vlajic

Transmission Impairments

Transmission / Signal caused by imperfections of transmission media Impairments

for analog signals, impairments can degrade signal quality

Sent

Received

for digital signals, impairments can cause bit errors

Sent

Received

main types of transmission impairments:

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation

Attenuation reduction / loss in signal power

when a signal travels through a medium it loses some of its energy by overcoming the resistance of medium main challenges in combating attenuation:
(1) received signal must have sufficient strength so that

Less of a problem for digital signal !!!

receiver can detect signal, but should not be too strong to overload transmitter/receiver circuitry
(2) signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than

noise at all times, to be received without error

to compensate for loss, analog amplifiers / digital repeaters are used to boost the signal at regular intervals

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Attenuation (cont.) def. loss in signal power as it is transferred
across a system (medium)
Pin

>

determined for each individual frequency apply sinwave of freq. f and power Pin to channel input and observe signal power Pout at output

Pout

Attenuation(f) = L(f) = 10 log10

Pin (f) [dB] Pout (f)

Amplitude Response 1

aka magnitude of frequency response

A(f)=

Aout (f) Ain (f)

Pin (f) A in (f)2 1 L(f) = = = Pout (f) A out (f)2 A(f)2

Atten.(f) = L(f) = 20 log10 1 [dB] A(f)

See Garcia pp. 125.

channels amplitude response function A(f)

Which frequencies are better passed through the medium?

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Why decibel (log function)?
1.

Signal strength often falls off exponentially, so loss is easily expressed in terms of decibels linear function in log-plot. The net gain or loss in a cascaded transmission path can be calculated with simple addition and subtraction. In figure below, a signal travels a long distance from point 1 to point 4. The signal is attenuated by the time it reaches point 2. Between points 2 and 3, the signal is amplified. Again, between points 3 and 4, the signal is attenuated. We can find the resultant attenuation just by adding the decibel measurements between each set of points.
-1 dB 3dB -7dB 3 dB

2.

Pin

Pout

In this case, the attenuation can be calculated as: 3-7+3 = -1, which means that the signal has gained power.

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Example [ attenuation ]
Consider a series of transmission elements as shown in the figure below. The input signal has the power of P1 = 4 mW. The 1st element is a transmission line with a loss of 5 (x), the 2nd element is an amplifier with a gain of 7 (x), nd the 3rd element is a transmission line with a loss of 3 (x). Calculate the output power P4.

loss = 5

gain = 7

loss = 3

P1 = 4 mW

P4 = ???

P4 P4 P3 P2 1 7 1 = = = 0.47 P1 P3 P2 P1 5 1 3

P4 = 0.47 4 [mW] = 1.88 [mW]

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

G1

G2

G3

P1 = 4 mW

P4 = ???

P4 P4 P3 P2 1 1 1 = = G1 G2 G3 = P1 P3 P2 P1 L1 L 2 L 3 P4 [dB] = 10 log(G1 G2 G3 ) = 10 log(G1 ) + 10 log(G2 ) + 10 log(G3 ) P1 10 log P4 [dB] = G1[dB] + G2 [dB] + G3 [dB] P1

10 log

Transmission Impairments: Attenuation (cont.)

Example [ attenuation ]
Consider a series of transmission elements as shown in the figure below. The input signal has the power of P1 = 4 mW. The 1st element is a Transmission line with a 12 dB loss, the 2nd element is an amplifier with a 35 dB gain, and the 3rd element is a transmission line with a 10 dB loss. Calculate the output power P4.
-13 dB 12 dB -35 dB 10 dB

P1 = 4 mW

P4 = ???

10 log

Pout

Pin = -1.3 = Pin 101.3 = 4 19.95 = 79.8 [mW] 10

G [dB]

Pin = 13 [dB] Pout

L [dB]

Transmission Impairments: Delay Distortion

Delay Distortion change in signals form / shape

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each signal component has its own propagation speed through a medium, and therefore, its own delay in arriving at the final destination critical for composite-analog & digital signals some of the signal components of one bit position will spill over into other bit, causing intersymbol interference
major limitation to achieving high bit rates

in bandlimited channels, velocity tends to be highest near the center frequency and fall off towards the edges of the band

Transmission Impairments: Noise

between transmitter and receiver

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Noise unwanted signals that get inserted / generated somewhere

major limiting factor in communications system performance
cannot be predicted appears at random!

presence of noise limits the reliability with which the receiver can correctly determine the information that was transmitted main categories of noise:
(1) thermal noise (2) intermodulation noise (3) crosstalk (4) impulse noise

Transmission Impairments: Noise (cont.)

(1) Thermal Noise result of random motion of electrons appears in
all electronic devices and transmission media cannot be eliminated

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function of temperature uniformly distributed across frequency spectrum aka white noise noise power density (No) = amount of thermal noise to be found in a bandwidth of 1Hz

No = k T [W/Hz]
where k = Boltzmanns constant = 1.3803*10-23 [J/K] T = temperature [K]

thermal noise (N) in [W], in a bandwidth of B [Hz]

N = k T B [W] Example Calculate N on 20C and 1GHz: N = k*(273+20)*109 = 3.8*10 -12 .

Transmission Impairments: Noise (cont.)

frequencies sharing a medium

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(2) Intermodulation Noise signals that are sum / difference of original

result of nonlinearity in transmission medium

output signal is a complex function of the input

Vo(t) Vo(t)

linear channel

Vi(t)

non-linear channel

Vi(t)

(3) Crosstalk effect of one wire on the other one wire acts as a sending
antenna and the other as the receiving antenna
can be reduced by careful shielding and using twisted pairs of the same magnitude, or less, than thermal noise

(4) Impulse Noise non-continuous, consisting of irregular pulses or

noise spikes of short duration and of relatively high amplitude
induced by external electromagnetic disturbances, such

as lightening, faults and flaws in communication system

Transmission Impairments: Noise (cont.)

Signal to Noise Ratio ratio of the power in the desired signal to the power in the superimposed noise (SNR)
SNR = average signal power average noise power

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SNR (dB) = 10 log10 SNR

high SNR high-quality signal & low number of required amplifiers / repeaters

Analog Transmission
Analog Long-Distance Communications
Goals: 1) restore amplitude 2) remove delay distortion 3) remove noise

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each repeater attempts to restore analog signal to its original form restoration (noise removal) is imperfect noise gets amplified too !
if signal only had components in certain freq. band, repeater could remove noise components outside signal band but, not those inside

signal quality decreases with # of repeaters communications is distance-limited analogy: copy a song using cassette recorder

Attenuated and distorted signal + noise

Recovered signal + residual noise

Amp

Equalizer

Repeater

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Digital Transmission
Digital Long-Distance Communications

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regenerator does not need to completely recover the original shape of the transmitted signal it only needs to determine whether the original pulse was positive or negative original signal can be completely recovered each time communication over very long distance is possible analogy: copy an MP3 file

compensate for distortion introduced by the channel

Amplifier equalizer
keep track of intervals that define each pulse

Decision circuit and signal regenerator Timing recovery

sample signal at midpoint of each pulse to determine its polarity

Digital Transmission (cont.)

Example [ transmission impairments in digital transmission ]
Digital transmission can easily recover from various types of channel impairments.

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0.5 1 0

So, is digital transmission the ultimate winner?!

Analog vs. Digital Transmission

Low-pass Channel bandwidth = [0, f1)

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entire medium/bandwidth dedicated to 2 devices devices alternate in transmission

Band-pass Channel bandwidth = [f1, f2)

medium is shared among multiple users each pair of users gets a portion of overall bandwidth

Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

Digital Transmission Advantages

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signal can be transmitted over long-distance without loosing any quality can operate with lower signal levels lower system cost easier to apply encryption easier integration of voice, video and data

Digital Transmission Disadvantages

digital signal theoretically needs a bandwidth [0, ) upper limit can be relaxed if we decide to work with a limited number of harmonics digital transmission needs a low-pass channel analog transmission can use a band-pass channel

Both analog and digital data may be transmitted on suitable transmission media using either digital coding or analog modulation.

Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

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digital or analog data

low-pass channel (digital signal)

digital or analog data

digital or analog data

band-pass channel (analog signal)

digital or analog data

Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

Example [ digital transmission of digital and analog data ]
Digital Data Digital Signal: Line Coding

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Analog Data Digital Signal: PCM (Pulse Code Modul.) or Delta Modulation

Analog vs. Digital Transmission (cont.)

Example [ analog transmission of digital and analog data ]
Digital data Analog Signal: Digital Modulation

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Analog data Analog Signal: Analog Modulation

Last Note about Signals

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Throughput measurement of how fast data can pass through an

entity in the network (computer, router, channel, etc.)

if we consider this entity as a wall through which bits pass, throughput is the number of bits that can pass this wall in one second

e.g. R=56 kbps

Example [ throughput ]
If the throughput at the connection between a device and the transmission medium is 56 kbps, how long does it take to send 100,000 bits out of this device?

t=

N [bits ] 100000 [bit] = = 1,786 [sec] R [bps] 56000 [bps]

Last Note about Signals (cont.)

Propagation Time measures the time required for a signal (or a
bit) to travel from one point of transmission medium to another d p = [sec] c
d length of physical link [m] c signal propagation speed in medium 2*108 [m/s]

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Example [ propagation time ]

The light of the Sun takes approximately 8 minutes to reach the Earth? What is the distance between the Sun and the Earth?

m 8 m d = p [sec] c [ ] = 8 * 60 [sec] 3 10 [ ] = 144 10 9 [m] = 144 10 6 [km] sec sec

Last Note about Signals (cont.)

Overall Delay
L [bits] R [bps] d [m] c [m/s] number of bits in message speed of digital transmission system distance in meters speed of light (3x108 m/s in vacuum)

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Time to deliver a block of L bits:

Delay = tpropagation + ttransmission = d/c + L/R seconds

Use data compression to reduce L. theUse higher speed modem/cable tobe minimized??? time to download a file increase R. Place server closer to reduce d.

How can

http://media.pearsoncmg.com/aw/aw_kurose_network_2/applets/transmission/delay.html

Data Rate Limits in Digital Transmission

Max Data Rate [bps] depends on three factors: bandwidth available Over a Channel?

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# of levels in digital signal quality of channel level of noise

Nyquist Theorem defines theoretical max bit rate in noiseless

channel [1924]

even perfect (noiseless) channels have limited capacity

Shannon Theorem Nyquist Theorem extended [1949] defines

theoretical max bit rate in noisy channel

if random noise is present, situation deteriorates rapidly!

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

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Intersymbol Interference the inevitable filtering effect of any practical

channel will cause spreading of individual data symbols that pass through the channel
this spreading causes part of symbol energy

to overlap with neighbouring symbols causing intersymbol interference (ISI)

ISI can significantly degrade the ability of the

data detector to differentiate a current symbol from the diffused energy of adjacent symbols
impulse response: delayed pulse with ringing

narrow pulse

Bandwidth: B[Hz]

Ts = 1/2B

As the channel bandwidth B increases, the width of the impulse response decreases pulses can be input in the system more closely spaced, i.e. at a higher rate.

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

to a narrow pulse h(t), aka Nyquist pulse:

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Impulse Response response of a low-pass channel (of bandwidth B)

s(t) =

sin(2Bt) 2Bt
1 2B

zeros: where sin(2Bt)=0 t =

1.2 1 1.2 0.8 1 0.6 0.8 0.4 0.6 0.2 0.4

-7 -7T

-6 T -6

-5 T -5

-4 T -4

-3 T -3

-2 T -2

0 0.2 -1-0.2 0 0 T -0.2 0 -1-0.4

1 T1

2 T2

3 T 3

4 T 4

5 T 5

6 T 6

7 T 7

TS =

-0.4

1 2B

2 2B

3 2B

What is the minimum pulse/bit duration time to avoid significant ISI?!

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

Example [ system response to binary input 110 ]
1
2

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0TS -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
-2 -1

0 0 -1 1 2 3 4

TS
-1

TS

-2

three separate pulses

combined signal

Assume: channel bandwidth = max analog frequency passed = B [Hz]. New pulse is sent every TS sec data rate = 1/TS [bps] = 2B [bps] The combined signal has the correct values at t = 0, 1, 2.

rmax

1 pulse pulses = = 2W = 2B TS second second

Maximum signaling rate that is achievable through an ideal low-pass channel.

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

Nyquist Law max rate at which digital data can be transmitted
over a comm. channel of bandwidth B [Hz] is
Cnoiseless = 2 B log2M [bps]

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M number of discrete levels in digital signal M C , however this places increased burden on receiver instead of distinguishing one of two possible signals, now it must distinguish between M possible signals especially complex in the presence of noise
if spacing between levels becomes too small, noise signal can cause receiver to make wrong decision
Typical noise

max amplitude

min amplitude

Four signal levels

Eight signal levels

Data Rate Limits: Nyquist Theorem

Example [ multilevel digital transmission ]

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2-level encoding: C=2B [bps] one pulse one bit

4-level encoding: C=2*2=4B [bps] one pulse two bits

100110100011010010

8-level encoding: C=2*3=6B [bps] one pulse three bits

100110100011010010

Data Rate Limits: Shannon Theorem

Shannon Law max transmission rate over a channel with bandwidth
B, with Gaussian distributed noise, and with signal-tonoise ratio SNR=S/N, is

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Cnoisy = B log2 (1+ SNR) [bps]

theoretical limit there are numerous impairments in every

real channel besides those taken into account in Shannon's Law (e.g. attenuation, delay distortion, or impulse noise)
no indication of levels no matter how many levels we use,

we cannot achieve a data rate higher than the capacity of the channel
in practice we need to use both methods (Nyquist & Shannon)

to find what data rate and signal levels are appropriate for each particular channel:

The Shannon capacity gives us the upper limit! The Nyquist formula tells us how many levels we need!

Data Rate Limits

Example [ data rate over telephone line ]
What is the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line? A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3000 Hz (300 Hz to 3300 Hz). The signal-to-noise ratio is usually 35 dB (3162) on up-link channel (user-to-network). Solution: We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line as:

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C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = = 3000 log2 (1 + 3162) = = 3000 log2 (3163) C = 3000 11.62 = 34,860 bps

Data Rate Limits

Example [ data rate / number of levels ]

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We have a channel with a 1 MHz bandwidth. The SNR for this channel is 63; what is the appropriate bit rate and number of signal level? Solution: First use Shannon formula to find the upper limit on the channels data-rate

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 106 log2 (1 + 63) = 106 log2 (64) = 6 Mbps

Although the Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, this is the upper limit. For better performance choose something lower, e.g. 4 Mbps. Then use the Nyquist formula to find the number of signal levels.

C = 2 B log2M [bps]
4 Mbps = 2 1 MHz log2 L L=4