Lecture 1

Outline
General Information about the Course Learning outcomes of the Course Course Breakdown Course Strands Course Assessment Plagiarism Signal Processing (Sinewaves, Fourier, Bandwidth, Digitization) Modulation and Multiplexing Error Detection and Correction

General Information about the Course

In this course you will discover what digital communication is, how it works, why it is the way it is, and how it might develop in the future. T305 course is a Level 3 Technology course worth 16 credit hours.

Learning outcomes of the Course

Learning outcomes:
Compare the merits of different approaches Understand the possibilities, the limitations and the compromises inherent in the design of digital communication systems. Understand technical descriptions of present and future Be a more effective user of communication technology.

Course Breakdown
The T305 course is taught over 2 semesters Part 1 (Semester 1):
Block 1 Block 2 Block 3

Part 2 (Semester 2):

Block 4 Block 5 Block 6

Course Strands
There are three strands running through the course
Systems and processes: the greatest portion of your study material Modelling: introduces the use of mathematical, graphical and computer methods for modelling systems and processes in communications. Applications and issues: concerns applications and issues of digital communications.

Course Strands (cont.)

Course Assessment
7 tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) 6 computer-marked assignments (CMAs)(Now Quizzes) Mid-Term Exam (1st semester, Blocks 1, 2 & 3) Final Exam (2nd semester, Blocks 4, 5 & 6)

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else's work and passing it off as your own. Using extracts, even those as short as phrases or single sentences, from another author (including authors of T305 course materials) without saying that you are doing so is plagiarism. Plagiarism is stealing someone else's ideas. Please refer to the T305 Course Guide for more information on how to avoid plagiarism

Signal Processing
Sinewaves Fourier Bandwidth Digitization

Sinewaves
A periodically repeating curve whose shape when plotted as a graph is as shown below. t : time , y : might be the voltage in the wire

Sinewaves (Cont.)
The shape can be created by rotating a line of length a at a constant speed about a fixed pivot O

Sinewaves (Cont.)
Sinewave superimposed on fixed value of y given by c

Sinewaves (Cont.)
Amplitude is the maximum displacement of the sinewave from its mean (average) position.

Sinewaves (Cont.)
The frequency (f) is the number of cycles per second A cycle being the basic shape of the waveform that repeats indefinitely. The period T = 1/f

Sinewaves (Cont.)
Phase (or phase shift): is how far a sinewave is shifted along the horizontal axis relative to another sinewave taken as a reference. The blue sinewave is shifted -1/4 cycle to the right of the reference sinewave

Sinewaves (Cont.)
If we imagine the reference sinewave to be generated by the rotating line a in the figure below, then a sinewave lagging by a quarter of a cycle is generated by a line b at 90 degrees to line a.

Sinewave equation
y = a sin(2ft + ) where y : displacement at time t a : amplitude f : frequency : phase (2ft + ) : This angle is measured in radians

Sinewave equation (Cont.)

a = 5 volts y = 5 sin(200t /2)

= /2 radians T = 0.01 second Reference sinewave f = 1/T = 100 Hz y = 5 sin(200t)

Sinewave equation (Cont.)

2 radians = 360 degrees Angular frequency in radians per second is =2f

Fourier's Theorem
The theorem states that any periodic signal can be thought of as a sum of a number of sinewaves of different amplitudes, frequencies and phases.

Fourier Synthesis
Fourier synthesis : adding sinewaves together creates nonsinusoidal waveforms. A non-sinusoidal waveform with a fundamental frequency of 100 Hz might be the sum of a 100 Hz sinewave and one other sinewave with a frequency that is a whole-number multiple of the fundamental frequency. Sinewaves with frequencies that are whole-number multiples of the frequency of another sinewave are called harmonics of that sinewave. A 200 Hz sinewave is the second harmonic of a 100 Hz sinewave. It is not necessary for one frequency to be a whole number multiple of the other for the combination to be nonsinusoidal.

Fourier Analysis
Fourier synthesis is the process of adding sinewaves to create periodic non-sinusoidal waveforms. Fourier analysis is the process of analyzing periodic non-sinusoidal waveforms in order to determine their component sinewaves.

Fourier Synthesis & Analysis

Sinewave ( f = 1 kHz ) y1 = 2 sin 2000t

Sinewave ( f = 2 kHz ) y2 = sin 4000t

Sinewave ( f = 3 kHz ) y3 = 0.5 sin 6000t

Sum of Sinewaves a, b, & c y = 2 sin 2000t + sin 4000t+ 0.5 sin 6000t

Fourier Frequency Spectrum

A frequency spectrum can show the amplitude, phase or power of the components of a waveform.

Time domain representations

Frequency domain representation

Fourier Frequency Spectrum (Cont.)

Fourier Frequency Spectrum (Cont.)

A cosine wave can be regarded as a sine wave shifted in phase by a quarter of a cycle. Because an amplitude spectrum does not give any phase information, it is the same for both sinewaves and cosine waves.

Fourier Synthesis & Analysis (Cont.)

Sudden discontinuities (such as perfectly sharp corners) has an infinite spectrum.

Power Spectrum
A graph showing the average power associated with each of the sinusoidal Fourier components of a non-sinusoidal waveform. Power spectra can be either
Line spectra (for periodic signals) Continuous spectra (for non-periodic signals).

A continuous power spectrum is known as a power density spectrum.

Line Power Spectrum

Adding together the heights of the individual lines gives the total average power associated with the composite waveform.

Power Density Spectrum

It is the area beneath the curve that gives the average power associated with a spread of frequencies as shown below.

Power Density Spectrum (Cont.)

White noise has a constant power spectral density for all frequencies as shown below.

Analogue Bandwidth
Analogue bandwidth is the span of frequencies in the frequency spectrum.

Analogue Bandwidth (Cont.)

If the bandwidth of a channel is less than the bandwidth of a signal passing through it, the signal will be distorted to some extent. Sometimes the bandwidth of a signal is reduced with filters prior to transmission.

Digital Bandwidth
The number of symbols transmitted per unit time over a digital transmission link is known as the signalling rate, measured in baud. For a binary system, the signalling rate in baud is identical to the bit rate in bits per second. The maximum theoretical signalling rate S baud over a channel of bandwidth B Hz is given by the expression S=2B

Analogue and Digital Signals

Recording temperature analogue signals

Recording temperature digital signals

Analogue and Digital Signals (Cont.)

The key features of such an analogue signal are:
1. It can take any value within a range, and 2. It can change continuously with time.

The key features of such a digital signal are:

1. It is restricted to a finite set of values within a range, and 2. It is allowed to change only at fixed, regular intervals.

Regeneration of Digital Signals

Signal attenuation/amplification - no noise

Signal attenuation/amplification - noise

Regeneration of Digital Signals (Cont.)

One of the advantages of a digital signal is (provided it has not been degraded too much during transmission) The effects of noise and distortion can effectively be removed and the digital signal perfectly reconstituted.

Sound Digitization
Sound digitization is the process of digital representation of sound (conventionally in terms of binary codes) Digitization process consist of
Sampling Resolution Quantization

Sound Digitization (Cont.)

Waveform of 'flowers, trees and weeds'

Waveform of 'trees'

Sound Digitization (Cont.)

Sound Digitization (Cont.)

The quantization interval is the size of the interval between adjacent levels. It can be defined as the input range divided by the number of levels available. Quantization error, which is the difference between the actual (analogue) value of a signal and the quantization level used to represent it. The higher the resolution, the smaller the quantization error. The peak quantization noise is generally taken as equal to half the quantization interval.

Sound Digitization (Cont.)

In general, the more bits are used to code the samples, the more accurate and the less noisy is the representation. however, the more data has to be stored or transmitted. The sampling rate is the frequency at which an analogue signal is sampled to create a digital representation. It is usually expressed in hertz (Hz).

Sound Digitization (Cont.)

Waveform S1 and its alias S2 constructed from the sampled points

Too low a sampling rate leads to a misrepresentation of the original waveform.

 Sampling frequency >= 2 x Signal Frequency The sampling should be fast enough to capture accurately the highest-frequency sinewave component of a complex waveform. If the conditions of the sampling theorem are met, there will be no aliasing.

Modulation
The modification of some property of the waveform of a signal (the carrier), in response to the information contained in another signal (the message). The properties modified are amplitude, frequency or phase (or a combination of these) Reasons:
1. To convert the original signal into a form more suitable for transmission over a given communication channel. 2. To utilize a given communication channel more efficiently.

Modulation (Cont.)
Different forms of modulation have different characteristics.
Frequency modulation (FM) tends to be more resistant to noise than amplitude modulation (AM) FM transmission needs a greater bandwidth. Phase modulation is well suited to representing discrete changes of state, and is therefore often used to represent binary data.

Amplitude Modulation

Amplitude modulation: (a) the original sawtooth waveform; (b) the sinusoidal carrier; (c) after amplitude modulation

Frequency Modulation

Frequency modulation: (a) the original sawtooth waveform; (b) the sinusoidal carrier; (c) after frequency modulation

Digital Signals and Modulation

Waveforms representing a binary signal: (a) a positive voltage representing binary 1; (b) a zero voltage representing binary 1

Digital Signals and Modulation (Cont.)

(c) a frequency-modulated binary signal; (d) an amplitude-modulated binary signal

Digital Signals and Modulation (Cont.)

(e) a phase-modulated binary signal

Multiplexing
The process of combining a number of signals so that they can share a single transmission channel.

Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM)

The separate signals are modulated using carriers of different frequencies and then transmitted at the same time. The carrier frequencies are chosen to be sufficiently far apart for the individual modulated signals to be filtered out and demodulated separately.

Frequency-division multiplexing of three signals using carriers at frequencies f1,f2 and f3

Time-division multiplexing (TDM)

Samples of the individual signals are transmitted in turn, with each signal being allocated a regular, repeating, time slot.

Time-division multiplexing (TDM) (Cont.)

The type of time-division multiplexing described here is known as synchronous TDM. Asynchronous TDM allows data to be sent as it becomes ready, without having to wait for predetermined slots. In an asynchronous system, the data must include information to identify its source The communication channel usually has some way of detecting and remedying collisions, when two or more sources try to send data at the same time.

Frequency Spectrum
Frequency spectrum is the complete set of frequencies occupying or allocated to a frequency band.

Tabular spectrum of medium-wave broadcast frequencies

Graphic spectrum of medium-wave broadcast frequencies

Error Detection
A range of techniques that are used to reveal to a receiver that an error has occurred in data transmission. Parity check codes in error detection
Even Party: the extra bit is added to have an even number of 1s. Odd Party: the extra bit is added to have an odd number of 1s.

Redundancy: is the addition of redundancy to the signal. With speech, the meaning of a sentence can usually be deduced even when several words are not heard or not recognized.

Error Correction
A range of techniques used to correct errors that have occurred in data transmission. The Hamming code uses redundant bits in such a way that when an error occurs the redundant bits indicate where it has occurred.

8-bit ASCII code

Some 7-bit ASCII codes and their 8-bit even-parity equivalents

Unicode
One of the problems with ASCII is its inability to cope with languages that use non-Latin characters. Unicode assigns a unique, standard character string for every character in use in the worlds major written languages. Unicode uses 16 bits, enabling over 65 000 characters to be coded.