3. digital transmission fundamentals

Digital Transmission
Fundamentals
Digital Representation of Information
Why Digital Communications?
Digital Representation of Analog Signals
Characterization of Communication Channels
Fundamental Limits in Digital Transmission
Line Coding
Modems and Digital Modulation
Properties of Media and Digital Transmission Systems
Error Detection and Correction

Digital Networks
 Digital transmission enables networks to
support many services
E-mail
Telephone
TV

Questions of Interest
 How long will it take to transmit a message?
 How many bits are in the message (text, image)?
 How fast does the network/system transfer information?
 Can a network/system handle a voice (video) call?
 How many bits/second does voice/video require? At what
quality?
 How long will it take to transmit a message without
errors?
 How are errors introduced?
 How are errors detected and corrected?
 What transmission speed is possible over radio,
copper cables, fiber, infrared, …?

Fundamentals
Digital Representation of
Information

Bits, numbers, information
 Bit: number with value 0 or 1
 n bits: digital representation for 0, 1, … , 2n
 Byte or Octet, n = 8
 Computer word, n = 16, 32, or 64
 n bits allows enumeration of 2n possibilities
 n-bit field in a header
 n-bit representation of a voice sample
 Message consisting of n bits
 The number of bits required to represent a message
is a measure of its information content
 More bits → More content

Block vs. Stream Information
Block
 Information that occurs
in a single block
 Text message
 Data file
 JPEG image
 MPEG file
 Size = Bits / block
or bytes/block
 1 kbyte = 210 bytes
 1 Mbyte = 220 bytes
 1 Gbyte = 230 bytes
Stream
 Information that is
produced & transmitted
continuously
 Real-time voice
 Streaming video
 Bit rate = bits / second
 1 kbps = 103 bps
 1 Mbps = 106 bps
 1 Gbps =109 bps

Transmission Delay
Use data compression to reduce L
Use higher speed modem to increase R
Place server closer to reduce d
 L number of bits in message
 R bps speed of digital transmission system
 L/R time to transmit the information
 tprop time for signal to propagate across medium
 d distance in meters
 c speed of light (3x108 m/s in vacuum)
Delay = tprop + L/R = d/c + L/R seconds

Compression
 Information usually not represented efficiently
 Data compression algorithms
 Represent the information using fewer bits
 Noiseless: original information recovered exactly
 E.g. zip, compress, GIF, fax
 Noisy: recover information approximately
 JPEG
 Tradeoff: # bits vs. quality
 Compression Ratio
#bits (original file) / #bits (compressed file)

H
W
= + +H
W
H
W
H
W
Color
image
Red
component
image
Green
component
image
Blue
component
image
Total bits = 3 H W pixels B bits/pixel = 3HWB bits
Example: 8 10 inch picture at 400 400 pixels per inch2
400 400 8 10 = 12.8 million pixels
8 bits/pixel/color
12.8 megapixels 3 bytes/pixel = 38.4 megabytes
Color Image

Type Method Format Original Compressed
(Ratio)
Text Zip,
compress
ASCII Kbytes-
Mbytes
(2-6)
Fax CCITT
Group 3
A4 page
200x100
pixels/in2
256
kbytes
5-54 kbytes
(5-50)
Color
Image
JPEG 8x10 in2 photo
4002 pixels/in2
38.4
Mbytes
1-8 Mbytes
(5-30)
Examples of Block Information

Th e s p ee ch s i g n al l e v el v a r ie s w i th t i m(e)
Stream Information
 A real-time voice signal must be digitized &
transmitted as it is produced
 Analog signal level varies continuously in time

Digitization of Analog Signal
 Sample analog signal in time and amplitude
 Find closest approximation
Original signal
Sample value
Approximation
Rs = Bit rate = # bits/sample x # samples/second
3bits/sample

Bit Rate of Digitized Signal
 Bandwidth Ws Hertz: how fast the signal changes
 Higher bandwidth → more frequent samples
 Minimum sampling rate = 2 x Ws
 Representation accuracy: range of approximation
error
 Higher accuracy
→ smaller spacing between approximation values
→ more bits per sample

Example: Voice & Audio
Telephone voice
 Ws = 4 kHz → 8000
samples/sec
 8 bits/sample
 Rs=8 x 8000 = 64 kbps
 Cellular phones use
more powerful
compression
algorithms: 8-12 kbps
CD Audio
 Ws = 22 kHertz → 44000
samples/sec
 16 bits/sample
 Rs=16 x 44000= 704 kbps
per audio channel
 MP3 uses more powerful
compression algorithms:
50 kbps per audio
channel

Video Signal
 Sequence of picture frames
 Each picture digitized &
compressed
 Frame repetition rate
 10-30-60 frames/second
depending on quality
 Frame resolution
 Small frames for
videoconferencing
 Standard frames for
conventional broadcast TV
 HDTV frames
30 fps
Rate = M bits/pixel x (WxH) pixels/frame x F frames/second

Video Frames
Broadcast TV at 30 frames/sec =
10.4 x 106 pixels/sec
720
480
HDTV at 30 frames/sec =
67 x 106 pixels/sec1080
1920
QCIF videoconferencing at 30 frames/sec =
760,000 pixels/sec
144
176

Digital Video Signals
Type Method Format Original Compressed
Video
Confer-
ence
H.261 176x144 or
352x288 pix
@10-30
fr/sec
2-36
Mbps
64-1544
kbps
Full
Motion
MPEG
2
720x480 pix
@30 fr/sec
249
Mbps
2-6 Mbps
HDTV MPEG
2
1920x1080
@30 fr/sec
1.6
Gbps
19-38 Mbps

Transmission of Stream
Information
 Constant bit-rate
 Signals such as digitized telephone voice produce
a steady stream: e.g. 64 kbps
 Network must support steady transfer of signal,
e.g. 64 kbps circuit
 Variable bit-rate
 Signals such as digitized video produce a stream
that varies in bit rate, e.g. according to motion and
detail in a scene
 Network must support variable transfer rate of
signal, e.g. packet switching or rate-smoothing
with constant bit-rate circuit

Stream Service Quality Issues
Network Transmission Impairments
 Delay: Is information delivered in timely
fashion?
 Jitter: Is information delivered in sufficiently
smooth fashion?
 Loss: Is information delivered without loss? If
loss occurs, is delivered signal quality
acceptable?
 Applications & application layer protocols
developed to deal with these impairments

Communication
Networks and Services
Why Digital Communications?

A Transmission System
Transmitter
 Converts information into signal suitable for transmission
 Injects energy into communications medium or channel
 Telephone converts voice into electric current
 Modem converts bits into tones
Receiver
 Receives energy from medium
 Converts received signal into form suitable for delivery to user
 Telephone converts current into voice
 Modem converts tones into bits
Receiver
Communication channel
Transmitter

Transmission Impairments
Communication Channel
 Pair of copper wires
 Coaxial cable
 Radio
 Light in optical fiber
 Light in air
 Infrared
 Signal attenuation
 Signal distortion
 Spurious noise
 Interference from other
signals
Transmitted
Signal
Received
Signal Receiver
Transmitter

Analog Long-Distance
Communications
 Each repeater attempts to restore analog signal to
its original form
 Restoration is imperfect
 Distortion is not completely eliminated
 Noise & interference is only partially removed
 Signal quality decreases with # of repeaters
 Communications is distance-limited
 Still used in analog cable TV systems
 Analogy: Copy a song using a cassette recorder
Source DestinationRepeater
Transmission segment
Repeater. . .

Analog vs. Digital Transmission
Analog transmission: all details must be reproduced accurately
Sent
Sent
Received
Received
Distortion
Attenuation
Digital transmission: only discrete levels need to be reproduced
Distortion
Attenuation
Simple Receiver:
Was original pulse
positive or
negative?

Digital Long-Distance
Communications
 Regenerator recovers original data sequence and
retransmits on next segment
 Can design so error probability is very small
 Then each regeneration is like the first time!
 Analogy: copy an MP3 file
 Communications is possible over very long distances
 Digital systems vs. analog systems
 Less power, longer distances, lower system cost
 Monitoring, multiplexing, coding, encryption, protocols…
Source DestinationRegenerator
Transmission segment
Regenerator. . .

Bit Rates of Digital Transmission
Systems
System Bit Rate Observations
Telephone
twisted pair
33.6-56 kbps 4 kHz telephone channel
Ethernet
twisted pair
10 Mbps, 100 Mbps 100 meters of unshielded
twisted copper wire pair
Cable modem 500 kbps-4 Mbps Shared CATV return channel
ADSL twisted
pair
64-640 kbps in, 1.536-
6.144 Mbps out
Coexists with analog
telephone signal
2.4 GHz radio 2-11 Mbps IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN
28 GHz radio 1.5-45 Mbps 5 km multipoint radio
Optical fiber 2.5-10 Gbps 1 wavelength
Optical fiber >1600 Gbps Many wavelengths

Examples of Channels
Channel Bandwidth Bit Rates
Telephone voice
channel
3 kHz 33 kbps
Copper pair 1 MHz 1-6 Mbps
Coaxial cable 500 MHz
(6 MHz channels)
30 Mbps/
channel
5 GHz radio
(IEEE 802.11)
300 MHz
(11 channels)
54 Mbps /
channel
Optical fiber Many TeraHertz 40 Gbps /
wavelength

Fundamentals
Digital Representation of
Analog Signals

Digitization of Analog Signals
1. Sampling: obtain samples of x(t) at uniformly
spaced time intervals
2. Quantization: map each sample into an
approximation value of finite precision
 Pulse Code Modulation: telephone speech
 CD audio
3. Compression: to lower bit rate further, apply
additional compression method
 Differential coding: cellular telephone speech
 Subband coding: MP3 audio

Sampling Rate and Bandwidth
 A signal that varies faster needs to be sampled
more frequently
 Bandwidth measures how fast a signal varies
 What is the bandwidth of a signal?
 How is bandwidth related to sampling rate?
1 ms
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
. . . . . .
t
x2(t)
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
. . . . . .
t
1 ms
x1(t)

Periodic Signals
 A periodic signal with period T can be represented
as sum of sinusoids using Fourier Series:
“DC”
long-term
average
fundamental
frequency f0=1/T
first harmonic
kth harmonic
x(t) = a0 + a1cos(2 f0t + 1) + a2cos(2 2f0t + 2) + …
+ akcos(2 kf0t + k) + …
•|ak| determines amount of power in kth harmonic
•Amplitude specturm |a0|, |a1|, |a2|, …

Spectra & Bandwidth
 Spectrum of a signal:
magnitude of amplitudes as
a function of frequency
 x1(t) varies faster in time &
has more high frequency
content than x2(t)
 Bandwidth Ws is defined as
range of frequencies where
a signal has non-negligible
power, e.g. range of band
that contains 99% of total
signal power
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0
3
6
9
12
15
18
21
24
27
30
33
36
39
42
frequency (kHz)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0
3
6
9
12
15
18
21
24
27
30
33
36
39
42
frequency (kHz)
Spectrum of x1(t)
Spectrum of x2(t)

Bandwidth of General Signals
 Not all signals are periodic
 E.g. voice signals varies
according to sound
 Vowels are periodic, “s” is
noiselike
 Spectrum of long-term signal
 Averages over many sounds,
many speakers
 Involves Fourier transform
 Telephone speech: 4 kHz
 CD Audio: 22 kHz
s (noisy ) | p (air stopped) | ee (periodic) | t (stopped) | sh (noisy)
X(f)
f
0 Ws
“speech”

Fundamentals
Characterization of
Communication Channels

Communications Channels
 A physical medium is an inherent part of a
communications system
 Copper wires, radio medium, or optical fiber
 Communications system includes electronic or
optical devices that are part of the path followed by
a signal
 Equalizers, amplifiers, signal conditioners
 By communication channel we refer to the combined
end-to-end physical medium and attached devices
 Sometimes we use the term filter to refer to a
channel especially in the context of a specific
mathematical model for the channel

How good is a channel?
 Performance: What is the maximum reliable
transmission speed?
 Speed: Bit rate, R bps
 Reliability: Bit error rate, BER=10-k
 Focus of this section
 Cost: What is the cost of alternatives at a
given level of performance?
 Wired vs. wireless?
 Electronic vs. optical?
 Standard A vs. standard B?

Communications Channel
Signal Bandwidth
 In order to transfer data
faster, a signal has to vary
more quickly.
Channel Bandwidth
 A channel or medium has
an inherent limit on how fast
the signals it passes can
vary
 Limits how tightly input
pulses can be packed
 Signal attenuation
 Signal distortion
 Spurious noise
 Interference from other
signals
 Limits accuracy of
measurements on received
signal
Transmitted
Signal
Received
Signal
Receiver
Transmitter

Channel Distortion
 Channel has two effects:
 If amplitude response is not flat, then different frequency
components of x(t) will be transferred by different amounts
 If phase response is not flat, then different frequency
components of x(t) will be delayed by different amounts
 In either case, the shape of x(t) is altered
 Let x(t) corresponds to a digital signal bearing data
information
 How well does y(t) follow x(t)?
y(t) = A(fk) ak cos (2 fkt + θk + Φ(fk ))
Channel y(t)x(t) = ak cos (2 fkt + θk)

Fundamentals
Fundamental Limits in Digital
Transmission

Digital Binary Signal
For a given communications medium:
 How do we increase transmission speed?
 How do we achieve reliable communications?
 Are there limits to speed and reliability?
+A
-A
0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
1 1 1 10 0
Bit rate = 1 bit / T seconds

Pulse Transmission Rate
 Objective: Maximize pulse rate through a channel,
that is, make T as small as possible
Channel
t t
 If input is a narrow pulse, then typical output is a
spread-out pulse with ringing
 Question: How frequently can these pulses be
transmitted without interfering with each other?
 Answer: 2 x Wc pulses/second
where Wc is the bandwidth of the channel
T

Fundamentals
Line Coding

What is Line Coding?
 Mapping of binary information sequence into the
digital signal that enters the channel
 Ex. “1” maps to +A square pulse; “0” to –A pulse
 Line code selected to meet system requirements:
 Transmitted power: Power consumption = $
 Bit timing: Transitions in signal help timing recovery
 Bandwidth efficiency: Excessive transitions wastes bw
 Low frequency content: Some channels block low
frequencies
 long periods of +A or of –A causes signal to “droop”
 Waveform should not have low-frequency content
 Error detection: Ability to detect errors helps
 Complexity/cost: Is code implementable in chip at high
speed?

Fundamentals
Modems and Digital
Modulation

Bandpass Channels
 Bandpass channels pass a range of frequencies
around some center frequency fc
 Radio channels, telephone & DSL modems
 Digital modulators embed information into waveform
with frequencies passed by bandpass channel
 Sinusoid of frequency fc is centered in middle of
bandpass channel
 Modulators embed information into a sinusoid
fc – Wc/2 fc
0 fc + Wc/2

Information 1 1 1 10 0
+1
-1
0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
Amplitude
Shift
Keying
+1
-1
Frequency
Shift
Keying 0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
t
t
Amplitude Modulation and
Frequency Modulation
Map bits into amplitude of sinusoid: “1” send sinusoid; “0” no sinusoid
Demodulator looks for signal vs. no signal
Map bits into frequency: “1” send frequency fc + ; “0” send frequency fc -
Demodulator looks for power around fc + or fc -

Phase Modulation
 Map bits into phase of sinusoid:
 “1” send A cos(2 ft) , i.e. phase is 0
 “0” send A cos(2 ft+ ) , i.e. phase is
 Equivalent to multiplying cos(2 ft) by +A or -A
 “1” send A cos(2 ft) , i.e. multiply by 1
 “0” send A cos(2 ft+ ) = - A cos(2 ft) , i.e. multiply by -1
 We will focus on phase modulation
+1
-1
Phase
Shift
Keying 0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T t
Information 1 1 1 10 0

1 1 1 10 0
+A
-A
0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
Information
Baseband
Signal
Modulated
Signal
x(t)
+A
-A
0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
Example of Modulation
A cos(2 ft) -A cos(2 ft)

1 1 1 10 0
Recovered
Information
Baseband
signal discernable
after smoothing
After multiplication
at receiver
x(t) cos(2 fct)
+A
-A
0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
+A
-A
0 T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
Example of Demodulation
A {1 + cos(4 ft)} -A {1 + cos(4 ft)}

Fundamentals
Properties of Media and Digital
Transmission Systems

Fundamental Issues in
Transmission Media
 Information bearing capacity
 Amplitude response & bandwidth
 dependence on distance
 Susceptibility to noise & interference
 Error rates & SNRs
 Propagation speed of signal
 c = 3 x 108 meters/second in vacuum
 = c/√ speed of light in medium where is the
dielectric constant of the medium
 = 2.3 x 108 m/sec in copper wire; = 2.0 x 108 m/sec in
optical fiber
t = 0
t = d/c
d meters

Communications systems &
Electromagnetic Spectrum
 Frequency of communications signals
Analog
telephone
DSL Cell
phone
WiFi
Optical
fiber
102 104 106 108 1010 1012 1014 1016 1018 1020 1022 1024
Frequency (Hz)
Wavelength (meters)
106
104 102
10 10-2 10-4 10-6 10-8 10-10
10-12 10-14
Powerand
telephone
Broadcast
radio
Microwave
radio
Infraredlight
Visiblelight
Ultravioletlight
X-rays
Gammarays

Wireless & Wired Media
Wireless Media
 Signal energy propagates in
space, limited directionality
 Interference possible, so
spectrum regulated
 Limited bandwidth
 Simple infrastructure:
antennas & transmitters
 No physical connection
between network & user
 Users can move
Wired Media
 Signal energy contained &
guided within medium
 Spectrum can be re-used in
separate media (wires or
cables), more scalable
 Extremely high bandwidth
 Complex infrastructure:
ducts, conduits, poles, right-
of-way

Attenuation
 Attenuation varies with media
 Dependence on distance of central importance
 Wired media has exponential dependence
 Received power at d meters proportional to 10-kd
 Attenuation in dB = k d, where k is dB/meter
 Wireless media has logarithmic dependence
 Received power at d meters proportional to d-n
 Attenuation in dB = n log d, where n is path loss exponent;
n=2 in free space
 Signal level maintained for much longer distances
 Space communications possible

Twisted Pair
Twisted pair
 Two insulated copper wires
arranged in a regular spiral
pattern to minimize
interference
 Various thicknesses, e.g.
0.016 inch (24 gauge)
 Low cost
 Telephone subscriber loop
from customer to CO
 Old trunk plant connecting
telephone COs
 Intra-building telephone
from wiring closet to
desktop
 In old installations, loading
coils added to improve
quality in 3 kHz band, but
more attenuation at higher
frequencies
Attenuation(dB/mi)
f (kHz)
19 gauge
22 gauge
24 gauge
26 gauge
6
12
18
24
30
1
10 100 1000
Lower
attenuation rate
analog telephone
Higher
attenuation rate
for DSL

Twisted Pair Bit Rates
 Twisted pairs can provide
high bit rates at short
distances
 Asymmetric Digital
Subscriber Loop (ADSL)
 High-speed Internet Access
 Lower 3 kHz for voice
 Upper band for data
 64 kbps outbound
 640 kbps inbound
 Much higher rates possible at
shorter distances
 Strategy for telephone
companies is to bring fiber
close to home & then twisted
pair
 Higher-speed access + video
Table 3.5 Data rates of 24-gauge twisted pair
Standard Data Rate Distance
T-1 1.544 Mbps 18,000 feet, 5.5 km
DS2 6.312 Mbps 12,000 feet, 3.7 km
1/4 STS-1 12.960
Mbps
4500 feet, 1.4 km
1/2 STS-1 25.920
Mbps
3000 feet, 0.9 km
STS-1 51.840
Mbps
1000 feet, 300 m

Ethernet LANs
 Category 3 unshielded twisted pair
(UTP): ordinary telephone wires
 Category 5 UTP: tighter twisting to
improve signal quality
 Shielded twisted pair (STP): to
minimize interference; costly
 10BASE-T Ethernet
 10 Mbps, Baseband, Twisted pair
 Two Cat3 pairs
 Manchester coding, 100 meters
 100BASE-T4 Fast Ethernet
 100 Mbps, Baseband, Twisted pair
 Four Cat3 pairs
 Three pairs for one direction at-a-time
 100/3 Mbps per pair;
 3B6T line code, 100 meters
 Cat5 & STP provide other options
     

Coaxial Cable
Twisted pair
 Cylindrical braided outer
conductor surrounds
insulated inner wire
conductor
 High interference immunity
 Higher bandwidth than
twisted pair
 Hundreds of MHz
 Cable TV distribution
 Long distance telephone
transmission
 Original Ethernet LAN
medium
35
30
10
25
20
5
15
Attenuation(dB/km)
0.1 1.0 10 100
f (MHz)
2.6/9.5 mm
1.2/4.4 mm
0.7/2.9 mm

Upstream
Downstream
5MHz
42MHz
54MHz
500MHz
550MHz
750
MHz
Downstream
Cable Modem & TV Spectrum
 Cable TV network originally unidirectional
 Cable plant needs upgrade to bidirectional
 1 analog TV channel is 6 MHz, can support very high data rates
 Cable Modem: shared upstream & downstream
 5-42 MHz upstream into network; 2 MHz channels; 500 kbps to 4
Mbps
 >550 MHz downstream from network; 6 MHz channels; 36 Mbps

Cable Network Topology
Head
end
Upstream fiber
Downstream fiber
Fiber
node
Coaxial
distribution
plant
Fiber
node
= Bidirectional
split-band
amplifier
Fiber Fiber

Optical Fiber
 Light sources (lasers, LEDs) generate pulses of light that are
transmitted on optical fiber
 Very long distances (>1000 km)
 Very high speeds (>40 Gbps/wavelength)
 Nearly error-free (BER of 10-15)
 Profound influence on network architecture
 Dominates long distance transmission
 Distance less of a cost factor in communications
 Plentiful bandwidth for new services
Optical fiber
Optical
source
ModulatorElectrical
signal
Receiver
Electrical
signal

Core
Cladding Jacket
Light
c
Geometry of optical fiber
Total Internal Reflection in optical fiber
Transmission in Optical Fiber
 Very fine glass cylindrical core surrounded by concentric layer of glass
(cladding)
 Core has higher index of refraction than cladding
 Light rays incident at less than critical angle c is completely reflected
back into the core

 Multimode: Thicker core, shorter reach
 Rays on different paths interfere causing dispersion & limiting bit rate
 Single mode: Very thin core supports only one mode (path)
 More expensive lasers, but achieves very high speeds
Multimode fiber: multiple rays follow different paths
Single-mode fiber: only direct path propagates in fiber
Direct path
Reflected path
Multimode & Single-mode Fiber

Optical Fiber Properties
Advantages
 Very low attenuation
 Noise immunity
 Extremely high
bandwidth
 Security: Very difficult to
tap without breaking
 No corrosion
 More compact & lighter
than copper wire
Disadvantages
 New types of optical signal
impairments & dispersion
 Polarization dependence
 Wavelength dependence
 Limited bend radius
 If physical arc of cable too
high, light lost or won‟t
reflect
 Will break
 Difficult to splice
 Mechanical vibration
becomes signal noise

100
50
10
5
1
0.5
0.1
0.05
0.01
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 Wavelength ( m)
Loss(dB/km)
Infrared absorption
Rayleigh scattering
Very Low Attenuation
850 nm
Low-cost LEDs
LANs
1300 nm
Metropolitan Area
Networks
“Short Haul”
1550 nm
Long Distance Networks
“Long Haul
Water Vapor Absorption
(removed in new fiber
designs)

100
50
10
5
1
0.5
0.1
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Loss(dB/km)
Huge Available Bandwidth
 Optical range from λ1 to
λ1 Δλ contains bandwidth
 Example: λ1 = 1450 nm
λ1 Δλ =1650 nm:
B = ≈ 19 THz
B = f1 – f2 = –
v
λ1 + Δλ
v
λ1
v Δλ
λ1
2
= ≈Δλ / λ1
1 + Δλ / λ1
v
λ1
2(108)m/s 200nm
(1450 nm)2

Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
 Different wavelengths carry separate signals
 Multiplex into shared optical fiber
 Each wavelength like a separate circuit
 A single fiber can carry 160 wavelengths, 10 Gbps
per wavelength: 1.6 Tbps!
1
2
m
optical
mux
1
2
m
optical
demux
1 2. m
optical
fiber

Coarse & Dense WDM
Coarse WDM
 Few wavelengths 4-8
with very wide spacing
 Low-cost, simple
Dense WDM
 Many tightly-packed
wavelengths
 ITU Grid: 0.8 nm
separation for 10Gbps
signals
 0.4 nm for 2.5 Gbps
1550
1560
1540

Regenerators & Optical Amplifiers
 The maximum span of an optical signal is determined by the
available power & the attenuation:
 Ex. If 30 dB power available,
 then at 1550 nm, optical signal attenuates at 0.25 dB/km,
 so max span = 30 dB/0.25 km/dB = 120 km
 Optical amplifiers amplify optical signal (no equalization, no
regeneration)
 Impairments in optical amplification limit maximum number of
optical amplifiers in a path
 Optical signal must be regenerated when this limit is reached
 Requires optical-to-electrical (O-to-E) signal conversion,
equalization, detection and retransmission (E-to-O)
 Expensive
 Severe problem with WDM systems

Regenerator
R R R R R R R R
DWDM
multiplexer
… …
R
R
R
R
…
R
R
R
R
…
R
R
R
R
…
R
R
R
R
…
DWDM & Regeneration
 Single signal per fiber requires 1 regenerator per span
 DWDM system carries many signals in one fiber
 At each span, a separate regenerator required per signal
 Very expensive

R
R
R
R
Optical
amplifier
… … …
R
R
R
R
OA OA OA OA… …
Optical Amplifiers
 Optical amplifiers can amplify the composite DWDM signal
without demuxing or O-to-E conversion
 Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs) boost DWDM signals
within 1530 to 1620 range
 Spans between regeneration points >1000 km
 Number of regenerators can be reduced dramatically
 Dramatic reduction in cost of long-distance communications

Radio Transmission
 Radio signals: antenna transmits sinusoidal signal
(“carrier”) that radiates in air/space
 Information embedded in carrier signal using
modulation, e.g. QAM
 Communications without tethering
 Cellular phones, satellite transmissions, Wireless LANs
 Multipath propagation causes fading
 Interference from other users
 Spectrum regulated by national & international
regulatory organizations

104 106
107 108
109 1010 1011 1012
Frequency (Hz)
Wavelength (meters)
103 102
101 1 10-1
10-2 10-3
105
Satellite and terrestrial
microwave
AM radio
FM radio and TV
LF MF HF VHF UHF SHF EHF
10
4
Cellular
and PCS
Wireless cable
Radio Spectrum
Omni-directional applications Point-to-Point applications

Examples
Cellular Phone
 Allocated spectrum
 First generation:
 800, 900 MHz
 Initially analog voice
 Second generation:
 1800-1900 MHz
 Digital voice, messaging
Wireless LAN
 Unlicenced ISM spectrum
 Industrial, Scientific, Medical
 902-928 MHz, 2.400-2.4835
GHz, 5.725-5.850 GHz
 IEEE 802.11 LAN standard
 11-54 Mbps
Point-to-Multipoint Systems
 Directional antennas at
microwave frequencies
 High-speed digital
communications between sites
 High-speed Internet Access
Radio backbone links for rural
areas
Satellite Communications
 Geostationary satellite @ 36000
km above equator
 Relays microwave signals from
uplink frequency to downlink
frequency
 Long distance telephone
 Satellite TV broadcast

Fundamentals
Error Detection and Correction

Error Control
 Digital transmission systems introduce errors
 Applications require certain reliability level
 Data applications require error-free transfer
 Voice & video applications tolerate some errors
 Error control used when transmission system does
not meet application requirement
 Error control ensures a data stream is transmitted to
a certain level of accuracy despite errors
 Two basic approaches:
 Error detection & retransmission (ARQ)
 Forward error correction (FEC)

Key Idea
 All transmitted data blocks (“codewords”) satisfy a
pattern
 If received block doesn‟t satisfy pattern, it is in error
 Redundancy: Only a subset of all possible blocks
can be codewords
 Blindspot: when channel transforms a codeword
into another codeword
ChannelEncoderUser
information
Pattern
checking
All inputs to channel
satisfy pattern or condition
Channel
output
Deliver user
information or
set error alarm

Single Parity Check
 Append an overall parity check to k information bits
Info Bits: b1, b2, b3, …, bk
Check Bit: bk+1= b1+ b2+ b3+ …+ bk modulo 2
Codeword: (b1, b2, b3, …, bk,, bk+!)
 All codewords have even # of 1s
 Receiver checks to see if # of 1s is even
 All error patterns that change an odd # of bits are
detectable
 All even-numbered patterns are undetectable
 Parity bit used in ASCII code

Example of Single Parity Code
 Information (7 bits): (0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0)
 Parity Bit: b8 = 0 + 1 +0 + 1 +1 + 0 = 1
 Codeword (8 bits): (0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1)
 If single error in bit 3 : (0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1)
 # of 1‟s =5, odd
 Error detected
 If errors in bits 3 and 5: (0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1)
 # of 1‟s =4, even
 Error not detected

Checkbits & Error Detection
Calculate
check bits
Channel
Recalculate
check bits
Compare
Information bits Received information bits
Sent
check
bits
Information
accepted if
check bits
match
Received
check bits
k bits
n – k bits

How good is the single parity
check code?
 Redundancy: Single parity check code adds 1
redundant bit per k information bits:
overhead = 1/(k + 1)
 Coverage: all error patterns with odd # of errors can
be detected
 An error patten is a binary (k + 1)-tuple with 1s where
errors occur and 0‟s elsewhere
 Of 2k+1 binary (k + 1)-tuples, ½ are odd, so 50% of error
patterns can be detected
 Is it possible to detect more errors if we add more
check bits?
 Yes, with the right codes

What if bit errors are random?
 Many transmission channels introduce bit errors at random,
independently of each other, and with probability p
 Some error patterns are more probable than others:
 In any worthwhile channel p < 0.5, and so p/(1 – p) < 1
 It follows that patterns with 1 error are more likely than patterns
with 2 errors and so forth
 What is the probability that an undetectable error pattern
occurs?
P[10000000] = p(1 – p)7 and
P[11000000] = p2(1 – p)6

Single parity check code with
random bit errors
 Undetectable error pattern if even # of bit errors:
 Example: Evaluate above for n = 32, p = 10-3
 For this example, roughly 1 in 2000 error patterns is
undetectable
P[error detection failure] = P[undetectable error pattern]
= P[error patterns with even number of 1s]
= p2(1 – p)n-2 + p4(1 – p)n-4 + …
n
2
n
4
P[undetectable error] = (10-3)2 (1 – 10-3)30 + (10-3)4 (1 – 10-3)28
≈ 496 (10-6) + 35960 (10-12) ≈ 4.96 (10-4)
32
2
32
4

x = codewords
o = noncodewords
x
x x
x
x
x
x
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
x
x x
x
x
x
x
o
o
oo
o
ooo
o
o
o Poor
distance
properties
What is a good code?
 Many channels have
preference for error patterns
that have fewer # of errors
 These error patterns map
transmitted codeword to
nearby n-tuple
 If codewords close to each
other then detection failures
will occur
 Good codes should
maximize separation
between codewords
Good
distance
properties

Two-Dimensional Parity Check
1 0 0 1 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
1 1 0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 1 1
Bottom row consists of
check bit for each column
Last column consists
of check bits for each
row
 More parity bits to improve coverage
 Arrange information as columns
 Add single parity bit to each column
 Add a final “parity” column
 Used in early error control systems

1 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 1 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
1 0 0 0 1 0
1 0 0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
1 0 0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 1 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
1 0 0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
1 1 0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 1 1
Arrows indicate failed check bits
Two errorsOne error
Three
errors Four errors
(undetectable)
Error-detecting capability
1, 2, or 3 errors
can always be
detected; Not all
patterns >4 errors
can be detected

Other Error Detection Codes
 Many applications require very low error rate
 Need codes that detect the vast majority of errors
 Single parity check codes do not detect enough
errors
 Two-dimensional codes require too many check bits
 The following error detecting codes used in practice:
 Internet Check Sums
 CRC Polynomial Codes

Internet Checksum
 Several Internet protocols (e.g. IP, TCP, UDP) use
check bits to detect errors in the IP header (or in the
header and data for TCP/UDP)
 A checksum is calculated for header contents and
included in a special field.
 Checksum recalculated at every router, so algorithm
selected for ease of implementation in software
 Let header consist of L, 16-bit words,
b0, b1, b2, ..., bL-1
 The algorithm appends a 16-bit checksum bL

The checksum bL is calculated as follows:
 Treating each 16-bit word as an integer, find
x = b0 + b1 + b2+ ...+ bL-1 modulo 216-1
 The checksum is then given by:
bL = - x modulo 216-1
Thus, the headers must satisfy the following pattern:
0 = b0 + b1 + b2+ ...+ bL-1 + bL modulo 216-1
 The checksum calculation is carried out in software
using one‟s complement arithmetic
Checksum Calculation

Internet Checksum Example
Use Modulo Arithmetic
 Assume 4-bit words
 Use mod 24-1 arithmetic
 b0=1100 = 12
 b1=1010 = 10
 b0+b1=12+10=7 mod15
 b2 = -7 = 8 mod15
 Therefore
 b2=1000
Use Binary Arithmetic
 Note 16 =1 mod15
 So: 10000 = 0001 mod15
 leading bit wraps around
b0 + b1 = 1100+1010
=10110
=0111 (1s complement)
=7
Take 1s complement
b2 = -0111 =1000

Polynomial Codes
 Polynomials instead of vectors for codewords
 Polynomial arithmetic instead of check sums
 Implemented using shift-register circuits
 Also called cyclic redundancy check (CRC)
codes
 Most data communications standards use
polynomial codes for error detection
 Polynomial codes also basis for powerful
error-correction methods

Addition:
Multiplication:
Binary Polynomial Arithmetic
 Binary vectors map to polynomials
(ik-1 , ik-2 ,…, i2 , i1 , i0)  ik-1xk-1 + ik-2xk-2 + … + i2x2 + i1x + i0
(x7 + x6 + 1) + (x6 + x5) = x7 + x6 + x6 + x5 + 1
= x7 +(1+1)x6 + x5 + 1
= x7 +x5 + 1 since 1+1=0 mod2
(x + 1) (x2 + x + 1) = x(x2 + x + 1) + 1(x2 + x + 1)
= x3 + x2 + x) + (x2 + x + 1)
= x3 + 1

Binary Polynomial Division
 Division with Decimal Numbers
32
35 ) 1222
3
105
17 2
4
140
divisor
quotient
remainder
dividend
1222 = 34 x 35 + 32
dividend = quotient x divisor +remainder
 Polynomial
Division x3 + x + 1 ) x6 + x5
x6 + x4 + x3
x5 + x4 + x3
x5 + x3 + x2
x4 + x2
x4 + x2 + x
x
= q(x) quotient
= r(x) remainder
divisor
dividend
+ x+ x2x3
Note: Degree of r(x) is less than
degree of divisor

Polynomial Coding
 Code has binary generating polynomial of degree n–k
 k information bits define polynomial of degree k – 1
 Find remainder polynomial of at most degree n – k – 1
g(x) ) xn-k i(x)
q(x)
r(x)
xn-ki(x) = q(x)g(x) + r(x)
 Define the codeword polynomial of degree n – 1
b(x) = xn-ki(x) + r(x)
n bits k bits n-k bits
g(x) = xn-k + gn-k-1xn-k-1 + … + g2x2 + g1x + 1
i(x) = ik-1xk-1 + ik-2xk-2 + … + i2x2 + i1x + i0

Transmitted codeword:
b(x) = x6 + x5 + x
b = (1,1,0,0,0,1,0)
1011 ) 1100000
1110
1011
1110
1011
1010
1011
010
x3 + x + 1 ) x6 + x5
x3 + x2 + x
x6 + x4 + x3
x5 + x4 + x3
x5 + x3 + x2
x4 + x2
x4 + x2 + x
x
Polynomial example: k = 4, n–k = 3
Generator polynomial: g(x)= x3 + x + 1
Information: (1,1,0,0) i(x) = x3 + x2
Encoding: x3i(x) = x6 + x5

The Pattern in Polynomial Coding
 All codewords satisfy the following pattern:
 All codewords are a multiple of g(x)!
 Receiver should divide received n-tuple by g(x) and
check if remainder is zero
 If remainder is nonzero, then received n-tuple is not a
codeword
b(x) = xn-ki(x) + r(x) = q(x)g(x) + r(x) + r(x) = q(x)g(x)

Shift-Register Implementation
1. Accept information bits ik-1,ik-2,…,i2,i1,i0
2. Append n – k zeros to information bits
3. Feed sequence to shift-register circuit that
performs polynomial division
4. After n shifts, the shift register contains the
remainder

Clock Input Reg 0 Reg 1 Reg 2
0 - 0 0 0
1 1 = i3 1 0 0
2 1 = i2 1 1 0
3 0 = i1 0 1 1
4 0 = i0 1 1 1
5 0 1 0 1
6 0 1 0 0
7 0 0 1 0
Check bits: r0 = 0 r1 = 1 r2 = 0
r(x) = x
Division Circuit
Reg 0 ++
Encoder for g(x) = x3 + x + 1
Reg 1 Reg 2
0,0,0,i0,i1,i2,i3
g0 = 1 g1 = 1 g3 = 1

Undetectable error patterns
 e(x) has 1s in error locations & 0s elsewhere
 Receiver divides the received polynomial R(x) by g(x)
 Blindspot: If e(x) is a multiple of g(x), that is, e(x) is a
nonzero codeword, then
R(x) = b(x) + e(x) = q(x)g(x) + q’(x)g(x)
 The set of undetectable error polynomials is the set of
nonzero code polynomials
 Choose the generator polynomial so that selected
error patterns can be detected.
b(x)
e(x)
R(x)=b(x)+e(x)+
(Receiver)(Transmitter)
Error polynomial(Channel)

Designing good polynomial codes
 Select generator polynomial so that likely error
patterns are not multiples of g(x)
 Detecting Single Errors
 e(x) = xi for error in location i + 1
 If g(x) has more than 1 term, it cannot divide xi
 Detecting Double Errors
 e(x) = xi + xj = xi(xj-i+1) where j>i
 If g(x) is a primitive polynomial, it cannot divide xm+1 for all
m<2n-k-1 (Need to keep codeword length less than 2n-k-1)
 Primitive polynomials can be found by consulting coding
theory books

Designing good polynomial codes
 Detecting Odd Numbers of Errors
 Suppose all codeword polynomials have an even
# of 1s, then all odd numbers of errors can be
detected
 As well, b(x) evaluated at x = 1 is zero because
b(x) has an even number of 1s
 This implies x + 1 must be a factor of all b(x)
 Pick g(x) = (x + 1) p(x) where p(x) is primitive

Standard Generator Polynomials
 CRC-8:
 CRC-16:
 CCITT-16:
 CCITT-32:
CRC = cyclic redundancy check
HDLC, XMODEM, V.41
IEEE 802, DoD, V.42
Bisync
ATM= x8 + x2 + x + 1
= x16 + x15 + x2 + 1
= (x + 1)(x15 + x + 1)
= x16 + x12 + x5 + 1
= x32 + x26 + x23 + x22 + x16 + x12 + x11 + x10 + x8 + x7 + x5 + x4 + x2 + x + 1

Hamming Codes
 Class of error-correcting codes
 Capable of correcting all single-error patterns
 For each m > 2, there is a Hamming code of length
n = 2m – 1 with n – k = m parity check bits
m n = 2m–1 k = n–m m/n
3 7 4 3/7
4 15 11 4/15
5 31 26 5/31
6 63 57 6/63
Redundancy

m = 3 Hamming Code
 Information bits are b1, b2, b3, b4
 Equations for parity checks b5, b6, b7
 There are 24 = 16 codewords
 (0,0,0,0,0,0,0) is a codeword
b5 = b1 + b3 + b4
b6 = b1 + b2 + b4
b7 = + b2 + b3 + b4

Hamming (7,4) code
Information Codeword Weight
b1 b2 b3 b4 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 w(b)
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 4
0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 3
0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 3
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 3
0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 3
0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 4
0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 4
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3
1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 3
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 4
1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 4
1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 4
1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 4
1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7

Parity Check Equations
 Rearrange parity check equations:
 All codewords must
satisfy these
equations
 Note: each nonzero
3-tuple appears once
as a column in check
matrix H
 In matrix form:
0 = b5 + b5 = b1 + b3 + b4 + b5
0 = b6 + b6 = b1 + b2 + b4 + b6
0 = b7 + b7 = + b2 + b3 + b4 + b7
b1
b2
0 = 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 b3
0 = 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 b4 = H bt = 0
0 = 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 b5
b6
b7

0
0
1
0
0
0
0
s = H e = =
1
0
1
Single error detected
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
s = H e = = + =
0
1
1
Double error detected
1
0
0
1 0 1 1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1 0 1 0
0 1 1 1 0 0 1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
s = H e = = + + = 0
1
1
0
Triple error not
detected
0
1
1
1
0
1
1 0 1 1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1 0 1 0
0 1 1 1 0 0 1
1 0 1 1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1 0 1 0
0 1 1 1 0 0 1
1
1
1
Error Detection with Hamming
Code

Minimum distance of Hamming
Code
 Previous slide shows that undetectable error pattern
must have 3 or more bits
 At least 3 bits must be changed to convert one codeword
into another codeword
b1 b2
o o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Set of n-
tuples
within
distance 1
of b1
Set of n-
tuples
within
distance 1
of b2
 Spheres of distance 1 around each codeword do not
overlap
 If a single error occurs, the resulting n-tuple will be in a
unique sphere around the original codeword
Distance 3

General Hamming Codes
 For m > 2, the Hamming code is obtained
through the check matrix H:
 Each nonzero m-tuple appears once as a column
of H
 The resulting code corrects all single errors
 For each value of m, there is a polynomial
code with g(x) of degree m that is equivalent
to a Hamming code and corrects all single
errors
 For m = 3, g(x) = x3+x+1

Error-correction using Hamming
Codes
 The receiver first calculates the syndrome:
s = HR = H (b + e) = Hb + He = He
 If s = 0, then the receiver accepts R as the transmitted
codeword
 If s is nonzero, then an error is detected
 Hamming decoder assumes a single error has occurred
 Each single-bit error pattern has a unique syndrome
 The receiver matches the syndrome to a single-bit error
pattern and corrects the appropriate bit
b
e
R+ (Receiver)(Transmitter)
Error pattern

Performance of Hamming Error-
Correcting Code
 Assume bit errors occur independent of each other
and with probability p
s = H R = He
s = 0 s = 0
No errors in
transmission
Undetectable
errors
Correctable
errors
Uncorrectable
errors
(1–p)7
7p3
1–3p 3p
7p
7p(1–3p) 21p2

Chapter 3
Fundamentals
RS-232 Asynchronous Data
Transmission

Recommended Standard (RS) 232
 Serial line interface between computer and
modem or similar device
 Data Terminal Equipment (DTE): computer
 Data Communications Equipment (DCE):
modem
 Mechanical and Electrical specification

DTE DCE
Protective Ground (PGND)
Transmit Data (TXD)
Receive Data (RXD)
Request to Send (RTS)
Clear to Send (CTS)
Data Set Ready (DSR)
Ground (G)
Carrier Detect (CD)
Data Terminal Ready (DTR)
Ring Indicator (RI)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
20
22
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
20
22
(b)
13
(a)
1
2514
Pins in RS-232 connector

Synchronization
 Synchronization of
clocks in transmitters
and receivers.
 clock drift causes a loss
of synchronization
 Example: assume „1‟
and „0‟ are represented
by V volts and 0 volts
respectively
 Correct reception
 Incorrect reception due
to incorrect clock (slower
clock)
Clock
Data
S
T
1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
Clock
Data
S‟
T
1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

Synchronization (cont’d)
 Incorrect reception (faster clock)
 How to avoid a loss of synchronization?
 Asynchronous transmission
 Synchronous transmission
Clock
Data
S‟
T
1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

Asynchronous Transmission
 Avoids synchronization loss by specifying a short maximum
length for the bit sequences and resetting the clock in the
beginning of each bit sequence.
 Accuracy of the clock?
Start
bit
Stop
bit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Data bits
Line
idle
3T/2 T T T T T T T
Receiver samples the bits

Synchronous Transmission
Voltage
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
time
 Sequence contains data + clock information (line coding)
 i.e. Manchester encoding, self-synchronizing codes, is used.
 R transition for R bits per second transmission
 R transition contains a sine wave with R Hz.
 R Hz sine wave is used to synch receiver clock to the
transmitter‟s clock using PLL (phase-lock loop)

3. digital transmission fundamentals

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3. digital transmission fundamentals