IT209

Data and Signals

Winter 2010

M.Sudha
VIT University-Vellore India

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„ Topics:
• Analog and digital signal
• Bandwidth of a signal
• Transmission of digital signal
„ Baseband transmission
• Low-pass channel with wide bandwidth
• Low-pass channel with limited bandwidth
„ Broadband transmission
• Data rate limits
„ Noiseless Channel: Nyquist bit rate
„ Noisy Channel: Shannon capacity

• Performance
„ Bandwidth, throughput, delay
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 3.1 Analog and Digital
Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital signals

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 3.2 Periodic Analog Signals
„ Sine Wave
A sine wave
• S(t) =A*sin(2πft + θ )
• Peak Amplitude (A)
• Period/Frequency (f)
• Phase (θ )
„ Examples
From Figure 3.2 of Data Communications
• S(t) = 5 sin(2π4000t + 0)
and Networking by Forouzan, 4th
• S(t) = 10sin(2π8000t + 0)
• S(t) = 5 sin(2π2000t + π/4)

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 3.2 Periodic Analog Signals (cont.)
„ Time and Frequency Domains
• Time Domain Plot
• Frequency Domain
Plot

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 3.2 Periodic Analog Signals (cont.)
„ Composite Signals
• A combination of many sine
waves with different
frequencies, amplitudes,
and phases
„ Fourier Analysis
s(t) = A1sin(2πf1 +θ1) +
A2sin(2πf2 +θ2) + From Figure 3.9 of Data
A3sin(2πf3 +θ3) + … Communications and Networking by
Forouzan, 4th

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 3.2 Periodic Analog Signals
„ For a periodic composite signal
• The decomposition gives a series of signals with
discrete frequencies
„ For a nonperiodic composite signal
• The decomposition gives a combination of sine
waves with continuous frequencies
„ Bandwidth of a composite signal
• The difference between the highest and the lowest
frequencies contained in that signal

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Figure 3.10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and
frequency domains

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Figure 3.11 The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

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Figure 3.12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

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 Example 3.10

If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves

with frequencies of 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz,
what is its bandwidth? Draw the spectrum, assuming
all components have a maximum amplitude of 10 V.

Example 3.11

A periodic signal has a bandwidth of 20 Hz. The

highest frequency is 60 Hz. What is the lowest
frequency? Draw the spectrum if the signal contains
all frequencies of the same amplitude.
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 3.3 Digital Signals

Two digital signals: one

with two signal levels
and the other with four
signal leve ɠ

From Figure 3.16 of Data

Communications and
Networking by Forouzan,
4th

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 3.3 Digital Signals
In general, if a signal has L levels, each level needs log2L bits.

Example:
1) A digital signal has eight levels. How
many bits are needed per level? We
calculate the number of bits from the
formula

2) A digital signal has nine levels. How

many bits are needed per level?
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 3.3 Digital Signals
„ Bit Rate – number of bits sent in 1s, bps
„ Digital Signal
• A composite signal having an infinite number
of frequencies or harmonics
• Bandwidth (∞)
• Periodic digital signal – discrete frequencies
• Nonperiodic digital signal – continuous
frequencies

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 Example 3.19

A digitized voice channel, as we will see in Chapter 4,

is made by digitizing a 4-kHz bandwidth analog voice
signal. We need to sample the signal at twice the
highest frequency (two samples per hertz). We assume
that each sample requires 8 bits. What is the required
bit rate?

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The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic digital signals

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 3.3 Digital Signals (cont.)

„ Transmission of Digital Signals

• A digital signal is a composite analog signal
with an infinite bandwidth.
• Baseband Transmission – low-pass channel

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Bandwidths of two low-pass channels

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Case 1: Low-Pass Channel with Wide Bandwidth

Baseband transmission of a digital signal that preserves the

shape of the digital signal is possible only if we have a low-pass
Channel with an infinite or very wide bandwidth.
• Example: dedicated links in LAN
Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium

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Case 2: Low-Pass Channel with Limited Bandwidth
Rough approximation of a digital signal using the first harmonic
for worst case – Required bandwidth = N/2 – 0 = N/2

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Simulating a digital signal with first three harmonics

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In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is
proportional to the bit rates; if we need to send bits
faster, we need more bandwidth.

Bandwidth Requirements

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Example:
What is the required bandwidth of a low-pass
channel if we need to send 1 Mbps by using
baseband transmission?

Solution
The answer depends on the accuracy desired.
a. The minimum bandwidth, is B = bit rate /2, or
500 kHz.

b. A better solution is to use the first and the third

harmonics with B = 3 × 500 kHz = 1.5 MHz.

c. Still a better solution is to use the first, third,

and fifth harmonics with B = 5 × 500 kHz = 2.5
MHz.

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 3.3 Digital Signals (cont.)
„ Transmission of Digital Signals
• Broadband Transmission (using modulation) – bandpass
channel
• Bandpass channel – a channel with a bandwidth that
does not start from zero.
Bandwidth of a bandpass channel

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 3.3 Digital Signals (cont.)
„ Transmission of Digital Signals
• Broadband Transmission (using modulation) – bandpass
channel
„ Bandpass channel is more available than a low-pass channel
„ Digital signal can not be directly sent by bandpass channel.
„ Digital signal needs to be changed to an analog signal before
transmission using bandpass channel - modulation.

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Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass channel

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