CHAPTER 4: PULSE CODE MODULATION (PCM)

TXN SYSTEM USING PCM

Chapter 4 / Pulse Code Modulation

INTRODUCTION
PCM means modulating a signal by converting it into pulses and then coding them. PCM modifies the pulses created by PAM to create a completely digital signal. To do so, PCM first quantizes the PAM pulses. Quantization is a method of assigning integral values in a specific range to sampled instances or process of assigning each actual sample height to its nearest numbered level. Advantages: TDM possible, Less corruptible and easily processed. Disadvantages: much larger bandwidth and does not degrade gracefully
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PCM SIGNAL
PCM is different from PAM, PWM or PPM because PCM signal is sent to the transmission line in binary code. PCM signal consists of digital coded that represents the amplitude of modulating signal. The original analogue baseband is first sampled using a sample-and-hold method. Then the signal is applied to an analogue-to-digital conversion circuit which converts each sample height to the nearest sequential binary number using the two processes of quantization and encoding carried together. The binary digits are then transform into a digital signal using one of the digitalto-digital encoding technique. PCM is actually made up of four separate processes:
Sampling (PAM) Quantization Binary encoding Digital-to-digital encoding
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OBTAINING A PCM SIGNAL

Chapter 4 / Pulse Code Modulation

QUANTIZATION
Quantization is a process of converting the sampled signal (PAM signal) to a discrete form according to its level numbers. Quantization level, L will be determined by the number of bits that represented by each sample and it is given by: L ! 2 n where n ! number of bits/sample The whole possible range of sample heights will be divided into a number of voltage steps known as quantization interval. Saying that a modulating signal is in the range of (-Vp, Vp) and it can be divided into several step sizes, (V given by:
Vmax  Vmin V p  (V p ) 2V p V! ! ! n n L 2 2
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QUANTIZATION

Chapter 4 / Pulse Code Modulation

QUANTIZATION

Chapter 4 / Pulse Code Modulation

QUANTIZATION
The number of quantization levels are depending on their applications. For example:
Digital telephone Every samples represent by 8 bits where n=8 bits and L=256 levels Compact disk (CD) system Every samples represent by 16 bits where n=16 bits and L=65 536 levels

The higher the bits number, the better the recovered signal and the lower the quantization noise would be.

Chapter 4 / Pulse Code Modulation

ENCODING
Encoding is done after the quantization where each sample that has been quantized will be coded before they are sent as PCM signal. In a practical PCM, normally the number of bits per sample is 8 bits. There are two types of encoding technique that normally utilized in PCM which are binary code and gray code. Each sample that is represented by binary digits or gray digits will be sent continuously as PCM signal as example follow:

Finally, the binary digits are then transform into a digital signal using one of the digital-to-digital encoding technique.
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EXAMPLE
Figure show a simple method of assigning sign and magnitude values to quantized samples. Each value is translated into its seven bit binary equivalent. The eighth bit indicates the sign.

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QUANTIZATION NOISE
Quantization noise is the different between the original signal (input) and recovered signal (output). It is given by:
QN ! Quantized value - Sampled value

The maximum quantization noise is half of the quantization interval (step size). For example:
i) ii) V ! 5V @ QN max V ! 1V @ QN max 1 ! (5) ! 2.5V 2 1 ! (1) ! 0.5V 2

Therefore, the bigger the step size is the higher the noise that might occurs.
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EXAMPLE
A signal having an amplitude in the range of 0-4V and the sampled signals are shown in figure below. By using the binary code with n=2 bits, determine:
V 4

a) b) c) d) e)

The quantization interval Sampled value at each sampling time Quantized value at each sampling time Quantization noise at t2 and t5 The PCM signal in the bit string

0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t

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QUANTIZATION NOISE
The signal-to-noise ratio for quantization (SNR)Q can be found as:
( SNR ) Q ! Max. quantization signal power SQ ! Max. quantization noise power N Q

V2 Where, SQ ! 2R We know, QN max !

2

V 1 2V V ! n ! n 2 2 2 2

V n 2 2 V 2 n 2 ! 2 ! V x 1 @ NQ ! R 2R 22n 2R
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QUANTIZATION NOISE
Hence, the (SNR)Q is:
V 2 22n 2R ( SNR) Q ! x 2 x ! ! 22 n 1 NQ 2R V SQ In dB, ( SNR) Q ( dB ) ! 10 log 2 2 n ! 10( 2n) log 2 ! 20n log 2 ! 6.02n [dB]

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EXAMPLE
Determine the number of levels, L and SNR for quantization both in linear and decibel for n=8 bits and n=16 bits. Comment on the signal performance for both conditions.
For n ! 8 bits, i) L ! 28 ! 256 levels ii) ( SNR ) Q ! 2 2 n ! 2 2 (8) ! 216 ! 65536 iii) ( SNR )Q ( dB ) ! 10 log 65536 ! 48.16 dB ! 48.16 dB OR, ( SNR ) Q ( dB ) ! 6.02n ! 6.02(8) For n ! 16 bits, i) L ! 28 ! 65536 levels ii) ( SNR ) Q ! 2 2 n ! 2 2 (16) ! 232 ! 4.295 x 109 iii) ( SNR ) Q ( dB ) ! 10 log 4.295 x 109 ! 96.33 dB ! 96.33 dB OR, ( SNR )Q ( dB ) ! 6.02n ! 6.02(16)

The higher the bit numbers, the better the performance of the signal yielding to a higher SNR.
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PCM BANDWIDTH
After sampling, the minimum sampling frequency is f s ! 2 f max
Where fmax is the maximum baseband frequency.

After encoding, therefore the bit rate, f b ! nf s ! 2nf max is obtained. Since the bandwidth of a PCM signal is much larger than that of the original baseband and also larger than the corresponding PAM signal, thus bandwidth for PCM is equal to the bit rate obtained. It is given by:
BWPCM ! f b ! 2nf max

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EXAMPLE
For a digital telephone system, given that the baseband signal is 4 kHz and the number of bits used is 8 bits. Determine the bit rate and the maximum bandwidth if PCM scheme is used. Solution:
BWPCM ! f b ! 2nf max ! 2(8)(4k ) ! 64 kHz

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In PCM, the number of levels can be calculated ad below: No. of Levels, L = 2n where: n = number of bits per sample. Example: In PCM, calculate the number of levels if the number of bit Per sample is 32 as in compact disc video system. Solution: L = 2n = 232 = ? levels
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maximum quantization noise,

Quantization Interval

No. of bits for each sample, n = log2 L

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Example: A modulating signal Vm (t) is limited its frequency to 5 kHz and sampled at a rate of 20% lower than a minimum of Nyquist rate. The maximum quantization noise that can be accepted is 0.4% from the peak amplitude, Em of the signal. The quantized samples are then coded into binary digits. Calculate: a) The required sampling frequency, fs b) The quantization levels, L c) The number of bits for each sample, n d) The maximum bandwidth , BWPCM and bit rate, fb of the signal. e) The signal to noise ratio for quantization, SNRQ in dB. 21

EXAMPLE
One analogue signal with frequency of 4 kHz is limited to 0-8V of amplitude voltage. If the signal is modulated by using Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) with each sample is represented by 3 bits: a. Calculate the quantization level, L and its quantization interval, (V. b. Sketch and label completely the quantization levels of the signal. c. If given the bit string of the PCM signal as 001010100101101100011010010011, sketch the analogue signal on the quantization levels drawn in part (b). d. Determine the signal-to-noise ratio of the quantization, (SNR)Q in dB. e. Find the maximum bandwidth and bit rate of the PCM signal

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