Physical Layer:

Data and Signals

Data Communications (CT423)

Lecturer: Luong Vinh Quoc Danh, Ph.D

Faculty of Electronics and Communications
College of Engineering, Can Tho University

Source: Chaiporn Jaikaeo, Kasetsart University 1

 Outline
 Analog and digital data/signals
 Time and frequency domain views of signals
 Bandwidth and bit rate
 Transmitting digital signals as analog
 Theoretical data rate
 Signal impairment

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 Analog vs. Digital Data
 Analog data
 Data take on continuous values
 E.g., human voice, temperature reading
 Digital data
 Data take on discrete values
 E.g., text, integers

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 Analog vs. Digital Signals
To be transmitted, data must be
transformed to electromagnetic signals
value
 Analog signals
 have an infinite number of
values in a range time

 Digital signals value

 Have a limited number of

values
time

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 Data and Signals

Analog Data Analog Signal

Telephone

Digital Data Analog Signal

Modem

Analog Data Digital Signal

Codec

Digital Data Digital Signal

Digital
transmitter

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 Periodic Signals
 A periodic signal completes a pattern
within a timeframe, called a period
 A signal x(t) is periodic if and only if

x(t) = x(t+T) - < t < 

value
period

time

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 Sine Waves
 Simplest form of periodic signal
signal strength

period
T = 1/f
peak
amplitude

time

 General form: x(t) = A×sin(2ft + )

phase / phase shift

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 Sine Waves
Example: The period of a signal is 100 ms. What is its
frequency in kilohertz?

Solution
First we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we
calculate the frequency from the period (1 Hz = 10−3
kHz).

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 Sine Waves
Three sine waves with the same amplitude & frequency, but different phases

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 Sine Waves

Example: A sine wave is offset 1/6 cycle with respect to

time 0. What is its phase in degrees and radians?

Solution
We know that 1 complete cycle is 360°. Therefore, 1/6
cycle is

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 Varying Sine Waves

A = 1, f = 1,  = 0 A = 2, f = 1,  = 0

A = 1, f = 2,  = 0 A = 1, f = 1,  = /4

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 Time vs. Frequency Domains
 Consider the signal

+ =

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 Time vs. Frequency Domains

signal strength signal strength

1 1

0 0
2 4 time 2 4 frequency

-1 -1

Time Domain Representation Frequency Domain Representation

 plots amplitude as a function  plots each sine wave’s peak
of time amplitude against its frequency

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 Time vs. Frequency Domains
The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

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Example:
Graphic
Equalizer

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 Fourier Analysis
 Any periodic signal can be represented
as a sum of sinusoids Joseph Fourier
(1768-1830)
 known as a Fourier Series
 E.g., a square wave:

+ + + +…

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 Fourier Analysis
 Every periodic signal consists of
 DC component
 AC components
 Fundamental frequency (f0)
 Harmonics (multiples of f0)

fundamental 3rd harmonic 5th harmonic

frequency

DC component

AC components

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Fourier Series: Representations
 Amplitude-phase form

 Sine-cosine form

 Complex exponential form (Euler formula)

Note:
cn are complex
j = -1
eix = cos x + j sin x
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 Fourier Series: Representation
 Sine-cosine representation

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 Fourier Series: Representation
 Amplitude-phase representation

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 Fourier Series: Representation
 Euler formula representation

 Note the Euler's Formula:

eix = cos x + i sin x

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 Non-periodic Signals
 Consider a pulse train of period T, and the
width of each pulse is 

x(t)
T

-/2 /2 t

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Non-periodic Signals
x(t) X(f)

T t f0 f

x(t) X(f)

T t f0 f

x(t) X(f)

T= t f

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The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

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 Frequency Spectrum
 Frequency domain representation shows
the frequency spectrum of a signal
 E.g., square wave

...
0 0 f0 3f0 5f0 7f0 9f0 11f0

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 Frequency Spectrum

A ‘C’ sound (male voice)

A ‘X’ sound (male voice) 26

 Bandwidth
 A property of a medium
 Indicates the difference between the highest and the
lowest frequencies allowed to pass
 <highest freq allowed> – <lowest freq allowed>

Cutoff frequency
(half of power is lost)

 Also a property of a single spectrum

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 Bandwidth of a Medium
gain (low-pass channel)
1

freq

...
Transmission medium
0 f0 3f0 5f0 7f0 9f0 f 0 f0 3f0 5f0 f

t t

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 Example
 What is the bandwidth of this signal?

 A medium can pass frequencies from 4000

to 7000 Hz. Can the above signal pass
through?

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 Example
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.
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the
bandwidth. Then

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 Digital Signals
 Properties:
 Bit rate – number of bits per second
 Bit interval – duration of 1 bit
amplitude
1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0

...

time
bit interval

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 Bit rate: Example

Example: Assume we need to download text documents

at the rate of 100 pages per minute. What is the required
bit rate of the channel?

Solution
A page is an average of 24 lines with 80 characters in
each line. If we assume that one character requires 8
bits, the bit rate is

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Bit rate: Example

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Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels

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The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic
digital signals

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Baseband transmission

 Baseband transmission
 Sending a digital signal over a channel without
changing it to an analog signal

 Baseband transmission requires a low-pass

channel

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Note

A digital signal is a composite analog

signal with an infinite bandwidth.

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Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium
(where the entire bandwidth of the medium is used as one single channel)

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In a low-pass channel with limited bandwidth, we approximate the digital
signal with an analog signal. The level of approximation depends on the
bandwidth available.

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 Low-pass channel with limited bandwidth

 We need a channel that can handle frequencies 0, N/4, and N/2.

This rough approximation is referred to as using the first harmonic
(N/2) frequency. The required bandwidth is

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 To make the shape of the analog signal look more like that of a digital
signal, we need to add more harmonics of the frequencies. We need to increase
the bandwidth. We can increase the bandwidth to 3N/2, 5N/2, 7N/2, and so on.

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 Using one harmonic
Digital Analog

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 sec

Bit rate = 6 f=0

Digital Analog

1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

Bit rate = 6 f=3

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 Using more harmonics
 Adding 3rd harmonic to improve quality

Digital Analog

1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

Bit rate = 6 f0 = 3, fmax = 9

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Table 3.2 Bandwidth requirements

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Example 3.22: What is the required bandwidth of a low-pass channel if
we need to send 1 Mbps by using baseband transmission?

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 Digital vs. Analog Bandwidth
 Digital bandwidth
 Expressed in bits per second (bps)
 Analog bandwidth
 Expressed in Hertz (Hz)

Bit rate and bandwidth are proportional to each other

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Low-Pass and Band-Pass Channels
 Low-pass channel
gain

f1 frequency

 Band-pass channel
gain

f1 f2 frequency

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Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass channel

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Transmission Impairment

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 Signal Attenuation
 Attenuation  Loss of energy
 Signal strength falls off with distance

Transmission medium

 Attenuation depends on medium

 Attenuation is an increasing function of
frequency

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 Relative Signal Strength
 Measured in Decibel (dB)
dB = 10 log10 (P2/P1)

 P1 and P2 are signal powers at points 1 and 2,

respectively
Point 1 Point 2

 Positive dB  signal is amplified (gains strength)

 Negative dB  signal is attenuated (loses strength)

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 Example

Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power

in milliwatts. In this case, it is referred to as dBm and is
calculated as dBm = 10 log10 PmW , where Pm is the
power in milliwatts. Calculate the power of a signal with
dBm = −30.

Solution
We can calculate the power in the signal as

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 Example

The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per

kilometer (dB/km). If the signal at the beginning of a
cable with −0.3 dB/km has a power of 2 mW, what is the
power of the signal at 5 km?
Solution
The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) = −1.5 dB.
We can calculate the power as

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Example

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 Signal Distortion
 Distortion  Change in signal shape
 Only happens in guided media
 Propagation velocity varies with frequency

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 Noise
 Noise  Undesirable signals added
between the transmitter and the receiver

 Types of noise
 Thermal
 Due to random motion of electrons in a wire

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 Noise
 Types of noise (cont’d)
 Crosstalk
 Signal from one line picked up by another

Wire 1

Wire 2

 Impulse
 Irregular pulses or spikes
 E.g., lightning

 Short duration
 High amplitude

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 Signal-to-Noise Ratio
 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

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 Example

The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the

noise is 1 μW; what are the values of SNR and SNRdB ?

Solution
The values of SNR and SNRdB can be calculated as
follows:

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 Data Rate: Noiseless Channels
 Nyquist Theorem

Bit Rate = 2 × Bandwidth × log2L

Harry Nyquist
(1889-1976)
 Bit rate in bps
 Bandwidth in Hz
 L – number of signal levels

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Example

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 Example

We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with

a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal levels do we
need?
Solution
We can use the Nyquist formula as shown:

Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either

increase the number of levels or reduce the bit rate. If we
have 128 levels, the bit rate is 280 kbps. If we have 64
levels, the bit rate is 240 kbps.
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 Data Rate: Noisy Channels
 Shannon Capacity
Capacity = Bandwidth × log2(1+SNR)

 Capacity (maximum bit rate) in bps

 Bandwidth in Hz
Claude Elwood Shannon
 SNR – Signal-to-Noise Ratio (1916-2001)

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 Example

A telephone line normally has a bandwidth of 3000. The

signal-to-noise ratio is usually 3162. Calculate the
theoretical highest bit rate of a regular telephone line.

This means that the highest bit rate for a telephone line
is 34.860 kbps. If we want to send data faster than this,
we can either increase the bandwidth of the line or
improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
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 Example

We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR

for this channel is 63. What are the appropriate bit rate
and signal level?

Solution
First, use the Shannon capacity

followed by the Nyquist formula

 The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, the upper limit. For

better performance we choose something lower, 4 Mbps.
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Note

The Shannon capacity gives us the

upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us
how many signal levels we need.

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 Network Performance
 Bandwidth
 Hertz
 Bits per second (bps)
 Throughput
 Actual data rate
 Bandwidth is a potential measurement of a link;
Throughput is an actual measurement of how fast we
can send data.
 Latency (delay)
 Time it takes for an entire message to
completely arrive at the destination
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 Throughput
Example: A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can
pass only an average of 12,000 frames per minute with
each frame carrying an average of 10,000 bits. What is
the throughput of this network?

Solution
We can calculate the throughput as

The throughput is almost one-fifth of the bandwidth in

this case.
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 Latency
 Composed of
 Propagation time
 Transmission time
 Queuing time
 Processing time
Entire
message

propagation
time

transmission
time
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 Latency
Sender Receiver

First bit leaves

Propagation time
First bit arrives

Data bits
Last bit leaves Transmission time

Last bit arrives

Time Time
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Example

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 Example
What are the propagation time and the transmission time for a
2.5-kbyte message (an e-mail) if the bandwidth of the network is 1
Gbps? Assume that the distance between the sender and the
receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Solution

Note that in this case, because the message is short and the
bandwidth is high, the dominant factor is the propagation time,
not the transmission time. The transmission time can be ignored.
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 Bandwidth-Delay Product
 The link is seen as a pipe
 Cross section = bandwidth
 Length = delay
 Bandwidth-delay product defines the
number of bits that can fill the link

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Figure Filling the link with bits for case 1

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Data is sent in bursts and sender needs to wait for the acknowledgment of
each burst before sending the next one. To use the maximum capability of
the link, we need to send a burst of data of (2 × bandwidth × delay) bits.
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 Summary
 Data need to take form of signal to be
transmitted
 Frequency domain representation of signal
allows easier analysis
 Fourier analysis
 Medium's bandwidth limits certain
frequencies to pass
 Bit rate is proportional to bandwidth
 Signals get impaired by attenuation,
distortion, and noise

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