Chapter 3

Data and Signals

3.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 CONTENTS

 Analog Signal
 Digital Signal
 Broadband & Baseband Transmission
 Transmission Impairments
2.2
 Note

To be transmitted, data must be

transformed to electromagnetic signals.

3.3
 Note

Data can be analog or digital.

Analog data are continuous and take
continuous values.
Digital data have discrete states and take
discrete values.

3.4
 3-0 ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNAL

Signal can be analog or digital. Analog signals can have

an infinite number of values in a range; digital signals
can have only a limited number of values.

Topics discussed in this section:

Periodic and Nonperiodic Signals

3.5
 Figure 3.1 Comparison of analog and digital signals

3.6
 Note

In data communications, we commonly

use periodic analog signals and
nonperiodic digital signals.

3.7
 Periodic and Non-Periodic

 Both analog and digital signals can be in two forms:

1. Periodic
2. Non-periodic
 Periodic signals consists of continuous repetitive pattern
within a time frame called period
 The completion of one full pattern is called cycle
 The amount of time(in seconds) required to complete
one full cycle is called period
 Non-periodic signals has no repetitive pattern
 Can be decomposed into infinite number of periodic
signals

3.8
 Periodic Signal

3.9
 Non-Periodic/Aperiodic Signal

3.10
 3-1 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or

composite. A simple periodic analog signal, a sine wave,
cannot be decomposed into simpler signals. A composite
periodic analog signal is composed of multiple sine
waves.

Topics discussed in this section:

Characteristics of Sine Wave
Time and Frequency Domain
Composite Signals
Bandwidth

3.11
 Figure 3.2 A sine wave

3.12
 Characteristics of Sine Wave

 Simple or composite analog signal

 Sine wave can be described by three
characteristics
1. Amplitude
2. Frequency
3. Phase

3.13
 Note

Amplitude:

The value of signal at any point on the wave on a time

domain plot graph

Measured by volts, ampere or volts

3.14
 Figure 3.3 Amplitude

3.15
 Note

Frequency and period are the inverse of

each other.

3.16
 Note

Frequency is the rate of change with

respect to time.

Change in a short span of time

means high frequency.

Change over a long span of

time means low frequency.

3.17
 Note

If a signal does not change at all, its

frequency is zero.
If a signal changes instantaneously, its
frequency is infinite.

3.18
 Note

Period(P)

The amount of time(in seconds) needs to

complete in cycle

Frequency(f) – the number of cycles in a second

( expressed in Hertz)
3.19
 Figure 3.3.1 Period and frequency

3.20
 Figure 3.3.3 Two signals with the same phase and frequency,
but different amplitudes

3.21
 Figure 3.4 Two signals with the same amplitude and phase,
but different frequencies

3.22
 Table 3.1 Units of period and frequency

3.23
 Example 1

The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz.

The period of this sine wave can be determined as
follows:

3.24
 Example 2

Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds.

Solution
From Table 3.1 we find the equivalents of 1 ms (1 ms is
10−3 s) and 1 s (1 s is 106 μs). We make the following
substitutions:.

3.25
 Example 3

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).

3.26
 Note

Phase describes the position of the

waveform relative to time 0.

Measured in degrees or radian:

360o = 2∏ rad ; 1o = 2∏ /360 rad
1 rad = 360/ 2∏

3.27
 Phase Change

3.28
3.29
 Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency,
but different phases

3.30
 Example 1

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

3.31
 Figure 3.7 The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave

3.32
 Note

A complete sine wave in the time

domain can be represented by one
single spike in the frequency domain.

3.33
 Example 3.7

The frequency domain is more compact and useful

when we are dealing with more than one sine
wave. For example, Figure 3.8 shows three sine
waves, each with different amplitude and
frequency. All can be represented by three spikes
in the frequency domain.

3.34
 Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

3.35
 Note

A single-frequency sine wave is not

useful in data communications;
we need to send a composite signal, a
signal made of many simple sine waves.

3.36
 Note

According to Fourier analysis, any

composite signal is a combination of
simple sine waves with different
frequencies, amplitudes, and phases.
Fourier analysis is discussed in
Appendix C.

3.37
 Note

If the composite signal is periodic, the

decomposition gives a series of signals
with discrete frequencies;
if the composite signal is nonperiodic,
the decomposition gives a combination
of sine waves with continuous
frequencies.

3.38
 Example 1

Figure 3.9 shows a periodic composite signal with

frequency f. This type of signal is not typical of those
found in data communications. We can consider it to be
three alarm systems, each with a different frequency.
The analysis of this signal can give us a good
understanding of how to decompose signals.

3.39
 Figure 3.9 A composite periodic signal

3.40
 Figure 3.10 Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and
frequency domains

3.41
 Example 2

Figure 3.11 shows a nonperiodic composite signal. It

can be the signal created by a microphone or a telephone
set when a word or two is pronounced. In this case, the
composite signal cannot be periodic, because that
implies that we are repeating the same word or words
with exactly the same tone.

3.42
 Figure 3.11 The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

3.43
 Note

The bandwidth of a composite signal is

the difference between the
highest and the lowest frequencies
contained in that signal.

3.44
 Figure 3.12 The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

3.45
 Example 1

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

The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700,
and 900 Hz (see Figure 3.13).
3.46
 Figure 3.13 The bandwidth for Example 1

3.47
 Example 2

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

The spectrum contains all integer frequencies. We show

this by a series of spikes (see Figure 3.14).
3.48
 Figure 3.14 The bandwidth for Example 2

3.49
 Example 3

A nonperiodic composite signal has a bandwidth of 200

kHz, with a middle frequency of 140 kHz and peak
amplitude of 20 V. The two extreme frequencies have an
amplitude of 0. Draw the frequency domain of the
signal.

Solution
The lowest frequency must be at 40 kHz and the highest
at 240 kHz. Figure 3.15 shows the frequency domain
and the bandwidth.

3.50
 Figure 3.15 The bandwidth for Example 3

3.51
 3-2 DIGITAL SIGNALS
In addition to being represented by an analog signal,
information can also be represented by a digital signal.
For example, a 1 can be encoded as a positive voltage
and a 0 as zero voltage. A digital signal can have more
than two levels. In this case, we can send more than 1 bit
for each level.

Topics discussed in this section:

Bit Rate
Bit Length
Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal

3.52
 Figure 3.16 Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other
with four signal levels

3.53
 Note

Appendix C reviews information about

Appendix C reviews information about exponential and logarithmic

exponential and functions.

logarithmic functions.

3.54
 Example 1

A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are

needed per level? We calculate the number of bits from
the formula

Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

3.55
 Example 2

A digital signal has nine levels. How many bits are

needed per level? We calculate the number of bits by
using the formula. Each signal level is represented by
3.17 bits. However, this answer is not realistic. The
number of bits sent per level needs to be an integer as
well as a power of 2. For this example, 4 bits can
represent one level.

3.56
 Example 3

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

3.57
 Example 4

A digitized voice channel, 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?

Solution
The bit rate can be calculated as

3.58
 Figure 3.17 The time and frequency domains of periodic and nonperiodic
digital signals

3.59
 3-3 BROADBAND & BASEBAND TRANSMISSION

The previous discussion asserts that a digital signal is a

composite analog signal with frequencies between zero
and infinity. We can send a digital signal by using one of
two approaches: baseband transmission or broadband
transmission (using modulation).

Topics discussed in this section:

Baseband transmission
Broadband transmission

3.60
 Figure 3.18 Baseband transmission


Sending a digital signal over a channel without changing to an analog


Requires a low-pass channel, a channel with a bandwidth that starts

from zero


Example: may connect several computers to a bus, but not allow

more than two stations to communicate at a time.

3.61
 Note

A digital signal is a composite analog

signal with an infinite bandwidth.

3.62
 Figure 3.19 Bandwidths of two low-pass channels

3.63
 Figure 3.20 Baseband transmission using a dedicated medium

3.64
 Note

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.

3.65
 Note

In baseband transmission, the required

In baseband transmission, the required bandwidth is proportional to

bandwidth is proportional the bit rate; to the bit rate;

if we
if weneed to send
need to send bits
bits faster, faster,
we need we need
more bandwidth.

more bandwidth.

3.66
 Note

If the available channel is a bandpass

channel, we cannot send the digital
signal directly to the channel;
we need to convert the digital signal to
an analog signal before transmission.

3.67
 Broadband transmission (bandpass)


Sending analog signals over a channel


Requires a bandpass channel, a channel with a bandwidth that do not

starts with zero

3.68
 Figure 3.23 Bandwidth of a bandpass channel

3.69
 Figure 3.24 Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a bandpass
channel

3.70
 Example 1

An example of broadband transmission using

modulation is the sending of computer data through a
telephone subscriber line, the line connecting a resident
to the central telephone office. These lines are designed
to carry voice with a limited bandwidth. The channel is
considered a bandpass channel. We convert the digital
signal from the computer to an analog signal, and send
the analog signal. We can install two converters to
change the digital signal to analog and vice versa at the
receiving end. The converter, in this case, is called a
modem.

3.71
 Example 3.25

A second example is the digital cellular telephone. For

better reception, digital cellular phones convert the
analog voice signal to a digital signal. Although the
bandwidth allocated to a company providing digital
cellular phone service is very wide, we still cannot send
the digital signal without conversion. The reason is that
we only have a bandpass channel available between
caller and callee. We need to convert the digitized voice
to a composite analog signal before sending.

3.72
 3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

Signals travel through transmission media, which are not

perfect. The imperfection causes signal impairment. This
means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is
not the same as the signal at the end of the medium.
What is sent is not what is received. Three causes of
impairment are attenuation, distortion, and noise.

Topics discussed in this section:

Attenuation
Distortion
Noise

3.73
 Figure 3.25 Causes of impairment

3.74
 Figure 3.26 Attenuation

Attenuation means a loss of energy.

3.75
 Figure 3.27 Decibels

3.76
 Figure 3.28 Distortion

Distortion means that the signal

changes its form or shape.

3.77
 Figure 3.29 Noise

Several types of noice; thermal,

induced, crosstalk & impulse noise

3.78
 Example 1

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

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

Solution
The values of SNR can be calculated as follows:

3.79
 Example 2

The values of SNR for a noiseless channel are

We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.

3.80
 Figure 3.30 Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR

3.81
 3-5 DATA RATE LIMITS

A very important consideration in data communications

is how fast we can send data, in bits per second, over a
channel. Data rate depends on three factors:
1. The bandwidth available
2. The level of the signals we use
3. The quality of the channel (the level of noise)

Topics discussed in this section:

Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate
Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity
Using Both Limits

3.82
 Note

Two theoretical formulas were

developed to calculate the data rate:
Nyquist  for a noiseless channel
Shannon  for a noisy channel

3.83
 Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit rate

 To calculate bit rate:

Bit rate = 2 x bandwidth x log2 L

Bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, L is the

number of signal levels used to represent data.

3.84
 Note

Increasing the levels of a signal may

reduce the reliability of the system.

3.85
 Example 1

Does the Nyquist theorem bit rate agree with the intuitive
bit rate described in baseband transmission?

Solution
They match when we have only two levels. We said, in
baseband transmission, the bit rate is 2 times the
bandwidth if we use only the first harmonic in the worst
case. However, the Nyquist formula is more general than
what we derived intuitively; it can be applied to baseband
transmission and modulation. Also, it can be applied
when we have two or more levels of signals.
3.86
 Example 2

Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz

transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The
maximum bit rate can be calculated as

3.87
 Example 3

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.
3.88
 Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

 In reality, we cannot have noiseless channel; the

channel is always noisy.
To determine the theoretical highest data rate:

Capacity = bandwidth x log2 (1 + SNR)

Bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, SNR is

the signal-to-noise ratio

3.89
 Example 1

Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value

of the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. In other words,
the noise is so strong that the signal is faint. For this
channel the capacity C is calculated as

This means that the capacity of this channel is zero

regardless of the bandwidth. In other words, we cannot
receive any data through this channel.

3.90
 Example 2

We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a

regular telephone line. A telephone line normally has a
bandwidth of 3000. The signal-to-noise ratio is usually
3162. For this channel the capacity is calculated as

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.
3.91
 Example 3

The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels.

Assume that SNRdB = 36 and the channel bandwidth is 2
MHz. The theoretical channel capacity can be calculated
as

3.92
 Example 4

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, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper
limit.

3.93
 Example 4 (continued)

The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, the upper

limit. For better performance we choose something
lower, 4 Mbps, for example. Then we use the Nyquist
formula to find the number of signal levels.

3.94
 Note

The Shannon capacity gives us the

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

3.95
 3-6 PERFORMANCE

One important issue in networking is the performance

of the network—how good is it? In this section, we
introduce terms that we need for future chapters.

Topics discussed in this section:

Bandwidth
Throughput
Latency (Delay)
Bandwidth-Delay Product

3.96
 Bandwidth

Note

A range of frequencies that used for transmitting a signal

In networking, we use the term bandwidth in two

contexts.
❏ The first, bandwidth in hertz, refers to the range of
frequencies in a composite signal or the range of
frequencies that a channel can pass.
❏ The second, bandwidth in bits per second, refers to
the speed of bit transmission in a channel or link.

3.97
 Note

Throughput
❏ Measure how fast we can actually send
data through a network.

❏ Bandwidth is a potential measurement of

a link; the throughput is an actual
measurement of how fast we can send data

3.98
 Note

Latency / Delay
❏ Measure how long it takes for entire message
to completely arrive at the destination.

❏ Made of 4 components; propagation time,

transmission time, queuing time & processing
delay.

Latency = propagation time + transmission time + queuing time

+ processing delay.

3.99
 Note

The bandwidth-delay product defines

the number of bits that can fill the link.

3.100
 Figure 3.31 Filling the link with bits for case 1

3.101
 Figure 3.32 Filling the link with bits in case 2

3.102
 Example 3.48

We can think about the link between two points as a pipe.

The cross section of the pipe represents the bandwidth,
and the length of the pipe represents the delay. We can say
the volume of the pipe defines the bandwidth-delay
product, as shown in Figure 3.33.

3.103
 Figure 3.33 Concept of bandwidth-delay product

3.104
 Note

Jitter
Another performance issue that is
related to delay.
A problem if different packets of data
encounter different delays.

3.105
 Discussed on:

SUMMARY
 Analog & digital data.
 Analog signal (sine wave, time & frequency domain,
bandwidth)

 Digital signal.
 Periodic analog signal & aperiodic digital signal.
 Differences between broadband (bandpass) and
baseband channel.

 Three types of transmission impairments (attenuation,

2.106 distortion and noise)
 The End

Any Question

1.107 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.