Channel(communications)
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Acommunicationchannelorsimplychannelreferseithertoa
physicaltransmissionmediumsuchasawire,ortoalogical
connectionoveramultiplexedmediumsuchasaradiochannelin
telecommunicationsandcomputernetworking.Achannelisusedto
conveyaninformationsignal,forexampleadigitalbitstream,from
oneorseveralsenders(ortransmitters)tooneorseveralreceivers.
Achannelhasacertaincapacityfortransmittinginformation,often
measuredbyitsbandwidthinHzoritsdatarateinbitspersecond.
Communicatingdatafromonelocationtoanotherrequiressome
formofpathwayormedium.Thesepathways,called
communicationchannels,usetwotypesofmedia:cable(twisted
pairwire,cable,andfiberopticcable)andbroadcast(microwave,
satellite,radio,andinfrared).Cableorwirelinemediausephysical
wiresofcablestotransmitdataandinformation.Twistedpairwire
andcoaxialcablesaremadeofcopper,andfiberopticcableismade
ofglass.
Oldtelephonewiresareachallenging
Ininformationtheory,achannelreferstoatheoreticalchannel communicationschannelformodern
modelwithcertainerrorcharacteristics.Inthismoregeneralview,a digitalcommunications.
storagedeviceisalsoakindofchannel,whichcanbesentto
(written)andreceivedfrom(reading).
Contents
1 Examples
2 Channelmodels
2.1 Digitalchannelmodels
2.2 Analogchannelmodels
3 Types
4 Channelperformancemeasures
5 Multiterminalchannels,withapplicationtocellularsystems
6 Seealso
7 References
Examples
Examplesofcommunicationschannelsinclude:
1. Aconnectionbetweeninitiatingandterminatingnodesofacircuit.
2. Asinglepathprovidedbyatransmissionmediumviaeither
physicalseparation,suchasbymultipaircableor
electricalseparation,suchasbyfrequencydivisionortimedivisionmultiplexing.
3. Apathforconveyingelectricalorelectromagneticsignals,usuallydistinguishedfromotherparallel
paths.
Astoragewhichcancommunicateamessageovertimeaswellasspace
Theportionofastoragemedium,suchasatrackorband,thatisaccessibletoagivenreading
orwritingstationorhead.
Abufferfromwhichmessagescanbe'put'and'got'.SeeActormodelandprocesscalculifor
discussionontheuseofchannels.
4. Inacommunicationssystem,thephysicalorlogicallinkthatconnectsadatasourcetoadatasink.
5. Aspecificradiofrequency,pairorbandoffrequencies,usuallynamedwithaletter,number,or
codeword,andoftenallocatedbyinternationalagreement.
Examples:
MarineVHFradiousessome88channelsintheVHFbandfortwowayFMvoice
communication.Channel16,forexample,is156.800MHz.IntheUS,sevenadditional
channels,WX1WX7,areallocatedforweatherbroadcasts.
TelevisionchannelssuchasNorthAmericanTVChannel2=55.25MHz,Channel13=
211.25MHz.Eachchannelis6MHzwide.Besidesthese"physicalchannels",televisionalso
has"virtualchannels".
WiFiconsistsofunlicensedchannels113from2412MHzto2484MHzin5MHzsteps.
Theradiochannelbetweenanamateurradiorepeaterandahamusestwofrequenciesoften
600kHz(0.6MHz)apart.Forexample,arepeaterthattransmitson146.94MHztypically
listensforahamtransmittingon146.34MHz.
Allofthesecommunicationschannelssharethepropertythattheytransferinformation.Theinformationis
carriedthroughthechannelbyasignal.
Channelmodels
Achannelcanbemodelledphysicallybytryingtocalculatethephysicalprocesseswhichmodifythe
transmittedsignal.Forexample,inwirelesscommunicationsthechannelcanbemodelledbycalculating
thereflectionoffeveryobjectintheenvironment.Asequenceofrandomnumbersmightalsobeaddedinto
simulateexternalinterferenceand/orelectronicnoiseinthereceiver.
Statisticallyacommunicationchannelisusuallymodelledasatripleconsistingofaninputalphabet,an
outputalphabet,andforeachpair(i,o)ofinputandoutputelementsatransitionprobabilityp(i,o).
Semantically,thetransitionprobabilityistheprobabilitythatthesymboloisreceivedgiventhatiwas
transmittedoverthechannel.
Statisticalandphysicalmodellingcanbecombined.Forexample,inwirelesscommunicationsthechannel
isoftenmodelledbyarandomattenuation(knownasfading)ofthetransmittedsignal,followedbyadditive
noise.Theattenuationtermisasimplificationoftheunderlyingphysicalprocessesandcapturesthechange
insignalpoweroverthecourseofthetransmission.Thenoiseinthemodelcapturesexternalinterference
and/orelectronicnoiseinthereceiver.Iftheattenuationtermiscomplexitalsodescribestherelativetimea
signaltakestogetthroughthechannel.Thestatisticsoftherandomattenuationaredecidedbyprevious
measurementsorphysicalsimulations.
Channelmodelsmaybecontinuouschannelmodelsinthatthereisnolimittohowpreciselytheirvalues
maybedefined.
Communicationchannelsarealsostudiedinadiscretealphabetsetting.Thiscorrespondstoabstractinga
realworldcommunicationsysteminwhichtheanalogdigitalanddigitalanalogblocksareoutofthe
controlofthedesigner.Themathematicalmodelconsistsofatransitionprobabilitythatspecifiesanoutput
distributionforeachpossiblesequenceofchannelinputs.Ininformationtheory,itiscommontostartwith
memorylesschannelsinwhichtheoutputprobabilitydistributiononlydependsonthecurrentchannel
input.
Achannelmodelmayeitherbedigital(quantified,e.g.binary)oranalog.
Digitalchannelmodels
Inadigitalchannelmodel,thetransmittedmessageismodelledasadigitalsignalatacertainprotocol
layer.Underlyingprotocollayers,suchasthephysicallayertransmissiontechnique,isreplacedbya
simplifiedmodel.Themodelmayreflectchannelperformancemeasuressuchasbitrate,biterrors,
latency/delay,delayjitter,etc.Examplesofdigitalchannelmodelsare:
Binarysymmetricchannel(BSC),adiscretememorylesschannelwithacertainbiterrorprobability
Binaryburstybiterrorchannelmodel,achannel"withmemory"
Binaryerasurechannel(BEC),adiscretechannelwithacertainbiterrordetection(erasure)
probability
Packeterasurechannel,wherepacketsarelostwithacertainpacketlossprobabilityorpacketerror
rate
Arbitrarilyvaryingchannel(AVC),wherethebehaviorandstateofthechannelcanchangerandomly
Analogchannelmodels
Inananalogchannelmodel,thetransmittedmessageismodelledasananalogsignal.Themodelcanbea
linearornonlinear,timecontinuousortimediscrete(sampled),memorylessordynamic(resultinginburst
errors),timeinvariantortimevariant(alsoresultinginbursterrors),baseband,passband(RFsignal
model),realvaluedorcomplexvaluedsignalmodel.Themodelmayreflectthefollowingchannel
impairments:
Noisemodel,forexample
AdditivewhiteGaussiannoise(AWGN)channel,alinearcontinuousmemorylessmodel
Phasenoisemodel
Interferencemodel,forexamplecrosstalk(cochannelinterference)andintersymbolinterference
(ISI)
Distortionmodel,forexampleanonlinearchannelmodelcausingintermodulationdistortion(IMD)
Frequencyresponsemodel,includingattenuationandphaseshift
Groupdelaymodel
Modellingofunderlyingphysicallayertransmissiontechniques,forexampleacomplexvalued
equivalentbasebandmodelofmodulationandfrequencyresponse
Radiofrequencypropagationmodel,forexample
Logdistancepathlossmodel
Fadingmodel,forexampleRayleighfading,Riceanfading,lognormalshadowfadingand
frequencyselective(dispersive)fading
Dopplershiftmodel,whichcombinedwithfadingresultsinatimevariantsystem
Raytracingmodels,whichattempttomodelthesignalpropagationanddistortionsfor
specifiedtransmitterreceivergeometries,terraintypes,andantennas
Mobilitymodels,whichalsocausesatimevariantsystem
Types
Digital(discrete)oranalog(continuous)channel
Transmissionmedium,forexampleafibrechannel
Multiplexedchannel
Computernetworkvirtualchannel
Simplexcommunication,duplexcommunicationorhalfduplexcommunicationchannel
Returnchannel
Uplinkordownlink(upstreamordownstreamchannel)
Broadcastchannel,unicastchannelormulticastchannel
Channelperformancemeasures
Theseareexamplesofcommonlyusedchannelcapacityandperformancemeasures:
SpectralbandwidthinHertz
Symbolrateinbaud,pulses/sorsymbols/s
Digitalbandwidthbit/smeasures:grossbitrate(signallingrate),netbitrate(informationrate),
channelcapacity,andmaximumthroughput
Channelutilization
Linkspectralefficiency
Signaltonoiseratiomeasures:signaltointerferenceratio,Eb/No,carriertointerferenceratioin
decibel
Biterrorrate(BER),packeterrorrate(PER)
Latencyinseconds:propagationtime,transmissiontime
Delayjitter
Multiterminalchannels,withapplicationtocellularsystems
Seealsonetworktopology
Innetworks,asopposedtopointtopointcommunication,thecommunicationmediaissharedbetween
multiplenodes(terminals).Dependingonthetypeofcommunication,differentterminalscancooperateor
interfereoneachother.Ingeneral,anycomplexmultiterminalnetworkcanbeconsideredasacombination
ofsimplifiedmultiterminalchannels.Thefollowingchannelsaretheprincipalmultiterminalchannels
whichwasfirstintroducedinthefieldofinformationtheory:
Apointtomultipointchannel,alsoknownasbroadcastingmedium(nottobeconfusedwith
broadcastingchannel):Inthischannel,asinglesendertransmitsmultiplemessagestodifferent
destinationnodes.Allwirelesschannelsexceptradiolinkscanbeconsideredasbroadcastingmedia,
butmaynotalwaysprovidebroadcastingservice.Thedownlinkofacellularsystemcanbe
consideredasapointtomultipointchannel,ifonlyonecellisconsideredandintercellcochannel
interferenceisneglected.However,thecommunicationserviceofaphonecallisunicasting.
Multipleaccesschannel:Inthischannel,multiplesenderstransmitmultiplepossibledifferent
messagesoverasharedphysicalmediumtooneorseveraldestinationnodes.Thisrequiresachannel
accessscheme,includingamediaaccesscontrol(MAC)protocolcombinedwithamultiplexing
scheme.Thischannelmodelhasapplicationsintheuplinkofthecellularnetworks.
Relaychannel:Inthischannel,oneorseveralintermediatenodes(calledrelay,repeaterorgapfiller
nodes)cooperatewithasendertosendthemessagetoanultimatedestinationnode.Relaynodesare
consideredasapossibleaddonintheupcomingcellularstandardslike3GPPLongTermEvolution
(LTE).
Interferencechannel:Inthischannel,twodifferentsenderstransmittheirdatatodifferentdestination
nodes.Hence,thedifferentsenderscanhaveapossiblecrosstalkorcochannelinterferenceonthe
signalofeachother.Theintercellinterferenceinthecellularwirelesscommunicationsisanexample
oftheinterferencechannel.Inspreadspectrumsystemslike3G,interferencealsooccurinsidethe
cellifnonorthogonalcodesareused.
Aunicastingchannelisachannelthatprovidesaunicastingservice,i.e.thatsendsdataaddressedto
onespecificuser.Anestablishedphonecallisanexample.
Abroadcastingchannelisachannelthatprovidesabroadcastingservice,i.e.thatsendsdata
addressedtoallusersinthenetwork.Cellularnetworkexamplesarethepagingserviceaswellasthe
MultimediaBroadcastMulticastService.
Amulticastingchannelisachannelwheredataisaddressedtoagroupofsubscribingusers.LTE
examplesarethePhysicalMulticastChannel(PMCH)andMBSFN(MulticastBroadcastSingle
FrequencyNetwork).
Fromtheabove4basicmultiterminalchannels,multipleaccesschannelistheonlyonewhosecapacity
regionisknown.EvenforthespecialcaseoftheGaussianscenario,thecapacityregionoftheother3
channelsexceptthebroadcastchannelisunknowningeneral.
Seealso
Channelcapacity
Channelaccessmethod
Trafficgenerationmodel
References
C.E.Shannon,Amathematicaltheoryofcommunication,BellSystemTechnicalJournal,vol.27,
pp.379423and623656,(JulyandOctober,1948)
AminShokrollahi,LDPCCodes:AnIntroduction(http://www.ics.uci.edu/~welling/teaching/ICS27
9/LPCD.pdf)
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