2.

7 Digital Transmission
 Discussing the schemes and techniques that are used to transmit data
digitally
 Digital-to-digital conversion techniques
 Analog-to digital conversion techniques
 Transmission modes

2.7.1 Digital-to-digital conversion

 How to represents digital data by using digital signals.
 3 techniques used in the conversion
 Line coding
 Block coding
 scrambling

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 1

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Line coding is the process of converting digital data to digital signals.
 Data (text, numbers, graphical image, audio, video etc) are stored in
computer memory as sequence of bits.
 Line coding converts a sequence of bits to a digital signal.
 At the sender, digital data are encoded into digital signal; at the receiver,
the data are recreated by decoding the digital signal.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 2

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Signal elements vs. data elements
 In data communication, the goal is to send the data elements – smallest entity
that can represent the information or simply the BIT
 In digital data communications, a signal elements carries the data elements.
 Data elements are need to be sent, while signal elements are what can be sent.
 We defined a ratio r, which is the number of data elements carried by each
signal element.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 3

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Signal elements vs. data elements
 Analogy : Suppose each data element is a person who needs to be carried from
one place to another. A signal elements can be thought as a vehicle that can
carry the people.
r = 1 : each person is driving the vehicle
r > 1 : more than one person is traveling in a vehicle (carpool)
r = ½ : one person is driving a car and a trailer

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 4

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Data Rate vs. Signal Rate
 Data rate defines the number of data elements (bits) sent in 1s (unit = bps)
 Signal rate is the number of signal elements sent in 1s (unit = baud)
 Data rate = bit rate
 Signal rate = pulse rate = modulation rate = baud rate
 In data communications, the goal is to increase the data rate while decreasing
the signal rate (bring more people with fewer vehicles)
 Increasing the data rate = increases the speed of transmission
 Decreasing the signal rate = decrease the bandwidth requirement
 Relationship between data rate and signal rate :

1
S  c N  (baud )
r
 S : number of signal elements; N : data rate (bps); c : case factor; r : ratio

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 5

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Data Rate vs. Signal Rate
 Ex : a signal is carrying data in which one data element is encoded as one signal
element (r = 1). If the bit rate is 100 kbps, what is the average value of the baud
rate if the c is between 0 and 1 ?

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 6

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Bandwidth
 Most of nonperiodic digital signals encountered in the daily life have a
bandwidth with finite values.
 In other words, the bandwidth is theoretically infinite, but many of the
components have such a small amplitude and can be ignored.
 Means the effective bandwidth is finite.
 Baud rate determines the required bandwidth (the vehicles affects the traffic, not
the people !)
 More changes in the signal = injecting more frequencies into the signal.
 More frequencies = wider range of frequencies = wider bandwidth
 Thus bandwidth (frequency range) is proportional to the signal rate (baud rate)
 The minimum bandwidth can be defined as
1
B min  c  N 
r

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 7

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Bandwidth
 Thus the maximum data rate (Nmax) can be solved if the bandwidth of the
channel is given
1
N max   Br
c

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 8

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Design Consideration for Line Coding Scheme
 Baseline wandering
 DC components
 Self-synchronization
 Built-in error detection
 Immunity to noise and interference
 complexity

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 9

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Baseline Wandering
 In decoding a digital signal, the receiver calculates a running average of the
received signal power – called as a baseline.
 The incoming signal power is evaluated against this baseline to determine the
value of the data element.
 A long string of 0s and 1s can cause a drift in the baseline (baseline wandering)
and make it difficult for the receiver to decode correctly.
 A good line coding scheme is needed to prevent baseline wandering.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 10

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 DC Components
 When the voltage level in the digital signal is constant for a while, the spectrum
creates a very low frequencies.
 These frequencies around zero (DC components), present a problem for a
system that cannot pass low frequencies or a system that uses electrical coupling
(via a transformer).
 Ex : telephone line cannot pass frequencies below 200 Hz.
 Ex : a long-distance link may use one or more transformers to isolate different
parts of the line electrically.
 For these systems, a scheme with no DC component is necessary.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 11

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Self-synchronization
 to correctly interpret the signals received from the sender, the receiver’s bit
intervals must correspond exactly to the sender’s bit intervals.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 12

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Self-synchronization
 A self-synchronizing digital signal includes timing information in the data being
transmitted.
 It can be achieved if there are transitions in the signals that alert the receiver to
the beginning, middle or end of the pulse.
 If the receiver’s clock is out of synchronization, these points can reset the clock.

 Built-in Error Detection

 It is desirable to have a built-in error-detecting capability in the generated code
to detect some or all the errors that occurred during transmission.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 13

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Immunity to noise and interference
 It is desirable that the code is immune to noise and other interference.

 Complexity
 A complex scheme is more costly to implement than a simple one. Ex : a
scheme that uses four signal levels is more difficult to interpret than one that
uses only two levels

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 14

2.7.1.1 Line Coding
 Line coding scheme can be divided into five broad categories :

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 15

2.7.1.1.1 Unipolar Sheme
 In a unipolar scheme, all the signal levels are on one side of the time axis;
either above or below.
 NRZ (Non-Return-to-Zero) scheme

 Designed so that positive voltage defines bit 1 and the zero voltage defines bit 0.
 It is called NRZ because the signal does not return to zero at the middle of the
bit.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 16

2.7.1.1.1 Unipolar Scheme

 Unipolar NRZ (None-Return-to-Zero) is simple, but

 DC component : Cannot travel through system that does not allow a low
frequency component to passage (ex : Transformer)
 Synchronization : Consecutive 0’s and 1’s are hard to be synchronized 
Separate line for a clock pulse
 Normalized power is double that for polar NRZ

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 17

2.7.1.1.2 Polar Scheme
 In a polar scheme, the voltages are on both sides of the time axis.
 Ex : positive voltage level for bit 1, negative voltage level for bit 0.

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 18

2.7.1.1.2 Polar Scheme : NRZ (NRZ-L & NRZ-I)
 In a polar scheme, the voltages are on both sides of the time axis.
 Ex : positive voltage level for bit 1, negative voltage level for bit 0.
 Polar NRZ
 NRZ-L (Non Return to Zero-Level) – Level of the voltage determines the value
of the bit
 NRZ-I (Non Return to Zero-Invert) - Inversion or the lack of inversion
determines the value of the bit

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 19

2.7.1.1.3 Polar Scheme : RZ
 Provides synchronization for consecutive 0s/1s
 Signal changes during each bit
 Three values (+, -, 0) are used
 Bit 1: positive-to-zero transition, bit 0: negative-to-zero transition

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 20

2.7.1.1.4 Polar Scheme : Biphase
 Combination of RZ and NRZ-L/NRZ-I ideas
 Signal transition at the middle of the bit is used for synchronization
 Manchester (combine RZ & NRZ-L)
 Used for Ethernet LAN
 Bit 1: negative-to-positive transition
 Bit 0: positive-to-negative transition

 Differential Manchester (combine RZ & NRZ-I)

 Used for Token-ring LAN
 Bit 1: no transition at the beginning of a bit
 Bit 0: transition at the beginning of a bit

 Minimum bandwidth is 2 times of that NRZ

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 21

2.7.1.1.4 Polar Scheme : Biphase

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 22

2.7.1.1.5 Bipolar Scheme
 Three levels of voltage, called “multilevel binary”
 Bit 0: zero voltage, bit 1: alternating +1/-1
 AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion) and pseudoternary
 No DC component

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 23

2.7.1.1.6 Multilevel Scheme
 To increase the number of bits per baud by encoding a pattern of m data
elements into a pattern of n signal elements
 In mBnL schemes, a pattern of m data elements is encoded as a pattern of n
signal elements in which 2m ≤ Ln
 mBnL : m (length of binary pattern), B (binary data), n (length of the signal
pattern), L (number of levels in the signaling)
 2B1Q (two binary, one quaternary)
 8B6T (eight binary, six ternary)
 4D-PAM 5 (four-dimensional five-level pulse amplitude modulation)

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 24

2.7.1.1.6 Multilevel Scheme (2B1Q) for DSL

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 25

2.7.1.1.6 Multilevel Scheme (8B6T)
 Used with 100Base-4T cable
 Encode a pattern of 8 bits as a pattern of 6 (three-levels) signal elements
 The average signal rate is theoretically, Save = 1/2 x N x 6/8; in practice the
minimum bandwidth is very close to 6N/8

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 26

2.7.1.1.6 Multilevel Scheme 4D-PAM5: for Gigabit
LAN

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 27

2.7.1.1.7 Multiline Transition : MLT-3
 The signal rate for MLT-3 is one-fourth the bit rate
 MLT-3 when we need to send 100Mbps on a copper wire that cannot
support more than 32MHz

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 28

2.7.1.1 Summary of Line Coding Scheme

Chapter 2 : Data Communications 29