Chapter 2

Pulse Modulation
Lecture 3
Pulse Code Modulation PCM
Prepared by Prof
D. Mahmoud Ahmed Attia Ali
Department of Electronics and Communications
Faculty of Engineering
Tanta University
Egypt
2021
 Contents
❑ Generation of PCM Signal.
❑ Sampler.
❑ Quantizer.
❑ Encoder.
❑ Companding Process.
❑ µ Law Companding.
❑ A Law Companding.
❑ TDM Standard with PCM.
❑ North American PCM T1 Standard.
❑ Data Rate and No. of Channels of American
Hierarchy
❑ European PCM E1 Standard.
❑ Data Rate and No. of European Hierarchy
Generation
of PCM
Sampling, Time Shaping, and Quantization
➢ Sampling theory produces PAM: used as one
stage within DM, PCM, PSK, and QAM.
➢ Pulse time shaping produces PDM and PPM:
used in military or special purposes.
➢ Combined operations of sampling and
quantizing generate a quantized PAM.
➢ It can be transmitted directly as in DM.
➢ Alternatively, each quantized sample is
mapped into a code number in order to
transmit it rather than the sample value.
This is called Pulse Code Modulation: PCM
Block Diagram
Block Diagram of PCM
Consists of three processes:
➢ Sampler: Message signal 𝑓(𝑡) is first
sampled by a rate 𝑓𝑠 > 2𝑓𝑚 .
➢ Quantizer: Sample values are then
quantized to a certain levels.
➢ Encoder: Quantization levels are
encoded into binary sequence.
PCM Block Diagram
Quantized
PAM PAM PCM
 Exercises 5
Illustrate the function
of each stage in the PCM
block diagram.
Sampler Operation
Converts 𝑓(𝑡) into PAM.
PAM

𝑻𝒔 2𝑻𝒔 3𝑻𝒔 4𝑻𝒔

Quantizer Operation
Approximate samples into quantization levels
Quantizer Operation
vo fQ(t) Quantizer
Quantizer Output
Characteristics

vi t
S

f(t)

Input
Signal t
 Quantization Error
❑ Difference between original signal 𝑓 𝑡 and
its quantized approximation 𝑓𝑄 (𝑡)
❑ Why termed as quantization noise?
❑ Affects the signal amplitude.
❑ May be added to or subtracted from the signal.
❑ Expected average value is zero.
❑ Maximum value is ½ least significant
𝑣𝐿𝑆𝐵
𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑚 =
2
❑ Upon reconstruction:
❑ Added quantization noise may be removed.
❑ Sometimes errors take place.
Quantization Error or Noise
 Evaluation of Quantization
❑ Mean square quantization error voltage at quantizer
output can be shown to be:
𝒆𝟐 = 𝑺𝟐 Τ𝟏𝟐
❑ Quantization error voltage is:
𝑵𝒐𝒗 = 𝒆 = 𝑺Τ 𝟏𝟐
❑ Signal voltage at the quantizer output is:
𝑺𝒐𝒗 = 𝑺𝑴Τ𝟐
❑ Signal to quantization error voltage ratio:
𝑆𝑜𝑣
= 3 𝑀
𝑁𝑜𝑣
❑ Signal to quantization error power ratio:
𝑆𝑣
= 3 𝑀 2 = −4.8 + 20 𝐿𝑜𝑔 𝑀 𝑑𝐵
𝑁𝑜
 Exercise 2
Prove that the mean square
𝟐
quantization error voltage 𝒆 at
the quantizer output is given
by: 𝟐
𝑺
𝒆𝟐 =
𝟏𝟐

Where 𝑺 is the step size.

 Quality of Quantization
❑ Quality of approximation improved by
reducing the step size.
❑ Tests for speech indicate that:
❑ 2 levels are understandable but quite noisy.
❑ 8 or 16 levels are sufficient for a good intelligibility.
❑ 128 or 256 are usually used to ensure high quality.

❑ Tests for color TV:

❑ 64 levels gives only good color TV.
❑ 512 levels is used for commercial color TV.
 Missed Signal Details
❑ In quantizing some details are lost.
❑ It is impossible to reconstruct the original.
❑ However, there is no need to transmit all
signal details:
❑ Ears and eyes in hearing and watching is limited:
❑ Ear could not distinguish small distortion.
❑ Eye has a limited resolution.
❑ Also, due to noise, detector will not able to
distinguish exactly fine variation.
Encoder
 Encoding
❑ Generally, quantized signal is coded into
𝑚 pulses, each of 𝑛 possible amplitude.
❑ Total no of quantization levels 𝑀 is related
to the number of pulses 𝑚 as:
𝑀 = 𝑛𝑚
❑ Binary coding a special case if 𝑛 equals 2.
❑ Number of quantization levels 𝑀 is related
to the number of bits per sample 𝑚 as:
𝑀 = 2𝑚
 Bandwidth
❑ If the signal maximum frequency is 𝑓𝑚
❑ So that Nyquist sampling rate is 2 𝑓𝑚 ,
❑ Hence, 2 𝑓𝑚 . 𝑚 binary pulses must be
transmitted per second.
❑ So, maximum width of each binary pulse:
𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1Τ2𝑚𝑓𝑚
❑ Bandwidth for transmission of pulse train is
inversely proportional to its width and shape.
❑ Therefore, the minimum bandwidth of PCM
system is roughly estimated as:
𝐵𝑊 ≅ 2𝑚𝑓𝑚 = 2 ∗ 8 ∗ 4 = 64 𝑘𝐻𝑧
 Example
❑ Assume 10 channels PCM System
❑ A sampled PAM,
❑ Quantized, and
❑ PCM encoded using 𝑀 = 8 levels quantizer.
8 = 23 so that No of pulses 𝑚 = 3
❑ Required Bandwidths:
❑ PAM signal bandwidth is 1/12.5 µsec = 80 kHz.
❑ Quantized PAM signal bandwidth is 80 kHz.
❑ PCM signal bandwidth is 1/ 4.2 µsec = 240 kHz.
 Exercises 6 and 3
❑ Indicate the advantages of PCM systems
when compared to PAM or Delta techniques.
❑ What is difference between:
❑ Unipolar and the bipolar quantization?
❑ Mid-rise and mid-tread quantization
processes?
❑ Uniform and non-uniform quantization?
 Exercise 4
❑ What is difference between PCM diagram
of system given before and the following.

PCM
Filter Sampler
Quantizer Encoder
fc = fm fs ≥ 2fm
Data
 Exercise 7
Consider the design of PCM system for a
bipolar analogue signal assuming the use of the
symmetric folded binary code.
Assume that the maximum step size is 1V
and the maximum peak value of the signal is
4V.
[Hint: Assume sign-magnitude codes and
reconstruct the figure as in Slide 7].
 Example 2
For a unipolar analogue signal its output
maximum could not exceed vmax =10V.
Assume you are going to encode it into 𝑚
equals 8 bits. Estimate the following:
• Normalized value of each step.
• Value of voltage for each step.
• Maximum normalized value for the signal.
• Maximum voltage value for the signal
• Maximum quantization error in voltage.
 Answer 2
Normalized Step Size:
1 1 1
∆𝑋𝑢 = 𝑚 = 8 = = 0.0039
2 2 256
Step Size in Voltage:
∆𝑉𝑢 = ∆𝑋𝑢 𝑣𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 0.0039𝑥10 = 0.039𝑉
Maximum Normalized Signal:
∆𝑋𝑢, 𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1 − ∆𝑋𝑢 = 1 − 0.0039 = 0.9961
Maximum Signal in Voltage:
∆𝑉𝑢, 𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 10 − ∆𝑉𝑢 = 1 − 0.039 = 9.961𝑉
Maximum Quantization Error:
∆𝑉𝑢 0.039
𝑒𝑢,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = = = 0.0195𝑉
2 2
 Exercise 8
Repeat example 2 for the
case of bipolar analogue signal
assuming the maximum level
for the signal is limited to 10V
also?
Companding
Reason of Companding
❑ Small signals will have a poorer signal to
quantization noise ratio SQR than large.
❑ So, it is better to have moderate levels for
both low and high variations of the signal:
❑ Increase low signal levels to more moderate
levels so that SQR could be increased.
❑ Reduce high signal levels to more moderate
levels in order to decrease high SQR.
 Companding Processes
vi vout
Compressor Analog to Digital Transmitter
Converter (ADC)

Channel

Digital to Analog
Expander Receiver
Converter (DAC)
 Companding Laws
❑ Companding means compression and expansion.
❑ Compression by using special designed diodes
prior to sampling circuit.
❑ Whereas expansion is attained with diodes after
the receiver LPF.
❑ Voice signal require a constant SQR over a wide
dynamic range DR. This requires a logarithmic
compression ratio. There are two methods:
❑ µ Law Companding.
❑ A Law Companding.
 µ Law
Companding
(USA and Japan)
 µ Law Compression
𝑣𝑖
ln 1 + 𝜇
𝑉𝑖,𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑣𝑜 = 𝑉𝑜,𝑚𝑎𝑥
ln 1 + 𝜇
𝑉𝑖,max: Max amplitude of input signal before compression.
𝑉𝑜,max: Max amplitude of output signal after compression.
𝑣𝑖 : Amplitude of input signal before compression for 𝑣𝑖 > 0
𝑣𝑜 : Amplitude of the output signal after compression.
µ: is a measure for the amount of compression.
µ: determines the range of signal power over which SQR is
relatively constant.
➢ For DR = 40 dB, 7 bit PCM code uses µ = 100.
➢ For DR = 40 dB, 8 bit PCM code uses µ = 255.
µ Law
 µ Law Expansion
On reception, received signal will be expanded to
satisfy linearity. Henceforth, received signal is:
𝑉𝑖,𝑟,𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑣𝑖,𝑟
𝑣𝑜,𝑟 = 1+𝜇 − 1 , 𝑣𝑖,𝑟 ≥ 0
𝜇 𝑉𝑜,𝑟,𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑉𝑖,𝑟,max: Max amplitude of input received signal before expansion.
𝑉𝑜,𝑟,max: Max amplitude of output received signal after expansion.
𝑣𝑖,𝑟 : Amplitude of input received signal before expansion.
𝑣𝑜,𝑟 : Amplitude of the output received signal after expansion.
 A Law
Companding
(Europe & CCITT)
 A Law Compression
Compression characteristics is a true logarithm
𝐴𝑣𝑖
𝑉𝑖,𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑣𝑖 1
𝑣𝑜 = 𝑉𝑜,𝑚𝑎𝑥 , 0 ≤ ≤
1+ln 𝐴 𝑉𝑖,𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝐴
𝐴𝑣𝑖
1 + ln 1 𝑣𝑖
𝑉𝑖,𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑣𝑜 = 𝑉𝑜,𝑚𝑎𝑥 , ≤ ≤1
1 + ln 𝐴 𝐴 𝑉𝑖,𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑉𝑖,max: Max amplitude of input signal before compression.
𝑉𝑜,max: Max amplitude of output signal after compression.
𝑣𝑖 : Amplitude of input signal before compression.
𝑣𝑜 : Amplitude of the output signal after compression.
Optimum value for voice transmission is A = 87.6.
A Law
 Data Rate of PCM
❑ Speech signal for telephone has 𝑓𝑚 = 4 kHz.
❑ So, the sampling rate is 2𝑥4 = 8 kHz, that is
8000 samples/sec.
❑ Sampling interval 1Τ8000 = 125 𝜇 sec/Frame
❑ Each sample is encoded into 8 bits/sample.
❑ So, the data rate for PCM signal is:
𝑅𝑃𝐶𝑀 = 8000 samples/sec 8 bits/sample
= 64 k bits/sec
 Amirian
Standard
 North American
PCM T1 Standard
❑ Bell System in USA introduced 24 channel
PCM in1960s for digital voice over short
haul distances of 10 to 50 miles “T1”.
❑ T1 has found widespread adoption in US,
Canada, and Japan.
 PCM T1 Standard
❑ Early, it uses 27 = 128 quantization levels.
❑ Each sample is quantized into 7 bits.
❑ 1 bit for establishing calls (Signaling).
❑ Recently, 28 = 256 levels have been adopted
for quieter system with less distortion.
❑ 24 channels are time multiplexed, sampled,
and coded into 8 bit PCM formats in addition
to 1 bit for frame synchronization.
❑ The frame consists of 24 x 8 + 1 = 193 bits.
𝑅𝑇1 = (193 bits/Frame) 1Frame/125𝜇sec = 1.544 Mbps
North American PCM Standard for
Short-Haul Telephone [T1 System]
 Short to Long Haul PCM Systems
24 Voice
T1
channels
Channel
64 kbps

4 T1 channels T2
Channel

7 T2 channels T3
Channel

T4 T5
6 T3 channels
Channel
 American
Short to Long Haul PCM Systems
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
1 1 1 1
Sample DS-0

2 2
Frame T1
2 2
T2
T4
4 T3
24 96 6
channel 7
1 channel 24 789 bits
8 bits channels 4032
193 bits 672 channel
channel 34272 bits
5592 bits
 Exercises 9 and 10
Exercise 9
❑ Prove that the transmission data rate of T1
PCM system used in United States, Canada
and Japan is given as 1.544 Mbps.
Exercise 10
❑ Estimate the number of channels and the
data rate for long haul T2, T3, and T4.
 Data rate and No of Channels
of American Hierarchy
American Line Number of Voice
Hierarchy Speed Channels
DS-0 64 kb/s 1
T1 1.544 Mb/s 24
T2 6.312 Mb/s 96
T3 44.736 Mb/s 672
T4 274.176 Mb/s 4032
European
Standard
 European
PCM E1 Standard
❑ Divide the frame into 30 channel traffic
for digital voice for short distances “E1”.
❑ T1 has found widespread adoption in
Europe.
 PCM E1 Standard
❑ Uses 28 = 256 of quantization levels.
❑ 32 channels are time multiplexed, sampled,
and coded into 8 bit PCM formats.
❑ 30 channels are used for traffic transmission.
❑ First channel is used for synchronization and
frame alignment.
❑ Channel 16 is used for Signaling.
❑ The frame consists of 32 x 8 = 256 bits.
𝑅𝑇1 = (256 bits/Frame) 1Frame/125𝜇sec = 2.048 Mbps
 European PCM Standard for Short-
Haul Telephone [E1 System]

0 1 2 15 16 17 18 30 31

For an Alarm For Common

and Signaling
Frame
Alignment
One Frame , Tf = 125 μs
 European
Short to Long Haul PCM Systems
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
1 1 1 1 1
Sample DS-0

2 Frame E1 2 2 2
2
3
E2 3 E3 3 E4 3 E5
4 4
4 4

30 120 480 1920

Channels Channels Channels
1 Channel 30 + 2
8 bits Channels
256 bits
Data rate and No of Channels
of European Hierarchy
European Number of Voice
Hierarchy Line Speed Channels
DS-0 64 kb/s 1
E1 2.048 Mb/s 30
E2 8.448 Mb/s 120
E3 34.368 Mb/s 480
E4 139.26 Mb/s 1920
E5 564.992 Mb/s 7680
ISI