Signal Encoding and Modulation
Prelude
• From the simplified communications system model, data-
bits (e.g text) must be converted into a
signal/wave/energy(digital) then into an analog signal at
the transmitter for transmission
• Then the analog signal is converted back into a digital signal
then data (bits) at the destination
• The lesson therefore looks at the techniques/schemes that
perform the conversions
• We use the data bits 1100000000110000 (bits that
represent 2 characters) to demonstrate the conversions
V(v) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Topics
Encoding Schemes Modulation Schemes
• Unipolar • ASK
• Polar • FSK
• Bipolar • PSK
Signal Encoding Schemes
Encoding is the conversion of streams of bits into a
digital signal.
3 Broad Categories: Unipolar, Polar, and Bipolar
-Non-return to Zero (NRZ)
-Non-return to Zero Inverted (NRZI)
-Manchester Phase Encoding (MPE)
-Differential Manchester Encoding (DME)
-Bipolar –Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI)
-Bipolar with 8 Zero Substitution (B8ZS)
-High Density Bipolar 3 (HDB3)
Unipolar Encoding Systems
• All signal elements are represented on one side (0 and +ve
voltage)of the graph
• Are Non-return to Zero (NRZ), Non-return to Zero-Level
(NRZL) and Non-return to Zero Inverted (NRZI)
• represent signals in two levels; high and low levels
• Transitions of levels take place at the end of the end of a bit
• In NRZ, 1 bit represents high (presence of voltage) and 0
(absence of voltage) bits represent low level
V(v) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ 0 t(s)
-1
Unipolar Encoding Systems
• Voltage is constant during bit time-interval; no transition
I.e. no return to zero voltage
• 2 bits occupy a full cycle
• 0 bit represents high (presence of voltage) and 1 (absence
of voltage) bits represent low signal level in NRZL
• 1 bit represent a transition/change of previous level and bit
0 does not change previous level in NRZI
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
t(s)
More Examples
Pros and cons of NRZ and NRZI
• Easy to design and engineer
• Require high power output to overcome signal level transition;
prone to signal attenuation
• Waste bandwidth use; 2 bits occupy one cycle
• Hard to synchronize internal clocks;
– It uses two levels to represent signals
– Each bit remains in the same level (state)
– Transitions take place at the end of a bit
– Each bit voltage is constant during a time-interval: does not return a
value 0 in the middle of a bit
• Frequent changes of signal level in NRZI by binary bit 1 makes
it easier to synchronize clocks
Used in Magnetic Recording (transfer of information within the
computer system (e.g from hard disk to flush disk))
Polar(Biphase)
• One logic state represented by positive voltage the
other by negative voltage
• Are Manchester Phase Encoding (MPE) and
Differential Manchester Encoding (DME) systems
• It represents signals in two levels; high and low levels
• Transitions of levels take place at the middle of a bit
• Voltage changes during bit interval; transitions take
place i.e. returns a zero voltage at the middle of a bit
• 1 bit occupies a full cycle e.g 10kHz=10mbps
• Binary bit 1 represents low to high and binary bit 0
represents high to low in MPE
• Binary bit 1 represents a change of previous level
while binary bit 0 does change previous bit levels as
shown in the example below
V(v) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
t(s)
MPE
t(s)
DME
t(s)
• Con Pros and cons of MPE and DME
– More transitions per bit time
– Maximum modulation rate is twice data rate therefore
inefficient encoding for long-distance applications.
– Requires more bandwidth (bandwidth cannot be exactly
equal to baud rate)
• Pros
– Easy to synchronize clocks (transitions take place at the
middle of the bit, a bit is always in two levels and a bit is
also in either of the three states; transmitting a positive,
a negative voltage and a 0 voltages)
– No dc component; has both positive and negative
voltages
– Error detection- the absence of an expected transition
can used to detect errors
MPE is preferred in Ethernets and DME in ATMs
Multilevel Binary (Bipolar)
• Use more than two voltage levels
• Bipolar-AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion)
– Represent signals in three levels
– Bit 0 represented by no line signal (at voltage 0)
– Bit 1 represented by positive or negative pulse
alternately in polarity (as shown in the example
below)
– No loss of sync if a long string of ones (zeros still
a problem)
– Lower bandwidth
– Easy error detection
– Used in WAN
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
t(s)
MPE
t(s)
DME
t(s)
AMI
t(s)
Bipolar-AMI Encoding
B8ZS
• Bipolar With 8 Zeros Substitution
• Based on bipolar-AMI and on the two rules below
– If a series of eight zeros and last voltage pulse preceding
was positive then it is encode as 000+-0-+
– If a series of eight zeros and last voltage pulse preceding
was negative, then it is encode as 000-+0+-
• Causes two violations of AMI code
• Unlikely to occur as a result of noise
• Receiver detects and interprets the pulses as octet
of all zeros
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
t(s)
MPE
t(s)
DME
t(s)
AMI Require substitution
t(s)
BSZS
t(s)
B8ZS
HDB3
• High Density Bipolar 3 Zeros
• Based on bipolar-AMI
• String of four zeros replaced with one or two pulses
according to the four HDB3 rules below
# of Bipolar Pulses (ones) since Last Substitution
Polarity of Odd Even
Preceding
Pulse
- 000- +00+
+ 000+ -00-
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
MPE
t(s)
DME
t(s)
AMI
t(s)
BSZS
t(s)
HDB3
t(s)
Summary of Digital Signal Encoding
Formats
0 1
NRZL High level Low level
NRZI No transition at start of transition
interval
Bipolar-AMI No line signal +ve line signal
Manchester Transition from high to low in Transition from low to high in
the middle of interval the middle of interval
Diff Manchester Tran at start of interval No transition at start of
(always a Transition in the interval
middle of interval)
HDB3 Same as bipolar-AMI, except that any string of four zeros is
replaced by a string with one code violation
B8ZS Same as bipolar-AMI, except that any string of eight zeros are
replaced by a string of two code violations
Signal Modulation Techniques
• Modulation is the process of converting digital signal to
analog signal.
• Digital-to-analog transmission is needed when the
medium/channel is a band pass or/and multiple users need
to share the medium
Modulation involves operation on signal
characteristics: frequency, phase, amplitude.
• Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
• Frequency shift keying (FSK)
• Phase shift keying (PSK)
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• Values (binary bit 1 or 0) represented by
different amplitudes of carrier. Frequency
and phase angle remain constant e.g. let bit 1
be an voltage 1 and bit 0 be zero
• Usually, one amplitude is zero
– i.e. presence and absence of carrier is used
• It as a simple technique but susceptible to
sudden gain changes (noise). Noise usually
affects the amplitude
• Used over optical fiber 25
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
MPE
t(s)
DME
t(s)
AMI
t(s)
ASK
t(s)
Frequency Shift Keying(FSK)
• Two binary values represented by two different
frequencies (near carrier). Amplitude an and
phase angle remain constant
• Binary bit 1 can be represented by two waves and
binary bit 0 be represented by one wave for
example
• Less susceptible to error (noise) than ASK: receiver
looks for specific frequency changes not
amplitude but its spectrum is twice that of ASK
• Even higher frequency on LANs using co-ax
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
MPE
t(s)
DME
t(s)
AMI
t(s)
ASK
t(s)
FSK
t(s)
Phase Shift Keying
• Phase of carrier signal is shifted to represent data
• Binary bit 1 for example can represent in-phase
wave and binary bit 0 can represent out of phase
(e.g by 1800) wave
• Binary PSK
– Two phases represent two binary digits
• Differential PSK
– Phase shifted relative to previous transmission rather
than some reference signal
29
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
NRZ
t(s)
NRZ-I
MPE
t(s)
DME
t(s)
AMI
t(s)
ASK
t(s)
FSK
t(s)
PSK
t(s)
Exercise
Determine the input bit values for the following
NRZ encoding scheme graph
Use the input values obtained in the graph above
to plot a NRZI, DME, AMI and ASK schemes
