Data Communication &

Computer Networks

Physical Layer

Powerpoint Templates
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
These lecture slides contain material from slides prepared
by Behrouz Forouzan for his book Data Communication
and Networking (4th/ 5th edition).
 Channel capacity

The maximum rate at which data can be transmitted

over a given communication path, or channel, under
given conditions

3
Relationship between Data rate and
Bandwidth
 Spectrum
range of frequencies that a signal contains
 Bandwidth
 the difference between the minimum and maximum frequencies
that a channel can handle (measured in Hz)
 It
dictates the information carrying capacity of the channel
(in bps) which is calculated using
 Data Rate or Bit Rate
 how much "information" the system can handle at a given time, or
information carrying capacity of a signal (Measured in bps)
 Direct relationship between data rate and bandwidth
The greater the bandwidth, the higher the information-carrying
capacity
4
Channel
 A channel is portion of a transmission path dedicated to a pair
of transmitter/receivers
usually characterized by its bandwidth

 It is a physical transmission medium such as a wire, or

 a logical connection over a multiplexed medium such as a
radio channel

 A channel or transmission medium may be simplex, half-

duplex and full-duplex

 A channel is used to convey an information signal, from

one or several senders to one or several receivers

5
 Communication facilities are expensive
Greater the bandwidth of a facility, the greater the cost

 All transmission channels are of limited bandwidth

 Make as efficient use as possible of a given bandwidth

 At a particular limit of error rate (rate at which errors occur )

for a given bandwidth, get as high a data rate as possible

Error is reception of a 1 when a 0 was transmitted or

reception of a 0 when a 1 was transmitted

6
Effects of Noise on Channel Capacity
 Noise is the main constraint in achieving efficient use of
bandwidth
It degrades the signal quality and thus limits the data rate that can
be achieved

Noise is the average level of noise over the

communications path

 We use Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR) to measure

the quality of a system
Ratio of the signal power (S) to the noise power (N)
that’s present at a particular point in the transmission

7
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
 It is the measure of signal strength relative to background
noise, and typically measured at a receiver
SNR = signal power/noise power = S/N

 It is usually given in dB (to show loss or gain in

signal strength) and referred to as SNRdB
The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit used to express
the ratio between two values of a physical quantity
dB is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if a
signal is amplified

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Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Example
 The power of a signal is 10 mW and the power of the noise is

1 µW; what are the values of SNR and SNRdB?

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Signal-to-Noise Ratio
The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel
are?

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

10
Channel Capacity
 Theoretical formulas to calculate the data rate
Nyquist bit rate (noiseless channel)
Shannon’s channel capacity formula (noisy channel)

Nyquist theorem:
 Given a bandwidth of B, the highest signal rate that

can be carried is 2B bps (binary signals or two

voltage levels)
 It assumes that channel is free of noise

11
 Channel Capacity: Nyquist Bandwidth
Nyquist theorem:
 In the general case, in which a signal element may represent more

than one bit, we have:

maximum data rate = 2B log2 V bits/sec
where V is the number of discrete signal or voltage levels

 Increasing the levels of a signal may reduce the reliability of the

system
 No. of bits per level = log2 V

12
Channel Capacity: Nyquist Bandwidth
Examples:
Bandwidth of voice grade line: 3000 Hz
using binary encoding (each signal level represents 1 bit)
maximum data rate = 2 X B = 2 X 3000 bits/sec
= 6000 bits/sec

If we have 16 distinct signals, each representing 4 bits (using

QAM encoding)
maximum data rate = 2 X 3000 log2 16 bits/sec
= 24000 bits/sec

13
Nyquist Bandwidth: Examples

For a noiseless channel, bandwidth of 3100 Hz transmitting a signal

with two signal levels
The maximum bit rate?

BitRate = 2 X 3100 X log2 2 = 6200 bps

For the same channel transmitting a signal with four signal levels
(for each level, we send 2 bits). The maximum bit rate?

BitRate = 2 X 3100 X log2 4 = 12400 bps

14
 Nyquist Bandwidth: Examples

How many signal levels to send 200 kbps over a noiseless channel
with a bandwidth of 20 kHz?
The maximum bit rate?
By using Nyquist formula
200000 = 2 X 20000 X log2 V
log2 V = 5
V = 25 = 32 levels

Bit rate if V = 64, 128?

How many signaling levels are required when C = 8 Mbps and

B = 1 MHz ?

15
Shannon capacity formula
 maximum data rate or capacity of a noisy channel whose bandwidth is B Hz and whose
signal-to-noise ratio is S/N, is given

This equation represents theoretical maximum that can be achieved

maximum data rate = B log2(1+S/N) bps

 Consider an extremely noisy channel

Where noise is so strong that the signal is faint; or
in which the value of the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero

Capacity of this channel is

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = B 10g2 (1 + 0) =B log2 1 = B x 0 = 0

16
Channel Capacity: Shannon’s Theorem

Shannon’s Theorem
Example: channel of 3000 Hz and SNR of 30 dB
C= B log2(1+SNR) bps
 First, obtain SNR (ratio) from SNRdB

Here, SNR = S/N = 1000, and 1+S/N is ≈ 210

maximum data rate (C) = 3000 log2(1+S/N) bps

≈ 3000 X 10 bps = 30000 bps

17
Shannon Formula: Example
 Spectrum of a channel between 3 MHz and 4 MHz ;
SNRdB = 24 dB

Using Shannon’s formula

18
 Shannon Formula: Example
Assume that SNRdB = 36 and the channel bandwidth is 2 MHz
The theoretical channel capacity?

19
Analog/Digital Conversions
Digital-To-Digital Conversion
 Representation of digital data by using digital
signals
 Techniques for digital-to-digital conversion

Line coding
Block coding
Scrambling
Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Line Coding: the process of converting digital data to
digital signals
 Assumption: Data is stored in computer memory as

sequence of bits
 Line coding converts sequence of bits to digital signals

 For example when we transmit data from computer to the

printer, both original and transmitted data have to be
digital
 Encoding a digital signal is where 1’s and 0’s generated by
the computer are translated into voltage pulses that can be
propagated over the wire
Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Line Coding
 At sender: encoding of digital data into digital signal

 At receiver: recreation of digital data by decoding the

digital signal
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
 Signal element versus data element

 A data element is the smallest entity (bit) that can represent a

piece of information
In data communications, our goal is to send data elements
which are what we need to send
Data elements are being carried
 A signal element is the shortest unit (time wise) of a digital signal

In digital data communications, a signal element carries data

elements (carriers)
So signals elements are what we can send
Ratio of data elements to signals elements
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
 Signal element versus data element

 In the simplest case, there is a one-to-one correspondence

between bits and signal elements

 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
 Data rate versus signal rate

 The data rate (bit rate) is the number of data elements (bits) sent

in I second
The unit is bits per second (bps)
 The signal rate (baud rate, modulation rate or pulse rate) is the

number of signal elements sent in I second.

The unit is the baud
 Data communications goal: increase the data rate (increasing

speed of transmission) and decrease the signal rate (decreasing

bandwidth requirement)
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
Bandwidth
 Although the actual bandwidth of a digital signal is infinite, the

effective bandwidth is finite

 the baud rate, not the bit rate, determines the required bandwidth
for a digital signal
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
Baseline wandering
 In decoding a digital signal

the receiver calculates a running average of the received signal

power. This average is called the baseline.
 To determine the value of the data element

The incoming signal power is evaluated against this baseline

 A long string of Os or 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 needs to prevent baseline wandering
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
DC component
 When the voltage level in a digital signal is constant for a while,

the spectrum creates very low frequencies (results of Fourier

analysis)
 These frequencies around zero, called DC (direct-current)

components, present problems

for a system that cannot pass low frequencies.
For example, a telephone line cannot pass frequencies below 200 Hz
 So DC component means 0/1 parity that can cause baseline
wandering
 we need a scheme with no DC component for such a system
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
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.
 If the receiver clock is faster or slower
 the bit intervals are not matched and the receiver might misinterpret
the signals
 Consider a situation where the receiver has a shorter bit duration
Let the sender sends 10110001, while the receiver receives
110111000011
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion
Characteristics of Line Coding Schemes
Self synchronization
 A self-synchronizing digital signal includes timing information in

the data being transmitted

The same can be achieved by adding transitions in the signal
that alert the receiver to the start, middle or end of the pulse.
These points can reset the clock in case the receiver’s clock is
out of synchronization
Effect of lack of synchronization
Consider a situation where the receiver has a shorter bit duration
Let the sender sends 10110001, while the receiver receives 110111000011
 Example
In a digital transmission, the receiver clock is 0.1 percent faster
than the sender clock. How many extra bits per second does the
receiver receive if the data rate is 1 kbps?
How many if the data rate is 1 Mbps?
Solution
At 1 kbps, the receiver receives 1001 bps instead of 1000 bps.

At 1 Mbps, the receiver receives 1,001,000 bps instead of

1,000,000 bps.
 Digital-To-Digital Conversion

Line Coding Schemes (types of encoding)

Line Coding Schemes: Unipolar
Unipolar: non-return-to-zero (NRZ) [no return in middle]
 Encoding is simple , with only one technique in use
 all the signal levels are on one side of the time axis, either
above or below
 It is called Unipolar because it uses only one polarity
 positive voltage defines bit I and the zero voltage defines bit 0
 Line Coding Schemes: Polar
Polar
 Polar encoding uses two voltage levels, positive and negative
(on both sides of time axis)
 The voltage level for 0 bit can be positive (+ve) and the voltage level for 1
can be negative
 3 subcategories: NRZ, RZ, Biphase
 Line Coding Schemes: Polar
Polar: NRZ
Non-return-to-zero-level (NRZ-L)
 A +ve voltage means the bit is a 0 and a –ve voltage means the
bit is a 1 (vice versa may also be true)
 Line Coding Schemes: Polar
Polar: NRZ : Non-return-to-zero-Invert (NRZ-I)
 the change or lack of change in the level of the voltage determines

the value of the bit

If there is no change, the bit is 0;
if there is a change, the bit is 1
 A transition (low-to-high or high-to-low) at the beginning of a bit
time denotes a binary 1 for that bit time; no transition indicates a
binary 0
 NRZ-L and NRZ-I both have a DC
component problem and baseline
wandering, it is worse for NRZ-L. Both
have no self synchronization &no error
detection. Both are relatively simple to
implement.
 Line Coding Schemes: Polar
Polar: Return-to-zero (RZ)
 Any time, data contains long strings of 1’s or 0’s, receiver can
loose its timing (synchronization problem of NRZ)
 One solution is RZ encoding which uses 3 values; Positive,
Negative and Zero
 Signal changes not between bits but during each bit
Line Coding Schemes
 Here, +ve voltage means 1 and a –ve voltage
means 0,
 but unlike NRZ-L, half way through each bit
interval, the signal returns to zero
 A 1 bit is represented by positive to zero and a 0
is represented by negative to zero transition
Line Coding Schemes

Problem with RZ

 Main problem with RZ encoding is that it

requires two signal changes to encode one bit
 therefore occupies more bandwidth
 But it is most effective solution so that
receiver cannot lose timing (no DC
component problem)
 Complexity: uses three levels of voltage
Line Coding Schemes: Polar

Biphase
 Best existing solution to the problem of
synchronization
 Signal changes at the middle of bit interval
but does not stop at zero
 Instead it continues to the opposite pole

There are two types of biphase encoding

1. Manchester

2. Differential Manchester
Line Coding Schemes: Polar
Biphase: Manchester
Transition in middle of each bit period
Transition serves as clock and data
Used by IEEE 802.3 (10Mbps Ethernet)
 Negative-to-Positive Transition (low to high) = 1
 Positive-to-Negative Transition (high to low) = 0
Line Coding Schemes: Polar
Bi-phase: Differential Manchester
 Mid-bit transition is clocking only (for synchronization)
• Transition at start of a bit period represents zero
• No transition at start of a bit period represents one
• Note: this is a differential encoding scheme
• Used by IEEE 802.5 (Token ring)
Line Coding Schemes: Polar
Line Coding Schemes: Bipolar
Bipolar encoding
 There are three voltage levels; +ve, -ve, zero to represent the
symbols (note not transitions to zero as in RZ)
 Voltage level for one symbol is at “0” and the other alternates
between +ve & -ve.
 Bipolar Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI): the “0” symbol
is represented by zero voltage and the “1” symbol alternates
between +V and -V.
 Pseudoternary is the reverse of AMI: the “1” symbol is
represented by zero voltage and the “0” symbol alternates
between +V and -V
Line Coding Schemes: Bipolar
Bipolar encoding
Bipolar Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI) and Pseudoternary
Alternate Mark Inversion(AMI)
 Pros and Cons:

 There will be no loss of synchronization if a

long string of 1s occurs
 Each 1 introduces a transition, and the receiver
can resynchronize on that transition
 A long string of 0s would still be a problem
 No error detection
Digital-To-Digital Conversion
 Representation of digital data by using digital
signals
 Techniques for digital-to-digital conversion

Line coding
Block coding
Scrambling
Block Coding

 For a code to be capable of error detection, we need to add

redundancy, i.e., extra bits to the data bits.
 Block coding is normally referred to as mB/nB coding; it
replaces each m-bit group with an n-bit group, where n is
larger than m
 Block coding is done in three steps: division, substitution
and combination.
 The resulting bit stream prevents certain bit combinations
that when used with line encoding would result in DC
components or poor sync. quality.
Block Coding Concept

Three steps of block coding

 In the division step, a sequence of bits is divided into groups

of m bits
For example, in 4B/5B encoding, the original bit sequence
is divided into 4-bit groups
 In the substitution step, we substitute an m-bit group for an n-bit
group
For example, in 4B/5B encoding we substitute a 4-bit code
for a 5-bit group
 Finally in combination step, the n-bit groups are combined
together to form a stream
 The new stream has more bits than the original bits
Block coding concept
Using block coding 4B/5B with NRZ-I line coding scheme

4B/5B coding scheme was designed to be used in combination with

NRZ-I
NRZ-I has a good signal rate, but it has a synchronization problem
A long sequence of 0s can make receiver clock lose synchronization

One solution to synchronization issue: prior to encoding with NRZ-

I, change the bit stream to avoid having a long stream of 0s
The 4B/5B scheme is the answer to achieve this goal
Block-coded stream does not have more than three consecutive 0s
At the receiver
the NRZ-I encoded digital signal is first decoded into a stream of
bits and
then decoded to remove the redundancy
Using block coding 4B/5B with NRZ-I line coding scheme
4B/5B: Redundancy

 A 4 bit data word can have 24 combinations

 A 5 bit code word can have 25=32 combinations

 We therefore have 32 - 16 = 16 unused groups for 4B/5B

 Some of the extra/unused groups are used for

control/signaling purposes.
4B/5B Mapping codes
 The 5-bit codes are selected in such a way that there are no
more than one leading 0 (left bit) and no more than two trailing
0s (right bits)
Thus, when sent back-to-back, no pair of 5-bit codes results in
more than three consecutive 0s being transmitted
 Thus, when different groups are combined to make a new

sequence, there are never more than three consecutive 0s being

transmitted
 If a 5-bit group arrives that belongs to the unused portion of the

table
◦ the receiver knows that there is an error in the transmission
The 5 bit words are pre-determined in a dictionary and are
chosen in such a way so that there will be at least two
transitions per block of bits
4B/5B mapping codes
Substitution in 4B/5B block coding