Data Communication and
Computer Networks
SNR, Nyquist & Shannon Theorems,
Performance Metrics
Dr. Ehsan Munir
Department of Computer Science
COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus
[email protected]The slides are adapted from the publisher’s material
Data Communications and Networking by Behrouz A. Forouzan, 5 th edition
Data and Computer Communications by William Stallings, 8 th Edition
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach by J F Kurose, K W Ross, 6 th Edition
Computer Networks, by L. Peterson, and B. Davie, 5 th edition
Outline
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
Data Rate Limit
Nyquist Bit Rate
Shannon Capacity
Performance
Throughput
Latency
Delay x Bandwidth
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
SNR = average signal power / average noise
power
SNRdb = 10log10SNR
High value of SNR means the signal is less
corrupted by noise; a low value of SNR
means the signal is more corrupted by noise
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 ?
Solution
The values of SNR and SNRdB can be calculated as
follows:
Example
The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel
are
We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.
Data rate limits
How fast data can be sent in bps?
It depends on three factors
Bandwidth of the channel
Number of levels used in signal
Noise level in the channel (quality of the channel)
Nyquist Bit Rate
In case of noiseless channel, the maximum
bit rate is given by the Nyquist bit rate
Bit Rate = 2 x bandwidth x log2L
Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000
Hz transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The
maximum bit rate can be calculated as
Example
Consider the same noiseless channel transmitting a
signal with four signal levels (for each level, we send 2
bits). The maximum bit rate can be calculated as
We need to send 265 kbps over a noiseless channel with
a bandwidth of 20 kHz. How many signal levels do we
need?
Solution
We can use the Nyquist formula as shown:
Since this result is not a power of 2, we need to either
increase the number of levels or reduce the bit rate. If we
have 128 levels, the bit rate is 280 kbps. If we have 64
levels, the bit rate is 240 kbps.
3.9
Shannon capacity
Shannon capacity gives the highest data rate
for a noisy channel
Capacity (C) = bandwidth (B) x log (1+SNR)
2
Consider an extremely noisy channel in which the value
of the signal-to-noise ratio is almost zero. In other
words, the noise is so strong that the signal is faint. For
this channel the capacity C is calculated as
This means that the capacity of this channel is zero
regardless of the bandwidth. In other words, we cannot
receive any data through this channel.
Example
We can calculate the theoretical highest bit rate of a
regular telephone line. A telephone line normally has a
bandwidth of 3000. The signal-to-noise ratio is usually
3162. For this channel the capacity is calculated as
This means that the highest bit rate for a telephone line
is 34.860 kbps. If we want to send data faster than this,
we can either increase the bandwidth of the line or
improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
The signal-to-noise ratio is often given in decibels.
Assume that SNRdB = 36 and the channel bandwidth is 2
MHz. The theoretical channel capacity can be calculated
as
log 10 𝑛 log 10 3163
log 𝑏 𝑛= log 2 3163=
log 10 𝑏 log 10 2
3.12
We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR
for this channel is 63. What is the appropriate bit rate?
Solution
First, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper
limit.
3.13
Note
The Shannon capacity gives us the
upper limit; the Nyquist formula tells us
how many signal levels we need.
3.14
Performance Metrics
Bandwidth / Throughput
Total capacity / Actual Transmitted
Latency / delay
time to send message from point A to point B
one-way versus round-trip time (RTT)
components
Latency = Propagation + Transmit + Queue + Proc
Delay
Propagation = Distance / c
Transmit = Size / Bandwidth
Note:
No queuing delay in direct (point-to-point) link
Example
What is the propagation time if the distance between the
two points is 12,000 km? Assume the propagation speed
to be 2.4 × 108 m/s in cable.
Solution
We can calculate the propagation time as
The example shows that a bit can go over the Atlantic
Ocean in only 50 ms if there is a direct cable between the
source and the destination.
3.16
What are the propagation time and the transmission
time for a 2.5-kbyte message (an e-mail) if the
bandwidth of the network is 1 Gbps? Assume that the
distance between the sender and the receiver is 12,000
km and that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.
Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission time
as shown on the next slide:
3.17
Example (continued)
Note that in this case, because the message is short and
the bandwidth is high, the dominant factor is the
propagation time, not the transmission time. The
transmission time can be ignored.
3.18
Example
What are the propagation time and the transmission
time for a 5-Mbyte message (an image) if the bandwidth
of the network is 1 Mbps? Assume that the distance
between the sender and the receiver is 12,000 km and
that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.
Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission
times as shown on the next slide.
3.19
Example (continued)
Note that in this case, because the message is very long
and the bandwidth is not very high, the dominant factor
is the transmission time, not the propagation time. The
propagation time can be ignored.
3.20
Throughput Example
A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can pass only an
average of 12,000 frames per minute with each frame
carrying an average of 10,000 bits. What is the
throughput of this network?
Solution
We can calculate the throughput as
The throughput is almost one-fifth of the bandwidth in
this case.
3.21
Filling the link with bits for case 1
3.22
Filling the link with bits in case 2
3.23
Concept of bandwidth-delay product
We can think about the link between two points as a
pipe. The cross section of the pipe represents the
bandwidth, and the length of the pipe represents the
delay. We can say the volume of the pipe defines the
bandwidth-delay product, as shown in Figure below.
3.24
Note
The bandwidth-delay product defines
the number of bits that can fill the link.
3.25
