Chapter :1 2

Data and Signals

• Data vs. Signal
• Analog vs. Digital
• Analog Signals
 Periodic and Aperiodic signals
 Simple Analog Signals (sinewave)
 Time and frequency domains
 Composite Analog Signals

• Digital Signals
 Digital signal as a composite Analog Signals
 Transmission of Digital signals
 Data vs. Signal
Data – information formatted in human/machine readable form
 examples: voice, music, image, file

Signal – electric or electromagnetic representation of data

 transmission media work by conducting energy along a physical
path; thus, to be transmitted, data must be turned into energy in
the form of electro-magnetic signals

Transmission – communication of data through

propagation and processing of signals

Idea, Feeling, Knowledge

Coding Decoding
Data Signal Signal Data

Sender Channel or Communication Medium Receiver

 Analog vs. Digital
Analog vs. Digital Data  analog data – representation variable takes
on continuous values in some interval, e.g.
voice, temperature, etc.
 digital data – representation variable takes
on discrete (a finite & countable number of)
values in a given interval, e.g. text,
digitized images, etc.

Analog vs. Digital Signal  analog signal – signal that is continuous

in time and can assume an infinite number
of values in a given range (continuous in
time and value)
 discrete (digital) signal – signal that is
continuous in time and assumes only a
limited number of values (maintains a
constant level and then changes to another
constant level)
Periodic vs. Aperiodic Signals 
periodic signal – completes a pattern within some

measurable time frame, called a period (T), and then

repeats that pattern over sub- sequent identical periods

T R s. t. s(t  T)  s(t), t  - ,

 T - smallest value that satisfies the equation

 T aperiodic signal
is (typically) – changes
expressed without exhibiting
in seconds a

pattern that repeats over time

t t+T t+2T

periodic analog signal periodic digital signal

 Analog Signals (SINE WAVE)
Classification of (1) Simple Analog Signal – cannot be decomposed
Analog Signals into simpler signals
 sinewave – most fundamental form of periodic analog
signal – mathematically described with 3 parameters
s(t)  A  sin(2πft   )
(1.1) peak amplitude (A) – absolute value of signal’s
highest intensity – unit: volts [V]
(1.2) frequency (f) – number of periods in one
second
– unit: hertz [Hz] = [1/s] – inverse of period (T)!
(1.3)
The origin is usually
taken as the last previous
phase (φ) – absolute position of the waveform
passage through zero relative to an arbitrary origin – unit: degrees [º]
from the negative to the or radians [rad]
positive direction.

T = 1/f
0[s] 1[s]

(2) Composite Analog Signal –

composed of multiple sinewaves
 13
Simple Analog Signals
Phase in Simple – measured in degrees or radians
Analog Signals  360º = 2 rad

 1º = 2/360 rad
 1 rad = (360/2)º = 57.29578°
 phase shift of 360º = shift of 1 complete period
 phase shift of 180º = shift of 1/2 period
 phase shift of 90º = shift of 1/4 period

5V
1s

φ = 0º or 360º φ = 90º φ = 180º

 14
PROBLEM

Example [ period and frequency ]

Unit Equivalent Unit Equivalent

seconds (s) 1s hertz (Hz) 1 Hz
milliseconds (ms) 10–3 s kilohertz (KHz) 103 Hz
microseconds (s) 10–6 s megahertz (MHz) 106 Hz
nanoseconds (ns) 10–9 s gigahertz (GHz) 109 Hz
picoseconds (ps) 10–12 s terahertz (THz) 1012 Hz

units of period and respective frequency

(a) Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds.

100 ms = 100  10-3 s = 100  10-3  106 μs = 105 μs

(b) Express the corresponding frequency in kilohertz.

100 ms = 100  10-3 s = 10-1 s
f = 1/10-1 Hz = 10  10-3 KHz = 10-2 KHz
 TIME AND FREQUENCY DOMAINS 15

Frequency in Simple – rate of signal change with respect to time

Analog Signals  change in a short span of time  high
freq.
 change over a long span of time  low
freq.
signal never completes a??cycle T= ∞ ⇒ f=0, DC sig.
 signal does not change at all  zero freq.
 signal changes instantaneously  
freq.
signal completes a cycle in T=0 ⇒ f=∞
??

Time Domain Plot – specifies signal amplitude at each instant of time

 does NOT express explicitly signal’s phase and frequency

Frequency Domain Plot – specifies peak amplitude with respect to freq.

 phase CANNOT be shown in the frequency domain
 TIME AND FREQUENCY DOMAINS 16

One ‘spike’ in frequency

domain shows two
characteristics
of the signal:
spike position = signal
frequency, spike height = peak
amplitude.

Analog
Analog signals
signals are
are best
best represented
represented in
in the
the frequency
frequency domain.
domain.
 18
Composite Analog Signals
Fourier Analysis – any composite signal can be represented as a
combination of simple sine waves with different
frequencies, phases and amplitudes

s(t)  A1sin(2πf1t  1)  A2sin(2πf2t  2 )

...

 periodic composite signal (period=T, freq. = f0=1/T)

can be represented as a sum of simple sines and/or

s(t) 
 as Fourier series:
cosines known
 A cos(2πnf t)  B sin(2πnf t)
n 0 n 0

A0 2 n1

T

2
T
With the aid of good table of integrals, An s(t)cos(2πnf0t)dt, n = 0,1,2, …
it is easy to determine the 0
frequency-domain nature of many signals. T

2
Bn
T0
s(t)sin(2πnf0t)dt, n = 1,2,3, …

 f0 is referred to as ‘fundamental frequency’

 integer multiples of f0 are referred to as harmonics
 19

Angular Frequency – aka radian frequency – number of 2 revolutions

during a single period of a given signal

2π
ω  T  2π
f
 simple multiple of ordinary frequency

s(t) 
 


A0 2
A nc
os(
2T n 0 n
T
An  0t)  0,1,2,...
s(t)cos(nB
0t)dt,
n si

2T n(n n
T
Bn  1,2,...
0
0 t)
s(t)sin(n0t)dt,

 20
COMPOSITE SIGNAL EXAMPLE
Example [ periodic square wave ]

No DC component!!!

4A 4A 4A
s(t)  sin(2πft)  sin(2π(3f)t)  sin(2π(5f)t)
...
π 3π 5π

three harmonics adding three harmonics

With
With three
three harmonics
harmonics we
we get
get an
an approximation
approximation of
of aa square
square wave.
wave.
To get
To get the
the actual
actual square,
square, all
all harmonics
harmonics up
up to  should
to ∞ should bebe added.
added.
 22
Composite Analog Signals

Frequency Spectrum – range (set) of frequencies that signal

contains of Analog Signal

Absolute Bandwidth – width of signal spectrum: B = fhighest - flowest of

Analog Signal

of Analog Signal of its power/energy

Effective Bandwidth – range of frequencies where signal contains
most

square wave

3-harmonic representation
 23
PROBLEM

Example [ frequency spectrum and bandwidth of analog signal ]

A periodic signal is composed of five sinewaves with frequencies of 100,
300, 500, 700 and 900 Hz.
What is the bandwidth of this signal?
Draw the frequency spectrum, assuming all components have a max
amplitude of 10V.
Solution:

= 900 - 100 = 800 Hz

B = fhighest - flowest
The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900.
 25

Composite Signals and – no transmission medium is perfect – each

medium passes some frequencies and
Transmission Medium
blocks or weakens others
 composite signal sent at one end of transmiss.
medium (comm. channel), may not be received
in the same form at the other end
 passing a square wave through any medium
will always deform the signal !!!

communication channel

Channel Bandwidth – range of frequencies passed by the

channel – difference between highest and
lowest frequency that channel can satisfactorily
pass
 27
Digital Signals

Digital Signals – sequence of voltage pulses (DC

levels) – each pulse represents a signal element
 binary data are transmitted using only 2 types of signal
elements ( 1 = positive voltage, 0 = negative voltage )
 key digital-signals terms:
 bit interval – time required to send a single bit, unit:
[sec]
 bit rate – number of bit intervals per second – unit: [bps]

Most
Most digital
digital signals
signals are
are aperiodic,
aperiodic,
so
so itit is
is not
not appropriate
appropriate // correct
correct to
to talk
talk about
about their
their period.
period.
 28
Digital Signal as a Composite Analog Signal
– digital signal, with all its sudden changes,
is actually a composite signal having an
infinite number of frequencies
 a digital signal is a composite signal
with an infinite bandwidth
 if a medium has a wide bandwidth, a
digital signal can be sent through it
 some frequencies will be weakened or
blocked; still, enough frequencies will be
passed to preserve a decent signal shape

 what is the minimum required bandwidth

B [Hz] of a band-limited medium if we
want to send n [bps]?
 29

Example [ approximation of digital signal’s spectrum using 1st harmonic ]

Assume our computer generates 6 bps.
Possibilities (periodic combinations) : 000000, 111111, 110011, 101010 etc.

1. Best case: min # of changes  min freq. of substitute analog signal

2. Worst case – max # of changes  max freq. of substitute analog signal

bit rate: n = 6 [bps]

frequency: B = 3 [Hz]

B
n 2