Data Communications Systems Ch 3: Data and Signals ayer 1

JinKyu Lee, Ph.D. Jinkyu.lee@okstate.edu

Topics
Data vs. Signals, Analog vs. Digital Types & Attributes of Analog Signals
Wavelength, Amplitude, Frequency, & Phase Composite Signals, Bandwidth

Types & Attributes of Digital Signals

Signal Level vs. Data Level, & Bit Rate, Low-Pass vs. Band-Pass

Channel, Baseband vs. Broadband transmission

Signal impairment
Attenuation, Distortion, Noise

Performance
Bandwidth vs. Throughput, Latency (Delay)

3-1 Data vs. Signals, Analog vs. Digital

Computer networks and data / voice communication

systems transmit signals

To be transmitted, data must be transformed to signals Data and signals can be analog or digital

Data - entities that convey meaning

Analog data are continuous and take continuous values Digital data have discrete states and take discrete values Examples: computer file, music in i-Pod, movie on a DVD

Signals - electric, electromagnetic, or optic encoding of

Note: Analog signals digital signal <> Being a digital signal Being used as a can have an infinite number of values in a Thererange is no native digital matter in the physical world. Its all about cognition (sensor & measurement). have only a limited number of values Digital signals can Digital signal generators and sensors treat some analog matters as if they are digital.
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data

Comparison of analog and digital signals

In data communications, we commonly use periodic analog signals and nonperiodic digital signals.
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3-2 ANALOG SIGNALS

Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or composite. A simple periodic analog signal, a sine wave, cannot be decomposed into simpler signals. A composite periodic analog signal is composed of multiple sine waves.
A sine wave

Fundamentals of Signals

All Signals Have Three Components

Amplitude Frequency Phase
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Fundamentals of Signals

(cont.)

Amplitude
Height of the wave above or below a given

reference point

Fundamentals of Signals

(cont.)

Frequency
Number of times a signal makes complete cycle within a

given time frame Spectrum - Range of frequencies that a signal spans from minimum
to maximum

Bandwidth - The absolute value of the difference between the

lowest and highest frequencies of a signal Example: Average voice has a frequency range of roughly 300 Hz to 3100 Hz
The spectrum would thus be 300 - 3100 Hz The bandwidth would be 2800 Hz
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Fundamentals of Signals

(cont.)

Fundamentals of Signals

(cont.)

Phase
Position in the waveform relative to a given

moment of time or relative to time zero

A change in phase can be any number of angles

between 0 and 360 degrees

Phase changes often occur on common angles,

such as 45, 90, 135, etc.

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Three sine waves with the same amplitude and frequency, but different phases

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Fundamentals of Signals

(cont.)

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Two signals with the same amplitude and unchanging phase, but different frequencies

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Wavelength and period

where T = period

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The time-domain and frequency-domain plots of a sine wave

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The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

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Composite Signals
A single-frequency sine wave is not useful in data

communications; we need to send a composite signal, a signal made of many simple sine waves Any composite signal is a combination of simple sine waves with different frequencies, amplitudes, and phases If the composite signal is periodic, the decomposition gives a series of signals with discrete frequencies; if the composite signal is nonperiodic, the decomposition gives a combination of sine waves with continuous frequencies.

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A composite periodic signal

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Decomposition of a composite periodic signal in the time and frequency domains

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The time and frequency domains of a nonperiodic signal

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The Bandwidth of Periodic and Nonperiodic Composite Signals

The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the highest and the lowest frequencies contained in that signal.

Frequency-domain plots

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3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS

Information can be represented by a digital signal. For example, a 1 can be encoded as a positive voltage and a 0 as zero voltage. A digital signal can have more than two levels. In this case, we can send more than 1 bit for each level.

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Signal Level vs. Data Level

two

Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the other with four signal levels

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Low-Pass Channel vs. Band-Pass Channel - Baseband transmission vs. Broadband transmission? * Low-pass channel: A channel that passes frequencies between 0 and f. * Band-pass channel: a channel that can pass a range of frequencies * Determined not only by the medium but also the way the transmitter & receiver use the medium.
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Baseband Transmission over a Low-Pass Channel

Note: In baseband transmissions, the signal uses the state of silence (e.g. absence of electric charge or light with zero frequency) as a baseline. If another signal needs the same baseline for its signal state, they cannot share the same low-pass channel. Digital signals usually use the 0v 0Hz state as a signal state. e.g., 10Base2, 10Base-T, 100Base-TX, 1000Base-T4 Some analog signals also use the 0v 0Hz state. e.g., Old telephone ring signal
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Bandwidths of two low-pass channels

If the available channel is a band-pass channel, we cannot send the digital signal directly to the channel; we need to convert the digital signal to an analog signal before transmission. Note: Many transmission media are low-pass channels, but if a medium has a high bandwidth, we prefer to use it as a band-pass channel (w Modulation + MUX).
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Modulation of a digital signal for transmission on a Bandpass channel

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3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

Signals travel through transmission media, which are not perfect. The imperfection causes signal impairment. This means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is not the same as the signal at the end of the medium. What is sent is not what is received. Three causes of impairment are attenuation, distortion, and noise.
Causes of impairment

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Attenuation
Signals weaken over long distances In order to move the signal further, we amplify it However, often as signals weaken, they also

lose some of their correct form Unfortunately, amplifiers not only boost the signal, but also its imperfections

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Attenuation

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Distortion
Signal changes in shape or form Occurs in composite signals made up of different

frequencies Each signal component moves at its own speed; is delayed arriving at the other end When some components arrive before others, it results in distortion

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Distortion

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Noise
Many sources; degrades the signal Thermal noise Crosstalk Induced noise Impulse noise

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Noise

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Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

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3-5 PERFORMANCE Bandwidth as a performance measure of a NW

Bandwidth in hertz: refers to the range of frequencies in a composite signal or the range of frequencies that a channel can pass. Bandwidth in bits per second: refers to the speed of bit transmission in a channel or link. Throughput: Actual # of bits transferred.
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Latency (Delay)
Latency = Propagation time + Transmission time + Queuing time + Processing delay

Propagation time = Distance / Propagation speed Transmission Time = Message size/Bandwidth (bit rate)
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