Data and Computer
Communications
Data Transmission
Data Transmission
What we've got here is failure to communicate.
Paul Newman in Cool Hand
Luke
Data Transmission
The successful
transmission of
data depends on
two factors:
•
quality of the signal
being transmitted
•
characteristics of the
transmission medium
Transmission Terminology
Data transmission occurs between transmitter
and receiver over some transmission medium.
Communication
is in the form of
electromagnetic
waves.
Guided
media
twisted pair,
coaxial cable,
optical fiber
Unguided
media
(wireless)
air, vacuum,
seawater
Transmission Terminology
Transmission Terminology
 Simplex

signals transmitted in one direction
• eg. Television
 Half

duplex
both stations transmit, but only one at a time
• eg. police radio
 Full

duplex
simultaneous transmissions
• eg. telephone
Frequency, Spectrum and
Bandwidth
Time Domain Concepts
 analog signal
• signal intensity varies smoothly with no breaks
 digital signal
• signal intensity maintains a constant level and
then abruptly changes to another level
 periodic signal
• signal pattern repeats over time
 aperiodic signal
• pattern not repeated over time
Analog and Digital Signals
Periodic
Signals
Sine Wave
(periodic continuous signal)

peak amplitude (A)



frequency (f)





maximum strength of signal
typically measured in volts
rate at which the signal repeats
Hertz (Hz) or cycles per second
period (T) is the amount of time for one repetition
T = 1/f
phase ()

relative position in time within a single period of signal
Varying Sine Waves
s(t) = A sin(2ft +)
Wavelength ()
the wavelength of
a signal is the
distance occupied
by a single cycle
can also be stated as the
distance between two
points of corresponding
phase of two consecutive
cycles
especially when v=c
• c = 3*108 ms-1
(speed of light in
free space)
assuming signal
velocity v, then the
wavelength is related
to the period as  = vT
or
equivalently
f = v
Frequency Domain Concepts
 signals
are made up of many frequencies
 components are sine waves
 Fourier analysis can show that any signal
is made up of components at various
frequencies, in which each component is a
sinusoid
 can plot frequency domain functions
Addition of
Frequency
Components
(T=1/f)
c is sum of f & 3f
Frequency
Domain
Representations

frequency domain
function of Fig 3.4c
 frequency domain
function of single
square pulse
Spectrum & Bandwidth
Data Rate and Bandwidth
any transmission
system has a
limited band of
frequencies
limiting
bandwidth
creates
distortions
this limits the data
rate that can be
carried on the
transmission medium
most energy in
first few
components
square waves
have infinite
components and
hence an infinite
bandwidth
There is a direct relationship between
data rate and bandwidth.
Analog and Digital Data
Transmission
 data

entities that convey information
 signals

electric or electromagnetic representations of
data
 signaling

physically propagates along a medium
 transmission

communication of data by propagation and
processing of signals
Acoustic Spectrum (Analog)
Digital Data
Examples:
Text
IRA
Character
strings
Advantages & Disadvantages
of Digital Signals
Audio Signals

frequency range of typical speech is 100Hz-7kHz
 easily converted into electromagnetic signals
 varying volume converted to varying voltage
 can limit frequency range for voice channel to
300-3400Hz
Analog Signals
Digital Signals
Analog and
Digital
Transmission
Transmission Impairments
 signal
received may differ from signal
transmitted causing:


analog - degradation of signal quality
digital - bit errors
 most



significant impairments are
attenuation and attenuation distortion
delay distortion
noise
Equalize
attenuation across
the band of
frequencies used
by using loading
coils or amplifiers.
Received signal
strength must be:
•strong enough to be
detected
•sufficiently higher than
noise to be received
without error
Strength can be
increased using
amplifiers or
repeaters.
ATTENUATION
 signal strength falls off with distance over any
transmission medium
 varies with frequency
Delay Distortion
 occurs
because propagation velocity of a
signal through a guided medium varies
with frequency
 various frequency components arrive at
different times resulting in phase shifts
between the frequencies
 particularly critical for digital data since
parts of one bit spill over into others
causing intersymbol interference
Noise
unwanted signals
inserted between
transmitter and
receiver
is the major limiting
factor in
communications
system performance
Categories of Noise
Intermodulation noise
• produced by nonlinearities in the
transmitter, receiver, and/or
intervening transmission medium
• effect is to produce signals at a
frequency that is the sum or
difference of the two original
frequencies
Categories of Noise
Crosstalk:


Impulse Noise:




caused by external
electromagnetic interferences
noncontinuous, consisting of
irregular pulses or spikes
short duration and high
amplitude
minor annoyance for analog
signals but a major source of
error in digital data
a signal from one line is
picked up by another
can occur by electrical
coupling between nearby
twisted pairs or when
microwave antennas pick
up unwanted signals
Channel Capacity
Maximum rate at which data can be transmitted over a
given communications channel under given conditions
bandwidth
data rate
noise
in cycles
average
in bits per
per
noise level
second
second or
over path
Hertz
error rate
rate of
corrupted
bits
main
limitations constraint
due to
on
physical
achieving
properties efficiency
is noise
Nyquist Bandwidth
In the case of a channel that is noise free:
 if rate of signal transmission is 2B then can carry
signal with frequencies no greater than B

given bandwidth B, highest signal rate is 2B

for binary signals, 2B bps needs bandwidth B Hz
 can increase rate by using M signal levels
 Nyquist Formula is: C = 2B log2M
 data rate can be increased by increasing signals


however this increases burden on receiver
noise & other impairments limit the value of M
Shannon Capacity Formula

considering the relation of data rate, noise and
error rate:


faster data rate shortens each bit so bursts of noise
corrupts more bits
given noise level, higher rates mean higher errors

Shannon developed formula relating these to
signal to noise ratio (in decibels)
 SNRdb=10 log10 (signal/noise)
 capacity C = B log2(1+SNR)


theoretical maximum capacity
get much lower rates in practice
Classifications of
Transmission Media

Transmission Medium


Guided Media



Physical path between transmitter and receiver
Waves are guided along a solid medium
E.g., copper twisted pair, copper coaxial cable, optical
fiber
Unguided Media



Provides means of transmission but does not guide
electromagnetic signals
Usually referred to as wireless transmission
E.g., atmosphere, outer space
Unguided Media
 Transmission
and reception are achieved
by means of an antenna
 Configurations for wireless transmission


Directional
Omnidirectional
General Frequency Ranges

Microwave frequency range





Radio frequency range



1 GHz to 40 GHz
Directional beams possible
Suitable for point-to-point transmission
Used for satellite communications
30 MHz to 1 GHz
Suitable for omnidirectional applications
Infrared frequency range


Roughly, 3x1011 to 2x1014 Hz
Useful in local point-to-point multipoint
applications within confined areas
Terrestrial Microwave

Description of common microwave antenna





Parabolic "dish", 3 m in diameter
Fixed rigidly and focuses a narrow beam
Achieves line-of-sight transmission to receiving
antenna
Located at substantial heights above ground level
Applications


Long haul telecommunications service
Short point-to-point links between buildings
Satellite Microwave

Description of communication satellite




Microwave relay station
Used to link two or more ground-based microwave
transmitter/receivers
Receives transmissions on one frequency band
(uplink), amplifies or repeats the signal, and transmits
it on another frequency (downlink)
Applications



Television distribution
Long-distance telephone transmission
Private business networks
Broadcast Radio

Description of broadcast radio antennas




Omnidirectional
Antennas not required to be dish-shaped
Antennas need not be rigidly mounted to a precise
alignment
Applications

Broadcast radio
• VHF and part of the UHF band; 30 MHZ to 1GHz
• Covers FM radio and UHF and VHF television
Multiplexing
 Capacity
of transmission medium usually
exceeds capacity required for transmission
of a single signal
 Multiplexing - carrying multiple signals on
a single medium

More efficient use of transmission medium
Multiplexing
Reasons for Widespread Use
of Multiplexing

Cost per kbps of transmission facility declines
with an increase in the data rate
 Cost of transmission and receiving equipment
declines with increased data rate
 Most individual data communicating devices
require relatively modest data rate support
Multiplexing Techniques
 Frequency-division

Takes advantage of the fact that the useful
bandwidth of the medium exceeds the
required bandwidth of a given signal
 Time-division

multiplexing (FDM)
multiplexing (TDM)
Takes advantage of the fact that the
achievable bit rate of the medium exceeds the
required data rate of a digital signal
Frequency-division
Multiplexing
Time-division Multiplexing
Summary
 transmission

concepts and terminology
guided/unguided media
 frequency,
spectrum and bandwidth
 analog vs. digital signals
 data rate and bandwidth relationship
 transmission impairments

attenuation/delay distortion/noise
 channel

capacity
Nyquist/Shannon