Data and Signals

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Table of Contents

1 Analog and Digital Signals 5 Composite Signal

6 Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth
2 Periodic and Aperiodic Signals
Bandwidth
3 Simple Periodic Analog Signals 7 Digital Signals
Amplitude 8 Transmission Impairment
Period and Frequency Attenuation
Phase Distortion
4 Time and Frequency Domains Noise

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 Analog and Digital Signals

Analog and Digital Signals

∝ For transmission, data must be transformed to electromagnetic signals.

∝ Data can be analog or digital.
X The term analog data refers to information that is continuous; analog data take on
continuous values. Analog signals can have an infinite number of values in a range.
X Digital data refers to information that has discrete states. Digital data take on discrete
values. Digital signals can have only a limited number of values.

Figure: Five components of data communication

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 Periodic and Aperiodic Signals

Periodic and Aperiodic Signals

∝ Periodic Signals:
X A periodic signal completes a pattern within a measurable time frame called a period, and
repeats that pattern over identical subsequent periods.
X The period is expressed in seconds.
X 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.
∝ Aperiodic Signals:
X An aperiodic signal changes constant without exhibiting a pattern or cycle that repeats
over time.

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 Periodic and Aperiodic Signals

Periodic Signals

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 Periodic and Aperiodic Signals

Aperiodic Signals

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 Simple Periodic Analog Signals

Simple Periodic Analog Signals

∝ A Sine wave is the simplest periodic signal, i.e., it can not be decomposed into
simpler signals.
∝ A sine wave can be fully described by three characteristics:
X Amplitude, Period or Frequency and Phase.

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 Simple Periodic Analog Signals Amplitude

Amplitude

∝ Amplitude is the value of the signal at any point on the wave.

∝ Maximum amplitude is the highest value

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 Simple Periodic Analog Signals Period and Frequency

Period and Frequency

∝ Period is the time a signal needs to complete one cycle.

∝ Frequency is the number of cycles per second.

∝ Frequency is expressed in hertz (Hz).

1
Frequency =
Period

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 Simple Periodic Analog Signals Phase

Phase
∝ Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to the time zero.
∝ Phase describes the amount of shift along the time axis.
∝ Phase is measured in degree or radian.

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 Simple Periodic Analog Signals Phase

Phase Change

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 Time and Frequency Domains

Time and Frequency Domains

∝ Time-domain plot shows the change in amplitude w.r.t. time.

∝ A frequency domain plot shows the relationship between amplitude and frequency.

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 Time and Frequency Domains

Time and Frequency Domains: Example

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 Composite Signal

Composite Signal

∝ What about wave forms that are not simple or periodic (sine waves)

∝ For composite signals, we use Fourier transformation to decompose it into its

components.
∝ French Mathematician, Jean-Baptiste Fourier proved that any reasonably behaved
periodic fuction, g(t) with period T can be constructed as the sum of a number of
sines and cosines:
∞ ∞
1 X X
g (t) = c+ an sin(2πnft) + bn cos(2πnft)
2 n=1 n=1

c = constant.
an and bn are the sine and cosine amplitude of the nth harmonics.
f = 1/T is the fundamental frequency.

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 Composite Signal

Composite Signal: Example

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 Composite Signal

Composite Signal: Example

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 Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth

Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth

∝ The frequency spectrum of a signal is the collection of all the component frequencies
it contains.
∝ That is, the combination of all sine waves that forms the signals.

∝ The bandwidth of a signal is the width of the frequency spectrum.

∝ To calculate bandwidth: subtract the lowest and highest frequency of a signal.

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 Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth Bandwidth

Bandwidth

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 Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth Bandwidth

Bandwidth: Example

∝ If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves with frequencies of 100, 300,
500, 700, and 900 Hz, what is its bandwidth? Draw the spectrum, assuming all
components have a maximum amplitude of 10 V.

Solution: Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the bandwidth.
Then
B = fh − fl = 900 − 100 = 800Hz

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 Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth Bandwidth

Bandwidth: Example

∝ A periodic signal has a bandwidth of 20 Hz. The highest frequency is 60 Hz. What is
the lowest frequency? Draw the spectrum if the signal contains all frequencies of the
same amplitude.
∝ Solution: Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the
bandwidth. Then

B = fh − fl =⇒ 20 = 60 − fl =⇒ fl = 40Hz

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 Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth Bandwidth

Bandwidth: Example

∝ A nonperiodic composite signal has a bandwidth of 200 kHz, with a middle frequency
of 140 kHz and peak amplitude of 20 V. The two extreme frequencies have an
amplitude of 0. Draw the frequency domain of the signal.
∝ Solution: The lowest frequency must be at 40 kHz and the highest at 240 kHz.

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 Digital Signals

Digital Signals

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 Digital Signals

Digital Signals
∝ A digital data, e.g., a 1 can be encoded as a positive voltage and a 0 as zero voltage.
∝ Moreover, 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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 Digital Signals

Digital Signals

∝ A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are needed per level?

∝ Solution: We calculate the number of bits from the formula

Number of bits per level = log2 8 = 3

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 Digital Signals

Digital Signals

∝ Bit Interval (like period) is the time required to send one single bit.

∝ Bit Rate (like frequency) is the number of bit intervals per seconds or bits per second
(bps).

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 Digital Signals

Harmonics of a Digital Signal

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 Digital Signals

Exact and Significant Spectrums

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 Digital Signals

Bit Rates and Significant Spectrums

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 Digital Signals

Corruption Due to Insufficient Bandwidth

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 Digital Signals

Bandwidth and Data Rate

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 Digital Signals

Bandwidth

∝ In networking, we use the term bandwidth in two contexts.

X The first, bandwidth in hertz, refers to the range of frequencies in a composite signal or
the range of frequencies that a channel can pass.
X The second, bandwidth in bits per second, refers to the speed of bit transmission in a
channel or link. Often referred to as Capacity.
∝ An increase in bandwidth in Hz means an increase in bandwidth in bps.

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 Transmission Impairment

Transmission Impairment

∝ Signals traveling through a medium may get corrupted.

∝ This means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is not the same as the
signal at the end of the medium.
∝ Three causes of impairment are:
X Attenuation
X Distortion
X Noise

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 Transmission Impairment Attenuation

Attenuation

∝ Means loss of energy – weaker signal

∝ When a signal travels through a medium it loses energy overcoming the resistance of
the medium
∝ Amplifiers are used to compensate for this loss of energy by amplifying the signal.

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 Transmission Impairment Attenuation

Measurement of Attenuation

∝ To show the loss or gain of energy the unit “decibel” is used.

∝ The decibel is -ve if the signal is attenuated and +ve if a signal is amplified.

dB = 10 log10 P2 /P1

where, P1 - power of input signal. P2 - power of output signal.

OR

dB = 20 log10 V2 /V1
where, V1 - voltage of input signal. V2 - voltage of output signal.

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 Transmission Impairment Attenuation

Measurement of Attenuation: Example

∝ Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its power is reduced to
one-half. This means that P2 is (1/2)P1. In this case, the attenuation (loss of power)
can be calculated as:
P2 0.5P1
10 log10 = 10 log10 = 10 log10 0.5 = 10(−0.3) = −3dB
P1 P1
∝ A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased 10 times. This means
that P2 = 10P1 . In this case, the amplification (gain of power) can be calculated as
P2 10P1
10 log10 = 10 log10 = 10 log10 10 = 10(1) = 10dB
P1 P1

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 Transmission Impairment Attenuation

Measurement of Attenuation: Example

∝ One reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the changes in the strength of a
signal is that decibel numbers can be added (or subtracted) when we are measuring
several points (cascading) instead of just two.

dB = −3 + 7 − 3 = +1

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 Transmission Impairment Attenuation

Measurement of Attenuation: Example

∝ The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per kilometer (dB/km). If the signal
at the beginning of a cable with -0.3 dB/km has a power of 2 mW, what is the power
of the signal at 5 km?
∝ Solution: The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) = −1.5 dB. We can calculate
the power as:

P2
dB = 10 log10 = −1.5
P1
P2
= 10−0.15 = 0.71
P1
P2 = 0.71P1 = 0.7 × 2 = 1.4mW

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 Transmission Impairment Distortion

Distortion

∝ Means that the signal changes its form or shape

∝ Distortion occurs in composite signals

∝ Each frequency component has its own propagation speed traveling through a
medium.
∝ The different components therefore arrive with different delays at the receiver.

∝ That means that the signals have different phases at the receiver than they did at the
source.

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 Transmission Impairment Noise

Noise

∝ There are different types of noise

X Thermal: random noise of electrons in the wire creates an extra signal
X Induced: from motors and appliances, devices act are transmitter antenna and medium as
receiving antenna.
X Crosstalk: same as above but between two wires.
X Impulse: Spikes that result from power lines, lightning, etc.

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 Transmission Impairment Noise

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)

∝ It indicates the strength of the signal w.r.t. the noise power in the system.

∝ It is the ratio between two powers:

average signal power

SNR =
average noise power
∝ A high SNR means the signal is less corrupt by noise and vice versa.

∝ Since SNR is the ratio of two power, it is usually given in dB and referred to as SNRdB .

SNRdB = 10 log10 SNR

∝ The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel are

signalpower
SNR = =∞
0
SNRdB = 10 log10 ∞ = ∞
∝ We can never achieve this ratio in real life, it is an ideal.

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