Physical Layer

McGraw-Hill ©The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

 Chapter 3

Introduction
To
Physical
Layer
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 Chapter 3: Outline

1. DATA AND SIGNALS

2. PERIODIC ANALOG
SIGNALS

3. DIGITAL SIGNALS

4. TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

5. DATA RATE LIMITS

 3.1.1 Analog and Digital Data

Data can be analog or digital. The term analog data

refers to information that is continuous; digital data
refers to information that has discrete states. For
example, an analog clock that has hour, minute, and
second hands gives information in a continuous
form; the movements of the hands are continuous.
On the other hand, a digital clock that reports the
hours and the minutes will change suddenly from
8:05 to 8:06.

3.4
 Figure 3.2: Comparison of analog and digital signals

3.5
 3.1.3 Periodic and Nonperiodic

A periodic signal completes a pattern within a

measurable time frame, called a period, and repeats
that pattern over subsequent identical periods. The
completion of one full pattern is called a cycle. A
nonperiodic signal changes without exhibiting a
pattern or cycle that repeats over time.

3.6
 3.2.1 Sine Wave

The sine wave is the most fundamental form of a

periodic analog signal. When we visualize it as a
simple oscillating curve, its change over the course
of a cycle is smooth and consistent, a continuous,
rolling flow. Figure 3.3 shows a sine wave. Each
cycle consists of a single arc above the time axis
followed by a single arc below it.

3.7
 Figure 3.3: A sine
wave

Valu
e

•••
Time

3.8
 Figure 3.4: Two signals with two different amplitudes

Peak
amplitude

Peak
amplitude

3.9
 Figure 3.5: Two signals with same phase, different amplitudes and frequency

3.10
 Table 3.1: Units of period and frequency

3.11
Example 3.4
Express a period of 100 ms in microseconds.

Solution
From Table 3.1 we find the equivalents of 1 ms (1 ms is 10–
3 s) and 1 s (1 s is 106 μs). We make the
following substitutions:

3.12
Example 3.3
The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz (50 Hz
in Europe). The period of this sine wave can be determined
as follows:

This means that the period of the power for our lights at
home is 0.0116 s, or 16.6 ms. Our eyes are not sensitive
enough to distinguish these rapid changes in amplitude.

3.13
Example 3.5
The period of a signal is 100 ms. What is its frequency in
kilohertz?.

Solution
First we change 100 ms to seconds, and then we
calculate the frequency from the period (1 Hz = 10–3 kHz).

3.14
 3.2.3
Wavelength
Wavelength is another characteristic of a signal
traveling through a transmission medium.
Wavelength binds the period or the frequency of a
simple sine wave to the propagation speed of the
medium (see Figure 3.7).

3.15
 Figure 3.7: Wavelength and period

Wavelength

Direction of

propagation

3.16
Example 3.8
Figure 3.10 shows a periodic composite signal
with frequency f. This type of signal is not typical of those
found in data communications. We can
consider it to be three alarm systems,
each with a different frequency. The analysis of this signal
can give us a good understanding of how to decompose
signals. It is very difficult to
manually decompose this signal into a series of simple sine
waves.
However, there are tools, both hardware and software, that
can help us do the job. We are not concerned
about how it is done; we are only interested in the result.
Figure 3.11 shows the result of decomposing the above
signal in both the time and frequency domains.
3.17
 Figure 3.10: A composite periodic signal

3.18
 Figure 3.11: Decomposition of a composite periodic signal

Amplitude

•••
Time

Amplitude

f Frequency
3f 9f

b. Frequency-domain decomposition of the composite signal

3.19
Example 3.9
Figure 3.12 shows a nonperiodic composite signal. It can be
the signal created by a microphone or a telephone set when a
word or two is pronounced. In this case, the composite
signal cannot be periodic, because that implies that we are
repeating the same word or words with exactly the
same tone.

3.20
 Figure 3.12: Time and frequency domain of a non-periodic signal

3.21
 3.2.6 Bandwidth

The range of frequencies contained in a composite

signal is its bandwidth. The bandwidth is normally a
difference between two numbers. For example, if a
composite signal contains frequencies between 1000
and 5000, its bandwidth is 5000 − 1000, or 4000.

3.22
 Figure 3.13: The bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite
signals

3.23
Example 3.10
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

3.24
 Figure 3.14: The bandwidth for example 3.10

3.25
Example 3.11
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

The spectrum contains all integer frequencies. We show this

by a series of spikes (see Figure 3.15).

3.26
 Figure 3.15: The bandwidth for example 3.11

3.27
 3-3 DIGITAL
SIGNALS
In addition to being represented by an analog
signal, information can also 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. Figure
3.17 shows two signals, one with two levels
and the other with four.

3.28
 Figure 3.17: Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and the
other with four signal levels

3.29
Example 3.16
A digital signal has eight levels. How many bits are needed
per level? We calculate the number of bits from the
following formula. Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

3.30
Example 3.17
A digital signal has nine levels. How many bits are needed
per level? We calculate the number of bits by using the
formula. Each signal level is represented by 3.17 bits.
However, this answer is not realistic. The number of bits
sent per level needs to be an integer as well as a power of 2.
For this example, 4 bits can represent one level.

3.31
 3.3.1 Bit Rate

Most digital signals are nonperiodic, and thus period

and frequency are not appropriate
characteristics. Another term—bit rate (instead of
frequency)—is used to describe digital signals. The
bit rate is the number of bits sent in 1s, expressed in
bits per second (bps). Figure 3.17 shows the bit rate
for two signals.

3.32
Example 3.18
Assume we need to download text documents at the rate of
100 pages per second. What is the required bit rate of the
channel? A page is an average of 24 lines with 80 characters
in each line.
Solution
From Table 3.1 we find the equivalents of 1 ms (1 ms is 10–
3 s) and 1 s (1 s is 106 μs). We make the
following substitutions:

3.33
 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 (see Figure 3.26).
3.34
 Figure 3.26: Causes of impairment

3.35
 3.4.1 Attenuation

Attenuation means a loss of energy. When a signal,

simple or composite, travels through a medium, it
loses some of its energy in overcoming the resistance
of the medium. That is why a wire carrying electric
signals gets warm, if not hot, after a while. Some of
the electrical energy in the signal is converted to
heat. To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are
used to amplify the signal. Figure 3.27 shows the
effect of attenuation and amplification..

3.36
 Figure 3.27: Attenuation and amplification

3.37
Example 3.26
Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and
its power is reduced to one half. This means that P2 = 0.5
P1. In this case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be
calculated as

A loss of 3 dB (−3 dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the

power.

3.38
Example 3.27
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

3.39
3.40
3.41
3.42
 3.4.2 Distortion

Distortion means that the signal changes its form or

shape. Distortion can occur in a composite signal
made of different frequencies. Each signal
component has its own propagation speed (see the
next section) through a medium and, therefore, its
own delay in arriving at the final destination.
Differences in delay may create a difference in
phase if the delay is not exactly the same as the
period duration.

3.43
 Figure 3.29: Distortion

3.44
 3.4.3 Noise

Noise is another cause of impairment. Several types

of noise, such as thermal noise, induced noise,
crosstalk, and impulse noise, may corrupt the signal.
Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons
in a wire, which creates an extra signal not
originally sent by the transmitter. Induced noise
comes from sources such as motors. Crosstalk is the
effect of one wire on the other.

3.45
 Figure 3.30: Noise

3.46
 Figure 3.31: Two cases of SNR: a high SNR and a low SNR

3.47
Example 3.31
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:

3.48
Example 3.32
The values of SNR and SNRdB for a noiseless channel are

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

We can never achieve this ratio in real life; it is an ideal.

3.49
 3-5 DATA RATE
LIMITS
A very important consideration in
communications
data is how fast we can send data,
in bits per second, over a channel. Two
theoretical formulas developed
calculate the were
data rate: one by Nyquist
to for a
noiseless channel, another by Shannon for a
noisy channel.

3.50
 3.5.1 Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Rate

For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula

defines the theoretical maximum bit rate.

3.51
Example 3.34
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

3.52
Example 3.35
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

3.53
Example 3.36
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.

3.54
 3.5.2 Noisy Channel: Shannon
Capacity
In reality, we cannot have a noiseless channel; the
channel is always noisy. In 1944, Claude Shannon
introduced a formula, called the Shannon capacity,
to determine the theoretical highest data rate for a
noisy channel:

3.55
Example 3.37
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 meansthat thecapacity of this channel is zero

regardless of the bandwidth. In other
words, we cannot receive any data through this channel.

3.56
Example 3.39
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

3.57
 3.5.3 Using Both Limits

In practice, we need to use both methods to find the

limits and signal levels. Let us show this with an
example.

3.58
Example 3.41
We have a channel with a 1-MHz bandwidth. The SNR for
this channel is 63. What are the appropriate bit rate and
signal level?
Solution
First, we use the Shannon formula to find the upper limit.

The Shannon formula gives us 6 Mbps, the upper limit. For

better performance we choose something lower, 4 Mbps.
Then we use the Nyquist formula to find the number of
signal levels.

3.59
 3.6.1 Bandwidth

One characteristic that measures network

performance is bandwidth. However, the term can be
used in two different contexts with two different
measuring values: bandwidth in hertz and
bandwidth in bits per second..

3.60
Example 3.42
The bandwidth of a subscriber line is 4 kHz for voice
or data. The bandwidth of this line for data transmission
can be up to 56,000 bps using a sophisticated modem
to change the digital signal to analog.

3.61
Example 3.43
If the telephone company improves the quality of the line
and increases the bandwidth to 8 kHz, we can send 112,000
bps by using the same technology as mentioned in Example
3.42.

3.62
 3.6.2 Throughput

The throughput is a measure of how fast we can

actually send data through a network. Although, at
first glance, bandwidth in bits per second and
throughput seem the same, they are different. A link
may have a bandwidth of B bps, but we can only
send T bps through this link with T always less than
B.

3.63
 3.6.3 Throughput

The latency or delay defines how long it takes for an

entire message to completely arrive at the destination
from the time the first bit is sent out from the
source. We can say that latency is made of four
components: propagation time, transmission time,
queuing time and processing delay.

3.64
Example 3.44
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.

3.65
Example 3.45
What is the propagation time if the distance between the two
points is 12,000 km? Assume thepropagation 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.

3.66
Example 3.46
What are the propagation time and the transmission time for
a 2.5-KB (kilobyte) message 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

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.
3.67
Example 3.47
What are the propagation time and the transmission time for
a 5-MB (megabyte) 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

We can calculate the propagation and transmission times as

3.68