Data Transmission Using Modem

Application of Fourier Transform

Adi Aragon
Audrey Joyce Lorilla
Armond Royce Maceren
John Oliver Pangilinan
EngMa 103 - B
Ateneo de Manila University,
Loyola Height, Quezon City

Abstract Todays technology has resolved the issue of using
phone wires to connect to computers by using modems. These
electronic devices are used to convert analog signals to digital
signals. Modems are considered to be very effective in digital
communications as these tend to impose modulating signals to
carrier waves. This process, known as the modulation or the
conversion of sine waves to square waves, can be further studied
and analyzed with the use of Fourier Series. Using a software
called Matlab, it is seen that square waves are formed by adding
the amplitude, frequency, and phase shift of the sine wave
function. In effect, modems are used for convenient and effective
data transmission from one computer to another.
I. INTRODUCTION
Communication today has reached the third generation,
where transmission of data from one point to another is more
accurate and less prone to bit errors. [1] Though already
advanced, technology changes rapidly causing new
innovations to become outdated in a couple of months.
Therefore, new and better solutions are constantly being made
to answer the problems faced today.

We communicate through different mediums often in a
given day. These devices are slowly becoming part of ones
basic necessities. However, this specific field discovers
different modes in transferring data from one point to another
using analog and digital signal.

Data transmission focuses on sinusoidal and square wave
forms, yet the study of signals is not enough. Signals alone are
useless in this set of study, since these contain no information.

Through processing of analog and digital signals,
converting one from the other or converting the same type of
signal (analog-analog), pieces of relevant information are sent
from the sender to the recipient. [1]

In the process of supplying/receiving information, known
as the modulation/demodulation, Fourier analysis, which in
this case is used as analog signals, are then converted to digital
signals and vise versa. Without the conversion of these
signals, several problems may arise i.e. distortion/noise, wrong
data information or some signals will not be transmitted to the
receiving end. [1]
The process of modulation and demodulation occurs in a
modem. This electronic device is connected to a phone line,
from where it is able to receive and send analog signals. This
device is also responsible for the sending and receiving of
digital signals in order for computers to accept and effectively
process the data.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
In reality, signals are composed of multiple frequencies,
amplitudes and phases. Yet based on previous knowledge,
Fourier analysis decomposes these composite signals into its
different characteristics such as frequency.

Data communications deal with analog and digital signals
i.e. analog is represented by sinusoidal waves while digital is
represented by square waves denoting the voltage pulses. [1]

In dealing with data communication, there is interplay of
both these signals in order to be able to transmit a set of data
from the transmitter to the receiving end.

The conversion is necessary in order to modulate the
signals, supplying them with necessary data. Otherwise these
signals are useless since they carry no piece of information.
[1] Though in conversion of signals, especially when digital to
analog, harmonics are used in order to produce a better and
more accurate approximation. Figure 1 shows the rough
approximation using first harmonics, while Fig. 2 shows N
harmonics.

Another reason would be that at times when the medium
that the signals are passing through is low pass filters or
bandpass filters. We take note that digital signals are allowed
to pass through a low pass filter, while analog signals are
allowed to pass through a bandpass filter. [1] In todays
communication lines such as telephones and cellphones,
bandpass channels are commonly used.

Fourier analysis continues further in different ways of
modulation. Simply put, modulation is the process in which a
signal is processed in order to put necessary data into it.
Sampling is the first step in order for data to be processed into
the signal. This could be done by Discrete Fourier Transform

Fig. 1. Approximation using first harmonic.


Fig. 1. Approximation using N Harmonics.
(DFT), however, it would be very tedious to go through the
whole process, instead the Fast Fourier Transform is used, an
algorithm used to hasten the calculations of DFT. [1]

William Stalling is a doctorate of computer science and
his book, Data and Computer Communications, explain the
use of electromagnetic waves in data communication. Due to
the different signals we are experiencing daily, the
electromagnetic spectrum allows us to use different mediums
without signals interfering with one another of different
frequency. Therefore, given that signals are functions of time,
by transformation to their frequency domain (Fourier
Transform), the study of these signals is possible. By adding
together enough sinusoidal signals with similar amplitude,
frequency and phase, any electromagnetic spectrum could be
constructed. [2]

For practical purposes, transmission of system could only
accommodate a limited band of frequencies due to the
limitations set by the transmitter, medium and receiver. This
limitation causes a data rate, the speed in which data could be
transferred from one point to another. [2]

Modulation occurs through imposition of the modulating
signal into the carrier wave. The difference of these two
signals is that the modulating signal is the information created
by the source or the transmitter for that matter, while the
carrier wave is the wave which carries the information from
the modulated wave from one point to another. [3]

The final output of the whole process is known as the
modulated wave. Figure 3 shows a sample of these three
waves. The signal at the top shows the modulating signal, at
the middle is the carrier wave, and at the bottom is the
modulated signal. Notice that the modulated signal is a mirror
image of itself. [3] Taking the knowledge from Forouzan, a
professor at the Computer Information Systems department of
DeAnza College, this whole modulation process involves the
FFT.
III. METHODOLOGY
The data transmission from computer to telephone lines
back to computers through modem is shown in Fig. 4. Also,
the concept behind the conversion is seen in the figure which
is modulation and the demodulation.

In Cristian Caludes Modern Data Communications, who is
known for algorithmic information theory and quantum theory
contribution, it shows how an analog signal, a sinusoidal
function with a sinusoidal wave, is converted to a digital
signal in a square waveform. To show the demodulation, given
a sine function, get its equivalent Fourier series which is the
sum of its cosine and sine functions with varying amplitude,
frequency, and phase.

Next, using Matlab software, the conversion of signals can
be seen graphically. And by graphing these signals one by
one, it can be seen that each graph is a graph of the first term
of the Fourier series plus the succeeding term and so on.

It can be observed that by adding more and more terms
from the Fourier series to the sine function produces a more
distinct square wave.

Fig. 3. Amplitude modulation.


Fig. 4. Data transmission process.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Before modems came to light, people connect to the
internet via telephone lines. The problem with this method is
that as more users connect to the internet, more wires are
needed. One of the complications of this type of setup is that
the data takes a longer time to travel from one computer to the
other. This is due to the fact that data needs to pass through so
many wires before reaching the target computer. This then to
the construction and installation of a telephone system that
would minimize the additional wires [4]. Unfortunately, there
is a conflict which regards to the signals given out by these
devices. Telephone lines carry out voices which are analog
signals with limited bandwidth frequencies. Computers and
most electronic devices, on the other hand, are digital devices
because they are processing data in numerical or in discrete
data [1][5].

Analog signal is a continuous signal over a period of time
[2]. The most fundamental form of an analog signal is a sine
wave shown in Fig. 5 [6]. It is expressed as

() ( ) (1)

where f(t) is the sine function, A is the peak amplitude, f is the
frequency, and k is the phase shift of the function. These three
factors (amplitude, frequency and phase shift) can be changed
to adjust the sine signal [6].

On the other hand, digital signal maintains a constant signal
for a period of time and then changes to another [2]. With this,
the representation of a digital signal is usually a square wave,
Fig 6 [6].

As Calude said, connected devices have to understand
each other to be able to communicate [6]. Going back to
telephone lines and computers, these two devices cannot have
a proper data transmission since both of them send and receive
different signals. Herewith, the answer is join the telephone
lines and computer with a device called modem [4].

Modem, or mo-dem, is the combination of modulator and
demodulator. The modulation part of the modem is the
sending of a signal wherein it would be compatible to the
telephone line. Thus, modulation can be seen as a digital to


Fig. 5. Analog signal.


Fig. 6. Digital signal.

analog signal converter. Demodulation, or the receiving
modem, on the other hand, receives analog data from a
telephone line and converts it to digital data for the computer.
[7]

In any data transmission or communication, a single sine
signal means nothing. No information can be encoded in it.
For it to have information data, there should be a combination
of many sine signals [1]. Another way is to change the factors
affecting the sine signal [6].

Fourier series is a representation of a periodic function in
terms of the sum of its cosine and sine functions with varying
amplitudes, frequency, and phase. In general, the Fourier
series is [8]

(2)

For an analog signal to be converted to a digital data, the
analog data should be periodic, or a function that repeats data
or values at regular intervals. If the combination of signals is
periodic, it would result to a Fourier series with discrete
frequencies. If it is a non-periodic function, however, the
resulting series would just be with continuous frequencies [1].
For composite analog signals to be periodic, discrete
frequency signals should have digital signals.

For discussion sake, consider the example of Cristian
Calude in his Modern Data Communications: Analog and
Digital Signals, Compression, Data Integrity. Given a specific
function, the Fourier series of that resulted to

()

()

(3)

for all i that is odd numbers. Comparing it to (1), the general
values of its amplitude, frequency, and phase is as follows:

(4)

(5)
(6)

The sum of its sine function can be seen as

()

(7)

In (7), the signal has amplitudes of

And frequencies of f, 3f, 5f, 7f, 9f, 11f, Next, Calude
graphed each term of (7) one by one using Mathlab to show
how Fourier series is transforming the analog signal into a
digital signal. In Fig. 7 shows the graph of the first term in (7),
Fig. 8 shows the graph of the first term plus the second term,
Fig. 9 shows the graph of the sum of the first five terms in (7),
and lastly, Fig. 10 shows the graph of the sum of the sine
functions of the first nineteenth terms. [6]




Fig. 7. Signal of the first term of the Fourier series in (7).



Fig. 8. Signal of the sum of the 1
st
and 2
nd
terms of the Fourier series in (7).



Fig. 9. Signal of the sum of the 1
st
, 2
nd
, 3
rd
, 4
th
, and 5
th
terms of the Fourier
series in (7).


Fig. 10. Signal of the sum of the 1
st
to 19
th
terms of the Fourier series in (7).

The distortions or the noise is what we call the Gibbs
phenomenon. These are the discontinuities seen in the signal.
But, it can be inferred that the higher the frequency or as the
frequency approaches to infinity, the signal become more and
more of a square wave or a digital signal and the noise
oscillation will might as well disappear.

Technically, digital signal is the Fourier transform of the
combination of many sine signals or composite analog signals
as seen in the analysis [1]. By adding the sine signals with
different amplitudes, frequencies, and phases, a square signal
can be constructed [5]. Enclosing it, the analog signal is now
converted into a digital signal. This process is called
demodulation, or the conversion of analog signals to digital
signals.

On the whole, this is what is happening inside the modem.
With the help of Fourier analysis, it converts the digital data
from the computer to an analog data for telephone lines and
from analog to digital.

V. CONCLUSION
Data transmission is a type of communication that occurs
in everyday situations. Individuals use this to conveniently
transmit data to one another through the use of e-mails, text
messaging, messengers, and many other forms of media. The
true form of data transmission, however, can only be seen in
the signals that are emitted, allowing a communication
between computers to happen.

Demodulation is a type of data transmission that converts
analog signals to digital signals. This is done through the use
of Fourier Series wherein sinusoidal waves are converted to
square waves. The amplitude, frequency and phase shift of the
functions in a sine wave, or the analog signal, are then added
together in order to form a square wave, which is also known
as the digital signal. This occurs when the phone line, which
carries an analog signal, transmit data to the internet modem,
and thus converts the signal to digital. The computer will then
be able to accept and process the digital data, thus ending the
digital communication process. Once data is sent again,
modulation, or the process of converting digital to analog
signals through a modem, will occur until it reaches the
second modem where demodulation will then take place.

In effect, modems help in making computer-to-computer
communications more convenient for computer users who use
the internet to send information to other individuals. Also,
modems allow data transmission to work effectively by
converting signals to those that can be read, accepted and
compatible with electronics and phone lines alike. This then
enables faster communication as hindrances such as different
signals are then solved and explained with the use of Fourier
Series.
REFERENCES
[1] B. Forouzan. (2007). Data Communications and Networking.
(4
th
edition). [Online]. Available:
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2014].
[2] W. Stallings. Data Communications and Networking: Data
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th
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<http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/00/88/103568800/documents
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[3] Circuits Today. Modulation. Internet:
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[4] S. Copley. Networking Hardware on IGCSE ICT. Internet:
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2014].
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https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~cristian/Compsci314/ADCompr
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[7] M. Brain. How Modem Works. Internet:
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th
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