EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks

1
3. Physical Layer
3. Physical Layer
The physical layer is responsible for transmitting raw
bits over a communication channel.
Design issues deal with mechanical, electrical, and timing
interfaces, and the physical transmission medium
There are a wide variety of physical media over which data
may be transmitted.
E.g. wire, cable, fibre, radio, satellite.
The media are rated according to their transmission
speed (bit rate) and likelihood of errors (bit error rate)
For each medium there are fundamental limit on
transmission speed
No medium gives error free transmission (although some are
better than others)
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
2
Overview
Overview
Fundamentals of signal transmission
Bit signaling
Bit synchronisation
Media types
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
3
3.1 Fundamentals of Signal Transmission
Fourier theory says that all signals are composed of a
possibly infinite number of sinusoids
Therefore all signals can be considered to be composed
of sinusoids.
We refer to the difference between the maximum and
minimum frequency of a signal as the bandwidth of that
signal
Bandwidth, B
f2 f1
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
4
Fundamental Limits of Transmission Media
Fundamental Limits of Transmission Media
All channels allow only a limited set of frequencies to be passed. This limit is
named bandwidth of that channel.
Actually, cut-off is not usually sharp, so usually bandwidth refers to frequency at
which half the power gets through.
All channels are subject to background noise (random perturbations of the
line voltage and current). Sources of noise include:
crosstalk: a signal on one line is picked up by adjacent lines as a small noise
signal
Near-End Crosstalk (NEXT) caused when a strong transmitter output
signal interferes with a much weaker incoming receiver signal.
impulse noise: caused by external activity or equipment which generates
electrical impulses on the line which cause large signal distortion for their
duration.
thermal noise (white noise): caused by the thermal agitation of electrons
associated with each atom in the device or transmission line material. It consists
of random frequency components of continuously varying amplitude.
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
5
Fundamental Limits of Transmission Media:
Fundamental Limits of Transmission Media:
Shannon Channel Capacity
Shannon Channel Capacity
The maximum bit rate of a channel depends on the
bandwidth of the channel (W) and the Signal to Noise
Ratio (SNR)
Shannon Channel Capacity
C=W log
2
(1+SNR) bits/sec
SNR=Avg. Signal Power/Avg. Noise Power
Note that this is a theoretical limit and is rarely achieved in
practice.
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
6
Additional limitations of transmission media
Signal Attenuation is the phenomenon whereby the Amplitude of a signal
decreases as it propagates along a transmission line.
Attenuation is a function of distance and frequency of signal
Repeaters are used to increase the power of the signal at appropriate intervals
Signal Distortion involves the Shape of the signal becoming altered as it
propagates along the line.
One cause of distortion is the different attenuation rates for different frequency
components of the signal.
This can be addressed using an equalizer
Delay distortion is caused by different frequency components of the signal
propagating at slightly different speeds.
If the frequency components of one bit are delayed sufficiently they will
overlap with the component of the next bit resulting in Inter Symbol
Interference (ISI).
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
7
3.2 Converting Bits to Signals
There are two fundamentally different ways to produce digital signals
DC or lowpass where bits are represented using square waves.
Common encoding schemes include:
Non-return-to-zero (NRZ)
Bipolar
Manchester
Bandpass or modulated where bits are represented using fixed frequency
sinusoids. This is used when the channel does not pass low frequency signals.
Common modulation techniques include:
Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
Frequency shift keying (FSK)
Phase shift keying (PSK)
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
8
3.2.1 Encoding schemes: Polar Schemes
3.2.1 Encoding schemes: Polar Schemes
Polar encoding schemes rely on the voltage level to make a
determination of whether a binary 1 or a 0 was sent.
Common Schemes:
Unipolar NRZ: binary 1: +A volts, binary 0: 0 volts.
Polar NRZ: binary 1: +A/2 volts, binary 0: A/2 volts.
Half the power requirement of unipolar NRZ
Bipolar: Consecutive binary 1s: +/- A/2 volts, binary 0: 0 volts
Produces a frequency spectrum with less low frequency components.
Drawbacks to polar encoding schemes are:
Long strings of either 1s or 0s can cause loss of timing information
Systematic errors in polarity can cause all 1s to be read as 0s and vice versa
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
9
Encoding schemes: Transition Orientated
Encoding schemes: Transition Orientated
Manchester encoding: binary 1: transition from A/2 to A/2 in middle
of bit time interval, binary 0: transition from A/2 to +A/2 in middle
of bit time interval.
Differential Manchester encoding: There is a transition at the centre
of each bit, but there is only a transition at the start of a 0 bit.
NRZ inverted (NZRI): starting at a fixed signal level, binary 1:
denoted by a transition and binary 0: by no transition.
The maximum frequency of a NZRI signal is half that of Bipolar
and Manchester encoded signals so it only requires half the
transmission bandwidth
Use NRZI in Wide Area Networks (WANs) while the other
methods are generally used in LANs.
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
10
Example of Encoding Schemes: Representing 101011100
Example of Encoding Schemes: Representing 101011100
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0
Unipolar
NRZ
Polar NRZ
NRZ Inverted
Bipolar
Manchester
Differential
Manchester
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
11
3.2.2 Modulation Schemes
3.2.2 Modulation Schemes
A single frequency signal, known as the Carrier, is selected to lie within
acceptable range of frequencies.
Amplitude, Frequency or Phase is then varied, or keyed, in accordance with
the data signal to be transmitted.
Amplitude shift keying (ASK or AM) is rarely used because of attenuation
problems.
Frequency shift keying (FSK or FM), is used with lower bit rate modems.
Relatively simple demodulation circuitry.
The Signalling Rate or Baud Rate is the number of times per second the
amplitude, frequency or phase of the transmitted signal changes.
amplitude
frequency
phase
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
12
Phase Modulation Schemes
Phase shift keying (PSK): Uses two fixed signals
with a 180 phase difference to each other to
indicate a 0 or a 1 respectively.
Complex demodulation circuitry needed to recover the
reference phase.
Differential PSK (DPSK): Uses a phase shift of 90
relative to the current signal to indicate a binary 0,
and a 270 phase shift for binary 1.
This has simpler demodulation equipment.
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
13
Example of
Example of Phase Modulation
: Representing 10110011
: Representing 10110011
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
Carrier
PSK
DPSK
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
14
Multilevel Modulation Techniques
So far we have had Bit rate = Baud Rate, where each
signal element corresponded to just one bit of data, but
more bits per signal element can be encoded.
Common Techniques include:
Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or 4 PSK which allows 4
phase changes
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) which changes
phase and amplitude
The more bits per signal element the higher the
throughput is, but the more complex the scheme is.
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
15
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
Bits Amplitude Phase
0 0 1V 0
0 1 1V 180
1 0 2V 0
1 1 2V 180
Amplitude change
Phase change
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
16
3.3 Transmission Modes
For various reasons, data streams are often considered to
be composed of various elements:
Bits 0 or 1
Characters eight bit sequences
Blocks or frames potentially variable numbers of bits
It is necessary to determine the start and end of these
elements. The technique for doing this is synchronization.
There are two transmission modes:
asynchronous and synchronous.
We will examine bit synchronization for both
synchronous and asynchronous transmissions
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
17
3.3.1 Asynchronous Transmission
Used primarily when the data to be transmitted is generated
at random intervals. E.g.: a user typing at a keyboard
communicating with a computer.
Generally used in applications where the data to be
transferred consists of characters, each character being
encoded using 7 or 8 binary bits, common coding schemes
being ASCII and EBCDIC.
As data is transferred randomly there may be long intervals
during which no data signal is present on the line. The
receiver must be able to resynchronise at the start of each
new character received.
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
18
Bit Synchronisation For Asynchronous Transmission
Each received bit is sampled as near to its centre as
possible, to ensure that the correct value is read.
To do this the receiver clock runs at N times the
transmitted bit rate, N=16 is typical, ensuring that the
received bit will always be sampled close to its centre.
A start bit is required to start clock count.
Start 0 1 0
8 clock
periods
16 clock
periods
16 clock
periods
16 clock
periods
bit stream
clock
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
19
Disadvantage of Asynchronous Transmission
The use of the start and stop bits for each byte transferred
means the method is inefficient in its use of transmission
capacity.
The bit synchronisation method becomes less reliable as
the bit rate increases.
So we look at some of the synchronous transmission
schemes.
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
20
3.3.2 Synchronous Transmission
Used for large blocks of data at higher bit rates. A frame of data is
transmitted as a contiguous bit stream with no delay between each 8-bit element.
The receiver clock operates in synchronism with the received signal.
There are two methods of achieving this:
Embedding the clock information into the transmitted signal and having the
receiver extract it.
Requires either return to zero or transition orientated scheme.
The receiver keeps a local clock, which is kept synchronized with the received
signal using a Digital Phase Lock Loop (DPLL)
May be used for NRZ schemes
Requires sufficient transitions to keep synchronization
Uses bit stuffing (more later)
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
21
3.4 Media Types
There are a number of transmission media types used for Data
Communication. The choice of medium depends on:
Distance to be covered
Desired Bite Rate (in bits per second, bps)
Cost Considerations
Media are often categorised as:
Guided
Wireless
Satellite
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
22
3.4.1 Guided Media: Two-Wire Open Lines
Signal Wire
Reference Wire
Used mainly for directly connecting devices
over small distances (< 50 m) and
at moderate bit rates (< 19.2 bps)
Signals get distorted due to:
Crosstalk between the two signals
Susceptibility to Noise Signals from other (external)
electrical sources
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
23
Guided Media: Twisted Pair Lines
The proximity of signal and reference lines means noise
signals are picked up by both wires
Shielded twisted pairs offer better noise immunity
skin effect, which increases attenuation as the bit rate of the
transmitted signal increases.
Offer higher bit rates
1.5 Mbps up to 5 km
51 Mbps less than 300 m
E.g. high speed data to home (ADSL) and LANs
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
24
Guided media: Coaxial Cable
This is made up of an inner conductor surrounded by an
insulator and that surrounded again by the outer
conductor
Use of the dielectric material and outer conductor effectively
isolate the core conductor from external noise interference.
Coaxial cables can be used at rates from over 10Mbps,
over distances of several hundred meters.
E.g. Cable TV and Cable Modem
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
25
Guided Media: Optical Fibre
Optic fibre does not use electrical signals to transmit the
data, rather it uses light. It transmits these signals
through thin glass fibres.
Light beams are also immune to electromagnetic interference
and crosstalk
Currently up to 40 Gbps with repeaters every 50 km.
Theoretically, up to 50 Tbps = 50,000 Gbps.
E.g. access and backbone networks, very fast LANs
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
26
3.4.2 Wireless: Terrestrial Microwave/Radio
Provides omnidirectional or unidirectional signalling
depending on transmitter and antenna.
Suffer from factors such as bad weather conditions and
obstruction by man-made objects.
Use microwaves for large distances, radio waves for
shorter distances. Limited by the curvature of the Earth.
E.g. AM and FM radio, TV, Cellular telephony, wireless
LANs
EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks
27
3.4.3 Satellite
The first satellites were launched in the 1970s and now the most
common are the Geostationary ones at 36,000 km above the Earth.
Satellites are using direct line of sight between the transmitters and
receivers.
Data transmitted using electromagnetic (radio) waves propagating
through the atmosphere.
Typically many signals will be multiplexed onto a single satellite
channel utilising a high bit rate.
Applications:
Areas with little wired infrastructure
Mobile communication
Broadcast communication
Rapid deployment (military)