ENS/ELT466

TelecommunicationSystemsLab
(formerlyTelecommunications&Networks)
Fall2013
Week1 Sept.3
Part0:AbouttheCourse
TelecommunicationSystemsLab(ENS466)
Fall2013
Week1 Sept.3
LetMeIntroduceMyself
Dr.MarkFeuer
Office:1N231
Email:mark.feuer@csi.cuny.edu
Phone:(718)9822808
Officehours:Tue1:302:30pm,Thu10:30am12:00n
Background:
AT&TLabs Research,JDSUniphaseResearch
(fiberopticcommunicationsystems&networks)
BellLabs
(highspeedtransistors&ICsinIIIVsemiconductors)
YaleUniversity
(superconductingdevices)
MyExperienceasaProfessor
Please:
Ifsomethingisntclear,askaquestion!
Comeseemeatofficehours(previousslide)
Ialsowelcomeyoursuggestionsonthecourse
islimited.
AdjunctatColumbiaUniv.,20112013
Lightwave Systems,Lightwave Devices
ENS466willbemyfirst:(a)labcourse;(b)undergradcourse
ENS/ELT466CourseMechanics
Onelecture/labsessioneachTuesday;5:3010:50pm;
Weeklylabreports/homeworkassignmentsaredueatthebeginningofthe
nextclass
Assignmentswilllose10%iftheyareoneweeklate(orless),20%iftheyare
morethanoneweeklate.
3labteams(2+3+3)
Eachindividualmustwritetheirownlabreports/homework nocopying,
please!
Recommendedreference E.BryanCarne,TelecommunicationsPrimer,(2
nd
ed.,PrenticeHall,1999,ISBN0130221554)
Lecturenotes&supplementaryreadingspostedonBlackboard
Midtermquiz
Finalexam
Grading:40%forlabassts/homework+25%formidterm+35%forfinal
CourseTopics
Media
radio
copperwire
opticalfiber
Modulationformats
phase
amplitude frequency
quadrature
polarization
MIMO
Systems
Spectralefficiency
Signaltonoise
Multipleaccess
Circuits
demodulators
oscillators
Phaselocked
loops
Tools
oscilloscopes
signalgenerators
breadboards
RFspectrum
analyzers
LabView/Multisim
fibersplicer
GRF3300RFtrainer
EC796digitaltrainer
Part1:TelecomBasics
TelecommunicationSystemsLab(ENS466)
Fall2013
Week1 Sept.3
WhatisCommunication?
Acommunicationsystem isanassembly
oftechnologyelementsdesignedto
performcommunication.
Communicationistheprocessoftransferring
informationfromoneplacetoanother.
(notnecessarilyhightech)
Moderncommunicationssystemsincludetelephones(wired&wireless),broadcast
radio,Ethernet/WiFi localareanetworks(LANs),theInternet,andUSBconnections,
tonameafew.
Tele=Distant
Thistelegraphsethasakeyto
transmitandanelectromagnet
clickertoreceivemessagesfrom
theremotestation.
Thetelegraphwasquicklyfollowedbytelephoneandradio,withfiberopticsand
packetnetworks(e.g.,theInternet)appearinginthelate20
th
century.
Distantisarelativeterm manyofthetechniqueswewillcoverinthecourseare
usedinshortlinks,suchasWiFi,aswell.
Althoughshipssignalflagscouldbeconsideredtelecommunication,theeraof
moderntelecommunicationssystemsbeginsin1839withthefirstcommercial
telegraph.By1872,telegraphcablesreachedacrossAmericaandtheAtlantic,aswell
astoIndiaandAustralia.
Today GlobalIsRoutine
Thesearetheworldssubmarinelightwave systemsasof2009.
NoteconnectionstoGreenlandandMadagascar.
Terrestrialcablesaremuchmorenumerous,andcapacitiesaremuchgreater.
AGenericCommunicationSystem
Typicalchannels includecopperwires,opticalfibers,andradio.
Transmitterandreceiveraredesignedtoworkwiththeexpectedchannel
characteristicstodeliverafaithfulcopyofthemessage.
Channel
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
Message
toSend
Received
Message
Transmitter
(Tx)
Receiver
(Rx)
3practicallimitationsconstraintheperformanceofallcommunicationsystems:
finitebandwidth;
noise;
distortion.
Typicalmessages includevoicesignals,pictures,video,bankrecords,sensordata,
controlmessages anendlessvariety.
SystemBandwidth
Bandwidth describesasystemsabilitytotransmitmessagesatdifferentfrequencies.
Forexample,apairofaudioheadphonesmayhaveabandwidth(a.k.a.frequency
response)of4020,000Hz.
Asystemwithlargebandwidthcantransmitmoredataperunittimethanasystem
withsmallerbandwidth.
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
f
signal
exceeds
systemBW
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
Channel
Received
Message
Transmitter
(Tx)
Receiver
(Rx)
Message
toSend
f
signal
within
systemBW
Noise
Noise,duetothermallydrivenelectronmotions,quantumuncertainty,andother
causes,isapropertyofallphysicalsystems.Incommunications,noiseisusually
describedasarandomsignalthatisaddedtothereceivedmessage.
Asystemwithsmallnoisepowercantransmitmoredataperunittimethana
systemwithlargenoisepower.
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
Channel
Received
Message
Transmitter
(Tx)
Receiver
(Rx)
Message
toSend
Lownoise
message
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
Noisy
message
Distortion
Distortion,likenoise,changestheshapeofthereceivedmessage.However,
distortionisdeterministic:foragivensystemandinputmessage,thedistortionisthe
sametimeaftertime.Distortioncanbecausedbynonlinearresponseofasystem
element,suchasclipping whenanamplifierisoverdrivenbeyonditsacceptable
outputvoltage.
Somekindsofdistortioncanbecorrectedatthereceiver(iftheaddedcomplexityis
acceptable).Butgenerally,distortioncombineswithnoisetofurtherreducedata
carryingcapacity.
Channel
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
Transmitter
(Tx)
Receiver
(Rx)
Distorted
(Clipped)
message
Interference
Interference occurswhenpartofanunwantedsignalisaddedtotheintendedsignal
atthereceiveroutput.Multipathinterference(MPI) isavariantwherethe
unwantedsignalisadelayedcopyoftheintendedsignal.
MPIisanimportantfactorinurbancellphonenetworks.
Somekindsofinterferencecanbemitigatedbysignalprocessing.Butingeneral,
mostinterferencetendstoreducedatacarryingcapacity.
MPI+
message
Delayedpath
Direct
path
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
+
Analog&DigitalSignals
Ananalog messagecantakeonanyvalueinacontinuousrange,whiledigital
messagesarelimitedtoafinitesetofdiscretevalues.Themostcommondigital
signalsarebinary signals,whichhaveonlytwolevels.
AnalogSignal BinarySignal
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
0
1
Valueisalways
0or1
Anyvalue
from0to1
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
0
1
Digitalsignalswithmorethan2
valuesarecalledmultilevel,
multinary orMary signals.
4levelSignal
Valueisalways
0,.33,.67or1
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
0
1
AnalogCommunicationSystems
Thecarrier isoftenahighfrequencyelectromagneticwave,suchasaradio
frequency(RF)waveoralightwave.Themodulator servestoencodethemessage
ontothecarrier.Thefrequencyandothercharacteristicsofthecarrierwaveare
chosentoworkwellwiththeexistingchannel.
Amoredetailedlookatatypicalanalogcommunicationsystemshowsacarrier
source,amodulator,ademodulator,andoneormoreamplifiers.
Baseband&ModulatedSignals
Themessagebeforethemodulatorandafterthedemodulatorisusuallyabaseband
signal,madeupoffrequencycomponentsfromDCtof
m
.Themodulatedwave
passingthroughthechannelismadeupoffrequencycomponentsinabandnearthe
carrierfrequency,oftenfromf
c
f
m
tof
c
+f
m
.
basebandsignal
modulatedwave
P
o
w
e
r
Frequency
f
m
P
o
w
e
r
Frequency
f
c
f
m
f
c
f
c
+f
m
AMmodulated baseband
ModulatedCarrierExamples
Lightwave (=optical)carriersinthenearinfrared(f
carrier
~200THz)candelivermulti
gigabitdatastreamsthrough>100kmofglassopticalfiberwithoutamplification.
RFcarriersintheshortwaveradioband(f
carrier
=330MHz)allowthesignaltobounce
offtheEarthsionospheretopermitroundtheworldcommunicationwithout
satellites,cables,orotherinfrastructure.
AmplitudeModulation(AM)
Inamplitudemodulation(AM),theamplitudeofthecarrierisvariedaccordingtothe
(analog)messagesignalm(t).
LargecarrierAMenablesuseofverysimple,inexpensivereceivers,soitisthe
modulationmethodusedforbroadcastradiofrom5351610kHz(intheUSA).
s t = 1 + pm t c(t)
message
carrierwave
modulationindex
s
max
s
min
Foracosinemessage,
max min
max min
s s
s s

=
+
FrequencyModulation(FM)
Infrequencymodulation(FM),theinstantaneousfrequencyofthecarrierisvaried
accordingtothe(analog)messagesignalm(t).
FMisusedintheveryhighfrequency(VHF)bandfrom87.5107.9MHz(intheUSA).
( ) cos[2 ( ) ], where ( ) ( )
c i i c f
s t A f t t f t f k m t t = = +
s
max
s
min
FMisaconstantpowerformat.
Message
Frequency-modulated wave
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
FMindex
message
centerfrequency
s
max
s
min
PMisaconstantpowerformat.
Message
Phase-modulated wave
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
PhaseModulation(PM)
Inphasemodulation(PM),theinstantaneousphase|(t) ofthecarrierisvaried
accordingtothe(analog)messagesignalm(t).
( ) cos[2 ( )], where ( ) ( )
c c p
s t A f t t t k m t t | | = + =
PMindex
message
Phasemodulationrequiresarelativelycomplexreceiver;inanaloglinks,itismost
widelyusedasacomponentofthehybridmodulationformatQAM(quadrature
amplitudemodulation.
AngleModulation
ForbothFMandPM,thetimingofthecarrierwaveisadjustedtocarrythemessage.
Indeed,itispossibletoexpressFMinthesamemathematicalformasPMbythe
integralofthemessage:
Forthisreason,FMandPMaresometimestreatedasaspectsofasinglemodulation
format,calledanglemodulation.
FMindex
0
( ) cos[2 ( )], where ( ) 2 ( ) {FM}
t
c c f
s t A f t t t k m x dx t | | t = + =
}
message
AnalogSignalQuality SNR
Regardlessofmodulationformat,themostimportantmeasureofsignalqualityin
analogsystemsissignaltonoiseratio(SNR),definedsimplyby:
{signal power}
{noise power}
SNR =
Inseriesofpapersinthelate1940s,ClaudeShannon showedthatSNRisdirectly
relatedtothemaximumpossiblerateofinformationtransfer,earninghimacclaim
asthefatherofinformationtheory.
Avarietyofnoiselikesignalimpairments aresometimesaddedtothetruenoise,
creatingvariantssuchassignaltointerferenceandnoiseratio(SINR).
DigitalCommunicationSystems
Atypicaldigitalcommunicationsystemismorecomplex,includingachannelcoder
anddecodertoguaranteethespecifiedperformancethroughthechannel.
Channelcodertypesincludescramblers,spectralshapingcodes,Graycodesand
forwarderrorcorrection(FEC) codes.UseofFECcodeshasexplodedsincethe1980s;
theyareessentialincomputerdiskdrives,fiberopticlinks,satelliteTV
afterRamaswami
returnstozerobetween
consecutive1s
DigitalModulationFormats
Themostcommondigitalmodulationformatsarebinaryversionsoftheanalog
formats:amplitudeshiftkeying(ASK);frequencyshiftkeying(FSK);andphaseshift
keying(PSK).Thesimplestisonoffkeying(OOK),usedineitherreturntozero(RZ)or
nonreturntozero(NRZ)versions.
Quadraturephaseshiftkeying(QPSK)isaneffectivewaytopacktwo bitsof
informationintoeachsymboltimeslot.
P
h
a
s
e
Time
0
1
00 01 11 10 11 11 00 01 10 10 10 10 01
QPSK
OOK
AnalogMessagesOverDigitalLinks
Increasingly,analogmessagesarecarriedoverdigitalcommunicationlinks,relyingon
analogtodigitalconverters(ADCs) atthetransmitteranddigitaltoanalog
converters(DACs) atthereceiver.
AnalogLink
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
DigitalLink
ADC DAC
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
Westillstudyanalogsystemsbecause:(1)theyareimportantinlegacyapplications;
(2)theybuildunderstandingoffundamentals;and(3)advancedMary digitalsystems
experiencemanyofthesameissuesasanalog.
Digitization
Finitebitspersample(resolutionorbitdepth)leadstoquantizationerror.Thoughit
isnottrulyrandom,quantizationerrorisoftenmodeledasnoise.
Finitesamplerate leadstoabandwidthlimitforthesystem theNyquist criterion:
max
{sample rate} 2f >
Digitization involvessampling andquantization processes.Thesignalistestedat
regulartimeintervals(sampling)andthenroundedtothenearestalloweddiscrete
value(quantized).
PCM &BER
Oncetheanalogmessagehasbeendigitized,itmaybetransmittedthroughthe
channelasaseries0sand1s,aprocesssometimescalledpulsecodemodulation
(PCM).
Inasimplelinkwithnocontrolmessages,theoverheadisusually0.
Theprimaryqualitymetricfordigitaltransmissionisthebiterrorrate(BER):
Thebitrate ofthePCMdatastreamis:
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
ADC
S
i
g
n
a
l
Time
{bit rate}={sample rate} {bit depth} {overhead} +
{errors/sec}
BER=
{bit rate}
PCM
Intelecommunications,signalpowerisoftenexpressedinlogarithmicunitsas:
P(indBm)=10*log
10
(PinmW)
Thisleadstotheconvenientexpressionofpowerlossas:
Loss(indB)=10*log
10
(mW
out
/mW
in
)=dBm
in
dBm
out
CablelossindBincreaseslinearlywithfiberlength;whenlossy componentsare
cascaded,theirlossesindBareaddedtogetthetotalloss.
Whenspecifyingcurrentorvoltage,thedBformulaisdifferent:
V(indBV)=20*log
10
(PinV)
Sincepowerisproportionaltothesquareofvoltage,thisconventionmeansthata
6dBchangeinvoltage(factorof2)yieldsa6dBchangeinpower(factorof4).
dBunits
Summary
Telecommunicationtechnologyisastaple ofmodernlife,withglobalreach.
Acommunicationsystem usesatransmitter,achannel,andareceiver totransmit
informationinamessage fromonelocationtoanother.
Allcommunicationsystemsexperiencepracticallimitationsduetofinite
bandwidth,noise, anddistortion.
Messagesandsignalscanbeanalog (acontinuousrangeofpossiblevalue)or
digital (afinitesetofdiscretevalues).
MessagesareoftenmodulatedontoahighfrequencyRForopticalcarrierwaveto
adaptthemtotheavailablechannel.
Analogmodulationformatsincludeamplitudemodulation(AM),frequency
modulation(FM),andphasemodulation(PM).
Digitalcommunicationsystemsoftenhavechannelcoding,suchasForwardError
Correction(FEC) coding,toensurelowbiterrorrate(BER).
Thesimplestbinarydigitalmodulationformatisonoffkeying(OOK).
Whenanalogmessagesarecarriedoverdigitallinks,digitization intheanalogto
digitalconverter(ADC) canbecomeasourceofquantizationerror.
Theprocessoftransmittingananalogmessagebyquantizingitintoastreamof
digital(usuallybinary)valuesiscalledpulsecodemodulation(PCM).
LogarithmbaseddBunitsareverywidelyusedintelecommunications.When
lossesarecascaded,theirdBvaluesadd.
ENS466/ELT466 Assignment9/3
RecommendedReading
Carne,Sections3.1,3.2,3.4(readforgeneralunderstanding dontsweatthe
details)
LabAssignment#1
Labreport1.1isdueatthebeginning ofclasson9/10
Assignment1.1:
UseLabView tobuildaVI:
A. thatdigitizesa30HzsinusoidalmessageandgeneratesabinaryPCMdatastreamto
transmitit.(Hint:useProgramming>Waveforms>AnalogtoDigitalfunction.)
B. thenreconstructstheanalogmessagefromPCMandcomputesthequantization
errorsignal.(Hint:useProgramming>Waveforms>DigitaltoAnalogfunction.)
C. anddisplaystheinputsignal,binaryPCMcode,reconstructedsignal,anderror
signal.(Hint:todisplaythebinaryPCMcode,convertthedigitalwaveformtypetoa
Booleanarray,reshapetoa1dimarray,thenconverttheBooleanvaluesto0:1
values.)
Repeattheexperimentfor2to8bitcoding.
Documentallyourworkinalabreport,including(1)printoutsoftheblockdiagram;(2)
chartsoftheinput/outputsignals;(3)atableofmaximumerrorasafunctionofPCMbit
rate,and(4)anexplanationofyourresults.
Part1B:Backups/Alternates
TelecommunicationSystemsLab
(ENS466)
Fall2013
Week1 Sept.3
Manydigitalcommunicationlinkscarryanalogmessages,relyingonanalogtodigital
converters(ADCs) atthetransmitteranddigitaltoanalogconverters(DACs) atthe
receiver.
DigitalCommunication FullSystem
Atypicaldigitalcommunicationsystemismorecomplex,includingachannelcoder
anddecodertoguaranteethespecifiederrorrate.