AMPLITUDE SHIFT KEYING

1. What is ASK?

ASK stands for Amplitude Shift Keying. It is a form of modulation that

represents digital data as variations in the carrier amplitude i.e. the amplitude of an
analog carrier signal varies in accordance with the bit stream, keeping phase and
frequency constant.

2. Why is ASK called ON-OFF shift keying?

In the modulated signal, logic ‘0’ is represented by the absence of carrier and
logic ‘1’ by the presence of carrier thus giving ON/OFF keying operation and hence the
name given.

3. How is ASK applied to LED transmitters and lasers?

For LED transmitters, binary ‘1’ is represented by a short pulse of light and
binary ‘0’ by the absence of light. Laser transmitters normally have a fixed bias current
that causes the device to emit a low light level. This low level represents binary ‘0’ while a
higher amplitude light wave represents binary ‘1’.

4. Give some applications of ASK

ASK is used

 upto 1200bps on voice grade lines

 for very high speeds over optical fiber
 at radio frequencies to transmit Morse codes (referred to as continuous wave
operation)

5. Mention two disadvantages of ASK

 The speed of the changing amplitude is limited by the bandwidth of the line
 Small amplitude changes suffer from unreliable detection (Telephone lines limit
amplitude changes to some 3000 changes per second)
 LINE CODING
1. What is Line Coding?

Line coding is the process of converting binary data, a sequence of bits to a digital
signal. For example data, text, numbers, graphical images, audio and video that are stored in
computer memory are all sequences of bits. Line coding converts a sequence of bits to a
digital signal.

2. What are the three primary types of line coding?

Primarily, there are three major categories of line coding: Unipolar, Polar, and Bipolar.

3. What is Unipolar Line coding?

The most primitive encoding technique is Unipolar. The signal is basically this: high
voltage on a ‘1’ bit, and low (zero) voltage on a ‘0’ bit. There is no synchronization
information, and the signal has a DC component.

4. What is Polar Line Coding? Mention its types.

Like the Unipolar line code, it defines two signal states and maps one of them to a
one bit, and the other to a zero bit. It uses two signals with opposite polarities at the
same voltage level. If the one bit is assigned to a positive voltage (and the zero to a negative
voltage), it is considered positive logic. If the one bit is assigned to a negative voltage (and the
zero to a positive voltage), it is considered negative logic.
There are three categories of Polar line coding: NRZ, RZ, and Biphase

5. Briefly describe NRZ line coding scheme.

NRZ is Nonreturn to Zero. This basically means that after each bit is transmitted, the
signal doesn’t return to zero voltage. There are two major categories of NRZ, the NRZ-L and
NRZ-I.

The NRZ-L is similar to Unipolar, in that the voltage directly depends on the bit it
represents. A positive voltage generally represents a ‘1’, and a negative voltage represents a
‘0’ (or vice versa). Unlike the Unipolar scheme, NRZ-L alleviates the problem of the DC
component.

The NRZ-I does a voltage transition (positive to negative, or negative to positive) on a

‘1’ bit, and no change on a ‘0’ bit. It is the change in the voltage that matters, not the actual
voltage itself.

NRZ-I is better than NRZ-L because the destination can use the voltage change to
synchronize its clock with the sender—assuming messages don’t have long sequences of
‘0’bits (which don’t have a transition).
 6. What do you know about RZ line coding scheme?

In RZ line coding scheme, a positive voltage indicates a ‘1’, negative voltage indicates a
‘0’.The voltage goes down to zero in the middle of every tick.

7. Mention the types of Biphase line coding and explain it.

There are two primary Biphase coding schemes: Manchester (Ethernet LANs) and
Differential Manchester (Token Ring LANs).

Manchester, like RZ has a transition in the middle of a bit interval. There is a transition
for every bit. A low to high transition indicates a ‘1’ bit and a high to low transition indicates a
‘0’ bit.

Differential Manchester is somewhat similar to NRZ-I. In the beginning of a bit interval,

there is a voltage change on a ‘0’ bit, and no voltage switch on a ‘1’ bit. There is always a
voltage change in the middle of a bit interval.

8. What do you know about Bipolar line coding scheme?

Bipolar scheme is similar to RZ (also has 3 voltage levels). It uses zero voltage to
represent a ‘0’ bit, and a ‘1’ bit is represented by either a positive or negative voltage
(alternating).

9. Enumerate the uses of Line coding.

i. DC Component-Eliminating the DC energy enables the system to be ac coupled.

ii. Self Locking-For example, the Manchester code has a transition in the middle of every
bit interval whether a one or zero is being sent. This guaranteed transitions aids in
the recovery of clock signal.
iii. Error detection- Some schemes such as duo binary, provide error detection without
additional error-detection bits in the data sequence.
iv. Bandwidth Compression-Multilevel codes increase the efficiency of Bandwidth
Compression.
v. Differential encoding- It allows the polarity of differentially encoded waveforms to be
inverted without affecting the data detection
vi. Noise Immunity- Some of the schemes are more immune than others to noise.
 TDM-PAM

1. Why Time Division Multiplexing of PAM signals is done?

In PAM the pulse is present for short duration and for most of the time between the
two pulses, no signal is present. This free space between pulses can be occupied by pulses
from other channels. So, to make maximum utilization of transmission channel, Time Division
Multiplexing of PAM signals is done.

2. How is TDM-PAM done?

Each channel to be transmitted is passed through the low pass filter. The outputs of the
low pass filters are connected to the rotating sampling switch or commutator. It takes the
sample form each channel per revolution and rotates at the rate of fs.
At the receiver, the decommutator separates the time multiplexed input channels. These
channel signals are then passed through low pass reconstruction filters.

3. How is the sampling frequency fs chosen?

If the highest signal frequency present in all the channels is ‘W’, then by sampling
theorem the sampling frequency fs should be,
fs ≥ 2W.

4. What is a frame?

If the sampling frequency is fs, then the time space between successive samples from
any one input will be,

Ts = 1/ fs

Therefore,

Ts ≤ 1/ (2W)

Thus the time interval Ts contains one sample from each input. This time interval is called
frame.

5. What is known as guard time?

The baseband filtering gives rise to interchannel crosstalk form one sample value to
next. This interference can be reduced by increasing the distance between individual signal
samples. The minimum distance between the individual signal samples to avoid crosstalk is
called guard time.
 PULSE CODE MODULATION

1. What is meant by PCM?

Pulse code modulation (PCM) is a method of signal coding in which the message signal
is sampled, the amplitude of each sample is rounded off to the nearest one of a finite set of
discrete levels and encoded so that both time and amplitude are represented in discrete
form. This allows the message to be transmitted by means of a digital waveform.

2. Define quantizing process and its effects.

The conversion of analog sample of the signal into digital form is called quantizing
process. The quantizing process has a two-fold effect:
The peak-to-peak range of the input sample values is subdivided into a finite
set of decision levels or decision thresholds that are aligned with the ‘risers; of
the staircase function.
The output is assigned a discrete value selected from a finite set of
representation levels or reconstruction values that are aligned with the
‘treads’ of the staircase function.

3. State Sampling theorem.

The Sampling theorem states that, if a continuous signal f(t) has frequency /
frequencies in its spectrum with fm as the highest frequency, then it is possible to convey all
the information using sampled signal with 2fm or more equally spaced samples per second.

4. State Nyquist Criterion.

Nyquist criterion decides the minimum sampling rate. The nyquist rate is defined as
the minimum sampling rate required to represent complete information about continuous
signal f(t) in its sampled form, f*(t). Therefore, according to sampling theorem, the nyquist
rate is:

f s min 2 fm

The maximum interval of sampling can be given as

1 1
Ts max
f s min 2 fm

This is called Nyquist interval.

 5. What are the standardized compression laws?

The compression can be achieved by using two standardized compression laws:

µ- Law used in North America and Japan.

A- Law used in Europe and other countries.

6. What is meant be idle channel noise?

Idle channel noise, as the name suggests, is the coding noise measured at the output
with zero transmitter input. The zero input condition arises, for example, during silences in
speech. In practice, the idle channel noise is never exactly zero due to the inevitable presence
of background noise or interference.

7. What are the main advantages and disadvantages of PCM?

Advantages:
Extremely noise resistant and hence mostly free from channel interference.
Moreover, secrecy can be built in by proper coding.

Disadvantages:
Large Bandwidth is required for it.
Synchronization is required at the transmitter and receiver.

8. Where and why is PCM used?

PCM is used for military communication due to its reliability and enhanced secrecy
when compared to other forms of modulation techniques.
 FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING
1. What is FSK?

FSK stands for Frequency shift keying. It is a digital modulation

technique in which the frequency of the carrier wave is varied in accordance with the
digital information to be transmitted.

2. What are the two frequencies in FSK?

Mark and space frequencies where the higher frequency (to transmit
‘1’) is mark frequency and lower frequency (to transmit ‘0’) is space frequency

3. Give the number of orthonormal basis functions required to transmit a pair of

sinusoidal waves by FSK.

Two orthonormal basis functions are required and they are √(2/T b) cos(2πfit)

4. What is the average probability of symbol error for coherent binary FSK?

Pe = 0.5 erfc (√(Eb/2N0)

5. Give a few applications of FSK

 Modems
 Caller IDs
 Remote Metering Applications
 BINARY PHASE SHIFT KEYING
1. What is BPSK?

BPSK stands for Binary Phase Shift Keying. It is a digital modulation scheme
in which the phase of the carrier wave is varied in accordance with the digital information
to be transmitted

2. Mention the number of phases for the Phase Reversal Keying System.

The PRK system has 2 phases which are separated by 0 and 180 degrees.

3. Give the number of basis functions in BPSK and define antipodal signals

The BPSK scheme has a single basis function,

√(2/Tb) cos(2πfct) . Antipodal signals are those which have the same magnitude but are of
opposite signs.

4. Give the symbol error rate of BPSK in AWGN

Pb = 0.5 erfc (√(Eb/N0)

5. Mention two limitations of BPSK

 It is only able to modulate a 1 bit/symbol and so is unsuitable for high data rate
applications where bandwidth is limited

 In the presence of an arbitrarily introduced phase shift in the communication

channel, the demodulator is unable to determine the exact constellation point
so data is often misinterpreted.

6. Applications of BPSK?

BPSK is used for low cost passive transmitters because of its simplicity and
in RFID standards which are used for Biometric passports and credit cards
 FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLEXING

1. What is Multiplexing?

Multiplexing is a process where multiple analog message signals or digital data

streams are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share an
expensive resource.

2. What is frequency division multiplexing (FDM)?

Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) is inherently an analog technology. FDM

achieves the combining of several digital signals into one medium by sending signals in
several distinct frequency ranges over that medium.

3. What is frequency division multiple access (FDMA)?

Frequency Division Multiple Access or FDMA is a channel access method used in

multiple-access protocols as a channelization protocol. FDMA gives users an individual
allocation of one or several frequency bands, or channels.

4. What are the differences between FDM and FDMA?

FDM is a multiplexing technique in which the there is only one transmitter and one
receiver and the channel is dedicated to the transmitter receiver pair whereas FDMA is a
multiple access technique in which the channel is shared by multiple users at the same time
and each user is allocated with a different frequency band for transmission and reception

5. What are the advantages of FDM?

Can easily adapt to severe channel conditions without complex equalization.

Robust against narrow-band co-channel interference.
Robust against inter-symbol interference (ISI) and fading caused by multipath
propagation.
High spectral efficiency as compared to conventional modulation schemes, spread
spectrum, etc.
Efficient implementation using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).
Low sensitivity to time synchronization errors.
Tuned sub-channel receiver filters are not required (unlike conventional FDM).
Facilitates single frequency networks (SFNs) i.e., transmitter macro-diversity.
6. What are the disadvantages of FDM?

Sensitive to Doppler shift.

Sensitive to frequency synchronization problems.
High peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR), requiring linear transmitter circuitry, which
suffers from poor power efficiency.
Loss of efficiency caused by cyclic prefix/guard interval.
Almost half the spectral efficiency offered by vestigial sideband modulation e.g., used
in the ATSC digital TV system.
 PSEUDO RANDOM BIT SEQUENCE GENERATOR

1. Why is it called as Pseudo Random Sequence?

Pseudo random is a deterministic signal. It follows a particular pattern.

2. What are properties of PRBS sequence?

The properties of a PRBS sequence are 1) Balance property,2)Run

property,3)Auto-correlation property. These properties are also called as randomness
properties.

3. Explain Balance property with an example.

The balance property states that in each period of the sequence the number
of binary ones should be greater than the number of zeros atmost by one.

Example : 1011001011

The number of ones = 6 . The number of zeros = 4. There the above sequence satisfies
Balance property.

4. Explain Run property with an example.

A run is defined as a sequence of a single type binary digit(s). the appearance of

the alternate digit in a sequence starts a new run. The length of the run is the number of
digits in the run .Among the runs of ones and zeros in each period, it is desirable that about
one-half the runs of each type are of length 1, about one-fourth are of length 2, one-eighth
are of length 3 and so on.

EXAMPLE :

Consider the SEQUENCE : 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1

0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1

Length Length Length Length Length Length Length Length

3 1 1 3 2 2 1 3

Total no of runs = 8.
No. of runs of length 1 = 3
No. of runs of length 2 = 2
No. of runs of length 3 = 3
The Above sequence does not satisfy the run property. As the number of runs of length 1 is 3
whihich not equal to one half of the total runs i.e eight.
5. Explain auto- correlation property.

If a period of a sequence is compared term by term with any cyclic shift of itself ,it is
best if the number of agreements differs from the number of disagreements by not more
than one count.

6. What is called maximal length sequence?

When the pseudo- noise sequence generatod by linear feedback shift register has a
length of 2m 1 ,(m is the no flipflops in the generator), it is called maximal length sequence.

7. What is the minimum number of flip-flops used to generate a PRBS sequence?

The minimum of flip flops needed to generate a sequence is 3.

8. Mention some application of PRBS sequence.

The Pseudo random noise sequence generator is used in spread spectrum systems to
spread and de-spread the data signal.
 FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZER USING PLL

1. What is a PLL?

A phase-locked loop (PLL) is a closed-loop frequency-control system based on the

phase difference between the input clock signal and the feedback clock signal of a controlled
oscillator.

2. What are components present in the PLL?

The components present in the PLL are 1) Phase detector,2)Error amplifier,3)Low

pass filter and 4) Voltage Controlled Oscillator.

3.Explain the operation of PLL?

Consider that signal present then the error voltage is 0. VCO "free runs" at f o .
Apply periodic signal at f s . The phase detector compares the frequency f o and f s .It
produces an error voltage based on the phase difference, that is amplified by error amplifier.
Then it is passed to LPF to remove low frequency components. The output then given to the
VCO which produces a frequency equivalent to that of the error voltage. This action continues
until the frequency of VCO becomes equal to that of the input frequency f s .

4. Explain about IC7490.

The 7490 is a decade counter, meaning it is able to count from 0 to 9 cyclically, and
that is its natural mode. The DM7490A monolithic counter contains four master-slave flip-
flops and additional gating to provide a divide-by-two counter and a three-stage binary
counter for which the count cycle length is divide-by-five.

5. Explain the procedure for PLL as a frequency synthesizer.

The circuit connections are given along with the 7490. Then the input signal is applied to
the NE 565. The PLL is first made to be in lock with the input signal by adjusting the
potentiometer connected with the Vcc. After the input frequency is locked, the output of Vco
changes with the changes in the input frequency. Then 7490 acts as a divider circuitry that
divides the signal into five.

6.What are the other applications of PLL?

The other applications of PLL are FSK demodulation,frequency divider,synchronization

circuitry in communication.,etc.
 DELTA MODULATION
1. What is delta modulation?

Delta modulation (DM or Δ-modulation) is an analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog signal

conversion technique used for transmission of voice information where quality is not of
primary importance. DM is the simplest form of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM)
where the difference between successive samples is encoded into n-bit streams. In delta
modulation, the transmitted data is reduced to a 1-bit stream.

2. What are the applications of delta modulation?

It is used in voice transmission, to active vibration control and is used in channel encoder.

3. What are the main features of delta modulation?

The analog signal is approximated with a series of segments

Each segments of the approximated signal is compared to the original analog wave to
determine the increase or decrease in relative amplitude
The decision for establishing the state of successive bits is determined by this
comparison
Only the change of information is sent, that is, only an increase or decrease of the
signal amplitude from the previous sample is sent whereas a no-change condition
causes the modulated signal to remain at the same 0 or 1 state of the previous sample

4. What is the principle used in delta modulation technique?

The modulator is made by a quantizer which converts the difference between the input signal
and the average of the previous steps. In its simplest form, the quantizer can be realized with
a comparator referenced to 0 (two levels quantizer), whose output is 1 or 0 if the input signal
is positive or negative. The demodulator is simply and integrator (like the one in the feedback
loop) whose output rises or falls with each 1 or 0 received. The integrator itself constitutes a
low-pass-filter.

5. What are the advantages of delta modulation?

Delta modulation transmits only one bit for one sample. Thus signaling rate and
transmission channel bandwidth is quite small for delta modulation

The transmitter and receiver implementation is very much simple for delta
modulation. There is no analog to digital converter involved in delta modulation.

6. What are the disadvantages of delta modulation?

Slope overload distortion (startup error)

Granular noise (hunting)