Analog And Digital

Communications Concepts
Chapter 3

Representing Data As
Analog Signals

Converting Analog Data to

Analog Signals
During the early development stages of copperbased analog telephone networks, it was
discovered that voice conversations can be
transmitted adequately from 300 Hz to 3330 Hz.
As a result, the telephone networks were originally
designed to transmit voice conversations within a
3000 Hz range.
Voice signals that generate frequencies less than
300 Hz or greater than 3,300 Hz are discarded.
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Converting Analog Data to

Analog Signals
Transmitting voice messages via an analog communications
system involves recreating human speech in the form of
sound waves. This is performed by the telephone set.
A telephone set converts sound into electrical signals at the
senders end, and then reconverts these electrical signals
into sound at the receivers end.
There are two basic ways in which analog data are
represented as analog signals:
at their original frequency, called a baseband signal
or at a different frequency

Converting Analog Data to

Analog Signals
A carrier is a continuous signal that operates at a
predefined frequency.
Changing a carrier so that it can represent data in a
form suitable for transmission is called modulation.
In analog modulation, an analog signal that
represents the data is converted into another
analog signal, which is the carrier.
Characteristics of a carrier that can be modified
include the signals amplitude, frequency, and
phase.
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Converting Analog Data to

Analog Signals
Modifying the amplitude of a wave (i.e., the signals strength)
is called amplitude modulation (AM).
Modifying a waves frequency (i.e., its pitch) is called
frequency modulation (FM).
Modifying the phase of a wave (i.e., temporarily delaying the
natural flow of the waveform) is called phase modulation
(PM).
All three modulation techniques are used in conventional
radio and television broadcasting; FM and PM are also
used in satellite communications.
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Converting Digital Data to

Analog Signals
Transmitting digital data across an analog-based
communications network is done by modifying a
continuous analog signal at the sender so that the
signal conforms to the digital data being
transmitted, and then converting the signal back
into digital form at the receiver.
The device that performs these functions is called a
modem, (modulator and demodulator). Two
modems are required one at each end of a
transmission line and both modems must use
the same modulation technique.
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Converting Digital
Data to Analog Signals
When used in the context of converting digital
data (or signals) into analog signals, the
modulation techniques of AM, FM, and PM
discussed earlier are respectively called
amplitude-shift keying (ASK), frequencyshift keying (FSK), and phase-shift keying
(PSK).

Amplitude Shift Keying

ASK alters the amplitude of a signal so that it
conforms to the digital data (0s and 1s).
The process of ASK involves varying the signals
voltage while keeping the frequency constant. One
amplitude is used to represent a binary 0 and a
second amplitude is used to represent a binary 1.

Frequency Shift Keying

FSK alters the frequency of a signal so that it
conforms to the digital data (0s and 1s).
Amplitude is kept constant. One frequency is
used to represent a binary 0 and a second
frequency is used to represent a binary 1.

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Phase Shift Keying

PSK modifies the phase angle of the carrier wave
based on the digital data being transmitted.
The changes in phase angle are what convey the
data in a phase modulated signal. In its most
simple implementation, one phase represents a
binary 0 and a second phase represents a
binary 1.

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Converting Digital
Data to Analog Signals
Changing the phase of a wave at different angles
enables us to encode the data with more than one
bit of information at a time.
Phase shift modulation can also be combined with
amplitude modulation.

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Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
Uses eight phase changes and two amplitudes to
create 16 different signal changes, and can
encode between four and seven bits per baud.

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Trellis-Coded Modulation
A modified version of QAM called trellis-coded
modulation (TCM) incorporates extra bits for errorcorrection.
Both QAM and (TCM) provide high data transfer
rates because they are able to incorporate several
bits per signal change.

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Converting
Digital Data to
Analog
Signals

15

Representing Data
As Digital Signals
As digital technology and computer data applications
emerged, analog technology was unable to
separate data from noise in a satisfactory manner.
This led to the introduction of digital signaling, which
requires converting analog signals to digital
signals.

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Converting Analog
Data to Digital Signals
Representing analog data as digital signals requires
converting the datas corresponding analog signal,
which is in the form of a sine wave, into a digital
signal, which is represented as 0s and 1s. The
most common approach is a process known as
pulse-code modulation (PCM), and involves two
steps: sampling and coding.

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Converting Analog
Data to Digital Signals
Digitizing an analog signal requires taking regular
samples of the amplitude of the signals waveform
over time so that the generated digital signal
matches its corresponding analog signal.
According to a sampling theorem known as
Nyquists rule, if an analog signal is sampled at
regular intervals and at twice the highest
frequency on the line, then the sample will be an
exact representation of the original signal.
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Converting Analog
Data to Digital Signals
Once a sample has been taken, it must then be
converted into a binary digit, where 0 and 1
represent the absence and presence of voltage,
respectively. Determining whether a sample gets
coded 0 or 1 depends on where along the wave
the sample is taken.
After the sampling and coding steps are complete,
the resulting digital codes are then transmitted as
a digital signal waveform.
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Converting Analog
Data to Digital Signals
Digitizing an analog signal via
PCM is done using a device
called a codec (coderdecoder), which can be
thought of as the opposite of
a modem.
A codec converts analog data
into a digital signal; a
modem on the other hand
converts digital data into an
analog signal.
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Converting Analog
Data to Digital Signals

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Converting Digital
Data to Digital Signals
Transmitting digital data (e.g., output from a
computer) across a digital network (e.g., an
Ethernet LAN), requires representing the digital
data as a digital signal. Three common coding
techniques used for this task are Manchester
coding, differential Manchester coding, and NonReturn to Zero, Invert on ones (NRZI).
In Manchester encoding, a 1 is sent as a half-timeperiod low followed by a half-time-period high, and
a 0 is sent as a half-time-period high followed by a
half-time-period low.
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Converting Digital
Data to Digital Signals

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Converting Digital
Data to Digital Signals
Differential Manchester encoding is similar to
Manchester encoding: each bit-period is
partitioned into two intervals and a transition
between high and low occurs during each bitperiod.
The difference between the two techniques is the
interpretation of this transition. In differential
Manchester encoding, interpreting these low to
high and high to low mid-bit transitions is not as
simple as with Manchester encoding because they
are a function of the previous bit-period.
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Converting Digital
Data to Digital Signals
NRZI is part of the non-return to zero (NRZ) family of codes in
which positive and negative voltages are used for encoding
0s and 1s. In one form of NRZ, called NRZL (non-return to
zero level) a constant positive voltage is used to represent
a 0 bit and a constant negative voltage is used to represent
a 1 bit.
An application of NRZI is an encoding strategy known as the
4B/5B (four bits to five bits) method. The 4B/5B encoding
scheme takes data in four-bit codes and maps them to
corresponding five-bit codes, which are then transmitted
using NRZI.
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Converting
Digital
Data to Digital
Signals

26

Data Rate and

Baud Rate Redux
Both data rate and baud rate can be used to express
the capacity of a communications channel.
At low speeds (under 300 bps) data rate and baud
rate are the same because signaling methods are
relatively simple.
As speed increases, however, signaling methods
become more complex because several bits are
frequently encoded per baud, which enables each
signal to represent more than one bit of
information.
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Digital Carrier Systems

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T1 and DS Circuits
Digital signaling and the T-carrier system was
introduced (circa 1962) to resolve attenuation and
noise amplification.
In digital transmission facilities, attenuation is
resolved by repeaters that regenerate digital
signals to their exact form. This enables the new,
regenerated signal to be compared to the previous
signal, thus reducing the chances of propagating
errors during a transmission.
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T1 and DS Circuits
The T-carrier system, which uses time division multiplexing to
support multiple channels in a single digital signal, was the
first system designed to implement digitized voice
transmissions.
The T1 terminology, which is a product of the T-carrier
system, was originally defined by AT&T and describes the
multiplexing of 24 separate voice channels into a single,
wideband digital signal.
A T1 frame consists of 193 bits - eight bits per channel plus
one bit for framing. Bits 1 through 8 are dedicated to
channel 1, bits 9 through 16 are dedicated to channel 2,
and so forth.
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T1 and DS Circuits
Each voice channel is digitized using pulse code
modulation and has a data rate of 64 kbps.
When multiplexed into a digital signal, a voice
channel is referred to as a digital signal at level 0
(DS-0). Thus, DS-0 represents a single, digital
voice channel rated at 64 kbps.
A T1 circuit carries a DS-1 signal, which consists of
24 DS-0 channels plus one 8 kbps channel
reserved for framing. This results in an aggregate
bandwidth of 1.544 Mbps.
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T1 and DS Circuits
The T1 concept eventually evolved to what is now known as
the North American Digital Hierarchy (NADH), which
consists of multiplexed T1 lines.
Two T1 lines are combined to form a T1C circuit rated at
3.152 Mbps.
A T2 circuit (DS-2) consists of four multiplexed T1 circuits
and has an aggregate bandwidth of 6.312 Mbps.
A T3 link (DS-3) consists of 28 multiplexed T1 circuits with
an aggregate bandwidth of 44.736 Mbps.
A T4 channel (DS-4), rated at 274.176 Mbps, consists of
168 multiplexed T1 circuits.
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T1 and DS Circuits

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T1 and DS Circuits
64 kbps was selected as the basic building block of T1/DS-1
circuits because telephone companies partitioned their
circuits into channels of 4000 Hz, and hence 8000 samples
per second are used for the conversions.
The construction of a T1s line rate is as follows:

Data: 56,000 bps per channel at 24 channels = 1,344,000 bps

Control: 8,000 bps per channel at 24 channels = 192,000 bps
Framing: 8,000 bps for frame synchronization = 8,000 bps

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T1 and DS Circuits
A T1 circuit requires special termination equipment
called a CSU/DSU.
A channel service unit regenerates the signal,
monitors the line for electrical anomalies, provides
proper electrical termination, performs framing,
and provides remote loopback testing for
diagnosing line problems.
A data (or digital) service unit (DSU) provides the
interface for connecting a remote bridge, router, or
switch to a T1 circuit.
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T1 and DS
Circuits

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Fractional T1
Fractional T1 service (FT1), provides a fraction of a
T1s capacity. This is achieved by combining
multiple DS-0 (i.e., 64 kbps) channels.
When ordering FT1 service from a
telecommunications (telco) provider, you actually
receive a full T1 channel but only pay for the
number of DS-0 channels you order.
FT1 service is attractive to customers who do not
require full T1 service but need more capacity than
an ISDN 64/128 kbps line.
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SONET and OC Circuits

SONET was developed by the telcos to address the need for
a fiber-optic based standard for broadband transmissions
within the telecommunications industry.
The basic building block of the SONET signal hierarchy is
STS-1 (51.84 Mbps).
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and the Synchronous
Digital Hierarchy (SDH) are international physical layer
standards that provide a specification for high-speed digital
transmission via optical fiber.
SONET is an ANSI standard; SDH is an ITU-T standard.
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SONET and OC Circuits

SONET offers several advantages over the copperbased T1 hierarchy.
As a fiber-based medium
hundreds of thousands of simultaneous voice and
data transmissions are possible using fiber
fiber is immune to EMI
fiber is available in either single or multimode and
thus can be used for LAN connections or as the
backbone of a WAN
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SONET and OC Circuits

As a synchronous transmission facility, bandwidth
can be allocated on an as-needed basis and
routes can be dynamically reconfigured.
As a carrier service, SONET can serve as the
transport facility for any type network technology
or service, including ATM, FDDI, SMDS, and
ISDN.
SONET can support various topologies including
point to point, star, and ring.
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Summary of Encoding
Strategies

41

Summary of
Conversion
Schemes

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