Signal Encoding Techniques

(Part 2)

Lecture 5

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Digital data to Analogue Signal

• Public telephone system

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Modulation
• Modulation is the process of converting data
into radio waves by adding information to a
carrier signal.
• A carrier signal is one with a steady waveform --
constant height, or amplitude, and frequency.
— Information can be added to the carrier by varying
its amplitude, frequency, phase, polarization

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Digital Data, Analog Signal
• Modulation involves operation on one or more of the
three characteristics of a carrier signal
— Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
— Frequency shift keying (FSK)
• Binary FSK (BFSK)
• Multiple FSK (MFSK)
— Phase shift keying (PSK)
• Binary PSK (BPSK)
• Four-level PSK (QPSK)
• Multilevel PSK (MPSK)
• QAM: a combination of ASK and PSK

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Modulation Techniques

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Amplitude Shift Keying
• Values are represented by different amplitudes
of the carrier frequency
• Usually, one amplitude is zero
—i.e. presence and absence of carrier is used
• ASK is used to transmit digital data over optical
fiber.

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Frequency Shift Keying
• The most common form of FSK is binary FSK
(BFSK)
• Two binary values represented by two different
frequencies (near carrier frequency)
• BFSK is less susceptible to error than ASK.

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Multiple FSK
• MFSK: More than two frequencies are used
• Each signalling element represents more than
one bit
• More bandwidth efficient
• But more prone to error!

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Example

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Phase Shift Keying
• In PSK, the phase of the carrier signal is shifted to
represent data.
• Binary PSK
—Two phases represent two binary digits

— a phase shift of 180°(pi) is equivalent to flipping the sine

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Differential PSK

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Multilevel PSK
• More efficient use of bandwidth
• Each signal element represents more than one
bit
• QPSK: quadrature PSK
—shifts of /2 (90o), i.e. 4 different phases
—Each signal element represents 2 bits
• Multilevel PSK
—Can use 8 or more phase angles, and each phase can
have more than one amplitude

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Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
• QAM is used in the asymmetric digital subscriber
line (ADSL) and some wireless standards.
• Combination of ASK and PSK
• A logical extension of QPSK
• Send two different signals simultaneously on the
same carrier frequency
—Use two copies of the carrier, one shifted by 90°
—Each carrier is ASK modulated
—Two independent signals over same medium
—Demodulate and combine for original binary output

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QAM Levels
• Two level ASK
—Each of two streams in one of two states
—Four state system
—Essentially QPSK
• Four level ASK
—Combined stream in one of 16 states
• 64 and 256 state systems have been
implemented
• Improved data rate for given bandwidth
—Increased potential error rate

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Analog Data to Digital Signal
• Digitization
—Conversion of analog data into digital data
• Digital data can then be transmitted using NRZ-L
• Digital data can then be transmitted using code other than
NRZ-L
• Digital data can then be converted to analog signal
—Analog to digital conversion done using a codec
(coder-decoder)
—Two principle codec techniques
• Pulse Code Modulation
• Delta modulation

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Digitizing Analog Data

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Pulse Code Modulation
• Sampling Theorem: If a signal is sampled at regular
intervals of time and at a rate higher than twice the
highest signal frequency, then the samples contain all
the information of the original signal.
• For example, voice data are limited to below 4000Hz
— 8000 samples per second is sufficient to characterize the voice
signal.
• Samples are analog samples, called Pulse Amplitude
Modulation (PAM) samples.
• To convert to digital, each analog sample must be
assigned a binary code.

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Pulse Code Modulation
• Each sample is quantized into some level
—The original signal is now only approximated and
cannot be recovered exactly
—This effect is called quantizing error or quantizing
noise
• For example, 8 bit sample gives 256 levels
• 8000 samples per second and 8 bits per sample
gives 64kbps, for a single voice signal.

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PCM Example

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PCM Block Diagram

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Nonlinear Encoding
• Typically, PCM scheme is refined using nonlinear
encoding.
• Quantization levels are not equally spaced.
• The problem of equal spacing:
— The mean absolute error for each sample is regardless of signal
level.
— Lower amplitude values are relatively more distorted.
• Nonlinear encoding:
— Use a greater number of quantizing steps for signals of low
amplitude, and a smaller number of quantizing steps for signals
of large amplitude
— Reduces overall signal distortion

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Effect of Non-Linear Coding

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Delta Modulation
• Modulation:
—An analog signal is approximated by a staircase
function that moves up or down by quantization level
at each sampling interval.
—If the value of the sampled waveform exceeds that of
the staircase function, 1 is generated, otherwise, 0 is
generated.
• Two important parameters:
—The size of the step.
—The sampling rate.

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Delta Modulation
• Noise
—Slope overload noise (when the analog waveform is
changing rapidly than the staircase can follow)
—Quantizing noise (when the analog waveform is
changing slowly)
• Trade-off
—The quantizing noise increases as the size of the step
increases.
—The slope overload noise increases as the size of the
step decreases.

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(IV) Analog Data, Analog Signals
• Modulation:
—Combine an input signal m(t) and a carrier frequency
fc to produce a signal s(t) whose bandwidth is usually
centered on fc
• E.g., voice signals are transmitted over
telephone lines at their original spectrum.
• Types of modulation
—Amplitude modulation: AM
—Angle Modulation
• Frequency modulation: FM
• Phase modulation: PM

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Analog
Modulation

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KEY POINTS
• Both analog and digital information can be encoded as
either analog or digital signals. The particular encoding
that is chosen depends on the specific requirements to
be met and the media and communications facilities
available.
• Digital data, digital signal: The simplest form of digital
encoding of digital data is to assign one voltage level to
binary one and another to binary zero. More complex
encoding schemes are used to improve performance, by
altering the spectrum of the signal and providing
synchronization capability.
• Digital data, analog signal: A modem converts digital
data to an analog signal so that it can be transmitted
over an analog line. The basic techniques are ASK, FSK,
and PSK.

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KEY POINTS
• Analog data, digital signals: Analog data, such as voice
and video, are often digitized to be able to use digital
transmission facilities. The simplest technique is PCM
(Pulse Code Modulation), which involve sampling the
analog data periodically and quantizing the samples.
Another technique is Delta Modulation.
• Analog data, analog signals: Analog data are modulated
by a carrier frequency to produce an analog signal in a
different frequency band, which can be utilized on an
analog transmission system. The basic techniques are
AM (Amplitude Modulation), FM (Frequency Modulation),
and PM (Phase Modulation).

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