Line Coding:-

A line code is the code

used for data
transmission of a digital
signal over a
transmission line. This
process of coding is
chosen so as to avoid
overlap and distortion
of signal such as inter-
symbol
interference.
Properties of Line Coding
Following are the
properties of line coding
−
• As the coding is done
to make more bits
transmit on a single
signal, the bandwidth
used is much
reduced.
• For a given bandwidth,
the power is efficiently
used.
• The probability of
error is much reduced.
• Error detection is done
and the bipolar too has a
correction capability.
• Power density is much
favorable.
• The timing content is
adequate.
• Long strings of 1s and
0s is avoided to maintain
transparency.
Types of Line Coding
There are 3 types of Line
Coding
1. Unipolar
2. Polar
3. Bi-polar
Unipolar
Signaling
Unipolar signaling is also
called as On-Off Keying
or simply OOK.
The presence of pulse
represents a 1 and the
absence of pulse
represents a 0.
There are two variations
in Unipolar signaling −
• Non Return to Zero NRZ
• Return to Zero RZ
Unipolar Non-Return
to Zero NRZ:-
In this type of unipolar
signaling, a High in data
is represented by a
positive pulse called as
Mark,
which has a duration T0
equal to the symbol bit
duration. A Low in data
input has no pulse.
Line Coding:-
A line code is the code
used for data
transmission of a digital
signal over a
transmission line. This
process of coding is
chosen so as to avoid
overlap and distortion
of signal such as inter-
symbol
interference.
Properties of Line Coding
Following are the
properties of line coding
−
• As the coding is done
to make more bits
transmit on a single
signal, the bandwidth
used is much
reduced.
• For a given bandwidth,
the power is efficiently
used.
• The probability of
error is much reduced.
• Error detection is done
and the bipolar too has a
correction capability.
• Power density is much
favorable.
• The timing content is
adequate.
• Long strings of 1s and
0s is avoided to maintain
transparency.
Types of Line Coding
There are 3 types of Line
Coding
1. Unipolar
2. Polar
3. Bi-polar
Unipolar
Signaling
Unipolar signaling is also
called as On-Off Keying
or simply OOK.
The presence of pulse
represents a 1 and the
absence of pulse
represents a 0.
There are two variations
in Unipolar signaling −
• Non Return to Zero NRZ
• Return to Zero RZ
Unipolar Non-Return
to Zero NRZ:-
In this type of unipolar
signaling, a High in data
is represented by a
positive pulse called as
Mark,
which has a duration T0
equal to the symbol bit
duration. A Low in data
input has no pulse.
Line Coding:-
A line code is the code
used for data
transmission of a digital
signal over a
transmission line. This
process of coding is
chosen so as to avoid
overlap and distortion
of signal such as inter-
symbol
interference.
Properties of Line Coding
Following are the
properties of line coding
−
• As the coding is done
to make more bits
transmit on a single
signal, the bandwidth
used is much
reduced.
• For a given bandwidth,
the power is efficiently
used.
• The probability of
error is much reduced.
• Error detection is done
and the bipolar too has a
correction capability.
• Power density is much
favorable.
• The timing content is
adequate.
• Long strings of 1s and
0s is avoided to maintain
transparency.
Types of Line Coding
There are 3 types of Line
Coding
1. Unipolar
2. Polar
3. Bi-polar
Unipolar
Signaling
Unipolar signaling is also
called as On-Off Keying
or simply OOK.
The presence of pulse
represents a 1 and the
absence of pulse
represents a 0.
There are two variations
in Unipolar signaling −
• Non Return to Zero NRZ
• Return to Zero RZ
Unipolar Non-Return
to Zero NRZ:-
In this type of unipolar
signaling, a High in data
is represented by a
positive pulse called as
Mark,
which has a duration T0
equal to the symbol bit
duration. A Low in data
input has no pulse.
1. Introduction

The long haul communication systems typically involve serial transmission of data either
synchronous or asynchronous. Such serial transmission of data over the coaxial cables, optical fiber
or RF link requires the suitable encoding of binary data so that highs and lows in the signal can be
detected appropriately. Also the signal during transmission through any type of communication
channel wired or wireless suffers from attenuation and distortion, which is more severe in long haul
data transmission channel. Hence for efficient communication, tuning the signal properties to the
characteristics of physical channel is necessary.
Information to be transmitted can be encoded in either digital or analog signal using different
encoding techniques.
Line coding: It refers to the process of converting a sequence of binary digits i.e., bits or digital data into
a digital signal. Line coding is implemented for digital transmission of binary information. A line code is
the code used for data transmission of a digital signal over a transmission line. This process of coding is
chosen so as to avoid overlap and distortion of signal such as inter-symbol interference. As seen in
fig 1, at the sending end digital data are encoded into a digital signal and at the receiving end original
digital data is recovered by decoding the digital signal.

Data are encoded in a way that the timing information of the bit stream is maintained and the logic
levels 1’s and 0’s can be detected.
The major application of line coding in data communication is to perform base band modulation of
the digital data.

Properties of Line Coding:

Following are the properties of line coding –

• As the coding is done to make more bits transmit on a single signal, the bandwidth used is much
reduced.

• For a given bandwidth, the power is efficiently used.

• The probability of error is much reduced.

• Error detection is done and the bipolar too has a correction capability.

• Power density is much favorable.

• The timing content is adequate.

• Long strings of 1s and 0s is avoided to maintain transparency.

Types of Line Coding: There are 3 types of Line Coding

1. Unipolar

2. Polar

3. Bi-polar
Unipolar Signaling: Unipolar signaling is also called as On-Off Keying or simply OOK. The presence of
pulse represents a 1 and the absence of pulse represents a 0. There are two variations in Unipolar
signaling –

• Non Return to Zero NRZ

• Return to Zero RZ

Unipolar Non-Return to Zero NRZ:- In this type of unipolar signaling, a High in data is represented by a
positive pulse called as Mark, which has a duration T0 equal to the symbol bit duration. A Low in data
input has no pulse.

Advantages:- The advantages of Unipolar NRZ are –

• It is simple.

• A lesser bandwidth is required.

Disadvantages:- The disadvantages of Unipolar NRZ are –

• No error correction done.

• Presence of low frequency components may cause the signal droop.

• No clock is present.

• Loss of synchronization is likely to occur (especially for long strings of 1s and 0s).

Unipolar Return to Zero RZ: In this type of unipolar signaling, a High in data, though represented by a
Mark pulse, its duration T0 is less than the symbol bit duration. Half of the bit duration remains high but
it immediately returns to zero and shows the absence of pulse during the remaining half of the bit
duration. It is clearly understood with the help of the following figure
Advantages
1. The advantages of
Unipolar RZ are −
2. It is simple.
3. The spectral line
present at the symbol
rate can be used as a
clock.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of
Unipolar RZ are −
1. No error correction.
2. Occupies twice the
bandwidth as unipolar
NRZ.
3. The signal droop is
caused at the places
where signal is non-zero
at 0 Hz.
2. Polar Signaling:-
There are two methods of
Polar Signaling. They are
−
➢ Polar NRZ
➢ Polar RZ
Advantages: The advantages of Unipolar RZ are –

1. It is simple.

2. The spectral line present at the symbol rate can be used as a clock.

Disadvantages The disadvantages of Unipolar RZ are –

1. No error correction.

2. Occupies twice the bandwidth as unipolar NRZ.

3. The signal droop is caused at the places where signal is non-zero at 0 Hz.

Polar Signaling:- There are two methods of Polar Signaling. They are –

➢ Polar NRZ

➢ Polar RZ

Polar NRZ: In this type of Polar signaling, a High in data is represented by a positive pulse, while a Low in
data is represented by a negative pulse. The following figure depicts this well.
Advantages
The advantages of Polar
NRZ are −
➢ It is simple.
➢ No low-frequency
components are present.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of
Polar NRZ are −
➢ No error correction.
➢ No clock is present.
➢ The signal droop is
caused at the places
where the signal is non-
zero at 0 Hz.
Polar RZ
In this type of Polar
signaling, a High in data,
though represented by a
Mark pulse, its duration
T0 is
less than the symbol bit
duration. Half of the bit
duration remains high
but it immediately
returns to
zero and shows the
absence of pulse during
the remaining half of the
bit duration.
However, for a Low input,
a negative pulse
represents the data, and
the zero level remains
same for the
other half of the bit
duration. The following
figure depicts this clearly.
Advantages: The advantages of Polar NRZ are –

➢ It is simple.

➢ No low-frequency components are present.

Disadvantages: The disadvantages of Polar NRZ are –

➢ No error correction.

➢ No clock is present.
➢ The signal droop is caused at the places where the signal is non-zero at 0 Hz.

Polar RZ: In this type of Polar signaling, a High in data, though represented by a Mark pulse, its duration
T0 is less than the symbol bit duration. Half of the bit duration remains high but it immediately returns
to zero and shows the absence of pulse during the remaining half of the bit duration. However, for a
Low input, a negative pulse represents the data, and the zero level remains same for the other half of
the bit duration. The following figure depicts this clearly.

Advantages
The advantages of Polar
RZ are −
➢ It is simple.
➢ No low-frequency
components are present.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of
Polar RZ are −
➢ No error correction.
➢ No clock is present.
➢ Occupies twice the
bandwidth of Polar NRZ.
The signal droop is
caused at places where
the signal is non-zero at
0 Hz.
3. Bipolar Signaling:-
This is an encoding
technique which has
three voltage levels
namely +, - and 0. Such
a signal is called
as duo-binary signal.
An example of this type
is Alternate Mark
Inversion AMI. For a 1,
the voltage level gets a
transition
from + to – or from – to
+, having alternate 1s to
be of equal polarity. A 0
will have a zero voltage
level.
Even in this method, we
have two types.
Bipolar NRZ
Bipolar RZ
From the models so far
discussed, we have
learnt the difference
between NRZ and RZ. It
just goes in
the same way here too.
The following figure
clearly depicts this.
Advantages:

The advantages of Polar RZ are –

➢ It is simple.

➢ No low-frequency components are present.

Disadvantages: The disadvantages of Polar RZ are –

➢ No error correction.

➢ No clock is present.

➢ Occupies twice the bandwidth of Polar NRZ.

The signal droop is caused at places where the signal is non-zero at 0 Hz.

Bipolar Signaling:- This is an encoding technique which has three voltage levels namely +, - and 0. Such
a signal is called as duo-binary signal. An example of this type is Alternate Mark Inversion AMI. For a 1,
the voltage level gets a transition from + to – or from – to +, having alternate 1s to be of equal polarity.
A 0 will have a zero voltage level. Even in this method, we have two types. Bipolar NRZ, Bipolar RZ From
the models so far discussed, we have learnt the difference between NRZ and RZ. It just goes in the same
way here too. The following figure clearly depicts this.

The above figure has both the Bipolar NRZ and RZ waveforms. The pulse duration and symbol bit
duration are equal in NRZ type, while the pulse duration is half of the symbol bit duration in RZ type.
Advantages: Following are the advantages –

➢ It is simple.

➢ No low-frequency components are present.

➢ Occupies low bandwidth than unipolar and polar NRZ schemes.

➢ This technique is suitable for transmission over AC coupled lines, as signal drooping doesn’t occur
here.
➢ A single error detection capability is present in this.

Disadvantages: Following are the disadvantages –

➢ No clock is present.

➢ Long strings of data causes loss of synchronization.

Comparison of the Line Coding Schemes:

Based on what different types of encoding schemes discussed so far, comparisons of their features are

indicated by table-1. Starting with the bandwidth requirements of each code, unipolar NRZ, polar

NRZ and Differential NRZ have low bandwidth requirement, bandwidth requirement of Manchester

coding is high and that of Differential Manchester coding is moderate. However, we have seen that

Manchester and Differential Manchester encoding gives very good synchronization facility. That

means a signal with long sequence of 0s or 1s it will not lead to synchronization failure a s the

receiver will regenerate the signal without any problem.

Unipolar NRZ has high DC component which makes them unsuitable for long haul communication

where as polar NRZ, polar RZ, Manchester, Differential Manchester, AMI, and Pseudoterenary coded

signals have no dc component present.

EYE PATTERN

The quality of digital transmission systems are evaluated using the bit error rate. Degradation of quality
occurs in each process modulation, transmission, and detection. The eye pattern is experimental
method that contains all the information concerning the degradation of quality. Therefore, careful
analysis of the eye pattern is important in analyzing the degradation mechanism.
• Eye patterns can be observed using an oscilloscope. The received wave is applied to the vertical
deflection plates of an oscilloscope and the saw tooth wave at a rate equal to transmitted symbol rate is
applied to the horizontal deflection plates, resulting display is eye pattern as it resembles humaneye.

• The eye pattern, also referred to as the eye diagram, is produced by the synchronized superposition of
(as many as possible) successive symbol intervals of the distorted waveform appearing at the output of
the receive filter prior to thresholding. As an illustrative example, consider the distorted, but noise-free,
waveform shown in part a of Figure 1.

Part b of the figure displays the corresponding synchronized superposition of the waveform’s eight
binary symbol intervals. The resulting display is called an “eye pattern” because of its resemblance to a
human eye. By the same token, the interior of the eye pattern is called the eye opening

•The interior region of eye pattern is called eye opening

We get superposition of successive symbol intervals to produce eye pattern as shown below

The width of the eye opening defines the time interval over which the received wave can be sampled
without error from ISI

• The optimum sampling time corresponds to the maximum eye opening

• The height of the eye opening at a specified sampling time is a measure of the margin over channel
noise.

The sensitivity of the system to timing error is determined by the rate of closure of the eye as the
sampling time is varied. Any non linear transmission distortion would reveal itself in an asymmetric or
squinted eye. When the effected of ISI is excessive, traces from the upper portion of the eye pattern
cross traces from lower portion with the result that the eye is completely closed.

As long as the additive channel noise is not large, then the eye pattern is well defined and may,
therefore, be studied experimentally on an oscilloscope. The waveform under study is applied to the
deflection plates of the oscilloscope with its time-base circuit operating in a synchronized condition.
From an experimental perspective, the eye pattern offers two compelling virtues:

• The simplicity of eye-pattern generation.

• The provision of a great deal of insightful information about the characteristics of the data
transmission system. Hence, the wide use of eye patterns as a visual indicator of how well or poorly a
data transmission system performs the task of transporting a data sequence across a physical channel.

Timing Features

A generic eye pattern for distorted but noise-free binary data. The horizontal axis, representing time,
spans the symbol interval from –Tb 2 to Tb 2, where Tb is the bit duration. From this diagram, we may

infer three timing features pertaining to a binary data transmission system, exemplified by a PAM
system:

Optimum sampling time. The width of the eye opening defines the time interval over which the
distorted binary waveform appearing at the output of the receive filter in the PAM system can be
uniformly sampled without decision errors. Clearly, the optimum sampling time is the time at which the
eye opening is at its widest.

Zero-crossing jitter. In practice, the timing signal (for synchronizing the receiver to the transmitter) is
extracted from the zero-crossings of the waveform that appears at the receive-filter output. In such a
form of synchronization, there will always be irregularities in the zero- crossings, which, in turn, give rise
to jitter and, therefore, nonoptimum sampling times.

Timing sensitivity. Another timing-related feature is the sensitivity of the PAM system to timing errors.
This sensitivity is determined by the rate at which the eye pattern is closed as the sampling time is
varied.

The Peak Distortion for Intersymbol Interference

Hereafter, we assume that the ideal signal amplitude is scaled to occupy the range from –1 to +1. We
then find that, in the absence of channel noise, the eye opening assumes two extreme values:

An eye opening of unity, which corresponds to zero ISI. An eye opening of zero, which corresponds to a
completely closed eye pattern; this second extreme case occurs when the effect of intersymbol
interference is severe enough for some upper traces in the eye pattern to cross with its lower traces.
It is indeed possible for the receiver to make decision errors even when the channel is noise free.
Typically, an eye opening of 0.5 or better is considered to yield reliable data transmission.

In a noisy environment, the extent of eye opening at the optimum sampling time provides a measure of
the operating margin over additive channel noise. This measure, as illustrated in Figure 8.13, is referred
to as the noise margin.

From this discussion, it is apparent that the eye opening plays an important role in assessing system
performance; hence the need for a formal definition of the eye opening. To this end, we offer the
following definition:

Eye opening = 1 – Dpeak

where Dpeak denotes a new criterion called the peak distortion. The point to note here is that peak
distortion is a worst-case criterion for assessing the effect of ISI on the performance (i.e., error rate) of a
data transmission system. The relationship between the eye opening and peak distortion is illustrated in
Figure 8.14. With the eye opening being dimensionless, the peak distortion is dimensionless too. To
emphasize this statement, the two extreme values of the eye opening translate as follows:

Zero peak distortion, which occurs when the eye opening is unity. Unity peak distortion, which occurs
when the eye pattern is completely closed.

Figure: Illustrating the relationship between peak distortion and eye opening.

Note: the ideal signal level is scaled to lie inside the range –1 to +1.

(Source: S. Haykin, ―Digital Communications‖, John Wiley, 2005- Page- 465)

Eye Patterns for M-ary Transmission

By definition, an M-ary data transmission system uses M encoded symbols in the transmitter and M – 1
thresholds in the receiver. Correspondingly, the eye pattern for an M-ary data transmission system
contains M – 1 eye openings stacked vertically one on top of the other. The thresholds are defined by
the amplitude- transition levels as we move up from one eye opening to the adjacent eye opening.
When the encoded symbols are all equiprobable, the thresholds will be equidistant from each other. In a
strictly linear data transmission system with truly transmitted random data sequences, all the M – 1 eye
openings would be identical. In practice, however, it is often possible to find asymmetries in the eye
pattern of an M-ary data transmission system, which are caused by nonlinearities in the communication
channel or other distortion- sensitive parts of the system

Fig Example of eye pattern: Binary-PAM with noise no ISI (Source:Brainkart)