BIT 03204: Communications Systems & Technologies

L3-1: Data Conversion for Transmission

Stephen Magu Waweru
 Signal Encoding Techniques
• In a communication system, a transmitter encodes a message to create a signal, which is
carried to a receiver by the communications channel.
• Encoding is the process of using various patterns of voltage or current levels to
represent 1s and 0s of the digital signals on the transmission link.
• Data Encoding : Conversion data into a specified format for the secured and efficient
transmission of data e.g conversion of voice (analog data) to Binary data (i.e. Digitizing).
• Carrier Signal: In analog transmission, the sending device produces a high-frequency
signal that acts as a base for the information signal.
• Modulation: Strength of data signal is used to vary the wave properties a carrier signal in
order to represent the signal for efficient transmission
• Multiplexing: different data streams are simultaneously processed over a shared link.

•
 Analog-to-analog conversion cont…

Frequency Modulation(FM) Amplitude Modulation (AM) Phase Modulation

• AM: the carrier signal is modulated so that its amplitude varies with the changing amplitudes of the modulating signal.
The frequency and phase of the carrier remain the same.
• FM: The frequency of the carrier signal is modulated to follow the changing voltage level (amplitude) of the Data signal.
The peak amplitude and phase of the carrier signal remain constant.
• PM: The phase of the carrier signal is modulated to follow the changing voltage level (amplitude) of the modulating signal.
The peak amplitude and frequency of the carrier signal remain constant.
 Analog-to-analog conversion cont…

• Frequency Modulation use cases include FM radio broadcasting, magnetic

tape-recording systems, monitoring newborns for seizures via EEG, radar,
seismic prospecting, sound synthesis, telemetry, two-way radio systems, and
video-transmission systems
• Amplitude modulation (AM) is a modulation technique used in electronic
communication, most commonly for transmitting messages with a radio wave.
• AM was the earliest modulation method used for transmitting audio in radio
broadcasting
 Analog to digital conversion cont..

•A digital signal is superior to an analog signal because it is more robust to noise and can easily be recovered,
corrected and amplified. Therefore, the tendency today is to change an analog signal to digital signal.
•Analog signals can only be accessible by a computing device if its converted to digital signal e.g. voice and
video, are often digitized to be able to use digital transmission facilities.
•Two techniques used are pulse code modulation (PCM), and Delta Modulation
Example 1:The Google voice recognition search facility in the browser. Voice data is picked and transformed to
analog data signals by the microphone, then converted to digital data recognizable by the computer. Then the search
engines carries out web search)
Example 2:Windows speech recognition (for starting applications, editing text etc. using voice instead of typing by
keys or selecting by mouse.
• first make the enable the speech recognition and make microphone settings
• command to Start by saying “ start”. It opens start and displays the applications.
 Analog to digital conversion cont..
• The amplitude of the carrier wave is varied according to the instantaneous amplitude of the
modulating signal keeping phase and frequency as constant. PCM consists of three steps to
digitize an analog signal:
1. Sampling (collect the sample data at any time of the message signal to represent and reform the
original signal later).
2. Quantization: Round off each sample to the nearest discrete level. Reducing the unnecessary bits
and also helps in compressing the obtained values
3. Binary encoding: (allot each quantized level a binary code.)
• Sample is only done after filtering the signal to limit the maximum frequency of the signal as it
affects the sampling rate. Filtering ensure there is no signal distortion i.e.. not remove high
frequency components that affect the signal shape.
 Analog to digital conversion cont..

Pulse Code Modulation: Sampling is used to reduce the

sample size of a given signal, and in changing
an analog signal to a digital signal. Analog signal is
sampled every T seconds(Ts) to yield discrete values
(digital form) to represent it.
Ts is referred to as the sampling interval.
fs = 1/Ts is called the sampling rate or sampling frequency.

The sampling process should satisfy the following requirements:

1. Sampled signal should represent the original signal.
2. It should be possible to reconstruct the original signal from sampled form.
 Analog to digital conversion cont..
Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
Step 1 Sampling: There are 3 sampling methods:

The process is referred to as pulse amplitude modulation PAM

and the outcome is a signal with analog (non integer) values
 Analog to digital conversion cont..
Sampling rate
• Nyquist sampling rate : Recovery of a sampled sine wave for different sampling rates. Example:
let us sample a simple sine wave at three sampling rates:
• fs = 4f (2 times the Nyquist rate),
• fs = 2f (Nyquist rate),
• and fs = f (one-half the Nyquist rate)

• According to the Nyquist theorem, the sampling rate must be at

least (twice) 2 times the highest frequency contained in the signal
• It can
. be seen that sampling at the Nyquist rate can create a good
approximation of the original sine wave (a).
• Oversampling in part (b) can also create the same approximation,
but it is redundant and unnecessary.
• Sampling below the Nyquist rate (c) does not produce a signal
that looks like the original sine wave
 Analog to digital conversion cont..
• Pulse Code Modulation
• Step 2 Quantization: This is the process in which we assign the numbers to the discrete values
depending upon their amplitude values. Analog samples are converted digital values, or symbols,
that can be used to recreate a close approximation of the original analog signal.

Each sampled value are approximated or

rounded to the nearest standard predefined
voltage level (Quantization levels) in order
to keep the number of digits from analog
signal within the acceptable range.
Applied
1. in cellular phones i.e.. voice calls converting voices (analog) to digital signals
2.Applied in teleconferencing and virtual learning.
3.the image processing( e.g. scanning a photograph) the sampled image
 Analog to digital conversion cont..

Delta Modulation: This a technique that converts or encodes message signal into a binary (bit)
stream. Only 1 bit is used to encode 1 voltage level thus, the technique allows transmission of
only 1 bit per sample. .
Operating principle of Delta Modulation
A comparison between present and previously sampled
value is performed, the difference of which decides the
increment or decrement in the transmitted values. If the
difference in the two sample values after comparison has a
positive polarity then the step of the signal denoted by Δ is
increased by 1. When a difference polarity is negative then
step of the signal is decreased i.e.., reduction in
Δ .When +Δ is noticed i.e.., increase in step size, then 1 is
transmitted. However, in the case of –Δ i.e.., decrease in
step size, 0 is transmitted.
 Digital to analog conversion
• When data from one computer is sent to another via some analog carrier, it is first converted into
analog signals which have been modified to reflect digital data. Digital modulation is the process of
converting a digital bit stream into an analog carrier wave for transmission via a communication channel.

• A Data Communication Equipment (DCE) a device used to establish, maintain, and

terminate communication network sessions between one data source & the receiving device
(e.g. multiplexers, modem).
• Data Terminal Equipment (DTE): A device that generates or consumes digital data or , a
unit that functions either as a source of or as a destination for binary digital data. e.g.
computer, printer, fax etc.
• A Modem (Modulation/Demodulation) is (DCE) for translating or converting signals from
digital to analog and back. It takes data generated by a DTE, converts them to an appropriate
signal and then introduces signal onto telecommunication link.
 Digital to analog conversion

Digital signals need to be converted to analog because most modern technologies or devices
understand digital data or signal but as the signals needs to be transmitted or radiated into
space by an antenna, it needs to be converted to analog as free space understands analog data’s
or signals.
Digital modulation is the process of converting a digital bit stream into an analog carrier
wave for transmission via a communication channel. Digital modulation is broadly divided
into two categories
Baseband modulation: encode information directly(without using a sinusoidal carrier) as the
amplitude, width, or position of a pulse.(without frequency shifting)
Bandpass /Passband Modulation : Information is encoded by varying the amplitude, phase
or frequency of the carrier signal is regulated to transmit the bits.
 Digital to Analog Conversion cont…

Amplitude Shift Key: a technique in which carrier signal is analog and data to
be modulated is digital. The amplitude of analog carrier signal is modified to
reflect binary data while the frequency and phase of the carrier signal remain
constant.

Frequency Shift Key: The frequency of analog

carrier signal is modified to reflect binary data.
 Digital to Analog Conversion cont…

FSK: This is a is the digital modulation technique for transmission of data by varying the frequency of the
carrier with predefined frequencies. The output of a FSK modulated wave is high in frequency for a binary
High input and is low in frequency for a binary Low input.
Example :To send a bit sequence (10100) through a wireless communication channel, we can use a high
frequency signal (i.e.. 40MHz). Slightly varying the frequency such that send a 40MHz .‘1’ and 41MHz for
‘0’ based on to the original signal, results in ‘frequency modulation’ (FM) for transmission

Advantages :
• FSK is more resistant to noise than ASK since information is carried by frequency shifts
instead of amplitude shifts.
• Non-linear amplifiers that are more power efficient can be used since there are no
amplitude changes in FSK
FSK is used in telemetry, radiosondes on weather balloons technology
 Digital to Analog Conversion cont…

PSK is achieved by varying the phase of the radio wave carrier with our message signal. This
results is a radio wave carrier with shifts in phase corresponding to the “HIGH” and “LOW”
level in our signal. ( to enable transmission analogue information such as a voice signal)

PSK technique is widely used for wireless LANs, bio-metric, contactless

operations, along with RFID and Bluetooth communications.
 Digital to Analog Conversion cont…

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying(QPSK) alters the phase to reflect two binary
digits at once. This is done in two different phases. The main stream of binary
data is divided equally into two sub-streams. The serial data is converted in to
parallel in both sub-streams and then each stream is converted to digital signal
using NRZ technique. Later, both the digital signals are merged together

This technique is used to increase the bit rate i.e we can code two bits onto one
single element. It uses four phases to encode two bits per symbol
 Digital-to-Digital Conversion
• In digital communication, the transmission of data is in form of a bit stream. A single bit that
makes up the bit stream can only be one of two signal states (bit 1 or bit 0 )
• If instead of outputting a continuously varying voltage we output only 2 voltage levels HIGH
(bit 1) and LOW (bit 0). E.g. a HIGH signal could be assigned a voltage of +5V and a LOW
signal could be assigned a voltage of -5V. This would form series of discrete or digital pulses.
• The purpose of deploying Encoding techniques is to optimize signal transmission through the
physical medium. The techniques are: line coding and block coding.
• Line Coding: The process for conversion digital data (sequence of bits) to digital signals. i.e..
a sequence of bits in the computer to a digital signal on the sender side. For all
communications, line coding is necessary whereas block coding is optional.
• At the sender, digital data is encoded into a digital signal while at the receiver, the digital data
is recreated by decoding the digital signal.
• Block Coding: operate on block of information bits . To ensure accuracy of the received data
frame redundant bits are added to each block of information bits to ensure synchronization,
error detection and re-transmission of the signal e.g. Every 4 bits of data is encoded into a 5-bit
code.
 Digital-to-Digital Conversion
This transformation of binary information into a two-state signal is done by the baseband
decoder (DCE).

Unipolar encoding: Only one voltage level is used in encoding. Binary 1 is represented
by positive voltage and binary 0 by an idle line.
Polar encoding: In polar encoding, two voltage levels are used: a positive voltage level
and a negative voltage level. Examples are NRZ-I, NRZ-L, and Manchester encoding
schemes.
Bipolar encoding: In bipolar encoding, three levels are used: a positive voltage, a
negative voltage, and 0 voltage.