Data Communications

Lecture-04
Signals

Course Instructor : Hussain Shah

Department: Shaikh Zayed Islamic Centre
University Of Peshawar
 Lecture overview
 Signals
 Digital signal
 Analog signal
 Periodic & Aperiodic signals
 Some network terminologies
 Types of analog signals
 Transmission Impairments
Duties of Physical Layer
 Signals
 A signal is an electrical or electromagnetic current that is
used for carrying data from one device or network to another.
 or
 In electronics, a signal is an electrical pulse that is used as a
method of transmitting data. Examples of signals include
an analog signal and digital signal.

 Data can be either digital or analog.

 Analog refers to something that is continuous– a set of

specific points of data and all possible points between. e.g.
human voice

 Digital refers to something that is discrete – a set of specific

points of data with no other points in between. E.g. digital
data.
 Types of Signals
 Digital Signal
 Analog signal
 Digital & Analog Signals
 Analog Signal
 It is a continuous wave form that changes
smoothly over time.
 As the wave moves from value A to value B, it
passes through and includes an infinite number of
values along its path.
 Digital Signal
 A digital signal is discrete.
 It can have only a limited number of defined values,
often as simple as 1 and 0.
 The transition of a digital signal from value to value
is immediate, like a light being switched on and off.
 Digital & Analog Signals

Vertical axis: value or strength of a signal

Horizontal axis: Passage of time
 Periodic & Aperiodic Signals
 Both analog and digital signals can be of two
forms:
 Periodic
 Aperiodic(non-periodic )

Note:-
In data communication, we commonly use periodic analog
signals
and aperiodic digital signals.
 Periodic Signal
 A signal is considered to be periodic signal if it
completes a pattern within a measurable time
frame, called a period and repeats that pattern
over identical subsequent periods. A period is
defined as the amount of time (expressed in
seconds) required to complete one full cycle.
 A period is defined as the amount of time required
to complete one full cycle.
 The completion of one full pattern is called a cycle.
 The duration of a period represented by T may be
different for each signal but it is constant for any
given periodic signal.
 Periodic Analog Signal

Period( T )
 Periodic Analog Signal
The Period goes from one peak to the next (or from any point
to the next matching point)
Periodic Digital Signal & analog
signal
 Aperiodic Signals
 An Aperiodic signal changes without
exhibiting(showing) a pattern or cycle that
repeats over time.
 Aperiodic signal can be decomposed in to
infinite number of periodic signals.
Analog signal
 Types of analog signals

 Simple Analog signals(sine wave)

 Composite (separate interconnected )
analog Signals
Simple analog signal / sine wave
 The sine wave is the most fundamental form of
a periodic analog signal.
 Visually a simple oscillating curve, its change
over the course of a cycle is smooth and
consistent, a continuous, rolling flow.
 Sine wave can be described by three
characteristics:
 Amplitude
 Period Or frequency
 Phase
Simple analog signal / sine wave
 1) Amplitude
 The amplitude of a signal is the value of the
signal at any point on the wave.
 It is equal to the vertical distance from a given
point on the wave form to the horizontal axis.
 The maximum amplitude of a sine wave is
equal to the highest value it reaches on the
vertical axis.
 Amplitude is measured in either,
volts ,amperes or watts.
 2) Frequency
 Frequency is the number of cycles/Periods in
one second.
 Frequency is the relationship of a signal to time.
 Frequency is the measure of the rate of change.
 The rate at which a sine wave moves from its
lowest to highest level is its frequency.
 Rate of change of signal with respect to time.
 The unit of frequency is Hertz.
 High & low Frequency
 If the value of a signal changes over a very
short span of time, its frequency is high.
 If it changes over a long span of time, its
frequency is low.
 If a signal does not change and it maintains a
constant voltage level the entire time it is
active the signal is having 0 Hz frequency.
 If a signal changes instantaneously, then its
frequency is infinite.
 Period
 Period refers to the amount of time (in seconds) a
signal needs to complete one cycle .
 Or
 Time tacking by a vibrating body to complete one
vibration is called time period.
 The frequency f is the number of cycles per second.
 The period T is the number of seconds per cycle.

 Period and Frequency are inverse of each other.

 T=1/f
 f=1/T
Frequency and period
Frequency and period
Units of frequency and period
 3) Phase
 The term phase describes the position of the
waveform relative to given amount of time or
time zero.
 If we think of the wave as something that can
be shifted backward or forward along the time
axis, phase describes the amount of that shift.
 A change in phase can be any number of
angles between 0 to 360 degrees
 Common occur 0,45,90,135,180 degree e.t.c
 It actually indicates the status of the first cycle.
 Phase is measured in degrees or radians.
 Time and frequency domains
 The time-domain plot shows changes in
signal amplitude with respect to time(it is
an amplitude versus time plot).
 Phase and frequency are not explicitly
measured on a time-domain.
 A frequency domain-plot shows the
relationship between amplitude and
frequency.
Time and frequency domains
 Composite Signals
 Many useful wave forms do not change in a
single smooth curve between a minimum and
maximum amplitude.
 They jump, slide, wobble, spike and dip.
 As along as any irregularities are consistent,
cycle after cycle, a signal is still periodic and
logically must be describable in the same
terms used for sine waves.
 Any periodic signal, no matter how complex
can be decomposed in to a collection of sine
waves,each having a measurable
amplitude,frequency and phase.
Spectrum & Bandwidth
Spectrum
range of frequencies contained in signal
 Spectrum relates to the radio frequencies allocated to the
mobile industry and other sectors for communication.

bandwidth
The bandwidth of a composite signal is the
difference between the highest and the lowest
frequencies contained in that signal.

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Spectrum & Bandwidth
What is Bandwidth?
Internet Bandwidth, the number they give you
(5 Mbps, for example), has nothing to do with
how fast your internet works. It’s not like a car
or motorcycle where you can measure how fast
it goes in miles per hour (mph).
Instead, internet speed is your (allocated)
bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data
that can be sent to you, usually measured in
seconds. For example, 5 Mbps would mean that
you can receive up to 5 megabits of data per
second.
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Spectrum & Bandwidth
How Does Bandwidth Work?
The best way to explain (and understand) how
bandwidth (and your internet speed) works is by
using an analogy.
Think of bandwidth like a freeway. All cars (data)
travel at the same speed, so to get more data from
the internet to your computer faster, the freeway
needs to be wider.
In other words, say 1 Mbps is the equivalent to a 1
lane freeway. And let’s say that you were trying to
download an image, which is 5 Mb in size. So if you
had a bandwidth of 1 Mbps (1 lane freeway) it would
take you roughly 5 seconds to download the image.

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Spectrum & Bandwidth
Now let’s say that you have a 5 Mbps
(bandwidth) connection, or a 5 lane
freeway. How fast will you receive your
image? 1 second.

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he bandwidth of periodic and nonperiodic composite signals

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Figure 3-10

Bandwidth

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 Example 3.10

If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine

waves with frequencies of 100, 300, 500, 700, and
900 Hz, what is its bandwidth? Draw the
spectrum, assuming all components have a
maximum amplitude of 10 V.
Solution
Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest
frequency, and B the bandwidth. Then

The spectrum has only five spikes (‫) ُاتار چڑھاو‬, at 100,
300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz (see Figure 3.13).
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Figure 3.13 The bandwidth for Example 3.10

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 Example 3.12

A nonperiodic composite signal has a bandwidth

of 200 kHz, with a middle frequency of 140 kHz
and peak amplitude of 20 V. The two extreme
frequencies have an amplitude of 0. Draw the
frequency domain of the signal.

Solution
The lowest frequency must be at 40 kHz and the
highest at 240 kHz. Figure 3.15 shows the
frequency domain and the bandwidth.

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Figure 3.15 The bandwidth for Example 3.12

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Digital signal
Digital signal
 Bit rate and bit interval
 The bit interval (‫ )وقفہ‬is the time required to send
one single bit.
 The bit rate is the number of bit intervals / bits
per second.
 The unit for bit rate is bits per second(bps).
Bit rate and bit interval
 Through put
 The throughput is the measurement of how
fast data can pass through an entity(such as a
point or a network).
 If we consider this entity as a wall through
which bits pass, throughput is the number of
bits that can pass this wall in one second.
 Propagation Speed & Propagation
Time
 Propagation Speed measures the distance a signal or a
bit can travel through a medium in one second.

 The propagation speed of electromagnetic signals

depends on the medium and on the frequency of the
signal.

 Propagation time measures the time required for a

signal (or a bit) to travel from one point of the
transmission medium to another.

 The propagation time is calculated by dividing the

distance by the propagation speed.
 Propagation Time = Distance/Propagation speed
Propagation Time
 Wave length
 Wave length is the distance a simple signal
can travel in one period.
Transmission impairment
 Attenuation (‫)کمزوری‬
 Attenuation means loss of energy.
 When a signal simple or complex travels
through a medium it loses some of its energy
so that it can overcome the resistance of the
medium.
 That’s why a wire carrying electrical signals
gets warm.
 This problem is called attenuation.
 To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are
used to amplify the signal.
Attenuation
 Distortion
 Distortion means that a signal changes its form
or shape.
 Distortion occurs in a composite signal,made of
different frequencies.
 Each signal component has its own
propagation speed through the medium and
therefore its own delay in arriving at the
destination.
 Propagation Speed measures the distance a
signal or a bit can travel through a medium in
one second.
 Noise
 The external energy that corrupts a signal.
 Several types of noise may corrupt the signal.
 Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons in a
wire that creates an extra signal not originally sent by
the transmitter.
 Induced noise comes from sources such as motors and
appliances. These devices act as sending antenna and
the transmission medium acts as a receiving antenna.
 Crosstalk is the effect of one wire on the other.
 Impulse noise is a spike(a signal with high energy in a
very short period of time) that comes from power lines,
lightening and so on.
Noise
Thanks!!
!