Agenda

• Power of a signal
• Transmission impairments
• Attenuation
• Distortion
• Noise (thermal, intermodulation, crosstalk, impulse)
• Capacity of a channel
• Nyquist rate
• Shannon rate
Agenda
• Power of a signal
• Transmission impairments
• Attenuation
• Distortion
• Noise (thermal, intermodulation, crosstalk, impulse)
• Capacity of a channel
• Nyquist rate
• Shannon rate
Power of a periodic signal
• Power: Amount of energy in a time unit

• If 𝜈(𝑡) is periodic →

Power: 1 2 𝑑𝑡
P= ‫׬‬ 𝜈 𝑡
𝑇0 𝑇0

𝐴2
• Example: 𝜈 𝑡 = 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔0 𝑡 + 𝜙 → 𝑃 =
2
Power in Frequency domain
4 1
𝑆 𝑓 = ෍ sin(2𝜋𝑘𝑓𝑡)
𝜋 𝑘
𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑘
X(t) X(f)
1
1 𝑓=
𝑇
1/3

1/5
1/7
…..
f 3f 5f 7f f

1×𝑇 4 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
𝑃= =1 𝑃= 0.5 1+ + + + ⋯ =1
𝜋 3 5 7
𝑇
Average and power of a non-periodic signal
• For any non-periodic time function 𝜈(𝑡)→

2
1 𝑇/2 2
Power: P= 𝜈 𝑡 = lim න 𝜈 𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑇→ ∞ 𝑇 −𝑇/2

∞
𝑃 = න |𝑉 𝑓 |2 𝑑𝑡
−∞
Agenda
• Power of a signal
• Transmission impairments
• Attenuation
• Distortion
• Noise (thermal, intermodulation, crosstalk, impulse)
• Capacity of a channel
• Nyquist rate
• Shannon rate
Transmission impairments
• Transmission impairments
❑ In digital transmission: Produce bit error for digital signals
→ Changes 0 to 1 and vice versa

❑ In analog transmission: Degrade signal quality in analog signals

→ Decreases the power of the signal

• Three types of transmission impairments:

1. Attenuation
2. Distortion
3. Noise (thermal, intermodulation, crosstalk, impulse)
Attenuation
• Reduction in signal strength
due to resistance in d d
transmission medium

• Guided transmission medium

• Attenuation at distance 𝑑 → 10𝑘𝑑 , k: depends on frequency

• Unguided medium
• Attenuation at distance 𝑑 → proportional to 𝑑 −𝑛 , n: path loss exponent
• Open space: n=2
Attenuation
• Measured in decibels (dB)
• Measuring power P watts in dB → 10 log10 𝑃

• Example: Assume that the transmission power of a signal traveling a

transmission medium reduces to one-half of the initial power . How much
attenuation in dB? Received power

𝑃2
10 log10 = 10 log10 0.5 = −3𝑑𝐵
𝑃1

Transmitted power
Gain
• Example: An amplifier increases the power of a signal 10 times. What is
the gain in dB?
𝑃2
10 log10 = 10 log10 10 = 10𝑑𝐵
𝑃1

• Example: Why measuring in dB?

𝑷𝟏 = 𝟒 𝒎𝒘 𝑷𝟒 =? ? ?

𝑃4 𝑃4 𝑃3 𝑃2 1 5 1
= × × = 𝐺1 × 𝐺2 × 𝐺3 = × × = 1.25 𝑃4 = 1.25 × 4𝑚𝑤 = 5 𝑚𝑤
𝑃1 𝑃3 𝑃2 𝑃1 2 1 2

𝑃4
10𝑙𝑜𝑔 = 10 log 𝐺1 × 𝐺2 × 𝐺3 = 10 log 𝐺1 + 10 log 𝐺2 + 10log(𝐺3 )
𝑃1
𝑃4
10𝑙𝑜𝑔 = 𝐺1 𝑑𝐵 + 𝐺2 𝑑𝐵 + 𝐺3 𝑑𝐵 = −3 𝑑𝐵 + 7𝑑𝐵 − 3𝑑𝐵 = 1 𝑑𝐵
𝑃1
Attenuation effects
• The received signal should be
1. Sufficiently higher than noise to be detected without error
2. Strong enough to be detected by the receiver

• To overcome the problems caused by attenuation:

• Use amplifiers (analog transmission mode)
or repeaters (digital transmission mode) en-route
• Amplifier gains should not be too large as this may cause signal distortion due to
saturation (nonlinearities)
Attenuation distortion
• What is Attenuation distortion?
• |𝐻 𝑓 | ≠ |𝑘|
• 𝑘 is not the same at all frequencies: Different frequency components
of the signal get attenuated differently

𝐻(𝑓) No distortion 𝐻(𝑓) Produces

distortion
0.5
Attenuation distortion: Solution
• To overcome this problem:
• Use Equalizers that reverse the effect
of frequency-dependent attenuation
distortion
• Equalizer: equalizes attenuations
across a band of frequencies
• Example: Leased telephone line
• Attenuation varies with frequency
• Relative Attenuation:
𝑃𝑓
𝑁𝑓 = 10 log10
𝑃1000
Delay distortion
• Different frequencies travel with different velocities
• Only happens in guided media
• Effect: various frequency components of a signal will arrive at the
receiver at different times, resulting in phase shifts between the
different frequencies.
Delay distortion
• Velocity highest at center frequency (minimum delay)
and falls off toward edges (larger delay)
• Critical for digital data: Signal components of one bit position will
spill over into other bit position → Intersymbol interference (ISI)
Delay distortion
• Equalization techniques
• Example: leased
telephone line
Noise
• Unwanted signal added somewhere between transmitter and receiver
• Important in weak signals, e.g., satellite

• Noise Types:
• Thermal Noise
• Inter-modulation Noise
• Crosstalk Noise
• Impulse Noise
Thermal Noise
• Thermal noise:
• Thermal agitation of electrons
• White noise: Uniformly distributed across bandwidth
• Difficult to eliminate (exists even in the same bandwidth as your signal!)

PSD

• Power spectral density (PSD):

• Signal's power content versus frequency 𝑁0

𝑓
Thermal Noise
𝑘 = 1.38 × 10−23 𝐽/𝐾
𝑊
• Power spectral density : 𝑁0 = 𝑘𝑇 T: temperature in Kelvin
𝐻𝑧
(= 273 + t C)

PSD

• Noise power in BW of B → 𝑁 = 𝑘𝑇𝐵 N0

𝑁0

1 Hz f
Thermal noise example
• 𝑁 = 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑘 + 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑇 + 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝐵 = −228.6𝑑𝐵𝑊 + 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑇
+ 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝐵

• Example: at t = 21 C (T = 294 K) and for a bandwidth of 10 MHz:

N = -228.6 + 10 log 294 + 10 log 107 = - 133.9 dBW

Intermodulation noise
• Intermodulation noise:
• Due to nonlinearities in transmitter, receiver, and transmission medium
• e.g., saturation of amplifiers
• Signals having the sum and difference (frequency mixing) of original frequencies
sharing a transmission system
• 𝑓1 and 𝑓2 produces 𝑓1 + 𝑓2 and 𝑓1 − 𝑓2

• Example: amplifiers → if the gain is too much, other frequencies than the original
ones are produced
Frequency response of a Linear system
• The response of
the system to
different
frequencies Only linear
𝑌 𝑓 = 𝐻 𝑓 𝑋(𝑓) systems

X(f) H(f) Y(f)

𝑓0 𝑓1 f 𝑓2 𝑓0 𝑓3 𝑓1 f 𝑓0 𝑓3
f
Crosstalk noise
• Crosstalk Noise
• A signal from one channel picked up by another channel in close
proximity
• Examples:
• Physical proximity: coupling between
adjacent twisted pair channels
→ Shield cables properly

• Directional proximity: antenna pick up from other directions → Use

directional antennas
• Magnitude in order of or less than thermal noise
Impulse noise
• Impulse noise:
• Irregular, non-
continuous,
consisting of
irregular pulses
of noise
• High amplitude,
short duration
• Critical in digital
transmission
Agenda
• Power of a signal
• Transmission impairments
• Attenuation
• Distortion
• Noise (thermal, intermodulation, crosstalk, impulse)
• Capacity of a channel
• Signal element
• Nyquist rate
• Shannon rate
Channel capacity
• The maximum rate at which data can be transmitted over a given
communication channel under a given condition is referred to as channel
capacity.
• Given condition: Signal power, Noise power, Bandwidth

• Four main concept are related to the channel capacity

• Data rate: the number of bits transmitted per second
• Bandwidth: Bandwidth of the transmitted signal as constrained by the transmitted
signal and the nature of the transmission medium.
• Noise: The average level of noise over the communication path
• Error rate: the rate at which the error happens
Bit error rate (BER)
• Bit error rate: the portion of bits that are received in error
• The error can happen due to noise, distortion, synchronization
• Example : transmitted bits (20 bits): 01110111000011100110
Received bits: 00110111110011110110
Number of altered bits

4
• Bit Error Rate (BER): = 20%
20
Number of transmitted bits

• Another definition: The probability that one bit is received at error

Signal element
• Signal element: Shortest unit of signal that carries one or more bits
• Signal element in digital signals: Voltage remains constant during a
signal element
• Example: Each signal elements (fixed voltage) carries one bit

• 0 (+5 volts) and 1 (-5

volt)
• Two signal elements are
used to transmit one bit
Signal element
• Example: Each signal element carries two bits

• 00 (+5 volt), 01 (+2.5 volt),

11 (-2.5 volt), 10 (-5 volt)

• M: Number of signal elements, k: Number of bits in each signal element

• What is the relation between M and k?

𝑀 = 2𝑘 𝑘 = log 2 𝑀
Nyquist capacity
• Signal rate (Signaling rate): number of signal elements per second
• Assume noise-free (error-free) transmission channel → channel
bandwidth is a bottleneck

• Nyquist theorem:
• For a given bandwidth equal to B → Maximum signaling rate 2B
• For a signaling rate 2B → minimum required bandwidth B

• Nyquist capacity: 𝐶 = 2𝐵 log 2 𝑀 (bps)

Example: Nyquist capacity
• C = 2B log2M bits/s
• C = Nyquist Channel Capacity
• B = Bandwidth
• M = Number of discrete signal levels (symbols) used
• Data on telephone Channel → B = 3400-300 = 3100 Hz
• With a binary signal (M = 2 symbols):
C = 2B log2 2 = 2B x 1 = 6200 bps
• With a quadnary signal (M = 4 symbols):
C = 2B log2 4 = 2B x 2 = 4B = 12,400 bps
• Channel capacity increased, but
disadvantage: Larger number of signal levels (M) makes it more difficult for
the receiver to determine data correctly in the presence of noise
Shannon capacity
• Assume white noise, not other impairments → So, errors are possible
• Question: What is the maximum data rate that we can transmit without
error?

• Signal-to-noise ratio:
𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑑𝐵 = 10 log10
𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟

• Shannon capacity: 𝐶 = 𝐵 log 2 (1 + 𝑆𝑁𝑅)

• If signal power or BW increases → Capacity increases

Shannon capacity example
• Example: Spectrum of communication channel extends from 3 MHz to 4 MHz,
SNR = 24dB

• Then B = 4MHz – 3MHz = 1MHz,

𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑑𝐵 = 24 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log10 𝑆𝑁𝑅 → 𝑆𝑁𝑅 = 102.4 = 251

• Using Shannon’s formula: C = B log2 (1+ SNR)

𝐶 = 106 log 2 1 + 251 = 8 × 106 = 8 𝑀𝑏𝑝𝑠

• Using Nyquist’s formula, determine M that gives the above channel capacity:

𝐶 = 2𝐵 log 2 𝑀 → 8 × 106 = 2 × 106 log 2 𝑀 → 4 = log 2 𝑀 → 𝑀 = 16

Comments
• Shannon capacity → a theoretical approach based on thermal (white) noise only.
• In practice, we have impulse noise, attenuation and delay distortions, etc…
• So, maximum error-free data rates measured in practice are expected to be lower than
the C predicted by the Shannon formula due to the greater noise

• However, maximum error-free data rates can be used to compare practical

systems: The higher that rate the better the system…

• Formula suggests that changes in B and SNR can be done arbitrarily and
independently… but
→ In practice, this may not be the case!
• Higher SNR obtained through excessive amplification may also introduce
nonlinearities → increased distortion and inter-modulation noise … which reduces
SNR!
• High Bandwidth B opens the system up for more thermal noise (kTB), and therefore
reduces SNR!
Channel Capacity:

Idealistic

Assumptions Formulation
Ideal: Noise-free, Error-free: C = F(B) Nyquist
Noisy, Error-free: C = F(B, SNR) Shannon

• In practice there are errors in the channel

• Question: What is the data rate in practical systems?

36
𝑬𝒃 /𝑵𝟎
• Bit error rate for
digital data is a
decreasing
function of Eb/N0
for a given signal
encoding scheme

• We learn encoding
schemes in future
chapters
𝐸𝑏
Relation of ൗ𝑁 to bit rate
0
• 𝐸𝑏 : signal energy per bit, 𝑁0 : Noise power density per Hertz
• 𝑇𝑏 : Time to transmit one bit, 𝑆: Signal power

1
• What is the relation between 𝑇𝑏 and 𝑅? → 𝑇𝑏 =
𝑅
• What is the relation between 𝐸𝑏 , 𝑆, 𝑇𝑏 ? → 𝐸𝑏 = 𝑆𝑇𝑏

𝐸𝑏 𝑆ൗ 𝑆
𝑆 𝑅
𝐸𝑏 = 𝑆𝑇𝑏 = → = =
𝑅 𝑁0 𝑁0 𝑘𝑇𝑅
Example
• Given:
• The effective noise temperature, T, is 290oK
• The data rate, R, is 2400 bps
• Would like to operate with a bit error rate of 10-4 (e.g. 1 error in 104 bits)
• What is the minimum signal level required for the received signal?
𝐸𝑏 𝑆
• =
𝑁0 𝑘𝑇𝑅
𝐸𝑏
• = 𝑆𝑑𝐵𝑤 − 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑅 − 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑘 − 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑇 = 𝑆𝑑𝐵𝑤 − 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑅 + 228.6𝑑𝐵𝑤 − 10𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑇
𝑁0 𝑑𝐵

• From curve, a minimum Eb/No needed to achieve a bit error rate of 10-4 = 8.4 dB
• 8.4 = S(dBW) – 10 log 2400 + 228.6 dBW – 10 log290
= S(dBW) – (10)(3.38) + 228.6 – (10)(2.46) → S = -161.8 dBW