LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Module No. 1

Elements of Digital Communication

I. Topic:

Elements of Digital Communication

II. Time Frame: 8 hours

III. Introduction:

In this chapter it discusses and provides an overview of digital communication and it

covers the principles of data communications, the fundamentals of signaling, basic transmission
concepts, transmission media, circuit control, line sharing techniques, physical and data link
layer protocols, error detection and correction, data compression, common carrier services and
data networks, and the mathematical techniques used for network design and performance
analysis.

III. Objectives:

At the end of the lessons the student can

1. Describes the overview of digital communication.

2. Evaluate the elements of digital communication.

3. Illustrate how the digital works.

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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

V. Learning Activities

Activity: Reading

The communication that occurs in our day-to-day life is in the form of signals. These
signals, such as sound signals, generally, are analog in nature. When the communication needs
to be established over a distance, then the analog signals are sent through wire, using different
techniques for effective transmission.
The Necessity of Digitization
The conventional methods of communication used analog signals for long distance
communications, which suffer from many losses such as distortion, interference, and other
losses including security breach.
In order to overcome these problems, the signals are digitized using different
techniques. The digitized signals allow the communication to be more clear and accurate
without losses.
The following figure indicates the difference between analog and digital signals. The digital
signals consist of 1s and 0s which indicate High and Low values respectively.

Advantages of Digital Communication

As the signals are digitized, there are many advantages of digital communication over analog
communication, such as −
 The effect of distortion, noise, and interference is much less in digital signals as they are
less affected.
 Digital circuits are more reliable.
 Digital circuits are easy to design and cheaper than analog circuits.
 The hardware implementation in digital circuits, is more flexible than analog.
 The occurrence of cross-talk is very rare in digital communication.
 The signal is un-altered as the pulse needs a high disturbance to alter its properties,
which is very difficult.
 Signal processing functions such as encryption and compression are employed in digital
circuits to maintain the secrecy of the information.
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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

 The probability of error occurrence is reduced by employing error detecting and error
correcting codes.
 Spread spectrum technique is used to avoid signal jamming.
 Combining digital signals using Time Division Multiplexing TDMTDM is easier than
combining analog signals using Frequency Division Multiplexing FDMFDM.
 The configuring process of digital signals is easier than analog signals.
 Digital signals can be saved and retrieved more conveniently than analog signals.
 Many of the digital circuits have almost common encoding techniques and hence similar
devices can be used for a number of purposes.
 The capacity of the channel is effectively utilized by digital signals.

Elements of Digital Communication

The elements which form a digital communication system is represented by the
following block diagram for the ease of understanding.

Following are the sections of the digital communication system.

Source

The source can be an analog signal. Example: A Sound signal

Input Transducer

This is a transducer which takes a physical input and converts it to an electrical signal
(Example: microphone). This block also consists of an analog to digital converter where a
digital signal is needed for further processes.

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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

A digital signal is generally represented by a binary sequence.

Channel Encoder

The channel encoder, does the coding for error correction. During the transmission of the
signal, due to the noise in the channel, the signal may get altered and hence to avoid this, the
channel encoder adds some redundant bits to the transmitted data. These are the error
correcting bits.

Digital Modulator

The signal to be transmitted is modulated here by a carrier. The signal is also converted to
analog from the digital sequence, in order to make it travel through the channel or medium.

Channel

The channel or a medium, allows the analog signal to transmit from the transmitter end to the
receiver end.

Digital Demodulator

This is the first step at the receiver end. The received signal is demodulated as well as
converted again from analog to digital. The signal gets reconstructed here.

Channel Decoder

The channel decoder, after detecting the sequence, does some error corrections. The
distortions which might occur during the transmission, are corrected by adding some
redundant bits. This addition of bits helps in the complete recovery of the original signal.

Source Decoder

The resultant signal is once again digitized by sampling and quantizing so that the pure digital
output is obtained without the loss of information. The source decoder recreates the source
output.

Output Transducer

This is the last block which converts the signal into the original physical form, which was at the
input of the transmitter. It converts the electrical signal into physical output (Example: loud
speaker).

Output Signal

This is the output which is produced after the whole process. Example − The sound signal
received.

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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

This unit has dealt with the introduction, the digitization of signals, the advantages and the
elements of digital communications. In the coming chapters, we will learn about the concepts of
Digital communications, in detail.

Communication channels and their characteristics

The communication channel provides the connection between the transmitter and the
receiver. The physical channel may be a pair of wires that carry the electrical signal, or an
optical fiber that carries the information on a modulated light beam, or an underwater ocean
channel in which the information is transmitted acoustically, or free space over which the
information - bearing signal is radiated by use of an antenna. Other media that can be
characterized as communication channels are data storage media, such as magnetic tape,
magnetic disks, and optical disks. One common problem in signal transmission through any
channel is additive noise. Additive noise is generated internally by components such as resistors
and solid-state devices used to implement the communication system. This is sometimes called
thermal noise . Other sources of noise and interference may arise externally to the system, such
as interference from other users of the channel. When such noise and interference occupy the
same frequency band as the desired signal, their effect can be minimized by the proper design of
the transmitted signal and its demodulator at the receiver. Other types of signal degradations
that may be encountered in transmission over the channel are signal attenuation, amplitude and
phase distortion, and multipath distortion. The effects of noise may be minimized by increasing
the power in the transmitted signal. However, equipment and other practical constraints limit
the power level in the transmitted signal.
Another basic limitation is the available channel bandwidth. A bandwidth constraint is
usually due to the physical limita tions of the medium and the electronic components used to
implement the transmitter and the receiver.

Wireline channels. The telephone network makes extensive use of wire lines for voice signa l
transmission, as well as data and video transmission. Twisted pair wire lines and coaxial cable
are basically guided electromagnetic channels that provide relatively modest bandwidths.
Telephone wire generally used to connect a customer to a central office has a bandwidth of
several hundred kilohertz (kHz).
Signals transmitted through such channels are distorted in both amplitude and phase and
further corrupted by additive noise. Twisted-pair wireline channels are also prone to crosstalk
interference from physically adjacent channels.

Fiber-optic channels.
Optical fibers offer the communication system designer a channel bandwidth that is several
orders of magnitude larger than coaxial cable channels. The transmitter or modulator in a fiber -
optic communication system is a light source , either a light -emitting diode (LED) or a laser.
Information is transmitted by varying (modulating) the intensity of the light source with the
message signal. The light propagates through the fiber as a light wave and is amplified
periodically (in the case of digital transmission, it is detected and regenerated by repeaters)
along the transmission path to compensate for signal attenuation. At the receiver, the light
intensity is detected by a photodiode, whose output is an electrical signal that varies in direct
proportion to the power of the light impinging on the photodiode. Sources of noise in fiber-optic
channels are photodiodes and electronic amplifiers.
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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Wireless electromagnetic channels.

Electromagnetic energy is coupled to the propagation medium by an antenna which
serves as the radiator. The physical size and the configuration of the antenna depend primarily
on the frequency of operation. To obtain efficient radiation of electromagnetic energy, the
antenna must be longer than, 1/10 of the wavelength. Consequently, a radio station transmitting
in the amplitude-modulated (AM) frequency band, say at fc = 1 MHz [corresponding to a
wavelength of λ = c/fc = 300 meters (m)], requires an antenna of at least 30 m.
The mode of propagation of electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere and in free space may be
subdivided into three categories, namely, groundwave propagation, sky-wave propagation, and
line-of-sight (LOS) propagation.

In the very low frequency (VLF) and audio frequency bands, where the wavelengths
exceed 10 km, the earth and the ionosphere act as a waveguide for electromagnetic wave
propagation. In these frequency ranges, communication signals practically propagate around the
globe. For this reason, these frequency bands are primarily used to provide navigational aids
from shore to ships around the world. The channel bandwidths available in these frequency
bands are relatively small (usually 1-10 percent of the center frequency), and hence the
information that is transmitted through these channels is of relatively slow speed and generally
confined to digital transmission. A dominant type of noise at these frequencies is generated from
thunderstorm activity around the globe, especially in tropical regions. Interference results from
the many users of these frequency bands.

Figure 1

Ground-wave propagation, as illustrated in Figure 1, is the dominant mode of

propagation for frequencies in the medium frequency (MF) band (0.3 -3 MHz). This is the
frequency band used for AM broadcasting and maritime radio broadcasting. In AM broadcasting,
the range with ground -wave propagation of even the more powerful radio stations is limited to
about 150 km. Atmospheric noise, man-made noise, and thermal noise from electronic
components at the receiver are dominant disturbances for signal transmission in the MF band

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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Figure 2. Illustration of sky-wave propagation.

Sky-wave propagation, as illustrated in Fig. 2, results from transmitted signals being

reflected (bent or refracted) from the ionosphere, which consists of several layers of charged
particles ranging in altitude from 50 to 400 km above the surface of the earth. During the
daytime hours, the heating of the lower atmosphere by the sun causes the formation of the
lower layers at altitudes below 120 km. These lower layers, especially the D-layer, serve to
absorb frequencies below 2 MHz, thus severely limiting sky-wave propagation of AM radio
broadcast. However, during the nighttime hours, the electron density in the lower layers of the
ionosphere drops sharply and the frequency absorption that occurs during the daytime is
significantly reduced. As a consequence, powerful AM radio broadcast stations can propagate
over large distances via sky wave over the F-layer of the ionosphere, which ranges from 140 to
400 km above the surface of the earth.

A frequently occurring problem with electroma gnetic wave propagation via sky wave in
the high frequency (HF) range is signal multipath. Signal multipath occurs when the transmitted
signal arrives at the receiver via multiple propagation paths at different delays.
It generally results in intersymbol interference it a digital communication system. Moreover, the
signal components arriving via different propagation paths may add destructively, resulting in a
phenomenon called signal fading, which most people have experienced when listening to a
distant radio station at night when sky wave is the dominant propagation mode. Additive noise
in the HF range is a combination of atmospheric noise and thermal noise. Sky-wave ionospheric
propagation ceases to exist at frequencies above approximately 30 MHz, which is the end of the
HF band. However, it is possible to have ionospheric scatter propagation at frequencies in the
range 30-60 MHz, resulting from signal scattering from the lower ionosphere. It is also possible
to communicate over distances of several hundred miles by use of tropospheric scattering at
frequencies in the range 40- 300 MHz. Troposcatter results from signal scattering due to
particles in the atmosphere at altitudes of 10 miles or less. Generally, ionospheric scatter and
tropospheri c scatter involve large signal propagation losses and require a large amount of
transmitter power and relatively large antennas. Frequencies above 30 MHz propagate through
the ionosphere with relatively little loss and make satellite and extraterrestria l communications
possible. Hence, at frequencies in the very high frequency (VHF) hand and higher, the dominant
mode of electromagnetic propagation is LOS propagation. For terrestrial communication
systems, this means that the transmitter and receiver antennas must be in direct LOS with
relatively little or no obstruction. For this reason, television stations transmitting in the VHF and
ultra high frequency (UHF) ands mount their antennas on high towers to achieve a broad
coverage area.
The dominant noise limiting the performance of a communication system in VHF and UHF
ranges is thermal noise generated in the receiver front end and cosmic noise picked up by the

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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

antenna. At frequencies in the super high fre quency (SHE) band above 10 GHz, atmospheric
conditions play a major role in signal propagation. For example, at 10 GHz, the attenuation
ranges from about 0.003 decibels per kilometer (dB/km) in light rain to about 0.3 dB/km in
heavy rain. At 100 GHz, the attenuation ranges from about 0.1 dB/km in light rain to about 6
dB/km in heavy rain. Hence, in this frequency range, heavy rain introduces extremely high
propagation losses that can result in service outages (total breakdown in the communication
system). At frequencies above the extremely high frequency (EHF) band, we have the infrared
and visible light regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, which can be used to provide LOS
optical communication in free space. To date, these frequency bands have been used in
experimental communication systems, such as satellite -to-satellite links.

Storage channels.
Magnetic tape, including digital audiotape and videotape, magnetic disks used for storing large
amounts of computer data, optical disks used for computer data storage, and compact disks are
examples of data storage systems that can be characterized as communication channels. The
process of storing data on a magnetic tape or a magnetic or optical disk is equivalent to
transmitting a signal over a telephone or a radio channel. The readback process and the signal
processing involved in storage systems to recover the stored information are equivalent to the
functions performed by a receiver in a telephone or radio communication system to recover the
transmitted information. Additive noise generated by the electronic components and
interference from adjacent tracks is generally present in the readback signal of a storage system,
just as is the case in a telephone or a radio communication system.

The amount of data that can be stored is generally limited by the size of the disk or tape and the
density (number of bits stored per square inch) that can be achieved by the write/read
electronic systems and heads. Channel coding and modulation are essential components of a
welldesigned digital magnetic or optical storage system. In the readback process, the signal is
demodulated and the added redundancy Introduced by the channel encoder is used to correct
errors in the readback signal.

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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

VII. Review of Concept:

A communications system or communication system is a collection of

individual telecommunications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary
stations, and terminal equipment usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to
form an integrated whole. The components of a communications system serve a common
purpose, are technically compatible, use common procedures, respond to controls, and
operate in union.
Telecommunications is a method of communication (e.g., for sports broadcasting, mass
media, journalism, etc.). Communication is the act of conveying intended meanings from one
entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs and semiotic rules
Digital Communication is the transfer of information/messages using digital signals over a
wired/wireless medium.

Before digital communication came into the picture, analog communication (information
transfer using analog messages) was used.

The difference between the analog and digital messages is as follows -

1. Analog messages/signals are continuous in amplitude. This means that an analog

signal can take any value from an infinite set of values. For example- temperature,
pressure, human speech signal converted to electric form.
2. Digital messages/signals are discrete in time and are discrete in amplitude as well. This
means that the digital signal can take any value from a finite set of values and a digital
signal is defined for a finite number of time instances. It is not defined for all (infinite)
time instances. For example, human speech (as it is formed using a language which
has a finite set of characters).

VIII: References

Online


https://www.tutorialspoint.com/digital_communication/digital_communication_quick_g
uide.htm
 https://www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/what-is-digital-
communication/

Books

 Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications: Fundamentals and

Applications (Communications Engineering & Emerging Technology Series from Ted
Rappaport) Kindle Edition by Sklar Bernard
 Principles of Digital Communication by Robert G. Gallager

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INSTRUCTOR: GHANDI B. GALILA