ECE534/634 Communication Networks
CSC424 Computer Networks
Medium, Fundamental Limits
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Previously …
• Encapsulation is the mechanism used to effect protocol
layering
802.11 IP TCP HTTP
• Advantage of Layering
– Information hiding and reuse
– Using information hiding to connect different systems
• Disadvantage of Layering
– Adds overhead
– Hides information
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Previously …
• OSI “7 layer” Reference Model
• Internet Reference Model
7 Application SMTP HTTP RTP DNS
4 Transport TCP UDP
3 Internet IP
2/1 Link Ethernet 4G
Cable DSL 802.11
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A Simple Model of “Link”
Message
Message
• An abstraction of a physical channel
– R: Rate (or bandwidth, capacity, speed) in bits/sec
– D: Propagation delay in seconds, related to length
(propagation delay)
• Broadcast? Error rate? Broadcast Error rate
Wire No Low
Wireless Yes High
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Message Latency
• Latency is the delay to send a message over a link
– Transmission delay: time to put M-bit message “over
the wire” M/R
– Propagation delay: time for bits to propagate across
the link D = Length/c
– Combining together L = M/R + D
• (A third kind: queuing delay: waiting time for a message
to be sent since it is ready)
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Latency Examples
• “Dialup” with a telephone modem:
– D = 5ms, R = 56 kbps, M = 1500 bytes
L = 5ms + 1500*8/56e3 = 219 ms
• Broadband cross-country link:
– D = 100ms, R = 10 Mbps, M = 1500 bytes
L = 100ms + 1500*8/10e6 = 101 ms
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Bandwidth-Delay Product
• Messages take space on the wire!
• The amount of data in flight is the bandwidth-
delay (BD) product
BD = R x D
– Measure in bits, or in messages
– Small for LANs, big for “long fat” pipes
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BD Example
• Fiber at home, cross-country
R=40 Mbps, D=50 ms
BD = 40 x 106 x 50 x 10-3 bits
= 2000 Kbit
= 250 KB
• That’s quite a lot of data
“in the network”!
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Modulation
• Changing a signal to convey information
(representing bits)
101011… 101011…
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Frequency Representation
• A signal over time can be represented by its
frequency components
– Periodic time signal → Fourier series
g(t)
G(n)
n*(2*pi*f)
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Effect of Less Bandwidth
• Fewer frequencies (=less bandwidth) degrades signal
Lost!
Bandwidth
Lost!
Lost!
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Signals over a Wire
• What happens to a signal as it passes over a wire?
1. The signal is delayed (propagates at ⅔c)
2. The signal is attenuated (goes for m to km)
3. Frequencies above a cutoff are highly attenuated
4. Noise is added to the signal (later, causes errors)
EE: Bandwidth = width of frequency band, measured in Hz
CS: Bandwidth = information carrying capacity, in bits/sec
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Signals over Wireless
• Signals transmitted on a carrier frequency
• Travel at speed of light, spread out and
attenuate faster than 1/dist2
Signal
strength
A B Location
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Signals over Wireless
• Sender radiates signal over a region
– In many directions, unlike a wire, to potentially
many receivers
– Nearby signals (same frequency) interfere at a
receiver; need to coordinate use
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Wireless
• Microwave, e.g., 4G, and unlicensed (ISM)
frequencies, e.g., WiFi, are widely used for
computer networking
802.11 802.11a/g/n
b/g/n
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Wireless Multipath
• Signals bounce off objects and take multiple paths
– Some frequencies attenuated at receiver, varies with
location
– Messes up signal; handled with sophisticated methods
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Wireless Medium
• By far the most complicated medium
compared to wires and fiber
– Propagation in a complicated environment
• Bouncing, shadowing
• Can be divided and combined
– Frequency-dependent
• Light is directional, sound goes around corners
• Microwave band in computer networking
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Fundamental Limits
• How rapidly can we send information over a
link?
– Nyquist limit (~1924)
– Shannon capacity (1948)
• Practical systems are devised to approach
these limits
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Transmission Parameters
• The bandwidth (B): width of the non-zeros
frequency range of the signal
– Limits the rate of transitions
• Signal strength (S), Noise strength (N) (at the
receiver)
– Limits how many signal levels we can distinguish
– Unit: dBm – power relative to 1 milliwatt
• Defined as 10 * log10 (P/1 mW)
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Nyquist Limit
• The maximum symbol rate is 2B (Hz) in a
noiseless channel of bandwidth B (Hz)
– Example: Assume binary amplitude encoding, a
3000 Hz channel can transmit data at a rate of at
most 6000 bits/second
0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
+V
-V
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Nyquist Limit
• How to improve upon this bit rate?
– Use more levels
0 2 3 3 1 0
– Thus if there are V signal levels, ignoring noise, the
maximum bit rate is
R = 2B log2 V bits/sec
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Shannon’s Theorem
C = B log2 (1 + S/N)
• Upper bound on channel capacity, while
considering noise
– C : maximum capacity (bps)
– B : channel bandwidth (Hz)
– S/N: Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), often expressed in
decibels SNR := 10 log10 (S/N)
• Claude Shannon: Father of information theory
– “A Mathematical Theory of Communication”, 1948
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Channel Capacity Example
• Bandwidth: 3200 Hz
– If use 4 signal levels, what is the maximum rate?
12.8Kbps
• Typical S/N: 10
– What is the upper limit on capacity?
C = 3200 x log2(1 + 10) = 11 Kbps
– If use 4 signal levels, what is the maximum rate?
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