Encoding is the process of converting the data or a given sequence of characters, symbols,

alphabets etc., into a specified format, for the secured transmission of data. Decoding is the
reverse process of encoding which is to extract the information from the converted format.

Data Encoding
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.
The common types of line encoding are Unipolar, Polar, Bipolar, and Manchester.

Encoding Techniques
The data encoding technique is divided into the following types, depending upon the type of
data conversion.
 Analog data to Analog signals − The modulation techniques such as Amplitude
Modulation, Frequency Modulation and Phase Modulation of analog signals, fall under
this category.
 Analog data to Digital signals − This process can be termed as digitization, which is done
by Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). Hence, it is nothing but digital modulation. As we have
already discussed, sampling and quantization are the important factors in this. Delta
Modulation gives a better output than PCM.
 Digital data to Analog signals − The modulation techniques such as Amplitude Shift
Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), Phase Shift Keying (PSK), etc., fall under this
category. These will be discussed in subsequent chapters.
 Digital data to Digital signals − These are in this section. There are several ways to map
digital data to digital signals.
Data or information can be stored in two ways, analog and digital. For a computer to use the
data, it must be in discrete digital form.Similar to data, signals can also be in analog and digital
form. To transmit data digitally, it needs to be first converted to digital form.

Digital data-to-Digital signal Conversion

This section explains how to convert digital data into digital signals. It can be done in two ways,
line coding and block coding. For all communications, line coding is necessary whereas block
coding is optional.

Line Coding
The process for converting digital data into digital signal is said to be Line Coding. Digital data is
found in binary format.It is represented (stored) internally as series of 1s and 0s.
Digital signal is denoted by discreet signal, which represents digital data.There are three types of
line coding schemes available:

Uni-polar Encoding:
Unipolar encoding schemes use single voltage level to represent data. In this case, to represent
binary 1, high voltage is transmitted and to represent 0, no voltage is transmitted. It is also
called Unipolar-Non-return-to-zero, because there is no rest condition i.e. it either represents 1
or 0.

Polar Encoding:
Polar encoding scheme uses multiple voltage levels to represent binary values. Polar encodings
is available in four types:
i)Polar Non-Return to Zero (Polar NRZ)
It uses two different voltage levels to represent binary values. Generally, positive voltage
represents 1 and negative value represents 0. It is also NRZ because there is no rest condition.
NRZ scheme has two variants: NRZ-L and NRZ-I.

NRZ-L changes voltage level at when a different bit is encountered whereas NRZ-I changes
voltage when a 1 is encountered.
ii)Return to Zero (RZ)
Problem with NRZ is that the receiver cannot conclude when a bit ended and when the next bit
is started, in case when sender and receiver’s clock are not synchronized.

RZ uses three voltage levels, positive voltage to represent 1, negative voltage to represent 0 and
zero voltage for none. Signals change during bits not between bits.
iii)Manchester
This encoding scheme is a combination of RZ and NRZ-L. Bit time is divided into two halves. It
transits in the middle of the bit and changes phase when a different bit is encountered.
iv)Differential Manchester
This encoding scheme is a combination of RZ and NRZ-I. It also transit at the middle of the bit
but changes phase only when 1 is encountered.
Bipolar Encoding
Bipolar encoding uses three voltage levels, positive, negative and zero. Zero voltage represents
binary 0 and bit 1 is represented by altering positive and negative voltages.

Block Coding:
To ensure accuracy of the received data frame redundant bits are used. For example, in even-
parity, one parity bit is added to make the count of 1s in the frame even. This way the original
number of bits is increased. It is called Block Coding.
Block coding is represented by slash notation, mB/nB.Means, m-bit block is substituted with n-
bit block where n > m. Block coding involves three steps:
 Division,
 Substitution
 Combination.
After block coding is done, it is line coded for transmission.

Analog data-to-Digital signal Conversion

Microphones create analog voice and camera creates analog videos, which are treated is analog
data. To transmit this analog data over digital signals, we need analog to digital conversion.
Analog data is a continuous stream of data in the wave form whereas digital data is discrete. To
convert analog wave into digital data, we use Pulse Code Modulation (PCM).
PCM is one of the most commonly used method to convert analog data into digital form. It
involves three steps:
 Sampling
 Quantization
 Encoding.

Sampling:

The analog signal is sampled every T interval. Most important factor in sampling is the rate at
which analog signal is sampled. According to Nyquist Theorem, the sampling rate must be at
least two times of the highest frequency of the signal.

Quantization:

Sampling yields discrete form of continuous analog signal. Every discrete pattern shows the
amplitude of the analog signal at that instance. The quantization is done between the maximum
amplitude value and the minimum amplitude value. Quantization is approximation of the
instantaneous analog value.

Encoding:

In encoding, each approximated value is then converted into binary format.

Transmission Modes
The transmission mode decides how data is transmitted between two computers.The binary
data in the form of 1s and 0s can be sent in two different modes: Parallel and Serial.
Parallel Transmission:

The binary bits are organized in-to groups of fixed length. Both sender and receiver are
connected in parallel with the equal number of data lines. Both computers distinguish between
high order and low order data lines. The sender sends all the bits at once on all lines.Because
the data lines are equal to the number of bits in a group or data frame, a complete group of bits
(data frame) is sent in one go. Advantage of Parallel transmission is high speed and
disadvantage is the cost of wires, as it is equal to the number of bits sent in parallel.
Serial Transmission:
In serial transmission, bits are sent one after another in a queue manner. Serial transmission
requires only one communication channel.

Serial transmission can be either asynchronous or synchronous.

Asynchronous Serial Transmission:
It is named so because there’is no importance of timing. Data-bits have specific pattern and
they help receiver recognize the start and end data bits.For example, a 0 is prefixed on every
data byte and one or more 1s are added at the end.
Two continuous data-frames (bytes) may have a gap between them.
Synchronous Serial Transmission
Timing in synchronous transmission has importance as there is no mechanism followed to
recognize start and end data bits.There is no pattern or prefix/suffix method. Data bits are sent
in burst mode without maintaining gap between bytes (8-bits). Single burst of data bits may
contain a number of bytes. Therefore, timing becomes very important.
It is up to the receiver to recognize and separate bits into bytes.The advantage of synchronous
transmission is high speed, and it has no overhead of extra header and footer bits as in
asynchronous transmission.
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To send the digital data over an analog media, it needs to be converted into analog signal.There
can be two cases according to data formatting.
Bandpass:The filters are used to filter and pass frequencies of interest. A bandpass is a band of
frequencies which can pass the filter.
Low-pass: Low-pass is a filter that passes low frequencies signals.
When digital data is converted into a bandpass analog signal, it is called digital-to-analog
conversion. When low-pass analog signal is converted into bandpass analog signal, it is called
analog-to-analog conversion.

Digital data-to-Analog signal Conversion

When data from one computer is sent to another via some analog carrier, it is first converted
into analog signals. Analog signals are modified to reflect digital data.
An analog signal is characterized by its amplitude, frequency, and phase. There are three kinds
of digital-to-analog conversions:
Amplitude Shift Keying:
In this conversion technique, the amplitude of analog carrier signal is modified to reflect binary
data.

When binary data represents digit 1, the amplitude is held; otherwise it is set to 0. Both
frequency and phase remain same as in the original carrier signal.
Frequency Shift Keying:
In this conversion technique, the frequency of the analog carrier signal is modified to reflect
binary data.

This technique uses two frequencies, f1 and f2. One of them, for example f1, is chosen to
represent binary digit 1 and the other one is used to represent binary digit 0. Both amplitude
and phase of the carrier wave are kept intact.
Phase Shift Keying:
In this conversion scheme, the phase of the original carrier signal is altered to reflect the binary
data.

When a new binary symbol is encountered, the phase of the signal is altered. Amplitude and
frequency of the original carrier signal is kept intact.
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.
Analog data-to-Analog signal Conversion
Analog signals are modified to represent analog data. This conversion is also known as Analog
Modulation. Analog modulation is required when bandpass is used. Analog to analog conversion
can be done in three ways:

Amplitude Modulation:
In this modulation, the amplitude of the carrier signal is modified to reflect the analog data.

Amplitude modulation is implemented by means of a multiplier. The amplitude of modulating

signal (analog data) is multiplied by the amplitude of carrier frequency, which then reflects
analog data.
The frequency and phase of carrier signal remain unchanged.
Frequency Modulation:
In this modulation technique, the frequency of the carrier signal is modified to reflect the
change in the voltage levels of the modulating signal (analog data).
The amplitude and phase of the carrier signal are not altered.
Phase Modulation:
In the modulation technique, the phase of carrier signal is modulated in order to reflect the
change in voltage (amplitude) of analog data signal.

Phase modulation is practically similar to Frequency Modulation, but in Phase modulation

frequency of the carrier signal is not increased. Frequency of carrier is signal is changed (made
dense and sparse) to reflect voltage change in the amplitude of modulating signal.