Telecommunications

Networks
Multitude of Communications

Telephone network
Internet
Radio and TV broadcast
Mobile communications
Wi-Fi
Satellite and space
communications
Smart power grid, healthcare
Analogue communications-
AM/FM
Digital communications--Transfer
of information in digits
Dominant technology today
Broadband, 3G, DAB/DVB
Noise in Communications

Noise refers to unwanted waves that disturb
communications
Unavoidable presence of noise in the channel
Signal is contaminated by noise along the path
External noise: Interference from nearby channels,
Internal noise: Thermal noise, random emission... in
electronic devices
Noise is one of the basic factors that set limits on
communications.
A widely used metric is the signal-to-noise
(power) ratio (SNR)
SNR=signal power/noise power
Communication Systems
Basic components:
Transmitter
Channel or medium
Receiver
Noise degrades or interferes with transmitted
information.

Communication Process
Communication involves implicitly the transmission
of information from one point to another with
succession of processes:
The Generation of a Signal (voice, picture, or
computer data)
Description of a signal by a set of symbols:
Electrical, oral, visual
Encoding of these symbols in a form suitable for
transmission over medium
Transmission of the Encoded symbol to desired
destination
Decoding and reproduction of original symbol
Recreation of original Signal

Bandwidth and Information
Capacity:

Bandwidth and Information Capacity:

The bandwidth of an information signal is simply the
difference between the highest and lowest frequencies
contained in the information

And the bandwidth of a communication channel is the
difference between the highest and lowest frequencies
that the channel will allow to pass through (i.e. its
passband)

The bandwidth of communication channel must be
large (wide) enough to pass all significant information
frequencies.
In other words, the bandwidth of the communication
channel must be equal to or greater than the
bandwidth of the information.

For example voice frequencies contain signals
between 300 Hz and 3000 Hz. Therefore, a voice
frequency channel must have a bandwidth equal
to or greater than 2700 Hz (300Hz -3000Hz). If a
cable TV transmission system has a passband
from 500KHz to 5000KHz , it has a bandwidth of _
_ _ _ _

As a general rule, a communication channel
cannot propagate a signal that contains a
frequency that is changing at a rate greater than
the bandwidth of the channel.

Information Capacity:

Information capacity is a measure of how
much information can be propagated through
a communications system and is a function of
bandwidth and transmission time.
Information capacity represents the number
of independent symbols that can be carried
through a system in a given unit of time.
According to Hartleys law
I B t

According to Hartleys law
I B t
Where
I = information capacity ( bits per second)
B = bandwidth ( Hertz)
t = transmission time (second)
i.e. information capacity is linear function of
bandwidth and transmission time

Shannons Theorem:
In 1948 Claude E. Shannon related the information capacity of
a communication channel to bandwidth and signal-to-noise
ratio.
The higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the better the performance
and higher the information capacity.

Mathematically, the Shannon limit for information capacity is

I = B log
2
( 1+S/N)
I = 3.32 B log ( 1+ S/N)

The channel capacity is related to channel bandwidth and
signal power.
It is impossible to transmit at a rate higher than channel
capacity without incurring errors.

I = B log
2
( 1+S/N)
I = 3.32 B log ( 1+ S/N)
Where
I = information capacity ( bits per second)
B = bandwidth ( Hertz)
S/N= signal-to-noise ratio
Signal-to-noise power ratio is the ratio of the
signal power level to the noise power level.
Mathematically, signal-to-noise ratio is expressed
as

Signal Power S
Signal power is related to the quality of transmission
Increasing S reduces the effects of channel noise, and the
information is received with less uncertainty
In any event, a certain minimum SNR is necessary for
communication
Channel bandwidth B and signal power S are exchangeable;
- We can trade S for B, or vice versa.
- One may reduce B if one is willing to increase S.
Example: PCM with 16 quantization levels
- multi-amplitude scheme
- binary scheme


The most basic digital symbol used to
represent information is Bit, therefore, it is
often convenient to express the information
capacity of a system as a bit rate.

The Analog Telephone Voice Channel
The telephone network was originally designed to carry voice signals
only.
The universally accepted bandwidth of the voice channel is 3.1 kHz
and extends from 300 Hz to 3400 Hz.
The spectrum of human speech greatly exceeds these limits (higher
than 10 kHz).
Need a compromise between speech quality (speech intelligibility)
and channel cost (cost being proportional to bandwidth).
Bandwidth in the PSTN has been a very limited and expensive
resource.
In long-distance transmission, the transmission technology available
was relatively narrow-band.
The first transoceanic coaxial cable system, installed in 1956 between
Europe and America, had a total system capacity of only 36 bi-
directional voice channels.
The transmission technology development in the last decades in the
terrestrial microwave, satellite and optical fibers has decreased the
cost of bandwidth and thus enabled the increase in transmission
bandwidth.
Channel Bandwidth and Capacity

We know the simple and famous formula of Shannon relating channel
capacity and bandwidth.

C = B log
2
[1 + S/N], b/s

where C is the capacity, B is the bandwidth, N is the total noise power in the
channel bandwidth and S/N is the signal to noise power ratio.
For example, if B = 4 kHz and S/N = 200, then channel capacity C = 30.6
kbit/s. If B is reduced to 3 kHz, then to maintain the same channel capacity c
= 30.6 kbit/s, S/N needs to be raised to 1176.3.
System Imperfections Affecting the Quality of the Voice Channel
In an ideal channel, the signal at the output will be an exact replica
of the signal at the input.
In reality, the quality of the signal degrades essentially in two ways:
(a) the signal waveform is distorted in the channel,
(b) additional (undesired) signal elements are added to the
desired signal.
Signal distortion in the channel:
* the effect of channel frequency response - attenuation
distortion and delay distortion
* harmonic distortion due to nonlinear channel response
* differences in signal level at channel input and output
* signal delay within the channel
* signal fading on radio paths, due to multipath propagation
Amplitude distortion
This form is distortion occurring in a system, subsystem, or device when the
output amplitude is not a linear function of the input amplitude.
Two forms of amplitude distortion might arise:
1. Harmonic distortion
2. Intermodulation distortion
Harmonic distortion
The creation of harmonics of the fundamental frequency of a sine wave input to
a system. For example, sin t becomes sin 2t, sin 3t etc.
Intermodulation distortion
This form of distortion occurs when two sine waves of frequencies X and Y are
present at the input, resulting in the creation of several other frequency
components, whose frequencies include (X+Y), (X-Y), (2X-Y), (2Y-X), and
generally (mX nY) for integer m and n. Generally the size of the unwanted
output falls rapidly as m and n increase.
In a narrowband system such as a radio communication system, unwanted
outputs such as X-Y and 2X+Y will be remote from the wanted band and so be
ignored by the system. In contrast, 2X-Y and 2Y-X will be close to the wanted
signals. These tend to dominante the non-linear distortion of narrowband
systems.
Frequency distortion
This form of distortion occurs when different frequencies behave differently,
mainly caused by combination of active device and components.
Phase distortion
This form of distortion mostly occurs due to the fact that all the components of
the input signal are not transmitted with the same phase shift, hence causing
some parts of the output signal to be out of phase with the rest of the output.
Addition of undesired signal elements:
thermal noise and similar noise sources
impulse noise due to lightning, electrical ignition systems, etc.
quantizing noise in digital PCM systems
inductive or capacitive coupling of undesired signals (power line
emissions, signal from broadcast stations, etc.) called interference
crosstalk between wires within a cable
crosstalk between radio channels at the same frequency called co-
channel interference
crosstalk between channels separated in frequency domain (e.g.
within a carrier system employing frequency division
multiplexing) called interchannel interference
crosstalk (or noise) due to system nonlinearity, resulting in
intermodulation distortion
crosstalk between channels separated in time domain (e.g. within
a carrier system employing time division multiplexing) also
called intersymbol interference
signal reflections within the channel bandwidth causing echoes
system instability due to unfavorable feedback conditions,
causing so-called singing or in severe cases oscillations
Voice Channel Attenuation Distortion
Within the channel band of 300~3400 Hz, by CCITT Rec.G.132, the
amplitude or frequency response of the voice channel, relative to a
reference level at 800 Hz, must lie between two specified limiting curves.
The attenuation or amplitude distortion within the voice band should not
exceed the specified limits.

Limits for the attenuation distortion of an analog voice channel (CCITT, Rec. G.132)
Delay Distortion in the Voice Channel


Delay distortion results from the fact that the different spectral
components of the signal travel at different speed in the channel and thus
experience a different delay in propagation through the media. In essence,
we are concerned with the phase linearity of the channel. If the phase-
frequency relationship over a pass band is not linear, distortion will occur
in the transmitted signal. This phase distortion is often measured by a
parameter called envelope delay distortion.
Delay distortion, by definition, is the difference between the delays
at a given frequency and at a specific reference frequency (usually the
point of minimum delay at the center of the channel).
The signal (envelope) delay D(f) is closely related to the phase
response (f) of the channel:

D(f) = {d(f)/df} 1/2

As a result, constant delay within the channel (equal to zero delay
distortion) is equivalent to a linear phase response.
Delay distortion is not very critical in voice transmission, since the
human ear does not detect differences in phase response. For example, the
two waveforms shown in the figure consist of similar spectral components
but with different phase relationships. The human ear is not able to detect
any difference between these two signals. In digital transmission, however,
these signals have a completely different effect on system performance.
Thus, if a voice channel is used for data transmission, there should be an
upper limit on delay distortion.

Two waveforms with equal fundamental and third harmonic spectral
amplitudes, but with different phase relationships
Delay distribution is quite tolerable for voice communications, but it
becomes a serious problem for pulse type transmission because not all
frequency components arrive at the same time. For example, if a 1-kHz
square wave were applied to a channel having appreciable delay
distribution, the fundamental and the third harmonic (all higher harmonics
are severely attenuated) could undergo very different phase shifts.

Input and output waveforms for a channel having delay distortion