34 SIGNALS CONVEY INTELLIGENCE
so only eight letters can be accommodated. If we turn to a 4-bit code, 16 distinct binary
sequences can be developed, each 4 bits long. A 5-bit code will develop 32 distinct
sequences, and so on.
As a result, we can state that for a binary code of length n, we will have 2n different
possibilities. The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is a
7-bit code (see Section 10.4), it will then have 27 or 128 binary sequence possibilities.
When we deal with pulse code modulation (PCM) (Chapter 6), as typically employed
on the PSTN, a time slot contains 8 bits. We know that an 8-bit binary code has 256
distinct 8-bit sequences (i.e., 28 c 256).
Consider the following important definitions when dealing with the bit and binary
transmission: Bit rate is defined as the number of bits (those 1s and 0s) that are trans-
mitted per second. Bit error rate (BER) is the number of bit errors measured or expected
per unit of time. Commonly the time unit is the second. An error, of course, is where
a decision circuit declares a 1 when it was supposed to be a 0, or declares a 0 when it
was supposed to be a 1 (Ref. 3).
2.5 INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS
To transport electrical signals, a transmission medium is required. There are four types
of transmission media:
1. Wire pair;
2. Coaxial cable;
3. Fiber optic cable; and
4. Radio.
2.5.1 Wire Pair
As one might imagine, a wire pair consists of two wires. The wires commonly use a
copper conductor, although aluminum conductors have been employed. A basic impair-
ment of wire pair is loss. Loss is synonymous with attenuation. Loss can be defined as
the dissipation of signal strength as a signal travels along a wire pair, or any other trans-
mission medium, for that matter. Loss or attenuation is usually expressed in decibels
(dB). In Appendix C the reader will find a tutorial on decibels and their applications in
telecommunications.
Loss causes the signal power to be dissipated as a signal passes along a wire pair.
Power is expressed in watts. For this application, the use of milliwatts may be more
practical. If we denominate loss with the notation LdB , then:
LdB c 10 log(P1 / P2 ), (2.2)
where P1 is the power of the signal where it enters the wire pair, and P2 is the power
level of the signal at the distant end of the wire pair. This is the traditional formula
defining the decibel in the power domain (see Appendix C).
Example 1. Suppose a 10-mW (milliwatt) 1000-Hz signal is launched into a wire pair.
At the distant end of the wire pair the signal is measured at 0.2 mW. What is the loss
in dB on the line for this signal?
2 .5 INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS 35
LdB c 10 log(10/ 0.2)
c 10 log(50)
≈ 17 dB.
All logarithms used in this text are to the base 10. Appendix B provides a review of
logarithms and their applications.
The opposite of loss is gain. An attenuator is a device placed in a circuit to pur-
posely cause loss. An amplifier does just the reverse, it gives a signal gain. An amplifier
increases a signal’s intensity. We will use the following graphic symbol for an attenu-
ator:
and the following symbol for an amplifier:
Wire-pair transmission suffers other impairments besides loss. One of these impair-
ments is crosstalk. Most of us have heard crosstalk on our telephone line. It appears as
another, “foreign” conversation having nothing to do with our telephone call. One basic
cause of crosstalk is from other wire pairs sharing the same cable as our line. These
other conversations are electrically induced into our line. To mitigate this impairment,
physical twists are placed on each wire pair in the cable. Generally there are from 2 to
12 twists per foot of wire pair. From this we get the term twisted pair. The figure below
shows a section of twisted pair.
Another impairment causes a form of delay distortion on the line, which is cumula-
tive and varies directly with the length of the line as well as with the construction of
the wire itself. It has little effect on voice transmission, but can place definition restric-
tions on data rate for digital/ data transmission on the pair. The impairment is due to the
capacitance between one wire and the other of the pair, between each wire and ground,
and between each wire and the shield, if a shield is employed. Delay distortion is covered
in greater depth in Chapters 6 and 10.
36 SIGNALS CONVEY INTELLIGENCE
Figure 2.10 A simple capacitive circuit.
[Link]. Capacitance. Direct current circuits are affected by resistance, whereas alter-
nating current (ac) circuits, besides resistance, are affected by the properties of induc-
tance and capacitance. In this subsection, we provide a brief description of capacitance.
(Also see Appendix A, Section A.8.)
Capacitance is somewhat analogous to elasticity. While a storage battery stores elec-
tricity as another form of energy (i.e., chemical energy), a capacitor stores electricity in
its natural state. An analogy of capacitance is a closed tank filled with compressed air.
The quantity of air, since air is elastic, depends upon the pressure as well as the size or
capacity of the tank. If a capacitor is connected to a direct source of voltage through
a switch, as shown in Figure 2.10, and the switch is suddenly closed, there will be a
rush of current in the circuit.4 This current will charge the capacitor to the same voltage
value as the battery, but the current will decrease rapidly and become zero when the
capacitor is fully charged.
Let us define a capacitor as two conductors separated by an insulator. A conductor
conducts electricity. Certain conductors conduct electricity better than others. Platinum
and gold are very excellent conductors, but very expensive. Copper does not conduct
electricity as well as gold and platinum, but is much more cost-effective. An insulator
carries out the opposite function of a conductor. It tends to prevent the flow of electricity
through it. Some insulators are better than others regarding the conduction of electricity.
Air is an excellent insulator. However, we well know that air can pass electricity if the
voltage is very high. Consider lightning, for example. Other examples of insulators are
bakelite, celluloid, fiber, formica, glass, lucite, mica, paper, rubber, and wood.
The insulated conductors of every circuit, such as our wire pair, have to a greater or
lesser degree this property of capacitance. The capacitance of two parallel open wires
or a pair of cable conductors of any considerable length is appreciable in practice.
[Link]. Bandwidth of a Twisted Pair. The usable bandwidth of a twisted wire pair
varies with the type of wire pair used and its length. Ordinary wire pair used in the
PSTN subscriber access plant can support 2 MHz over about 1 mile of length. Special
Category-5 twisted pair displays 67 dB loss at 100 MHz over a length of 1000 feet.
[Link]. Bandwidth Defined. The IEEE defines bandwidth as “the range of frequen-
cies within which performance, with respect to some characteristic, falls within specific
limits.” One such limit is the amplitude of a signal within the band. Here it is commonly
defined at the points where the response is 3 dB below the reference value. This 3-dB
power bandwidth definition is illustrated graphically in Figure 2.11.
4A capacitor is a device whose primary purpose is to introduce capacitance into a circuit.
2 .5 INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS 37
Attenuation (dB)
Bandwidth
3 dB
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 2.11 The concept of the 3-dB power bandwidth.
2.5.2 Coaxial Cable Transmission
Up to this point we have been discussing two parallel conductors, namely, wire pair. An
entirely different configuration of two conductors may be used to advantage where high
and very high radio frequencies are involved. This is a coaxial configuration. Here the
conducting pair consists of a cylindrical tube with a single wire conductor going down
its center, as shown in Figure 2.12. In practice, the center conductor is held in place
accurately by a surrounding insulating material, which may take the form of a solid
core, discs, or beads strung along the axis of the wire or a spirally wrapped string. The
nominal impedance is 75 ohms, and special cable is available with a 50-ohm imped-
ance.
Impedance can be defined as the combined effect of a circuit’s resistance, inductance,
and capacitance taken as a single property, and is expressed in ohms (Q ) for any given
sine wave frequency. Further explanation of impedance will be found in Appendix A.
From about 1953 to 1986 coaxial cable was widely deployed for long-distance, mul-
tichannel transmission. Its frequency response was exponential. In other words, its loss
increased drastically as frequency was increased. For example, for 0.375-inch coaxial
cable, the loss at 100 kHz was about 1 dB and about 12 dB at 10 MHz. Thus, equal-
ization was required. Equalization tends to level out the frequency response. With the
advent of fiber optic cable, with its much greater bandwidth and comparatively flat fre-
quency response, the use of coaxial cable on long-distance circuits fell out of favor. It
is still widely used as an RF (radio frequency) transmission line connecting a radio to
its antenna. It is also extensively employed in cable television plants, especially in the
“last mile” or “last 100 feet.”
Figure 2.12 A pictorial representation of a coaxial cable section.
38 SIGNALS CONVEY INTELLIGENCE
2.5.3 Fiber-Optic Cable
Fiber optic cable is the favored transmission medium for very wideband terrestrial links,
including undersea applications. It is also used for cable television “super trunks.” The
bandwidth of a fiber optic strand can be measured in terahertz (THz). In fact, the whole
usable radio frequency spectrum can be accommodated on just one such strand. Such
a strand is about the diameter of a human hair. It can carry one serial bit stream at 10
Gbps (gigabits per second) transmission rate, or by wave division multiplexing (WDM)
methods, an aggregate of 100 Gbps or more. Fiber optic transmission will be discussed
further in Chapter 9.
Fiber optic systems can be loss limited or dispersion limited. If a fiber optic link is
limited by loss, it means that as the link is extended in distance the signal has dissipated
so much that it becomes unusable. The maximum loss that a link can withstand and still
operate satisfactorily is a function of the type of fiber, wavelength of the light signal,
the bit rate and error rate, signal type (e.g., TV video), power output of the light source
(transmitter), and the sensitivity of the light detector (receiver).5
Dispersion limited means that a link’s length is limited by signal corruption. As a
link is lengthened, there may be some point where the bit error rate (BER) becomes
unacceptable. This is caused by signal energy of a particular pulse that arrives later than
other signal energy of the same pulse. There are several reasons why energy elements
of a single light pulse may become delayed, compared with other elements. One may be
that certain launched modes arrive at the distant end before other modes. Another may
be that certain frequencies contained in a light pulse arrive before other frequencies. In
either case, delayed power spills into the subsequent bit position, which can confuse the
decision circuit. The decision circuit determines whether the pulse represented a 1 or a
0. The higher the bit rate, the worse the situation becomes. Also, the delay increases as
a link is extended.
The maximum length of fiber optic links range from 20 miles (32 km) to several
hundred miles (km) before requiring a repeater. This length can be extended by the
use of amplifiers and/ or repeaters, where each amplifier can impart 20 to 40 dB gain. A
fiber optic repeater detects, demodulates, and then remodulates a light transmitter. In the
process of doing this, the digital signal is regenerated. A regenerator takes a corrupted
and distorted digital signal and forms a brand new, nearly perfect digital signal.
A simplified model of a fiber optic link is illustrated in Figure 2.13. In this figure, the
driver conditions the electrical baseband signal prior to modulation of the light signal;
the optical source is the transmitter where the light signal is generated and modulated;
the fiber optic transmission medium consists of a fiber strand, connectors, and splices;
the optical detector is the receiver, where the light signal is detected and demodulated;
and the output circuit conditions the resulting electrical baseband signal for transmission
to the electrical line (Ref. 3). A more detailed discussion of fiber optic systems will be
found in Chapter 9.
2.5.4 Radio Transmission
Up to now we have discussed guided transmission. The signal is guided or conducted down
some sort of a “pipe.” The “pipes” we have covered included wire pair, coaxial cable, and
fiber optic cable. Radio transmission, on the other hand, is based on radiated emission.
5In the world of fiber optics, wavelength is used rather than frequency. We can convert wavelength to
frequency using Eq. (2.1). One theory is that fiber optic transmission was developed by physicists who
are more accustomed to wavelength than frequency.
2 .5 INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS 39
Optical Fiber optic Optical
source transmission detector
medium
Output
Driver
circuit
Electrical Electrical
input output
signal signal
Figure 2.13 A simplified model of a fiber optic link.
The essential elements of any radio system are: (1) a transmitter for generating and
modulating a “high-frequency” carrier wave with an information baseband6; (2) a trans-
mitting antenna that will radiate the maximum amount of signal energy of the modulated
carrier in the desired direction; (3) a receiving antenna that will intercept the maximum
amount of the radiated energy after its transmission through space; and (4) a receiver
to select the desired carrier wave, amplify the signal, detect it, or separate the signal
from the carrier. Although the basic principles are the same in all cases, there are many
different designs of radio systems. These differences depend upon the types of signals
to be transmitted, type of modulation (AM, FM, or PM or a hybrid), where in the fre-
quency spectrum (see Figure 2.6) in which transmission is to be affected, and licensing
restrictions. Figure 2.14 is a generalized model of a radio link.
The information-transport capacity of a radio link depends on many factors. The first
factor is the application. The following is a brief list of applications with some relevant
RF bandwidths:
• Line-of-sight microwave, depending on the frequency band: 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40,
or 60 MHz;
• SCADA (system control and data acquisition): up to 12 kHz in the 900-MHz band;
• Satellite communications, geostationary satellites: 500-MHz or 2.5-GHz band-
widths broken down into 36-MHz and 72-MHz segments;
• Cellular radio: 25-MHz bandwidth in the 800/ 900-MHz band; the 25-MHz band
is split into two 12.5-MHz segments for two competitive providers;
• Personal communication services (PCS): 200-MHz band just below 2.0 GHz, bro-
ken down into various segments such as licensed and unlicensed users;
• Cellular/ PCS by satellite (e.g., Iridium, Globalstar); 10.5-MHz bandwidth in the
1600-MHz band; and
• Local multipoint distribution system (LMDS) in 28/ 38-GHz bands; 1.2-GHz band-
width for CATV, Internet, data, and telephony services (Ref. 3).
6“High-frequency” takes on the connotation in the context of this book of any signal from 400 MHz to 100
GHz.
40 SIGNALS CONVEY INTELLIGENCE
Figure 2.14 A generic model of a typical radio link.
Bandwidth is also determined by the regulating authority (e.g., the FCC in the United
States) for a particular service/ application. Through bit packing techniques, described
in Chapter 9, the information-carrying capacity of a unit of bandwidth is considerably
greater than 1 bit per Hz of bandwidth. On line-of-sight microwave systems, 5, 6, 7,
and 8 bits per Hz of bandwidth are fairly common. Chapter 9 provides a more detailed
discussion of radio systems.
REVIEW EXERCISES
1. Name at least four different ways of communicating at a distance prior to the
advent of electrical communication.
2. What kind of energy is stored in a battery?
3. How did the old electric telegraph communicate intelligence?
REFERENCES 41
4. What limited the distance we could transmit with electrical telegraph before using
a repeater? Give at least two ways we could extend the distance.
5. How could that old-time electrical telegraph operate with just one wire?
6. Name at least four ways we might characterize a “sine wave,” either partially or
wholly.
7. What is the equivalent wavelength (l) of 850 MHz? of 7 GHz?
8. What angle (in degrees) is equivalent to 3p/ 2? p/ 4?
9. Give two examples of baseband transmission.
10. Define modulation.
11. What are the three generic forms of modulation? What popular device we find in
the home utilizes all three types of modulation simultaneously. Hint: The answer
needs a modifier in front of the word.
12. Differentiate an analog signal from a digital signal.
13. Give at least four applications of a 1-bit code. Use your imagination.
14. What is the total capacity of a 9-bit binary code? The Hollerith code was a 12-bit
code. What was its total capacity?
15. Name four different transmission media.
16. What is the opposite of loss? What is the most common unit of measurement to
express the amount of loss?
17. What is the reason for twists in twisted pair?
18. What is the principal cause of data rate limitation on wire pair?
19. What is the principal drawback of using coaxial cable for long-distance transmis-
sion?
20. What is the principal, unbeatable advantage of fiber optic cable?
21. Regarding limitation of bit rate and length, a fiber optic cable may be either
or ?
22. Explain dispersion (with fiber optic cable).
23. What are some typical services of LMDS?
REFERENCES
1. From Semaphore to Satellite, International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, 1965.
2. Principles of Electricity Applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work, American Telephone and
Telegraph Co., New York, 1961.
3. R. L. Freeman, Telecommunication Transmission Handbook, 4th ed., Wiley, New York, 1998.