Chapter Three
Physical Layer
Prepared by: Esubalew Mulat
Target Group: 4th Year Computer Stream Students
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, March 2018 E.C.
Topics
▪ Fundamentals of Data Communication
▪ Guided Media
▪ Unguided Media
▪ Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Fourier Series
• Jean-Baptiste Fourier proved that any reasonably behaved periodic function, g(t)
with period T, can be constructed as the sum of a (possibly infinite) number of
sines and cosines:
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Fourier Series
• Data signals with finite duration can be extended to be periodic.
• The relevance of this is that real channels affect different frequency signals
differently.
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Bandwidth Limited Signals
No transmission facility can transmit signals without losing some power.
Different channels attenuate different frequency components differently.
For a wire: signals are transmitted to a certain frequency range and then
attenuated.
The unattenuated section of the frequency is called Bandwidth.
Bandwidth depends on: material type, construction, length of channel,..
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Bandwidth Limited Signals
Given a bit rate of ‘b’ bits/sec, and a data represented by ‘8’ bits
The time required to send 8 bit serially is: 8/b seconds.
The frequency of the first harmonic is: b/8 Hz.
For 3000 Hz cutoff frequency the number of harmonics sent are:
3,000/ (b/8).
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Bandwidth Limited Signals
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Nyquist: Perfect Channel
Henry Nyquist even a perfect channel has a finite transmission capacity.
Nyquist: If a signal is passed through a low frequency filter with bandwidth B,
the original signal can be fully recovered by using only 2B samples/sec.
If the signal consists of V discrete levels, Nyquist’s theorem states:
Maximum data rate = 2B log2 V bits/sec
Example: a noiseless 3-kHz channel cannot transmit binary (i.e., two-level)
signals at a rate exceeding 6000 bps.
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Shannon: Data Rate With Noise
In the presence of noise, the data rate deteriorates significantly.
The amount of thermal noise present is measured by the ratio of the signal
power to the noise power, called the SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio).
Usually, the ratio is expressed on a log scale as the quantity 10 * log10 S/N
(decibels).
Shannon’s major result is that the maximum data rate or capacity of a noisy
channel whose bandwidth is B Hz and whose signal-to-noise ratio is S/N, is
given by:
Maximum number of bits/sec = B * log2 (1 + S/N)
Guided Media
Guided Media
Various transmission media are used for actual data transmission.
The media can be roughly grouped under two classes: Guided and Unguided
Each of the media comes with its characteristics.
The key behind guided media is the use of a physical medium to transmit and
guide the data bits.
Copper cables and fiber optics are important media we have in guided media.
Guided Media
Magnetic Media
One of the most common ways to transmit (transport) data.
It’s often cost effective.
It’s more labelled as data transportation than data transmission.
In what situations do you think can this be an appropriate option?
The moral to be taken:
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes
hurtling down the highway !
Guided Media
Twisted Cables
A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires, typically about
1 mm thick twisted in a helical way.
Signal is assumed as a difference in voltage level between the two.
The most common application of the twisted pair is the telephone system.
Signal repeaters might be required for long lines.
Bundle of many pairs are used to send multiple parallel data (reaching bundles
of several centi-meters).
Guided Media
Twisted Cables
CAT5 is usually used in offices (CAT3, CAT5, CAT6, CAT7).
Different Ethernet LANs might use the cable in different combinations of pairs.
Pairs can be: Full-duplex, Half-duplex, Simplex
Guided Media
Twisted Cables
Why are they twisted and not parallel?
What use does representing a signal as a difference in voltage level between the
two have?
How far can they go without requiring repeaters?
Guided Media
Coaxial Cables
It has better shielding and greater bandwidth than unshielded
twisted pairs.
Spans longer distance at fast speeds.
A coaxial cable consists of a stiff copper wire as the core,
surrounded by an insulating material.
The insulator is encased by a cylindrical conductor, often as a
closely woven braided mesh.
The outer conductor is covered in a protective plastic sheath.
Guided Media
Fiber Optics
Use light signals in order to carry information.
Can ideally transmit at a rate of 50,000 Gbps.
The current practical limitations (100Gbps) come from converting electrical
signals to/from light signals.
Too costly.
Used for long-haul transmission in network backbones, high speed LANs.
Guided Media
Fiber Optics
Has three key components: the light source, the transmission medium, and the
detector.
Guided Media
Fiber Optics
From a construction point of view, fiber optics look a little like coax cables.
Guided Media
Advantages of Fiber Optics
High bandwidth
Not affected by power surges, electromagnetic radiations, power failures
Light weight
Very low error rate
Difficult to be tapped (security)
Guided Media
Power Lines
The use of power lines for data communication is an old idea.
Used by electricity companies for low-rate communication such as remote
metering for many years.
X10 standard for home applications.
They come up with different issues to be considered!
Guided Media
Discussion Problems
Why does the fiber optics provide higher bandwidth? Is that due to their speed?
Is the speed of signals proportional to the speed of electrons in the case of
copper cables?
Unguided Media
Electromagnetic Spectrum
When electrons move, they create electromagnetic waves that can propagate
through space.
In a vacuum, all electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed, no matter what
their frequency.
When an antenna of the appropriate size is attached to an electrical circuit, the
electromagnetic waves can be broadcast efficiently and received by a receiver
some distance away.
All wireless communication is based on this principle.
Unguided Media
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Unguided Media
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Basic characteristics as we move upwards to higher frequency ranges:
Higher frequency range → higher bandwidth.
Become more directed.
Penetration capacity decreases.
Smaller wavelength → Antenna size increases
Dangers in the highest ranges !
Unguided Media
Radio Transmission
Radio frequency (RF) waves are easy to generate, can travel long distances
Can penetrate buildings easily.
They are widely used for communication, both indoors and outdoors.
Radio waves also are omnidirectional, meaning that they travel in all directions
from the source
The transmitter and receiver do not have to be carefully aligned physically.
Unguided Media
Radio Transmission
In the VLF, LF, and MF bands, radio waves follow the ground.
These waves can be detected for perhaps 1000 km at the lower frequencies, less
at the higher ones.
In the HF and VHF bands, the ground waves tend to be absorbed by the earth.
Unguided Media
Radio Transmission
Radio ranges include the microwave region as a subset.
WiFi, Bluetooth and related other technologies use this band.
Unguided Media
Microwave Communication
Above 100 MHz, the waves travel in nearly straight lines and can therefore be
narrowly focused.
Concentrating all the energy into a small beam by means of a parabolic antenna
(like the familiar satellite TV dish) gives a much higher signal-to-noise ratio,
The antennas must be accurately aligned with each other.
Before fiber optics microwaves formed the heart of the long-distance
transmission systems.
Microwaves do not pass through buildings well.
Multipath fading and is often a serious problem.
Unguided Media
Infrared Waves
Unguided infrared waves are widely used for short-rang communication.
The remote controls used for televisions, VCRs, and stereos all use infrared
communication.
They do not pass through solid objects.
This is an advantage too.
Unguided Media
Communication Satellites
Reading Assignment for you !
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Digital Modulation
Channels carry analog signals such as continuously varying voltage, light
intensity, or sound intensity.
Analog signals shall be devised to represent bits.
Process of converting between bits and signals that represent them is called
Digital Modulation.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Digital Modulation
Baseband transmission: the signal occupies frequencies from zero up to a
maximum.
Passband transmission: the signal occupies a band of frequencies around the
frequency of the carrier signal.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Base Band Digital Modulation
The most straightforward form of digital modulation is to use a positive voltage
to represent a one (1) and a negative voltage to represent a zero (0).
For an optical fiber, the presence of light might represent a 1 and the
absence of light might represent a 0.
This scheme is called NRZ (Non-Return-to-Zero).
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Passband Digital Modulation
Often, we want to use a range of frequencies that does not start at zero to send
information across a channel.
For wireless channels, it is not practical to send very low frequency signals
because the size of the antenna required becomes large.
Regulatory constraints and the need to avoid interference usually dictate the
choice of frequencies.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Passband Digital Modulation
The absolute frequency values do not matter for capacity.
We can take a baseband signal that occupies 0 to B Hz and shift it up to occupy
a passband of S to S +B Hz without changing the amount of information that it
can carry.
To process a signal at the receiver, we can shift it back down to baseband.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Passband Digital Modulation
Digital modulation is accomplished with passband transmission by regulating
or modulating a carrier signal.
Amplitude, frequency, or phase of the carrier signal can be modulated.
ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying), two different amplitudes are used to represent
0 and 1.
FSK (Frequency Shift Keying), two or more different tones are used.
PSK (Phase Shift Keying), the carrier wave is systematically shifted 0 or 180
degrees at each symbol period.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Passband Digital Modulation
a) Binary Signal
b) Amplitude Modulation
c) Frequency Modulation
d) Phase Modulation
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Multiplexing
Channels are often shared by multiple signals.
It is much more convenient to use a single wire to carry several signals than to
install a wire for every signal.
This sharing of channel is called Multiplexing.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Frequency Division Multiplexing
FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) takes advantage of passband
transmission to share a channel.
It divides the spectrum into frequency bands, with each user having exclusive
possession of some band in which to send their signal.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Time Division Multiplexing
Users take turns (in a round-robin fashion), each one periodically getting the
entire bandwidth for a little burst of time.
TDM is used widely as part of the telephone and cellular networks.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Code Division Multiplexing
CDM is mainly used for code division multiple access (CDMA).
CDMA allows each station to transmit over the entire frequency spectrum all
the time.
In CDMA, each bit time is subdivided into m short intervals called chips.
Typically, there are 64 or 128 chips per bit.
Each station is assigned a unique m-bit code called a chip sequence.
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Code Division Multiplexing
To transmit a 1 bit, a station sends its chip sequence.
To transmit a 0 bit, it sends the negation of its chip sequence.
No other patterns are permitted.
For m = 8, if station A is assigned the chip sequence (–1 –1 –1 +1 +1 –1 +1 +1), it
can send a 1 bit by transmuting the chip sequence and a 0 by transmitting (+1 +1
+1 –1 –1 +1 –1 –1).
Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Code Division Multiplexing
All chip sequences are pairwise orthogonal !
References and Image Sources
Sources for Content and Image
Computer Networks: Tanenbaum
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End of Chapter !
Questions?